Today, the twinned ideas of respect towards minorities’ rights and cultural diversity that have been projected as values derived from the European historical experience are facing well-documented challenges. These include: the current radicalisation of young people in Europe; processes questioning the meaningfulness of the European project; and the revival of tribal identities and separatism. These processes give cause to fundamentally rethink the idea of Europeanness as a culture of dialogue and mutual respect. CHIEF aims to build an effective dialogue between different stakeholders in order to facilitate a future of Europe based on more inclusive notions of cultural heritage and identity. The project is innovative in its approach to cultural literacy of young Europeans by privileging the importance of production and transition of cultural knowledge in both formal educational settings initiated from above, and a variety of informal human interactions. These informal interactions are often overlooked despite their strong influence on how knowledge about European culture is acquired by young people. The project proposes to explore them by building an inter-disciplinary, multi-sectoral and transnational partnership in nine countries in and outside the EU. Through its research activities and social interventions, CHIEF will have a substantial impact on policies and practices facilitating intercultural dialogue in Europe. It will contribute to understanding and enhancing cultural literacy for young people, resulting in greater appreciation of diversity. The project will lead to more effective use of European cultural heritage as a site of production, translation and exchange of heterogeneous cultural knowledge. Moreover, it will help to recognize existing innovative practices and develop a new organisational model to enhance cultural and inter-cultural competence of young Europeans. Finally, it will empower and bolster the innovative capacities of its beneficiaries.

"Since the end of the Second World War, migration flows have increased in all EU Member States, either through immigration or emigration. Today migrants from third countries account for around 4% of the total EU population. Europe is confronted with an ageing population and a shrinking workforce leading to labour and skills shortages that will challenge economic growth prospects. Increased migration is seen by many economists as a positive factor to growth. Consequently countries that make best use of their migrant population have the best prospects to develop. The current situation concerning migrants, refugees and asylum seekers fleeing conflict from the Middle East and North Africa is part of an ongoing narrative. This narrative will seemingly continue and managing migration flows will continue to be a challenge for all EU society. Youth work has a key role in forming a society in which citizens have equal rights and opportunities with a view to ensuring social cohesion, inclusion, multicultural coexistence and economic development of the EU.The primary aim of Grandma's Story was to develop a comprehensive high-quality training material for Youth workers, extending and developing competences for working with young migrants in intercultural environments. The objective was to engage and include young people of migrant or refugee background in their local community by developing skills in interpretation, heritage and media; in a setting of migration, tolerance and diversity. The secondary objective was to extend and develop youth workers' competence for working in and with museums and galleries, heritage and community associations especially those within areas of larger ethnic minority populations; by developing an OER platform and other resources for the development of online exhibitions curated by young people and eLearning for youth workers which set the project in the digital era. Grandma’s Story brought together the experience of several organisations working with migrants and youth work from several parts of Europe.Documenting Patterns of Migration and Integration as a resource for training in Youth work, the project began by recognising and recording the stories of the “Grandmothers” - the older generation of women whose stories are seldom collected or retold. The stories upon which the project is based are found all over Europe. Young women left their homes and migrated to another country or region. Through hard work they established themselves and to varying degrees integrated into their new homeland. The project ""Grandma's Story - Engaging migrant youth in the local community"" produced: 1) 'Pop-Up Exhibition - Guidelines': A methodology for creating simple pop-up exhibitions. It empowers young people to collect the stories of older migrant women for educational exhibits in pop-up exhibitions in youth centres, libraries, museums. https://grandmas-story.eu/publications2) 'Migration Heritage Trails - Guidelines': A methodology for developing “Migration Heritage” trails in cities and towns for youth engagement in the community. https://grandmas-story.eu/publications3) 'Community empowerment and informal learning on migration issue - Guidelines': This e-Publication Guide is on community empowerment and participatory process on projects that impact on migration issues. It is aimed as at Civil Society Organisations, Youth Workers, Youth Educators working in Museums, Associations, Social Co-operatives, Schools, Public and Third Sector Organisations working with migrants to implement participatory process within communities. https://grandmas-story.eu/publications4) 'Engaging migrant youth - Training Curriculum': This publication consolidates the projects outcomes into a methodological description and practical ideas of implementing the material in training at various levels: national, regional and local. https://grandmas-story.eu/publications5) Stories: A rich media collection of stories of migrant grandmothers, including text, videos, maps and photos. https://grandmas-story.eu/home-en 6) Trainer Modules: A series of structured training Modules, Guides, and Tutorial Videos to implement the methodology. https://grandmas-story.eu/trainer-modules7) OER platform: The platform enables users to create, publish and share the stories using a story-builder tool. All other training material, elearning and publications are shared on the platform. https://grandmas-story.eu/ The aim was not specifically to look at why people left but to record the migrant women’s story of migration and integration. The stories told through the project include women coming from Kenya, India, Barbados, Bangladesh, Austria, Uganda, Ghana, Iran, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Turkey, Syria, Russia, and settling in the UK, Estonia, Italy, Croatia, Turkey and Sweden; all with their personal story to tell. The objective of the project was to develop this core information into a methodology that can be repeated in any EU country."

BACKGROUND AND CURRENT SETTINGOne billion people live with some form of disability (WHO), at EU level, about 24% of persons aged 16 and over declared a disability, furthermore the aging EU population is growing intensely. The number of people with access needs is therefore significant and growing. Equal integration into society, including travelling and experiencing cultural heritage is a real challenge. Cultural heritage (museums, galleries, monuments etc) provide significant opportunity for social inclusion, sense of community, informal education and lifelong learning; as such accessibility should not be a barrier! Better inclusion through CH interpretation is not just about social responsibility but is a business imperative representing market potential for tourism. This project tackles this need through education of students, future experts, but also current CH staff to improve access for all.PARTICIPANTSThe project involves 5 countries, 9 project partners and 20 associated partners incorporating experienced Project Managers, academics, researchers, and the AccessCULT target groups. Main target groups are STUDENTS (at least 60 directly involved) and CULTURAL WORKERS (at least 50 directly involved). And the final beneficiaries are PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (at least 20 directly involved) from partner countries.Wider stakeholder groups, such as media, decision makers and certification bodies will be addressed with the expected number of stakeholders reached to be >5000 EU wide.PROJECT AIMS, OBJECTIVES, ACTIVITIES AND METHODOLOGY UNDERTAKENAccessCULT aims to IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY OF CULTURAL HERITAGE across Europe through exchange of good practice and by developing, implementing, testing, improving and promoting an innovative multidisciplinary HE module for students, future experts, and an adult training for existing cultural workers.Through education and training it is aimed to develop knowledge, skills and competencies to enable cultural workers in museums and galleries to respond to the needs of visitors with wide ranging capabilities to ensure they are able to access, enjoy and benefit fully from our rich cultural heritage.AccessCULT will implement project activities through 8 Work Packages (WP). The main results will be 6 Intellectual outputs (O1-6), 4 Multiplier events (O1-4) and 2 Teaching/Training activities (C1-C2) as follows:>O1: In-depth Analysis of needs>O2: Specification of learning outcomes>O3: Higher Educational Module “Accessible Cultural Heritage for All”>O4: OER - Online adult training “Accessible Cultural Heritage for All”>O5: Implementation and testing of a 6-month study programme (n= 60; 15 students in 4 partner countries); 1-month blended (online and on-site) adult training for current CH workers (n= 50 across 5 partner countries); 10 Pilot guided tours carried out by students and trainees as “Accessible Museum Coordinators”.>O6: Business plan and Catalogue with Recommendations for System and Policy Makers for optimal exploitation and sustainability of results>E1-4: Round tables for stakeholders in 4 partner countries>C1: 5-day Train-the-trainer event (Slovenia)>C2: 5-day Train-the-trainer event (Lithuania)>E4: Final International Conferences with at least 60 participants>Management, Promotion & Dissemination Campaign and an Evaluation Plan will also be implemented.IMPACT:AccessCULT will have impact on participants, participating organisations, target groups and other relevant stakeholders. PWD will benefit through improved access and learning from cult. heritage. This will be achieved through enhanced knowledge and skills for current and future CH workers. A multi-disciplinary holistic approach will be undertaken combining subject disciplines and a new understanding of visitor and staff requirements to inform the novel educational material.AccessCULT will exchange and build upon EU good practice, accessibility guidelines, and apply applicable ethical and VET guidelines to ensure EU added value and widespread impact. ECTS certification and ECVET certification possibilities will be assessed. The educational material will be maintained and accessible beyond the project.Close cooperation with the end beneficiaries (people living with disabilities, students and CH workers), will ensure they gain learning benefits from participating, ensure the validity and acceptability of the outcomes and encourage promotion to a wide range of cultural institutions and stakeholders. Besides end users, they will act as advisors, co-creators and evaluators.An extensive EU network of stakeholders alongside a newly established network of Accessibility Museum Ambassadors (at least 20) will contribute to the promotion of accessibility itself and to the dissemination and sustainability of project results. Key to the longevity of the project impact will be a detailed Business plan and Recommendations for S&P makers that will ensure the outcomes are exploited beyond the project.

The Echoes of the Past –Heritage Futures. Vocational Education and Training in Post-Industrial Sites (ECHOES) project combines two essential and complementary areas. On the one hand Education and Training and on the other hand Culture and Heritage. If we came to analyse all these areas individually we would soon find various aspects that they have in common. Living in society requires knowledge, the human capital that is passed from one generation to the next one. In order to progress it is important to know and learn with previous experiences. What better way to make progress for the coming generations than contribute to the safeguard of Europe’s cultural heritage? With the ECHOES project we set out to do that through Education and Training by selecting a specific area in the field of Cultural Heritage – the post-industrial landscapes. But why post-industrial landscapes? First, is because landscapes are important to mankind. We live in landscapes, we express ourselves through landscapes, and we transform landscapes… Second, is because the Industrial Revolution was responsible for significant changes in the landscapes and in the way people lived and live until today. A third reason is that when industries finish their useful cycle the industrial landscapes risk simply disappearing. Not only the factories that were built (with all the types of machinery inside) but with it all the social, cultural, economic, and technological conditions that drew out of industrialisations processes. Losing all these references is the equivalent of losing knowledge and a countless number of experiences.ECHOES promotes excellence in industrial heritage education and training, by producing vital knowledge for unemployed people, like ex-workers of industrial units that have recently been closed, school teachers/trainers lacking heritage educational skill, trainers of people with special and professionals working with post-industrial heritage and landscapes. During the project implementation (2015-2017) the ECHOES consortium produced a set of educational material to support professionals, teachers and trainees in active and continuous learning activities using post-industrial heritage and landscapes as a valuable and active trough educational resource:- The ECHOES Methodology Handbook, an overview recommendations and good practice guide on heritage education in post-industrial landscapes.- The ECHOES eLearning Web Quests, a series of web quests setting training tasks according to specific needs of the target groups - The ECHOES Curriculum, for training courses that make use of the industrial heritage as it’s main educational resource.- The ECHOES Competences Matrix, with the specification of level (EQF), learning outcomes linked to the training tasks of the Echoes Quests. - The ECHOES educational resources are all available for use in the ECHOES Open Educational Platform at http://echoes-vet.eu/ The ECHOES partnership is a joint initiative made up of six partners fromfour different countries:Fundação Robinson, Portalegre, Portugalhttp://www.fundacaorobinson.pt/ Elderberyy AB, Hägersten, Swedenhttp://www.elderberry.nu/ Instituto de Soldadura e Qualidade, Oeiras, Portugalhttp://www.isq.pt/ Stadrarchiv Dornbirn, Dornbirn, Austriahttps://stadtarchiv.dornbirn.at Municíoio do Fundão, Fundão, Portugal https://www.cm-fundao.pt/ Culture Coventry Trust, Coventry, United Kingdomhttp://www.culturecoventry.com/