Path4Med is a multi-participatory and multidisciplinary project that will pave clear pathways towards zero water and soil pollution in the agro-hydro-system of the Mediterranean sea basin and other European seas through an innovative triple bottom line approach achieving economic, social, and environmental sustainability to ensure human well-being and ecosystems functioning. Path4Med will advance and consolidate agricultural management technologies and solutions within an inclusive and open participatory environment, it will evolve and mainstream novel monitoring technologies and integrated solutions, it will assess the technical feasibility and socioeconomic viability of cascades of solutions through an integrated modelling framework, it will quantify the effectiveness and the net impact of these solutions, and ultimately it will empower Citizens to take action against pollution of soils, waters and the ocean, through clear measurable evidences, increased awareness, and water literacy. Path4Med pathways will be applied and demonstrated in large scale, integrated, Demonstration Sites established in representative Mediterranean areas, in areas representing other European seas and in associated regions. A digital platform and other relevant digital tools will be established to facilitate Path4Med actions, information and knowhow communication, and to support data exchange and data feeding to international Observatories and Knowledge Systems.

"According to FAO and WHO ,,Codex Alimentarius'': organic farming (OF) is comprehensive system of production management that supports sustainability in agro-eco-systems incl. biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity."" The focus is on domestic resource mobilization in the farm with minimizing external investments. The biological system takes into account the fact that the regional (local) conditions require agricultural system, adapted to the specific region. One of the way to achieve that is continuous adult education of the farmers (in other words lifelong learning - LLL) in agricultural, biological and technical approaches of organic farming as opposed to synthetic inputs. BioFarm project aims to improve the adult educational level in the field of organic farming. Organic Farming (OF) contributes to sustainable rural development, environmental protection and ensures better conditions for quality livestock production. OF is a specific production method that maintains the ecological balance and manufactures products covering the principles of ecological cycles of plants - animals – soil. The idea of organic farming existed a long ago, but a state policy for its development was applied from the last decade. Much of farmers oriented to organic production are facing problems and lack of knowledge in this area. OF as a concept and practice is constantly evolving and for its sustainable development it is necessary, the current and future farmers and their teachers to have the opportunity to enrich and improve their level of knowledge through the LLL programs. The objective of the project had been envisaged to be accomplished through a set of training in OF which was specifically prepared and implemented for the project. The topics of the training were according to the newest trends but also necessities for OF and refer on:OF and interdisciplinary approaches, the educational, legal framework and knowledge system of organic production in the project countries, participatory action research with farmers, introduction to OF, legislation and the certification process of organic production, market of organic products, networking of agricultural producers and associations - horizontal and vertical linking in the range of values. The training for the participants who were interested in and professionally in organic farming had been designed as their content had been tailored to the specific agro-ecological conditions of the countries of the consortium and the needs of the farmers. Beside, BioFarm website was created for easy access to educational materials.Some of the farming practices for organic production of plant and animal products and marketing of organic products in partner countries had been explored. Building strategic partnership enabled the development and implementation of innovations in the field of adult education, exchange of best practices to enhance the skills of workers in the field of organic production and shortening the distance between farmers and educational platforms in this sphere.Expectations were that the project implementation would be enabled also employees in the education sector of agricultural to benefit directly from the website-platform for learning and sharing of best practices in organic farming, which would improve their level of knowledge and would join them to a larger professional community."

Job search and career management will become the main future challanges for most of people, at any age. Career guidance is an essential component of modern education and training systems to (re-)orientate younger and older generations towards the acquisition of 21st century skills. Lifelong guidance has been receiving increasing attention at both European and national levels. Two Resolutions of the Education Council (in 2004 and 2008) have highlighted the need for strong guidance services throughout the lifespan to equip citizens with the skills to manage their learning and careers and to lead the transitions between and within education/training and work.The Resolutions drew attention to four priority areas: 1. the development of career management skills (CMS); 2. accessibility of services; 3. quality assurance and evidence base for policy and systems development; 4. co-ordination of services. Member States were invited to take action to modernise and strengthen their guidance policies and systems, but in many countries CMS frameworks has not been yet developed. Also previous EU projects provided evidences of this differences of approaches and remarked a great need of a shared framework and related training materials and resources, to improve learning and decision making skills, but also entrepreneurship, at any age.This project is named LEADER to underline the need of people to learn this strategic skills for managing and driving their own careers in a more and more changeable world. Following the report of ELGPN (2012) “Lifelong Guidance Policy Development: A European Resource Kit”, is based on some crucial questions on CMS:1. What are the competences that citizens of all ages need in order to effectively manage their career in a lifelong perspective? 2. How can such competences be organised within a framework that is meaningful in their substance and in developmental terms? 3. How can such competences be taught in educational and other contexts, in ways that, while effectively catering for all citizens, are also sensitive to different life development challenges, and the specific concerns of groups and individuals with diverse social, economic, cultural and other needs? 4. How can different providers work together to offer CMS programmes more effectively, in ways that make the best use of their specialised knowledge of the worlds of education, training, and employment? 5. Which pedagogical strategies and resources are most effective in enabling the mastery of career management competences, and how can such mastery be assessed and accredited in ways that support career development across different life stages?The implementation of this projects aims at the following actions:1 - identify and develop teaching and learning approaches, methods and resources that effectively support the development of CMS as transversal key competences ;2 - develop assessment and evaluation methods and practices that improve the quality of learning of Career Management Skills3 - identify and develop the integration of the European dimension in teaching and learning CMS.This project also aims at providing the whole professional comunity of career guidance practitioners with useful tools to implement CMS, even with a coherent and consistent use of modStarting from some positive experiences already tested from the consortium, this project aims at improving the quality in the learning and guidance processes, developing key skills of practitioners and experimenting innovative tools and methodologies with the use of new technologies. More then 300 users and 200 guidance practitioners from education, high adult edueducation, adult education and Employment services will be directly involved in a wide participatory action-research process for develop this new CME framework.The needs of students are at the base of the process, taking into account the specific conditions and cultural backgrounds of each region involved in this project.The project plan includes:- analysis of guidance needs and CMS frameworks in 6 Countries in different geographical contexts in order to define a shared model;- adaptation of ICT tools in order to meet the specific needs of practitioners and users, starting from successfully tools and models already used by the partnership;- testing the best resources and promote dissemination and exploitation activities;- development of training pathways for guidance practitioners/teachers based on cooperative learning approaches;- creation of an on-line platform for cooperative learning.

The European Disability Strategy 2010-20 states that about 80 million people in the EU live with mild to severe disability with a 70% higher than average poverty rate. They experience many barriers to learning and employment including discrimination and prejudice, poor basic skills and education due to, for example, missing school due to disability or illness, lack of confidence, lack of accessible learning and work environments. InfoAble will develop an Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) Mentors Toolbox, using the Europass model, for people working in a paid or voluntary capacity in lifelong learning and VET as support staff, trainers or tutors for disabled adults and young people. The materials will be delivered through a blend of self-directed and e-learning, face-to-face group seminar and professional structured support. Partners will establish local panels of disabled people and IAG practitioners to advise on the Toolbox development and will pilot it with 50 mentors (paid and volunteer - a minimum of 15 of these will be disabled people themselves) and 100 disabled adult and young people ‘mentees’ looking for work/training. Objectives include:• Needs analysis report outlining the status of IAG for people with disabilities in partner countries • Development of the Toolbox , self assessment materials • IAG Mentor Passport• Pilot of training, self assessment materials and framework• Green Paper ‘Lessons Learned’ ReportThe Toolbox will be designed to be delivered through 18 hours self-directed learning and 4 x 3 hour group seminars led by IAG practitioners and a range of pedagogical methodologies will be used to develop the materials including collaborative learning, explorative learning, game-based learning, virtual experimentation. The project will use a Prince II based project management methodology to ensure effective delivery against the specified workplan and targets underpinned by robust quality assurance. A key feature of the project is that it exploits an earlier KAICT3 project managed by some of the partners - Web2SEE (web2see.eu) which currently provides online information to disabled people. Experience from this project demonstrated to partners that there is a strong need for dedicated disability specific IAG mentoring and support in a range of media and settings, face-to-face as well as online. InfoAble will create a portal on the existing Web2SEE site for the public to download the IAG Toolbox and other project products.Project impacts and outcomes will include:Project impacts and outcomes will include: * Trainee IAG mentors will develop skills and competences and improved strategies to deliver IAG to disabled people – enhancing their professional development and increasing their competitiveness in the labour market. * Anticipated impacts on disabled mentees will include increased opportunities for inclusion and integration in education and/or the labour market through taking part in the project and benefiting from targeted IAG. * IAG and Learning providers will be reached through partners’ current networks and there is already interest in the project. They will be impacted through a range of project activities: the needs analysis in identifying barriers to inclusion and potential solutions and accommodating the varying needs of a range of disabilities; dissemination through their own networks; contributing to and reviewing the draft learning and self assessment materials and contributing to the post-project sustainability strategy. * Those IAG mentors who are volunteers will contribute to their local social capital and community cohesion, particularly relevant in 2014 which continues the 2013 EU Year of Citizenship. * Organisations employing/hosting the IAG mentors will benefit from an upskilled workforce and improved understanding of the needs of disabled people. * Partners will have gained mutual understanding of their working cultures and practices within the context of disability and the EU * The profile and abilities of disabled people will be raised across in partner countries and through the Toolbox launch event at the EU Parliament Building more widely in the EU. * At least one teacher/trainer from each partner will cascade learning from the pilots through* The project methodology is potentially transferable to other IAG practitioners working with socially excluded groups in other countries. * Widening participation for socially excluded groups is a priority for all partners. As lifelong learning, education or social welfare providers, all partners’ strategic plans include widening participation in learning, VET and employment by disabled adults and young people.* A significant contribution will be made to the development of training materials, framework and standards which partners are committed to promoting their adoption them in their own countries will have great potential to become common across the EU.

Across Europe we have in recent years witnessed a rise in populism, accompanied by exclusive nationalisms and concepts of identities that are developed by othering migrants and those with migrant roots in particular. At the same time, the European cultural and education sectors have remained committed to practices that promote social inclusion and intercultural dialogue. This raises questions about where and how these practices should be strengthened to provide a counter-weight to populist concepts and social divisions. Over the last three years, the concept of Third Space has gained traction in the European cultural sector. On a physical level, Third Space is understood as a space arranged and furnished so as to invite diverse groups to use it as they see fit. On a practical level, Third Space is understood as a practice which actively creates an environment that levels inequalities and enables equal and full participation by diverse groups, especially those in the minority. The Third Space format in both its physical and practical applications is therefore aimed at strengthening social inclusion and intercultural dialogue. The key objective of this project is thus to explore the potential and usefulness of the Third Space format for social inclusion and intercultural dialogue. Four of the partners will develop specific activities using Third Space methods during the duration of the project. These Third Space activities will be evaluated by the academic partner. The theories and methodologies of Third Space, partners' experiences with their Third Space activities against their particular social and political context, and the activities' evaluation will be shared and taught in four staff training workshops. The target group for staff training workshops are (cultural) educators working with diverse groups with the aim of strengthening social inclusion through different practices. There will be a total of 20 educators participating in the staff training workshops.Target groups for partners' Third Space activities will be 'old' and 'new' citizens, that is so-called 'natives' and those who have migrant roots. These groups will be brought together in and through the Third Space to review their respective cultural practices, heritages, stories and identities, and to create new practices, new heritages and thus new identities in the groups' shared societies. In this, we are particularly interested in the potential of the European identity as a supranational identity that may overcome divisions where national identities may prove too rigid. We aim to involve a total of 200 participants in these activities. The project will produce an in-depth evaluation report providing much-needed empirical data on the application of Third Space methods in the education and cultural sectors. It will also produce four detailled case studies of Third Space activiites, providing outlines that will enable others to replicate the approach and/or adapt it to their own circumstances. The project will also produce an outline for training on Third Space, which will be delivered to a group of 15 educators as part of the project. All materials produced as part of the project will be disseminated through partners' websites, the project blog, as well as partners' networks and through use in partners' subsequent presentations at conferences and publications in academic and professional journals. It is envisaged that a total of 250 individual participants will participate in the project directly. The desired impact of the project is a better understanding of Third Space as a format and method to improve the effectiveness of educational practices aimed at social inclusion and intercultural dialogue. The project also hopes to provide a space for 'old' and 'new' citizens to come to a shared understanding of their identity and thus to contribute to a counter-narrative to populism, particularly on a European level.