The increased levels of migration within the EU coupled with the arrival of migrant, refugees and asylum seekers from outside the EU has added ever increasing importance for citizens to be active, inclusive, open and understanding in their daily lives. Recognising and valuing cultural diversity is important in ensuring that there is harmony within communities in all EU Member States. Young people play an important part in shaping our future society and in their work NGOs and more specifically youth workers can provide experiences and insights to help young people to develop positive opinions relating to culture. The valuable role cultural diversity plays in community cohesion is recognised by the Council of Europe and institutions at local, regional and national level across the EU. In this project we were adding value to the debate and providing partners with new skills and knowledge to equip youth workers to support young people in their developing healthy and positive opinions. The project comprises five partners from Italy, Latvia, Slovenia, Spain and UK who are active in the field of young persons mobility and promoting cultural diversity within their locality. All have expertise to share and equally recognise the importance of learning from their peers across the EU to improve their knowledge and skills. As a Sharing Good Practice project each partner will hosted a short-term joint staff training event attended by two representatives from all partners and two partners will hosted Blended Mobility of Young People events for all partners to attend. This provided over 2 years a platform to identify and assess current good practice and debate new ideas and strategies to improve the quality of youth work in the field of cultural diversity. We 40 short-term joint staff training event mobilities and 16 Blended Mobility of Young People, which was a valuable opportunity to broaden horizons and inspire participants in their work with young people. We created an active social media group to enable participants to exchange ideas and have a support platform to contribute to their ongoing professional development. The project has a strong commitment to ensuring outcomes are actively disseminated so all organisations can draw on our results to improve how they can use cultural diversity as a tool in engaging young people. We produced a Good Practice Guide drawing on current partner work and the new ideas developed through the programme of co-operation. The Guide included written material, videos led by young people. We researched existing diversity training and look to create a new approach and ideas, rather than just replicate what is already available. We disseminated through partner websites, social media, events attended and their extensive European Project networks, with the aim of contributing to the research and development of future policy in this field. The longer term benefit of the project is to equip youth workers with a suite of new ideas to enable young people to value and have positive opinions relating to cultural diversity. Open minds are an important part of a healthy society and we will add to the partner skills to play their role in creating these outcomes for their communities. Combining staff / volunteers and young people as participants in the journey will also enable a wider audience benefiting from the sharing of good practice which will feed into the resources available to make a positive sustainable difference to the outlook and opinions of young people. Additional and very key future benefit related to active ongoing co-operation between partners to develop the content and outcomes of this project for the benefit of young people.

Context and back ground of the project: Life long learning is an important part contributor to active ageing and ensures that people stay active, have sense of purpose and do not become socially isolated which impacts on their mental health. Need to increase the circle of friends who they could rely on as families become more fragmented as a result of migration and economical reasons. The project fitted well with UK current agenda of keeping people age 50+ active and reduce loneliness. It is also important to increase longevity with quality of life through learning's and steps are taken to ensure there are facilities for people age 50+ to engage, the idea of this project was combined with other partners, to what best could be found which will help the target groups to stay active and healthy, as people are living longer it is important to keep the pressure of the NHS services and other services, hence the reason local stake holder are stepping in voluntarily or paid staff to run the activities, in the UK health walk was one of the example where it's run by the volunteers every week in the park, it has also helped to make good use of green space and being in the greenery benefits your mood and mental health. The project partnered with six other partners, Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Lithuanian, Latvia and Spain to come together and address the issues that are concerning Europe.Objectives:The objectives of the project were to learn and share from partners the best practices how to keep people age 50+ engaged and what activities they are doing which could be replicated in other partner countries. Number and Profile of participation organisation:UK involved 9 organisation and individuals providing the activities, they included local groups, adult trainer, individual trainers providing activities to the older people, NGOs, count council, repair Shed and Radio DacorumSpain: in their programme included 8 different organisation, sight visits, NGOs, theatre work shops by 2 different trainers and workshops on various topic. The community house was the key to all activities, it was a unique example of 120 nationalities living under on roof, provided activities to all ages from baby to 70 year old, what was learnt from this that sometimes it's important to have a roof over you head before we can event think of Active ageing. Lithuania: there were 8 different organisation engaged with the project as well as some seniors, Art Laboratory, which is a hub for people to come together and do the activities, Sport activity and body flex, visit to Lekeciai where national cooking was show cased, local NGOs, visit to tarakai region to learn about adult education center, University of third age, Art gallery, Sport university combined research with Coventry university UK to look at how to keep people active in old age as there is no funding left for pension, professional came together to find solution. Greece: nine organisation were engaged with the visit however local municipality has also been engaged with the project, the organisation included, Athens impact hub which is used as a hot desking and coming together to create ideas for projects, Musuem of folk Art, Starvros Niarchos Foundation, story telling with Stelious, Friendhips club and visit to amarousion Open Center for Senior protection.Latvia: involved almost 12-15 different organisations and individuals which included local municipality, NGOs, older lady dancing and music group, Regional development center, Gym and physio session, recycling session, visit to medieval castle, Library, Nordic walking in nature, Adult education center, NGO preserving cultural and historical craft traditions. Bulgaria: art therapy workshop, visit to retirement club, trip to Zlatograd where following workshops took place, Saddler, weaving, Pottery and tailoring. visit to Plovdiv, which is 8000 years old town. Italy: included six interesting organisation, lots of NGOs working with older people as well as people struggling financially, autistic people, Co- housing scheme, Urban gardens included inter- generational learning. sight seeing of Rome and learning about history with senior volunteers.Results and Impacts mentioned later on in result and Impact section. Long term benefits are also added in the Impact section, however can highlight that the participants who did take part in the mobilities have further developed their volunteering skills and have carried out activities in their home countries, nature park, litter picking, healthy cooking, other benefits include finding new ways of up skilling through volunteering and creating social friends as well as thinking outside the box.

The main aim of the Project is to create international network of companies operating in the area of Diversity and Inclusion as well as individuals - managers for whom diversity management becomes one of the key competencies. Their goal will be to promote the idea of Diversity&Inclusion in the workplace, create the tools and solutions to support the implementation of the idea in business environment, delivering and sharing the knowledge skills and best practices on diversity and inclusion and diversity management. The expected outcome is to create national equivalents of this kind of network in countries participating in this Project. The primal model is the Polish foundation Diversity Hub. It works as a think thank which main goal is to create a public discussion forum about the idea of Diversity in management. Diversty Hub has already organized 6 conferences and few more minor events on specific topics on diversity area (like interculturalism, age, gender etc.) with the participation of representatives of various environments: scientists and practitioners – business representatives, public institutions, non-governmental organisations and media. The other fields of activity are: organizing workshops, consulting, sharing good practices, conducting researches in various topics of Diversity. The project is based on the mobility, it assumes the organization of international meetings / training with companies which belong to the network. Their taks will be development of rules of the network, excjange the knowledge and experience and learning from each other, collecting material concerning diversity and inclusion in the workplace and icluding more bodies to the network The meetings would have two variants: • training session with experts in the field of diversity management and human rights in the context of business. Training would aim at increasing the knowledge of the participants in creating a friendly diverse environment, how to overcome difficulties resulting from working and living in such an environment and how to extract the largest amount of advantages carries by diversity. It is the basic knowledge, fundamental to start a work with creating a national think thanks. • Exchange the ideas about starting the possibilities of starting the diversity think thank network at every country. The involvement of organizations with big experience in organizing events will be also crucial to Exchange the „know-how” about how to organize an succesfull event in the topic of D&I. Diverse character of involved organizations will be seen at various levels - both international and national. The international character of the network gives it additional value - the exchange of experiences from different backgrounds. Intersectoral character of companies will provide the clash of different perspectives - through a holistic look at the situation. The network can also be a basis for start the new projects and initiatives organized to promote the idea of diversity and inclusion. Project will be realized by diverse partnership of 7 organizations from 6 countries, all of them have huge experience in different dimensions of diversity and inclusion and will give the best possible input. Project will last 24 months. Specific Objectives: • to create the international network of companies and institutions focused on exchange the knowledge, ideas and best practices on the topic of Diversity and Inclusion. Not only institutions will benefit from the network, but also managers developing their competencies in diversity and inclusion. • to launch instruments of providing and sharing the knowledge and best practice on diversity in the workplace: knowledge platform and newsletter. • Increase the knowledge of participating organizations on the topic of Diversity&Inclusion, exchange of experience, learning from each other; • Increase the knowledge of participating organization related to how to start a think tank/network focused on D&I issues and promotion of this topic;

The FENCE - Fighting gENder bias and Contributing in gender Equity- aims at gender bias practical mitigation through equality awareness and gender competence; the project’s context is in alliance with European Commission’s Gender Equality Policy, the ‘Strategy for Equality between women and men’, the EU Gender Policy, the Gender Equality in Horizon 2020.FENCE’s roots have to do with the gender stereotyping which limits the development of the natural talents and abilities of women and men, as well as their educational and professional experiences and life opportunities in general. Stereotypes and bias about gender can cause unequal and unfair treatment and cause personal or social perception & reflections concerning for example personality traits, domestic behaviors, occupation and physical appearance; with all the discrimination and inequality they can cause against women, this realty demands for continuous and coordinated actions and training tools as a process to make different key-actors ‘gender empowered’ and ‘gender sensitive’. The project includes 7 partners (CAD-COMMUNITY ACTION DACORUM, DOCUMENTA, PROGRAMMA INTEGRA, XPCSA, CSI, INOVA, GRIPEN) from 6 countries (UK, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Romania ); it addresses empowerment and capacity building actions for individuals primarily as public staff in local authorities and public bodies, social affairs services, and NGOs and CSOs members, leaders, representatives working in the field of gender equality or human rights promotion; its objectives are:a) to make specific key-actors (individuals) empowered on gender bias fighting through gender equality issues awareness, gender competence building, gender equality goals promotion; these individuals belong to both men and women groups b) to create and deliver innovative products and training tools- as tailored needs learning resources – based on differentiation methodologies and adult education approachesc) to empower them by taking advantage of the opportunities offered by ICT and digitizing the quality of learning content The activities include respective intellectual outputs and multipliers events (National Seminars/Workshops, Final Conference); the FENCE IOs comprise of the Review Paper (IO1), the FENCE Curriculum (IO2), the Digital Toolbox & Resources (IO3), the Methodological Guide (IO4) and the Policy Book (IO5). Last, it is expected that through the targeted actions there will be a significant positive change at local, national and EU level on gender issues promotion, active gender bias fighting and gender equity.

The world of learning is multi-dimensional in terms of contributing to the economic prosperity and wellbeing of society. The project looked at one specific dimension of learning benefit, namely how to use learning as a tool to address social isolation and loneliness among older people. We drew on the expertise available from partners in Latvia, Poland, Portugal and UK to collectively learn, shared and planned new strategies to maximise the benefits of learning among the target group European demographic data highlights in all countries an increase in the average age of the population as a result of the twin trends of increasing longevity and reduced birth rates. Freedom to move for work and travel in Europe is a great positive benefit of the Union, however it has led to many families facing greater distance of separation, with younger and older generations living in different countries. This reduces the traditionally family led support and a resultant increase in isolation among older generations. Many studies highlighted the impact isolation has on mental health, general wellbeing, reduced nutrition and exercise. Loneliness can sap self-confidence and reduce quality of life. learning can play a role in addressing such isolation, provide a purpose to leave the house, to network with and make new social contacts / friends. The project partnership currently engaged in these activities, though each recognise the opportunity to improve through sharing ideas, learning from each other and introducing Self-Organised Groups as a strategy to ensure sustainability of learning.Through four short-term joint staff training events we provided a platform for experts to share learning techniques and methodology in areas such as quality standards, learning planning / delivery, intercultural and intergenerational dialogue, mentoring, self-organised groups and in specific topics (e.g. traditional arts & crafts, horticulture, reuse of materials, IT, language etc). Through the training events we identified and developed good practice examples and published these in a Good Practice Guide on How Learning Contributes to Combatting Loneliness and Social Inclusion, which will be widely distributed to ensure learning is maximised to both internal and external stakeholders. Alongside the Guide we also prepared and made freely available a Toolkit on How to Set Up and Maintain Self-Organised Groups as a method of ensuring ongoing learning provision.