A practically relevant inclusive leadership approach was developed within the context of the EU project ‘Inclusive Leadership - a new approach towards reinforcing and developing members of disadvantaged groups’. Project was a common initiative of School For Leaders Foundation from Poland, alp activating leadership potential from Austria and EU-Fundraising Association from Germany. The main goal of the project was to increase the effectiveness of the development programs for the individuals from the disadvantaged groups by elaborating an innovative approach of inclusive leadership and introducing it into the practice of the leaders of those circles.The long-term goal of the project is to contribute to the increase of social competences and readiness to develop people from disadvantaged groups (migrants, refugees, people from rural areas and people with disabilities).The School for Leaders is an institution that cares for quality of public life in Poland and Polish Diaspora. Our mission is to support the development of civil society through training and support of leaders who perform their activities within the public sphere in NGOs, local government institutions and political parties.alp is a European network of professionals who are passionate about leadership and learning. alp members combine academic and practitioner backgrounds and experiences in the field of education, personal and organisational development from all over the world. alp brings together different perspectives and approaches in order to contribute to leadership development.The EU-Fundraising Association e.V. (EUFA) is a European oriented organisation that actively promotes European exchange. Registered as a non-profit organisation in 2010, the association is a fast growing network of more than 100 individuals and organisations. EUFA, therefore, actively supports the professionalisation of European cooperation between stakeholders.As part of the project three tools were developed to accompany those interested in inclusive leadership on their journey towards being an inclusive leader:Online Tool for a low-threshold first taste of the topic of inclusive leadership and an initial self-assessment of one’s own practice, as well as recommendations for the next steps to take.Handbook – Theoretical Framework with comprehensive information for a more detailed insight into the topic, as well as support for applying inclusive leadership in day-to-day practice.Manual for Trainers with numerous exercises and a model curriculum to support you when carrying out workshops on inclusive leadership.Within 17 months of the project several activities have been implemented: transnational project meetings, 2 trainings for 31 participants with the goal of developing the competences of raising inclusive leadership approach, several feedback rounds with experts as a support in developing educational tools.Project results have been promoted through 3 events: seminar in Vienna, seminar in Berlin and international conference in Warsaw.The inclusive leadership approach focuses particularly on collaboration with those who have any form of disability, have an immigration or refugee background, or live in remote areas where there is limited infrastructure or access to information.The practical examples and interviews that are part of the working materials, as well as the experts that were consulted in the development of the inclusive leadership approach, come from the fields of work mentioned above and ensure that the inclusive leadership approach is directly related to real practice.It is possible to transfer this approach to work with further target groups or in other work contexts. This has already been practically and successfully attempted during the project. For this reason, it is possible for us in reference to the developed approach to inclusive leadership to talk about a leadership approach that is generally applicable in social and economic contexts.Impact of the project:- Raising the competencies of trainers, educators of leaders in the Inclusive Leadership concept and its application in educational work among disadvantaged groups- Strengthening the competences of 3 organizations in the field of teaching inclusive leadership and conducting educational processes in disadvantaged environments- Organizations participating in the partnership have become the authors and experts of an innovative method of preparing leaders to work in disadvantaged environments - the maintenance of the access through the internet to the intellectual products elaborated as part of the project.In the long-term perspective,the increase of social competencies and the readiness to develop and the empowerment of the people from disadvantaged groups, the introduction of the IL approach into the practice of the leaders of disadvantaged groups, the improvement of the quality of activities with regard to the disadvantaged circles.

Background The EU makes use of the CLLD (community-led local development) approach in numerous funding programmes. As part of this, they invite local interested parties to become involved as regional experts in the design and implementation of area-specific development strategies. A key example of the CLLD approach is the LEADER for the support of rural areas as part of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). This was implemented by around 2,600 local action groups (LAG), in which representatives for stakeholders in regional development from the state, free economy and society were represented. With the ongoing funding period, the CLLD approach will increasingly be used in the other three European Structural and Investment Funds, as well as in national funding programmes for area-specific development. The partner countries share the challenge that the development potential of the CLLD approach is not yet being used to its full extent. In particular, employees of civil society organisations do not get involved as frequently in the processes of regional development because they do not know the approach, are unable to make use of it or are unaware of the added value that it holds for themselves, their organisations and the area or region. Goals The project is aimed at qualifying paid and volunteer workers in adult education institutions and civil society organisations for better participation in the development and implementation of area-specific strategies (e.g. aid organisations, smaller associations such as volunteering agencies, environmental initiatives, church groups that want to be involved in socio-spatial work). There are two innovative products that have been developed, tested and promoted for this: 1. innovative teaching and learning materials (online learning resources, handbook for trainers, curriculum, awareness raising tool) and 2. a process for the personal certification of CLLD trainers. These have been developed on the basis of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). The project makes the products available free of charge via the internet in the partners’ languages (German, Dutch, Polish, Romanian, Hungarian) and in English. This is achieved through an open licence in editable, digital form. A consortium joined forces to make these goals become reality: a diverse group with expertise in regional development, CLLD, funding policy, adult education, social welfare, development of curricula, (online) teaching and learning material and certification. Furthermore, the partnership between a state church, a further education establishment, a university, a European association and a welfare organisation, a LEADER region and a municipality strongly represents the interests of future users. This ensures that the products are developed in line with the current needs. Within the project team there are managers, university teachers, municipal representatives, consultants, trainers and project managers all working together. The project bases its management on the PRINCE2 method (Projects in Controlled Environments). The creation of the products takes place in a process of ensuring a shared knowledge base, specifying products, creating test versions, user tests, revision/finalisation, dissemination. The project aims to reach 254 participants directly in its dissemination: 56 are involved in a Europe-wide survey, 50 are involved in an online test, 12 are testing in controlled individual tests, 16 are taking part in the transnational learning activity, 150 are taking part in a total of 5 multiplier events. The participants are: -Staff members of education providers/ the partners’ civil society organisations/ their networks -Participants in the partners’ education offers/ their institutions/ members -The partners’ network partners/ associated partners The project’s results will be distributed to around 20,000 managers and employees in the member organisations of adult education and charity associations in Europe. 2,600 LEADER regions will be reached through the 28 national LEADER networks. The project qualifies people to implement or improve the participation of their organisation in the processes of regional development. In the middle to long term, these new competences increase their employability. Civil society organisations profit from the competences of their employees and extended networks in the region with a positive impact on competitiveness and attractiveness as an employer. Regions gain new interested parties and new cooperations in the implementation of their development strategies. A certification concept ensures long-term quality and acceptance. Even during its implementation, the project takes into account a potential later extension of the online learning tool (e.g. with elements of cooperative learning, further language versions) and the sustainable use of its results.

Why is ‘inclusive leadership in the digital age’ necessary?Many leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), small and medium-sized organisations (SMOs) and startups are faced with a dilemma. They are wondering: how can I lead my organisation when I’m not even at all sure myself what direction the digital journey is heading in? How can we successfully shape the future together?INCLUDE picks up on two central current developments: firstly, the trend towards flatter hierarchies and shared responsibility and, secondly, the digitalisation of all business sectors. Both aspects form the starting point for a new, practically relevant and innovative leadership approach in the age of digital transformation.Objectives and target groups: The objective of the project is to support SMEs, SMOs and startups in the daily challenges of digital change by providing them with an up-to-date, inclusive leadership approach. To achieve this, teaching and learning materials have been developed within the project for leaders and for individuals who would like to or who ought to accept more responsibility. On the one hand, these materials allow leaders to master ‘inclusive leadership in the digital age’ one step at a time alongside their work. On the other hand, training providers and voluntary trainers in vocational education can make use of the materials and model curriculum to offer training to the target group. The 4 INCLUDE products are:1) A ‘process model’ to give a better understanding of ‘inclusive leadership in the digital age’. Amongst other things, users will be aware that the introduction of new inclusive leadership approaches necessitates fundamental changes in their organisation’s usual business operations.2) A ‘curriculum’ based on the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), with which both internal company training courses and open training courses can be designed for the target group.3) An INCLUDE handbook, which employs ‘ready-to-use’ methods and instruments primarily to enable the personal and practically oriented further training of leaders and employees in SMEs, SMOs and startups at their workplace. 4) An ‘email course’ for sensitisation and as a low-threshold way of entering the project’s topic. INCLUDE offers learners the opportunity to establish and develop their own skills in an area of activity that is highly relevant for the job market.Who is involved in the project? In order to achieve the project objectives, the project consortium covers a wide range of content and guarantees a strong emphasis on the interests of future users. To this end, a training provider, an institute of higher education, a professional association for small and medium-sized businesses, two chambers and two NGOs are all working together on the project.Within the project, numerous lecturers, leaders, consultants, trainers, project managers etc. from the participating project partners are contributing to the success of the project.The project will reach at least 178 people directly: 18 leaders and employees of the project partners are participating in a transnational learning activity, 40 members of the target group are testing the project’s products in 5 national workshops, and 120 people are taking part in a total of 5 multiplier events in the 5 project countries.The participants have been recruited from the following structures:- Members of the chambers, professional associations and NGOs,- Trainers, students and learners from the training providers in the consortium (in particular institutes of higher education and vocational education),- Further individuals or network partners of partner organisations.How does INCLUDE work? A classic approach has been used for developing the products: (1) creating a common knowledge base, (2) designing and developing / programming the project products, (3) testing and revising, (4) publishing the project products and (5) disseminating the results. The transfer to further areas is already being prepared in the course of the project. PRINCE2 (Projects in Controlled Environments) was utilised as the project management method.Who will benefit from the project? The project results will be disseminated to around 25,000 leaders and employees of European SMEs, SMOs, startups and vocational education and training (VET) providers. Up to 5,000 representatives from the target group are expected to actively use the INCLUDE products.What are the expected medium- and long-term impacts? INCLUDE trains individuals who are capable of arriving at inclusive and up-to-date solutions in the intersection between ‘leadership’ and ‘digital transformation’. Their companies and organisations will, as a whole, become more competitive, will be able to create new workplaces in the medium to long term, and will strengthen the European Economic Area.

Why is “upgrade2europe” necessary?Only those aware of the possibilities open to them and able to make use of them will be able to live out values in a European way, be socially engaged beyond their national borders, and take part actively in European (economic) life. Yet many organisations lack the ‘institutional readiness’ that this requires. A professionalisation is needed if those involved are to implement their international activities within Eu-rope better in the future. This is where upgrade2europe comes in.Aims and target groups: the aim of the project is to support educational institutions, small and medium-sized organisations (SMO) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the service sector with the challenges of international work in Europe. An integrated digital learning tool will be developed for this with 6 complementary products that will be available free online. Users can use this learning tool to acquire the necessary skills for the Europeanisation of their enterprises or organisations alongside their work one step at a time, and will be able to apply these skills directly to their daily work (work based learning approach). Education providers will be able to use the materials and model curriculum to offer training to the target group.The 6 upgrade2europe products are:1.A process model that clearly shows how the step from national work through to European work, or the optimisation of European work, can systematically succeed.2.A curriculum on the basis of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). This will facilitate the de-sign of internal organisational training and of training courses for the target group.3.An upgrade2europe handbook that will enable personal and practical training at the workplace with the help of ‘ready to use’ methods and instruments.4.Teaching and learning videos that focus on the most important areas of Europeanisation and give users a first impression of the relevance of the different topics.5.A digital self-assessment tool to help users analyse their organisation’s degree of readiness for inter-national work in Europe and give them immediate individual recommendations for action.6.An email course to sensitise recipients to the topic of Europeanisation.upgrade2europe offers learners the chance to expand and establish their own skills in a field of activity that is relevant to the job market.Who is involved in the project? To achieve the project aims the consortium has a range of members and ensures that the interests of future users are given a strong weighting. To this end, two training provid-ers/SME, a higher education institute, a national and a European professional association, a chamber of commerce and an NGO are working together on this project.Within the project, various higher education teachers, leaders, trainers, consultants, project managers etc. from the participating project partners are contributing to the success of the project.The project will reach at least 381 people directly: 19 employees of the project partners will take part in an international learning activity, 48 people from the target group will get to know the products in 6 national workshops, 54 people will apply them directly in 18 test organisations, 50 people will be in-volved as online test users and 210 people will take part in a total of 18 multiplier events in the 6 project countries.The participants will be recruited from the following structures:-Members of the chamber, professional associations and NGO,-Trainers, students and learners from the training provider in the consortium (especially higher educa-tion institutes, vocational and adult education),-Further individuals or networking partners of the partner organisations.How does upgrade2europe work? A classic approach was used for the development of the products: (1) creating a shared knowledge base, (2) designing and developing/programming the project products, (3) testing and revising, (4) publishing the products and (5) disseminating the results. The transfer to further areas will already be prepared whilst the project is in progress. PRINCE2 (Projects in Controlled En-vironments) will be implemented as the project management method.Who will benefit from the project? The results of the project will be disseminated to around 20,000 leaders and employees in educational institutes, SMO and SME. It is expected that up to 5,000 repre-sentatives from the target group will actively use the upgrade2europe products.What are the expected mid-term and long-term effects? upgrade2europe trains people to successfully shape the process of Europeanisation within their organisation and contribute to the future design of Europe in the area of shared values. Their companies and organisations will on the whole be more competitive, able to create new workplaces in the mid to long term and able to strengthen the Europe-an economic area.

In the Vocational Education and Training and Adult education sectors, initiatives supporting the Europeanisation and internationalisation of the stakeholders remain rare. In 2009, the European Commission envisioned education and training systems and institutions to become “more European and international” (COM(2009) 329 final). The Erasmus+ programme 2014-2020 sustains this vision through the support to projects whose goals are to “increase the capacity and professionalism of education and training institutions to work at EU/international level, and to improve the management competences and internationalisation strategies”.In this context, the project “Europeanisation” has been initiated to create an online self-assessment tool that helps education and training organisations “find out how well prepared they are for working internationally”. This tool is freely available here: www.europeanisation.eu. This tool has for objective to help educational organisations identify and remove the obstacles preventing their institutions from successful work at the EU/international level. We indeed observed in the past that educational organisations were often unable to gauge their fitness or “institutional readiness” to work at this level. In the absence of evaluation tools, many organisations overestimated and some underestimated their organisational capacities. The tool is therefore an eye-opener. Managers and other teaching and non-teaching staff members can freely and confidentially assess their organisation with regards to 7 capacity areas: (1) Mission, Vision, Culture, (2) Strategy and Management, (3) Human Resources, (4) Project Management, (5) Financial Capacity, (6) External Communication, (7) European Dimension. In these 7 capacity areas, the user navigates through 42 issues within which s/he discovers 4 situation descriptions per issue and is invited to select the description which reflects the best his/her organisation. Depending on the answers, the user finally gets an assessment report describing the readiness of the organisation to work at the EU/international level. The assessment report includes concrete recommendations of actions in the short- and long-term. Some “success stories” of internationalised organisations and tips from practitioners complete the tool. In the academic and practitioner fields, this kind of tool is usually called “Organisational Capacity Assessment Tool” (OCAT). This tool is the first European OCAT specifically targeting education institutions with the goal to assess their international capacity. The approach of the tool is not to create a hierarchy between organisations. Users do not have to reach the top level to be successful at the EU/international level. The approach is to encourage an internal improvement process for all users, precisely in the organisational capacities considered more decisive in their internationalisation process. Consequently, the tool not only is a diagnosis tool but also a learning tool. It has for overall objective to contribute to the organisational development of the education institutions using it.The tool has been elaborated for the VET and Adult education sectors. But the other education sectors can benefit from it. The tool is equally valid to organisations having no international experience and to the ones already implementing European/international activities. It can for example help applicants for Erasmus+ KA1 mobility projects in their preparation of “Internationalisation Strategies” as well as KA2 applicants in preparation of their Strategic Partnerships. But the tool is also perfectly applicable outside the context of Erasmus+ as a tutor for Europeanisation/Internationalisation. The tool is totally free of charge, compatible with any device including smartphones and tablets, and available in English, Bulgarian, Croatian, German, Greek and Hungarian. The first users of the tool have reported that the tool is “forward-looking” and “inspiring”. The impact created is that the tool “makes you think of topics you take for granted”, is “a productive way to think about their institutions” and is “useful to improve European strategies”. The expected long-term benefit for these organisations is to make their Europeanisation/internationalisation strategies more efficient and more durable, and consequently raise their overall performance.The tool has been developed by a European partnership of 7 organisations of various educational sectors and with expertise in Europeanisation strategies or organisational development: emcra GmbH (Germany, Lead Partner), the EU-Fundraising Association (Germany), the European Center for Quality (Bulgaria), the Institute for Postgraduate Studies at the University for National and World Economy (Bulgaria), the Cyprus Project Management Society (Cyprus), the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Csongrád County (Hungary) and the German Association-Organisation of the Danube Swabians (Croatia).