Qualification for sustainable services of general interest – NahDa Erasmus Project

Project Title

Qualification for sustainable services of general interest – NahDa

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Social entrepreneurship / social innovation; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

In many communities in rural areas of Europe, services of general interest are threatened or have already been lost – with serious negative effects on the quality of life of the people living there. They feel disconnected and in many places a disenchantment with politics or even democracy is developing. Neither the market nor politics have been able to stop the collapse of structures. New approaches are therefore needed to ensure the sustainable provision of services of general interest, which are (co-)initiated by citizens and implemented together with all local actors.
The project is dedicated to this challenge.
Within democratically structured participation processes in 7 pilot communities, citizens are enabled and supported in initiating and if necessary, running multifunctional centres of sustainable services of general interest – NahDa-Centres. A NahDa-Centre offers not only food and goods for daily use, but also other services that are currently lacking and needed in the villages – such as medical and social care, gastronomy, post office, bank, mobility, meeting rooms, barrier-free living space, cultural offers…

In order to support citizens in the conception of needs-oriented and economically viable NahDa-centres, two software tools with application guidelines will be developed: A basic-analysis-tool for the calculation of profitability and a tool for activating household surveys – for the holistic and demand-oriented development of offers in the NahDa centres. The tools and application guidelines will be available to the NahDa-Teams and other initiatives and developed with few barriers and high usability to give access to users with different levels of prior knowledge.
In an online database, researched best-practice projects for sustainable services of general interest from several European countries are prepared and compiled, so that the NahDa-Teams do not have to reinvent the wheel, but can learn from the best. The database is also available to other interested communities or local initiatives and can inspire and motivate them to initiate NaDa-processes and new NahDa-Centres.

The committed citizens – the NahDa-Teams – are empowered by professional Trainers, the NahDa-Process coordinators, who are also specifically trained for their work: Certified curricula are developed for the training of the NahDa-Teams as well as for the training of the process coordinators. Within the framework of the project, 20 employees of the partner organisations will be trained as adult trainers and process coordinators in the field of sustainable services of general interest and approx. 56 citizens in 7 model communities will be qualified to develop and operate perfectly fitting NahDa-Centres for their communities as local NahDa-Teams.
Residents and community leaders of the pilot communities who are not actively involved in the NahDa teams are reached through awareness-raising activities and public events and sensitized for sustainability issues.
In the pilot communities, NahDa-Centres are established as a visible sign of sustainable consumption and lifestyle. In this way, citizens experience the possibilities of shaping their own lives in a democratic culture with a high degree of self-efficacy. In addition, local jobs are created, regional economic cycles are strengthened and in the long term the quality of life is increased for all.

The ECTS-certified training courses for process coordinators are offered by the partner organisations on an ongoing basis after the end of the project and are available to other adult education institutions.
After the end of the project, the partner organisations will carry out the NahDa-ideal process in other interested communities and qualify further NahDa-Teams within the framework of this process. The ideal processes and the project results from the pilot communities will be compiled in a handbook for Europe-wide transferability. The project results will be presented to relevant stakeholders and the associated partners from politics, church, economy, civil society, science and research in three international multiplier events. In addition, the multiplier events offer the participants opportunities for exchange on topics of sustainable services of general interest, for getting to know already existing best practice projects, as well as for international networking.

The project partners of the consortium have the common intention to initiate a European network of rural academies for sustainable services of general interest (LAND). In LAND-Academies, as future competence centres for innovative, sustainable solutions for challenges in rural areas, further qualifications for process facilitators and citizens will be offered.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 446165 Eur

Project Coordinator

Spes e.V. & Country: DE

Project Partners

• K-Punkt Ländliche Entwicklung im Kloster Heiligkreuztal
• DORV UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
• Komimo vzw
• Landelijke Vereniging voor Kleine Kernen
• SPES GMBH