Resource Centre

Co-creation is more than participation. It implies that different stakeholders co-initiate, co-design and co-implement a project or programme together. This report, created in the frame of the Erasmus+ project “Co-Create”, aims to analyse the situation in the participating countries of Austria, Denmark and Finland.

International cooperation is part of the work of many life-long learning organisations in the European civil society sector. Nevertheless, many are not yet involved in international partnerships or could not implement international cooperation successfully. However, international cooperation could help the organisations to initiate internal learning processes and spark innovation. This is the general idea of European cooperation programmes like Erasmus+. Some civil society organisations are utilizing the possibilities of these programmes, but more are routinely applying for funding without success or have never even tried. As anyone who has ever reached out for such financial support knows, these applications require time and personnel in order to be successful. Therefore, starting international projects is a challenge, but implementing them can be an even more daunting task. Project managers need support and specific skills if they are working internationally. In which way do the organisations’ management departments support their international project managers? First-time international project managers especially need help as they are most often not prepared to work in an international environment.

The aim of the BRIDGING project is to work together across the seven countries to bridge social capital and strengthen inclusion, cohesion and trust in our communities at a time when there is much division and misunderstanding. The project will develop new participatory and co-creative cultural learning approaches that can be shared with practitioners across Europe. Educators – including managers, consultants, teachers, trainers, instructors and volunteers – will benefit from the results of the State of the Arts surveys, new idea compendia, teaching materials and curricula generated and tested through the project. The unique position of participatory culture, representing an enormous and diverse population across Europe, highlights the potential for these activities to have a huge impact on social integration across traditionally segregated groups in our societies.