The Project “Inclusive Leadership – the new attitude towards the reinforcement and the development of the members of disadvantaged groups” is a common initiative of 3 organizations from different EU countries: Poland, Austria and Germany. The main goal of the project is to increase the effectiveness of the development programs for the members of disadvantaged groups by elaborating an innovative model of Inclusive Leadership and introducing it into the practice of the leaders from those circles. A long-term goal of this project is to contribute to the increase of social competencies and the readiness to develop of the people from disadvantaged groups (migrants, refugees, inhabitants of rural areas and people with disadvantages). The participants of the project will be the employees of the partnership organizations (3 NGOs active in the area of adult education) and the circles of educators related to them, which can promote efficiently the elaborated method through the cooperation with the network of social leaders. The target group is made by the people from the disadvantaged circles: the inhabitants of the rural areas, the people with disadvantages, the migrants and the refugees, as well as the leaders of those circles as the main recipients of education activities.In spite of the expenditures and the programs run as part of EU, the indicators of participation of the adults in the education within EU remain low (10.7% on average). The dynamics and the level of this participation are worrying in some countries (Poland around 4% with the decrease from 2012; in Germany remaining at the level of 7.8%-7.9% from 2006), and so is the increasing gap between the best and the weakest. The participation in the education is the lowest among the people with the lowest competencies: with primary education, non-active professionally, the people with disabilities, the inhabitants of rural areas; the situation of migrants and refugees is particularly difficult. The key barrier in the education of the people from the disadvantaged circles is their lack of motivation and readiness to develop. As part of the project, an innovative approach will be elaborated, which includes the needs of those groups.As part of the 27-month-long activities the following events are planned: 4 international meetings dedicated to project management, the monitoring and the planning of the appropriate flow of the subject-matter works, 2 common training sessions of the personnel with the aim to raise the subject-matter competencies of those who work with the leaders of the disadvantaged circles (in total 30 people), the elaboration of 4 intellectual products: the description of the model of Inclusive Leadership, the description of the tools and methods of presenting and applying this model, the web tool to promote the knowledge about IL and the description of individual methods of support.The following results are expected: the increase of social competencies and the readiness to develop and the empowerment of the people from disadvantaged groups, the increase of the competencies of those who work with the people from the disadvantaged circles by means of Inclusive Leadership, the introduction of the IL model into the practice of the leaders of disadvantaged groups, the improvement of the quality of activities with regard to the disadvantaged circles, the maintenance of the access through the internet to the intellectual products elaborated as part of the project.The intellectual results of the project will be promoted through the realization of three activities: the promoting seminar in Vienna (for 24 people), the promoting seminar in Berlin (for 24 people) and the international conference in Warsaw (for 75 people). Additionally, the results will be promoted by means of internet and social media.We expect that the promotion will cover 2000 recipients in total.The project is consistent with the specific priority for the area of the education of adults – the elaboration and the implementation of an effective offer on behalf of the improvement of the basic skills and other key competencies for those groups of adults which are currently included in such offers to a sufficient degree, by elaborating the approach that facilitates the learning process in the groups with the lowest indicators of competencies.
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.