BACKGROUNDThe context of Third Sector organisations is changing fast. Most of the organisations are not very much adapted to the new reality. This situation begs for a change in the management culture and style. New competences are required and in service trainings in all over Europe should adapt. Competences such as Social Innovation, Advocacy, Entrepreneurial Skills, Social Innovation approach, Impact Evaluation, use of Social Media, Emotional Intelligence, etc. are a need and the figure of Third Sector Leader strikes.“The question which remains is whether Third Sector leaders can overcome historic rivalries and the competition for scarce resources to forge a new strategic alliance and a strong strategic narrative vision to exploit that latent power, and provide leadership to empower the whole sector.”Third Sector leadership the power of narrative, The Third Sector Research Centre, Birmingham, 2012THE PROJECT IN FEW WORDSThe project creates a strategic partnership among organisations dealing with Third Sector management and leadership in the European Countries. The project is missioned to transform current training in Third Sector management into a quality leap to Entrepreneurial Third Sector Leadership.The project duration is 30 months and the partner countries involved are from: United Kingdom, Spain, Croatia, Austria and Belgium.A VERY POWERFUL PARTNERSHIP- Very relevant Third Sector organisations and national federations with access to hundreds of Third Sector managers and from all over Europe (including Croatia, the new former EU member)- Involvement of a European Network which can disseminate the results all over Europe and its members/ contacts as well as access to European Commission contacts- Involvement of a high level quality partner with direct dialogue with the European Commission and its mechanismsOBJECTIVESSHORT TERM objectives:- To create capacity building to move from management to leadership in Third Sector organisations in Europe and based on emerging challenges and opportunities for Third Sector organisations across Europe- Create and consolidate a strategic partnership among few core organisations in the Entrepreneurial Third Sector Leadership in Europe- Create high quality, publicly accessible and useful materials for Third Sector training institutions, research professionals and policy makersLONG TERM objectives:- Be a spearhead for a deep transformation of the Third Sector Leadership- Consolidate and enlarge the core partnership by incorporating new relevant organisations and new expertise- Develop European projects with the partnership in order to face the main Entrepreneurial Third Sector Leadership challenges in organisations from all across EuropeACTIVITIES under the project:- Design of a European Framework of Competences for Entrepreneurial Third Sector Leadership in Europe- Focused research on the situation of the Third Sector in all 28 EU countries, its challenges and its opportunities- Knowledge paper on the State of the Art on Third Sector Leadership and management in Europe- Design, creation and use of a powerful and user friendly online platform with public resources- Create high quality, publicly accessible and useful materials for Third Sector training institutions, research professionals and policy makers (knowledge paper, policy paper, testimonies, lessons learned, etc.)- Create didactics based on the identified training competences and develop two pilots (blended and e-learning in service trainig). Evaluation and lessons learned of the piloting also included- Gather testimonies of Third Sector managers- Policy paper to lobby on Third Sector transformation- Consultancy with relevant European Stakeholders and Third Sector managers from all across EuropeBENEFICIARIES:- Third Sector training institutions and C-VET providers- Third Sector organisations and managers- Research professionals and organisations- European policy makersDISSEMINATION and EXPLOITATIONMain dissemination activities:- Transnational Consultancy Groups will take place at the same time as partner meetings are developed.- Powerful and user friendly online platform of public access with all materials created along the project.- Electronic and physical dissemination through network organisations, contacts, EU projects, close organisations, etc.- Multiplier event with the participation of at least 80 people.SUSTAINABILITYThe project is designed in a long term perspective:- Materials in the VIRTUAL PLATFORM will be publicly accessible- Knowledge and didactics will be transferred at least to project partners- Knowledge exchange and results for the Commission’s European Entrepreneurial Competence Framework and other relevant European Stakeholders- Strong lobby with policy makers about the use of the results- Future Skills Alliance initiative
The context of Third Sector organisations is changing rapidly. There is an urgent need for Third Sector organisations to adapt to the reality and face the challenges in the effective way. There is a holistic approach needed that looks at the management style and culture of the organisation. EU3leader project examined and looked at the transformation of the leadership training in the third sector: from manager to entrepreneurial leader. Working with third sector managers across 5 European countries: United Kingdom, Spain, Croatia, Austria and Belgium, EU3leader developed Framework of Entrepreneurial Competences for third sector leaders and subsequently conducted pilot trainings gathering a group of leaders ( total 50 managers) from 5 countries to test the training materials and a course curriculum developed during the project. EU3leader project is the first such initiative in Europe to look closely at Entrepreneurial skills of third sector leaders. The Framework of Entrepreneurial Competences composes of 13 key competences with its descriptions and levels per each competence. It is the excellent tool to assess the entrepreneurial skills of managers and most importantly to identify the missing gaps. The framework served as the baseline to develop the curriculum for the training journey ( In- Service Didactics) and further the content of pilot trainings conducted during the project. Pilot trainings took place in 5 countries, involving in total 50 managers from various organisations that were recruited by practice project partners. The aim was to test training methodology (curriculum) and training materials that were gathered during the project by all partners. As the result, there was the sound feedback and the recommendations received for the future training development for the remaining competences. The evaluation of results indicated that there is a great need for innovative learning methods ( blended and e-learning) and most of all the need to increase the training opportunities within the Entrepreneurial competences offered in the framework. Further, EU3leader also consolidated the relevant research on challenges and opportunities in 28 EU countries, which was conducted by Vienna University of Economic &Business and the research on leadership in the third sector done by Open University. Both papers gathered the research on the topics that gave way to better understanding of the competences that third sector leader need nowadays to ensure the sustainability of his/her organisation. In long term, EU3leader contributes to strengthen the leadership in the third sector by giving opportunity to the managers to build know- how, not only by following relevant courses and reading materials but also by connecting with their counterparts across Europe and learn from each other experience and replicate good practices to their environment. In the Policy Paper, EU3leader addressed recommendations to policy makers but also to leaders themselves. It emphasised the importance of promotion of the general public knowledge on entrepreneurial skills and dissemination of EU3leader framework within the sector by public officials. EU3leader also stressed the competence-based learning as the effective training method to replicate it on national and regional level by leaders in the respective countries. As additional recommendations , there was included the need of greater access trainings on entrepreneurial skills and validation of such trainings in the future on the European level.