To achieve the objectives of the 2030 Agenda, the UN recognizes a strategic role to education and training, with a view to Lifelong Learning. There are two dimensions in which the Educational Institutions, generically defined, are called to participate. The first is related to their institutional mandate, that is to achieve the goals described in Goal 4: "Provide a quality education, fair and inclusive, and learning opportunities for all". The second is inherent in the strategic role that the Institutions plays in shaping competent and responsible new generations that contribute to sustainable development. In this scenario, the Strategic Partnership for Adult Education named "FACIT: Fostering Active CITizenship competences" intends to raise the standard educational approach to an upper level, by promoting interdisciplinarity as the key for Active Citizenship learning/educational opportunities, through the acquisition of specific competences coming from different sectors, from Ecology to Economy, from ICT to Participatory Democracy and Social Cohesion. The project activities are scheduled in order to achieve the project objectives: FACIT will directly affect the educators/trainers/facilitators/staff members from the 5 partner organizations from IT, FR, PT and HE, working with Neets, Unemployed adults, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, adults facing geographical and economic disadvantages. Their involvement in every project's step will allow them to acquire new competences in the designing of innovative educational approaches to enrich Active Citizenship competences of their adult learners. After FACIT completion, the staff members will have learned how to integrate Economic, Digital, Ecologic, EU and Global Citizenships in the designing of any educational path (in any sector). This will be possible thanks to a structured work program with tailor-made activities. Beside the 3 International Meetings for coordination and management of FACIT, other specific activities are planned. 1/ In the first step, by taking part to 5 Study Visits, the partners will exchange best practices on educational approaches in 5 diverse sectors, which could improve learners' Active Citizenship competences: Economy e Business start up (Kainotomia, Economic Citizenship), EU Participation (FPD, European Citizenship), Human Rights Education (Integra Onlus, Global Citizenship), ICT (E-Juniors, Digital Citizenship), Ecology and Environment protection (Geoclube, Ecological Citizenship); 2/ The second step will concern the designing of a new methodological approach, adoptable in every context and sector, which will take into account all the 5 declinations of Active Citizenship previously experienced. Thanks to this new approach, in every Training course or educational path, it will be possible to ensure the full acquisition of Active Citizenship competences, regardless of the sector and the specific topic of each activity. E.g., it will be possible to educate adults to environment protection, by also introducing them to the economic impact of pollution, to the rights and duties of being EU Citizens, to the existing tools to have a say at EU level and to the necessary digital competences to use them online. In order to reach this results, one educator/teacher/facilitator per partner will be involved in a 2 months Training Assignment on Active Citizenship, to be held during summer 2021 in Portugal, when Geoclube usually hosts a Summer Camp for young adults, with the topic of Active Citizenship. The 4 foreign trainers (from FPD, Kainotomia, Integra Onlus and E-Juniors) will work together with the Geoclube's trainers; each of them will lead a training session in his/her own sector, focusing on the learning achievements in terms of Active Citizenship competences. 3/ After the Training Assignments, all the partners will co-design the final draft of the methodology, which will be adopted, by each of them, at the local community contexts. The results of this practical experimentation, which will involve a total of about 150 EU learners, will be collected and discussed by the partners and they will lead to the final version of the "FACIT TOOLKIT", to be released and freely downloadable, among all, from the main Adult education platforms (EPALE, E+ Results Platform, SALTO).
The FACIT project wanted to equip the staff members of the partner organizations with proper skills and knowledge, in order to integrate Economic, Digital, Ecologic, EU, and Global Citizenship in the designing of any educational path, in any sector. And so, the original idea was to give the opportunity to 5 different Institutions coming from 4 EU Countries to meet, exchange experience, share methodologies and involve their staff members in a sort of experimentation of new approaches in the adult education sector. Moreover, the project intended to give the educators/teachers/trainers, and facilitators an opportunity to discuss with their foreign colleagues the future of adult education in Europe, and contribute, at the same time, to the construction of an EU closer to its citizens, more supportive and closer to the needs of its citizens.
FACIT intended to raise the standard educational approach to an upper level, promoting interdisciplinarity as the key to Active Citizenship educational pathways, through the acquisition of specific competencies coming from different sectors: Ecology, Economy, ICT, Participatory Democracy, and Social Cohesion. This idea started from the objective launched at the Lisbon conference in March 2000, "Building an economy based on knowledge, for better job placements and a greater social cohesion" and for this, the EU had "to identify and define the key competencies for personal fulfillment, active citizenship, social cohesion and employability in a knowledge-based society". So, by doing desk research, it has been noticed that active citizenship and conscious participation are needed because it represents the "glue" for a cohesive society. Moreover, to contribute to reaching the objectives of the 2030 Agenda, and more specifically to Goal 4, the partner organizations involved in the FACIT project, had a strategic role in providing quality education, with a view to Lifelong Learning, pursuing the "sustainable development".