The project MIND aimed to fill in the gap and to foster critical thinking approach in non-formal adult education by strengthening professional capacities of adult educators and empowering diverse groups of learners to apply and cultivate CT in various spheres of personal, community, professional and social life. This was done by consolidating scientific knowledge and good practice, through partner organizations active in the fields of adult education, general education and high education.
The professional experience of the partner organizations proved that CT education had already become a part of formal school education and higher education studies. But in non-formal adult education, CT presented in a very fragmented way, either as part of media literacy, or as a tool to fight against propaganda. However, neither the concept of CT itself, nor its attributes as a CT competence, have been widely studied or analyzed in terms of how it is manifested in non-formal adult education, how it is applied. A preliminary analysis of the literature on the subject had revealed an apparent lack of not only the development but also the presentation of this competency in adult education of Lithuania. The situation was very similar in the partner countries - Latvia, Croatia and Romania. Therefore, all partners agreed on the need to increase the awareness and application of CT in non-formal education by bringing together science and best practice to suggest a universal model that can be applied and adapted in different adult education contexts while at the same time providing guidance for adult education policy.