Benutzer:Emcra co-shaper/Upgrade2Europe(ENG - short)

upgrade2europe is a European project funded by the European Commission and implemented by seven partner organizations between January 2020 and October 2023. Under the leadership of the German training and consulting company emcra - co shaping europe from Berlin, various products were developed to prepare small and medium-sized organizations for European work.

“upgrade2europe” aims to support small and medium-sized organizations (SMOs) such as associations or foundations, educational institutions, and SMEs from the service sector in facing the challenges of transnational work in Europe. An integrated digital learning tool offers six complementary and freely accessible online products that accompany organisations on their path to Europe. With this learning tool, users should acquire the necessary knowledge for the Europeanization of their organizations, applying an on the job, step-by-step learning approach. Educational providers are encouraged to use the materials and a sample curriculum for further training offerings.

"upgrade2europe" is a European project initiated to address the imperative need for enhancing awareness and capabilities among organizations to actively engage in European civil society activities, embody European values, and participate effectively in the European economic landscape. The project recognizes that many organizations lack the institutional preparedness required for such endeavors and seeks to provide the necessary tools and resources to empower them for greater participation.

Operationalized between October 2020 and August 2023, "epgrade2europe" was a collaborative effort involving seven partner organizations from six European countries. This initiative received funding from the European Union's "Erasmus+" program under the project number 2020-1-DE02-KA202-007626. All participating partner organizations possessed extensive experience in international cooperation and organizational development.

At the heart of "upgrade2europe" lies a holistic approach aimed at assisting organizations in recognizing their strengths and identifying areas that require further development in the context of European engagement. It offers a comprehensive analysis tool and various organizational development resources to help build capacities across operational, technical, and financial domains.

This project builds upon the successes of the earlier EU project "europeanisation," executed from 2014 to 2016 (Project number: 2014-1-DE02-KA200-001539). "europeanisation" received acclaim from the European Commission, earning the distinction of a "Success Story" and being recognized as a "Good Practice Example" by the National Agency Germany NA-BiBB. In essence, "upgrade2europe" strives to continue the legacy of its predecessor by furthering the cause of European engagement and facilitating a more effective utilization of opportunities for participating organizations.

The aim of the project is to provide educational actors, SMOs and SMEs with the necessary materials so that they can develop and implement their Europeanisation strategies themselves. Before the project started, there were no comprehensive, easily accessible materials. With the 6 outputs that are freely accessible online, which together form an integrated digital learning tool, SMEs and SMOs should, on the one hand, advance the Europeanisation of their companies or organisations on a professional basis. On the other hand, training providers can use the developed materials and the model curriculum for further training offers for SMEs and SMOs.

In the medium to long term, the project partners aim to establish "upgrade2europe" as the No. 1 organisational development tool for all organisations that want to intensify their work across national borders in Europe.

As the project is funded by the European Union, the concrete project results (intellectual outputs) are available to the general public free of charge on the project website.

The process model gives an overview of the conceptual background of the project. The model describes and structures the organisational development process on the way to Europe. It defines four domains of an organisation and assigns nine organisational development areas to them.

The domains include the following:

1. Domain: Corporate Governance - The Foundations of Success
   • Mission, Vision and Organisational Culture
   • Strategy and evaluation of results
   • European and international dimension
2. Management and Leadership - Getting it right
   • Management competence
   • International activities and international project management
   • Leadership competence
3. Operations & Resources - People, Infrastructure and Finance
   • People and Infrastructure
   • Financial performance and financial management
4. European Partnerships & Alliances - Cooperation and Communication
   • Cooperation and external communication

Here users receive a evaluation of their organisation's maturity level as well as individualised recommendations for action so that they can initiate their next steps. The tool should be used in three phases:

1. Analysis: The tool shows users four situation descriptions per theme. Then users select the situation description that most closely describes their organisation. In total, all domains with their nine organisational areas are indirectly queried in this way.
2. Evaluate: After all questions have been answered, users receive an individual, automatically generated analysis. In this way, users can see how your organisation is positioned for international work and where there is a need for action. For each of the nine organisational areas there is an individual evaluation and subsequent recommendations for action.
3. upgrade2europe: On this basis, users should be able to prepare their organisation for work at the European level. In doing so, they can be guided by their individual recommendations for action.

It is recommended to design the whole "upgrade2europe" process together as a team and to involve as many colleagues as reasonable and possible. In this way, the path to Europe is shaped in a collaborative organisational development process, with the result of which the team identifies and implements together with commitment and conviction.

Of the written project outputs, the handbook is the most detailed, consisting of over one hundred pages. The "upgrade2europe" handbook provides users with extensive material to prepare their organisation for activities in Europe. The tools and methods are prepared in a practical way so that they can be applied directly in everyday work. The handbook also helps trainers to design interactive workshops as a more detailed complement to the Curriculum.

The users receive a basic opportunity to get involved in the topic. The course raises awareness and enables the first steps towards implementation. In the email course, users receive weekly emails for 12 weeks with information on the Europeanisation process. The emails have a reading time of around five minutes and the tips are designed so that they can be applied directly in everyday work. The email course is therefore a very easy way to get involved with the contents of upgrade2europe individually and without spending a lot of time.

The short tutorial videos of an average length of 15 minutes provide an accessible overview of the nine relevant areas of organisational development to prepare for work at European level.

The "upgrade2europe" curriculum can be used to design both in-house and public training courses, to make the approach known among the organisations addressed. For nine organisational areas, the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities are described in detail that are needed to independently and responsibly accompany an organisation on its way to Europe. The curriculum has about thirty pages and is also structured in four domains and nine areas of organisational development (see process model).

• Project website "ugrade2europe"
• Project website "europeanisation"
• "europeanisation" on the project database of the Erasmus plus program
• Information about upgrade2europe on the website of the project coordination emcra - co-shaping europe

Kategorie:Projektmanagement