E-C-C Association for Interdisciplinary Consulting and Education is a non-profit association for interdisciplinary research, consulting and education. ECC is specialised in managing and coordinating scientific co-operation and educational projects in European research and education programmes. In summer 2014, ECC has adopted a strategic document that contains a strategic outline of the orientation of our organisation for the coming years. The following topics are being considered as most relevant for our staff qualification: • Increased capacity to act at EU and at international level • Improve technical skills and broader understanding of practices, policies and systems in the field of adult education at the European level • Improved quality of working with adult learners • Innovative and improved care of the target groups • Deeper understanding of social, linguistic and cultural diversity • Increased ability to deal with the needs of people with special needs As a consequence, we developed the „ECC 2020 Qualification Plan“ that foresees, for a two years‘ period between 2014 and 2016, education and training measures for its management personnel and staff in the following fields: • Quality assurance and quality control, with particular emphasis on working with disadvantaged learners and in social services • Increase the competences of disadvantaged adult learners • Working with older learners • Working with young people with difficulties (ADD, ADHD...) • Change making education: Recognition of self-power to face the risk-society • Aspects of non-formal education: basic skills, creative and artistic activities • Intercultural learning • Migrants’ learning ECC has set up a provisional plan together with several European adult education and/or VET providers that cover the areas of ECC’s qualification needs. Altogether, 10 staff mobilities have been organised. They concerned 10 individual persons who have attended 5 different courses and trainings. The ECC 2020 Qualification Project is being communicated to the educational and scientific community through a variety of measures: • through the ECC homepage (www.e-c-c.at) • through leaflets and other written communication that are being distributed at conferences, exhibitions etc. • through presentation of the qualification outcomes at relevant forums, e.g. at events organised by the National Agency • through a publication that will resume the most relevant information from the final report to the National Agency. This output will also be available for download at our website. The evaluation was an ongoing process during the entire project period. All learners will have been asked to • identify possible targets and success criteria before the commencement of work • monitor what happened by keeping diaries/records • check their progress against the targets, and • evaluate the effectiveness of what happened. ECC has organised evaluation meetings where all mobilities have been evaluated . Special attention has been paid to the consistency of the project objectives, and to the performance of training activities. At the end of the project, the medium and long-term impact of the ECC 2020 Qualification Plan has been evaluated through interviews with members of the board. This final evaluation has assessed the impact on the project’s objectives and on trainers and staff: The expectation that the newly acquired competences will strengthen the position of ECC at various levels has been fulfilled: • The scope of adult education courses and seminars has been widened, especially through more competences in non-formal education and competences in working with disadvantaged persons • ECC will be able to open a new line of educational and counselling services that will focus on intercultural issues (which will bring the second part of our name „Education – Culture – Citizenship“ back to life) • ECC will be become stronger to serve in practice European cooperation: more staff will be able to participate in European projects; we will develop and organize transnational training courses.