In compliance with our 3 years’ strategic plan and building on the achievements of the previous year there are three focus areas of the work programme for 2016:1. Professional development: promotion of trainings for various target groups active in the field of education2. Recognition schemes: development of new tools to recognise competencies and award excellence in the field of digital and open education and e-learning3. Outreach: expanding our activities serves a growing community of ET stakeholders to promote innovation in education and to contribute to the realisation of the EU strategic priorities at national, regional and local levels and in all sectors of education.The goals are planned to be attained through the following activities in 2016:1. EDEN Executive Committee (EC) governance 2. EDEN 25th Anniversary Annual Conference3. Annual General Meeting (AGM)4. EDEN Academy5. EDEN open badges scheme6. EDEN awards7. 9th EDEN Research Workshop8. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning (EURODL) 9. EDEN Network of Academics and Professionals (NAP) Steering Committee activitiesThe Constitution of EDEN refers to the EC meetings as a means of governance between the AGMs. Besides the 2 f2f meetings (regarded as statutory ones) there were also 4 online meetings in 2015 to strengthen governance. To maximise members’ participation and increase governance this practice will be continued in 2016. Beyond the regular issues discussed and resolved at EC meetings, the Communication and Strategic Task Forces continue elaborating strategies with particular focus on outreach.The 2016 Annual Conference will be a special event celebrating the 25th anniversary of EDEN. Adjusting the content and promotional power will further strengthen the attractiveness of the event. Attached to the Conference, there will be a workshop to promote EU policy messages.The AGM of EDEN members will discuss and endorse new initiatives targeting the realisation of the above listed focus areas. The development of the EDEN Academy, which started in 2015, will be continued by further elaborating the clustering and the recognition schemes. Quality assurance and dissemination of the services will also be provided under this initiative.The 9th EDEN Research Workshop will be a knowledge broker event in the field of distance and e-learning and will strive to attract a wide range of researchers from all around Europe and the world with special attention to the involvement of young scholars.Awards of recognition (EDEN Fellow, EDEN Young Fellow, Best Research Paper, Best Practice Initiative) will be provided to support a new generation of educators, and to promote excellence.The highest quality research publications will be included in the European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning (EURODL) providing space for publications with multilingual abstracts as well.The European ET community will continue to enjoy and benefits from strategically important services, such as the monthly thematic #EDENChats (storified Twitter discussions) and collaboration initiatives with valued partners.The EDEN open badges scheme will be further elaborated and promoted to support the recognition of informal and non-formal learning.In EU projects we continue to play an active role in research and policy-making, dissemination, networking and sustainability. Next year we continue the synergy-building amongst EU projects and the European ET community as well.