Most Member States have developed policies or regulations designed to encourage the practice of recognition of nonformal and informal learning but there is still sparse provision and a lack of analysis likely to provide an effectivebasis for policy making and implementation of recognition activities.To develop a strong network of national and European experts for the transfer and development of innovation, andintegrated European solutions for the identification, assessment and recognition of non formal and informal learningand to create a permanently updated European Observatory on validation of non formal and informal learning.This Observatory will give access to actors concerned by the recognition and validation issues to existing data inEurope . This means:• to identify, collect on a national basis information on regulations, arrangements, pilot projects, experiments, tools,methods, statistics, activities,…;• to analyse and present them in a common format ;• to realise study cases based on the best practices developed in different contexts and sectors;• to review national debates or discussions;• to review research on the policy and practice of validation and create an annual annotated bibliography and literaturereview;• to propose all these elements on a website;• to promote an annual European validation prize honouring the most interesting practices.Impact: The short term impact is to provide to all actors information likely to help them to implement, improve,develop recognition and validation of non formal and informal learning. In a long term, the main beneficiaries wouldbe those, employed or not, who receive positive recognition of what they have learnt outside the formal systems ofeducation and training