INES – cross-border educational services
INES builds educational services that work on both sides of the Danube. 600 people from rural areas and vulnerable groups in Dolj County and in the districts of Vidin and Montana learn digital skills, entrepreneurship and their neighbour’s language — Romanians learn Bulgarian, Bulgarians learn Romanian. We are a project partner; the lead beneficiary is Active Society Association in Vidin.
Key facts
| Project code | ROBG00226 |
| Full title | Innovative educational services in the cross-border region of Vidin – Montana – Dolj |
| Programme | Interreg VI-A Romania–Bulgaria, European Regional Development Fund |
| Priority / SO | „An educated region” · S.O.4.2 |
| Our role | project partner (PP2) |
| Lead beneficiary | Сдружение Активно общество / Active Society Association, Vidin, Bulgaria |
| Associated organisation | Active Sports Society Sports Club, Vidin |
| Duration | 18 months |
| Total value | EUR 455,623.36, of which EUR 364,498.68 ERDF (80%) |
| Budget we manage | EUR 204,328.82, with an own contribution of EUR 4,086.58 |
| Area | Dolj County (RO411) · Vidin and Montana districts (BG311, BG31) |
Who benefits
600 people, split evenly between the two countries: 400 rural residents, 60 young people not in employment, education or training, and 140 representatives of other vulnerable groups including minorities and people with disabilities. By subject: 200 in digital skills, 200 in entrepreneurship, 200 in languages. 400 are trained through mobile services, 200 through the online platform.
What we do
A study of key competence levels across the cross-border region, with at least 400 target-group respondents and 60 companies, across three age bands — under 29, 30–55, over 55 — followed by three days of info-day meetings. A trilingual online educational platform in Bulgarian, Romanian and English, with user profiles, courses, timed tests and automatically generated certificates: building and maintaining it is our responsibility, and it stays live after the project closes. Training programmes and materials for all three competence areas, plus 20 video lessons of up to 20 minutes each. An information campaign with 20 rural meetings and 520 radio broadcasts, reaching an estimated 20,000 people. 40 mobile training sessions in groups of 10, 40 class hours over five days, for 400 participants. Online language courses at A1 and A2 level, 50 study hours per level, for 200 participants.
We train 300 residents of Dolj County: 100 in digital skills, 100 in entrepreneurship, 100 in Bulgarian across two levels.
Committed results
Output indicator RCO85 requires 600 participations in joint training schemes; PSO4 requires one investment in education and training services, namely the platform; RCO87 requires three organisations cooperating across borders. Result indicators require completion by all 600 participants and continued cooperation between the three organisations after the project ends, through a five-year cooperation agreement. Each partner plants at least ten trees.
Relevance for a partner
This is our current cross-border project and the one most likely to be relevant if you are looking for a Romanian partner in the Danube area. We hold the technical deliverable — the trilingual learning platform — which means we carry an IT and content responsibility, not only outreach.
Contact
Forever for Europe Association (Asociația „Mereu pentru Europa”), 43A Geniștilor Street, Craiova, Dolj County, Romania.
Email: mpe@mpe.ro · Phone: +40 351 176 824, +40 730 250 628 · PIC 946458877 · OID E10108505
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Co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund, under the Interreg VI-A Romania–Bulgaria Programme.
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