Kick-off Meeting, 20-21 January 2026, Serres, Greece

The Kick-off meeting of the project E.G.A.R. was successfully held on 20-21 of January in Serres, Thessaloniki.

The first meeting provided an important opportunity for the participating organisations to get to know one another and establish the foundations for their future cooperation. Representatives of Sciaraprogetti APS (Italy, coordinator), PRAXIS (Greece), and the University of Seville (Spain) gathered all together to start unveilling and clarify all the important tasks they needed to start working on for the better on going process of the project.

During the meeting, the project’s objectives, activities and different implementation phases were presented in detail. The partners discussed the initial research phase, which will be coordinated by the University of Seville, as well as the professional training programme. The training will begin with an online course and will continue with a face-to-face training course in Italy.

The participants also discussed how professionals will be selected and engaged in the training activities. Possible dates for the training course in Italy were considered, together with the organisation of local workshops involving additional professionals in each participating country.

The long-term phases of the project were also presented. These include the development of the mobile application, pilot activities with young people, the preparation of educational materials, an e-book, practical guidelines, a socio-affective education programme and an intervention plan.

An innovative part of the project will be the organisation of itinerant workshops in Italy using Sciara’s bus. Local dissemination events will also take place in each participating country, allowing the project’s methods, activities and results to reach a wider audience.

As part of the meeting programme, the partners met with representatives of the Child Protection Service. This visit offered an opportunity to learn more about the needs and challenges faced by professionals who support children and adolescents, as well as to discuss possible approaches to prevention, protection and intervention.

A significant part of the meeting was dedicated to the management and coordination of the project. The partners discussed and approved key documents, including the Partnership Agreement, the Management Plan, the Quality Plan and the Sharing and Promotion Plan.

The roles, tasks and responsibilities of each organisation were clarified, while the partners also reviewed the activity schedule and the process for developing the project’s results. Financial and administrative procedures were presented and discussed, together with the project budget, the creation of the website and the selection of the official project logo.

Communication and dissemination will play an important role throughout the project and will begin from its early stages. The partners agreed to create digital and printed promotional materials, regularly update the project website and social media pages, and publish articles about the activities, experiences and new skills developed by participants.

Photographs and videos from the project activities will also be shared, while each organisation will contribute to the promotion of the project through its communication channels. Local dissemination events will be organised in every participating country, and local media will be invited to support the visibility of the project and its results.

The tangible results of the project, including workshop materials, the e-book, guidelines, the socio-affective education programme, the free mobile application and the intervention plan, will be translated and made accessible to professionals and organisations in the participating countries.

The first transnational meeting marked an important beginning for the project and laid the foundations for strong and productive cooperation among the partners. Through research, professional training, the exchange of experience and the development of innovative support tools, the project aims to contribute to safer environments for young people, both offline and online.

to be continued….