Donor

Project "Regional Network for Inclusive Education" is co-funded by the European Union through European Regional Development Fund under the Interreg VI-A
Romania-Bulgaria Programme

Reference number

ROBG00225

Lead partner

Regional Partnerships for Sustainable Development, Vidin, Bulgaria

Partners

Free Youth Centre, Vidin, Bulgaria
Asociacion Vasiliada, Craiova, Romania

Territorial scope

15 border administrative districts of Bulgaria and Romania

Duration

14 months (August 2025 - October 2026)

Project overall objective

Improving the quality of inclusive education in the Bulgarian-Romanian border region based on consolidation and sharing of resources, exchange of best practices and mutual learning

Summary of the project

The project addresses the needs identified in the Programme documents to improve cooperation in the cross-border region in inclusive education. There are no joint Bulgarian-Romanian initiatives in this direction, with very few exceptions. The project therefore aims to make a progress by fulfilling two interrelated objectives: to build a sustainable and collaborative cross-border network of inclusive education professionals – Community of Practice (CoP); to improve the methodical capacity of these professionals to implement inclusive education policies, through mutual learning and exchange of best practices. The project operates in all 15 eligible NUTS3 regions. Its strategy is built in the following logical sequence: research, analysis and assessment of needs - development of resources and means of improvement - intervention (capacity building activities) - reporting of results, analysis and sustainability measures. The corresponding work packages and activities are arranged in a similar way. The WP1, envisages a large-scale study of the current state of inclusive education across the border region, its needs and challenges. Based on the research report, an international meeting of experts and stakeholders will decide the curricula of training schemes for educators. There will be two kind of such schemes: 6 thematic exchange of experience workshops in the field of inclusive education and 8 joint training seminars in the same direction. WP2 refers to the consolidation of the professional community of specialists working in the field of inclusive education from both countries through the use of the concept of Community of Practice - CoP (more precisely virtual CoP - VCoP) - this is part of the innovative contribution of the project. To this end, online tools, including a resource site and others, will be developed to provide this community with access to methodological resources and the possibility of remote communication. The project ends with a closing event - a conference to evaluate the achievements, disseminate the results and plan the future collaboration and development of the network. The main results are related to the continued cooperation after the end of the project, as well as to increase the capacity to carry out inclusive education in the target region. At least 150 specialists from both countries are expected to directly benefit from the project, and through them - many more students. The cross-border nature of the project is determined by the European approach to the development of education, which is based on the exchange of best practices and resources between member countries, rather than common legislation and regulations

Project budget

270.664,17 EUR (from ERDF: 216 531,32 EUR)

Visit project website - www.inclusiveeducation.net

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