Unique regional cooperation during more than 20 years – an overview of the cooperation activities (Antra Carlsen, 2015) – Nordic Baltic cooperation in adult education since 1991

First period: competence development and learning decade (1991 – 2002).
July 6-August 14, 1992 July 5-August 13, 1993 October 31-December 9 1994	NFA, Göteborg	Summer and Winter Academies Summer Academy 1992, a six weeks course for the policy makers of adult education in the Baltic countries (15 participants from the Ministries) and Central European countries (Ministries and other decision makers) Summer Academy 1993, a six weeks course for 30 adult educators from the Baltic States Winter Academy 1994, a six weeks course for the municipality level: planners and organisers of AE, inspectors and leaders of organisation. For 30 participants from Baltic States	Policy development Teacher training System and organisation development
April 20 – 22, 1994	NFA, Göteborg	”Green Qualifications”, Nordic – Baltic conference on environmental education	Environmental education
April 20 – 22, 1995	Latvia	”The Future of Adult Education in the Baltic States”, Nordic – Baltic conference organised by the Latvian umbrella organisation in co-operation with NFA
September 28–30, 1995	Estonia	”Adult Education and Baltic Co-operation”, Nordic – Baltic conference organised by the Estonian umbrella organisation in co-operation with NFA
May 5–19, 1996	NFA, Göteborg	“New methods in adult education”, 2 weeks course for 30 Baltic educators from the central AE organisations	Teacher training
October 28–November 10 1996	NFA, Göteborg	“Leadership and management”, 2 weeks course for 30 Baltic NGO leaders	NGO leader training
December 5–19, 1996	NFA, Göteborg	Course in environmental education, sustainable development for Baltic adult educators and environmental organisations	Environmental education
October 7 – 21, 1997	NFA, Göteborg	“Teaching methods in adult education”, 2 weeks course for 30 Baltic educators from the central AE organisations	Teacher training
October 28–November 10, 1997	NFA, Göteborg	Course in environmental education, sustainable development for Baltic adult educators and environmental organisations	Environmental education
November 30–December 18, 1997	NFA, Göteborg	“Leadership and management”, 2 weeks course + 2 days practice in Nordic NGOs for 30 Baltic NGO leaders from the central AE organisations	NGO leader training
June 2–21, 1998	NFA, Göteborg	Course in environmental education, sustainable development for Baltic adult educators and environmental organisations	Environmental education
December 7 – 20, 1998	NFA, Göteborg	“Teaching methods in adult education”, 2 weeks course for 30 Baltic educators from the central AE organisations	Teacher training
August 16 – 29, 1999	NFA, Göteborg	“Methods in adult education”, course for Baltic and Russian adult educators	Teacher training
First period: local and regional partnership development in Latvia and other Baltic countries
August 16–29, 1999	Lithuania	”Democratic methods in teaching adults”, a further training course for adult educators and teacher trainers from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Northwest Russia.	Teacher training
October 4–12, 1999	Nordic countries	1 week practice for the leaders of the central AE organisations / NGOs from the Baltic countries in the Nordic umbrella organisations. Deeper knowledge about Baltic experience disseminated. Teams of trainers created in the Baltic countries for the follow up.	Organisation development
December 3-5, 1999	Tallinn	“The 3rd sector and the State in lifelong learning promotion”, Nordic – Baltic Conference with the goal to evaluate the NO-BA NGO leader training programme, suggest future actions, look for new ways of cooperation between the state and NGOs for the promotion of adult learning
May 29–June 11, 2000	Baltic states	NGO Leader training course	NGO leader training
November 5–14, 2000	Nordic countries	Baltic NGO leader practice in the Nordic AE organisations	Organisation development
September 23–28, 2001	Nordic countries	Baltic NGO leader and local administration practice in Nordic Adult Education Organisations	System and organisation development
September 29–October 2 2001	NFA, Göteborg	Practice summarising seminar and planning for the follow-up in the Baltic countries
February 1-3, 2002	NFA, Göteborg	“State, municipalities, NGOs for learning society”, International Conference
November 10-19, 2002	Nordic countries	Practice in the Nordic AE organisations with the focus on local development through adult education. One NGO leader and one local government representative from the Baltic states in the same Nordic organisation; partnership between local governments and NGOs	System and organisation development
First period: networking
1997 – 2001		Nordic – Baltic NGO network 7 network meetings organised. Decision taken at the last meeting to spread NO-BA experiences to Northwest Russia and do it in cooperation and systematically.
January 30-31, 1997	NFA, Göteborg	1st NGO network meeting to discuss AE development in the region since 1992. Umbrella organisations participate. Agreement about yearly meetings reached. Structure and aims of the network discussed
October 17–19, 1997	NFA, Göteborg	2nd NGO network meeting to discuss the Communication channels and the NFA cooperation project database. Practitioners and umbrella organisations participate. Deeper exchange of experience is of interest and the next meeting is to be held in the Baltic states
October 15–18, 1998,	Riga	3rd NGO network meeting “Democracy and adult learning, the role of adult education in the civil society development”. Discussion of the political level cooperation among the umbrella organisations and generating practical cooperation project ideas among the practitioners
February 19–21,1999	NFA, Göteborg	4th NGO network meeting “Competence development and the role of popular adult education in the process”. Professional, social and civic competences discussed. NFA database of projects discussed and ways of updating decided
September 3-5, 1999	Vilnius	5th Nordic – Baltic NGO Network meeting to discuss FHS cooperation and Adult learners’ week. The goal to intensify local practitioner networks set
September 15-17, 2000	NFA, Göteborg	6th Nordic – Baltic NGO Network meeting “NGOs in the learning society, new partnerships in lifelong learning promotion”
October 5–7, 2001	Tallinn	7th Nordic – Baltic NGO Network meeting “Local partnerships for learning society, the role and profile of adult education organisations in the modern society”
1997	St.Petersburg	Nordic – Russian networking conference organised by FOVU
August 24–September 13 1998	NFA, Göteborg	“Leadership and management”, 2 weeks course + 1 week practice in Nordic NGOs, for 24 Baltic and 6 Russian NGO leaders from the central AE organisations. Re-established BA-RU contacts	NGO leader training
December 3–6, 1998	Tartu	Nordic – Baltic Networking and Cooperation Conference with Northwest Russia.
September 6-19, 1999	Latvia	Further training for Baltic and Russian NGO Leaders,	NGO leader training
October 9-29, 2000	NFA, Göteborg	Further training for Baltic and Russian NGO leaders Study visits to the Nordic AE NGOs in Sweden and Denmark	NGO leader training
May 13–June 3, 2001	NFA, Göteborg	Further training for Baltic and Russian NGO leaders, 2 weeks course and 1 week study visits in Sweden and Finland	NGO leader training
September 23–October 5, 2002	NFA, Göteborg	Russian NGO Leader training	NGO leader training
October 5-12, 2002	Estonia	Russian NGO leader study visits in Estonia	NGO leader training

Second period: further development of cooperation and capacity building of organisations and educators (2002 – 2008/10)
2000 – 2002 2000 April 23-May 4, 2001 January 5-9, 2002 December 5 – 8 2002	Nordic and Baltic countries Baltic countries and NFA Estonia NFA, Göteborg NFA, Göteborg	“Learning 4 Sharing” Nordic – Baltic Module-based Further Training for Adult Educators. The project belongs chronologically to the first decade but in terms of the maturity of the cooperation already marks the beginning of the 2^nd period. The project has been implemented within Nordic-Baltic cooperation and includes the experience of the three Baltic States in developing adult education curriculum and training programs for adult educators. Pre-courses in the Baltic countries and one at NFA for Nordic participants for the needs analyses and project design International Module for the core team – trainers of trainers. International teams of trainers created. Mid-term evaluation followed by study visits and practice in 8 thematic teams in each-others organisations, national consultation process Final international summary; the list of criteria for a good adult educator adopted	Teacher training
January 30-31, 2003	NFA, Göteborg	“Formal adult Education for sustainability”, Idea conference on the creation of the Baltic Sea network for sustainable development
May 11-13, 2003	Riga	“A Human Touch – Adults Learning with a Difference” Nordic – Baltic Lifelong Learning Conference
February 12-14, 2004	NFA, Göteborg	“Reality and vision in Adult Learning” Nordic – Baltic seminar on future cooperation in the field of adult learning. Statement for the future cooperation produced.
		NFA closed in 2004. After that, the organisations themselves take over the responsibility for the planning, coordination and implementing of networking and project activities. Regular Nordic – Baltic meetings between the central umbrella organisations for adult education take place.
February 13, 2004 January 4, 2005 January 10, 2006 January 11, 2007	NFA, Göteborg Copenhagen Helsinki Tallinn	Nordic – Baltic Umbrella organisation meetings: Kick-off meeting Host: Danish Adult Education Association (DFS) Host: Finnish Adult Education Association (VSY) Host: Estonian Non-formal Adult Education Association (ENAEA)
Second period: sharing of experience
2003 – 2005	NorthWest Russia	“ALLA – Adult Learning for local Action” The project focusing on the local civic society development promotion through the educational activities in St.Petersburg, Pskov, V. Novgorod. The organisations participating in the project have had adult learning provision as one of its priorities. The long-term goal of the project is the creation and implementation of the strategy for the local civic society development through adult learning in the three project regions	NGO leader training Local and regional development
2004 – 2006	Europe	“AGADE – A Good Adult Educator in Europe” The European project develops further the criteria and curriculum produced during the NCM supported Nordic – Baltic project ”Learning 4 Sharing”. The project formulates the criteria of a good adult educator in the partner countries and develops a curriculum for adult educator further training course based on the set of criteria. The target group for the course are adult educators (teachers, moderators, facilitators, coaches) with at least 3 years practice/work experience in adult education from the partner and other European countries.	Teacher training EU Grundtvig project.
2005 – 2007	Nordic and Baltic countries	“Joint Actions in Validation of Learning (JAVaL)” The project aims at the creation of a partnership network for the development of national systems of assessment and validation in the Nordic-Baltic area as a necessary tool in lifelong learning, ensuring quality of acquired key competences and facilitating the measurability of social and personal capacity for furthering career opportunities.	Validation Nordplus Neighbour project
Third period: new quality of cooperation, decision making and creating new knowledge together (2008 – today)
February 14 – 15, 2008 February 25-26, 2010 March 24, 2011 March 1-2, 2012 January 17-18, 2013 April 3-4, 2014 March 16-17, 2015	Oslo Riga Helsinki Tallinn Stockholm Reykjavik Oslo	Nordic – Baltic Umbrella organisation meetings Host: Norwegian Association of Adult Education (VOFO) Host: Latvian Adult Education Association (LPIA) Host: VSY Host: ENAEA Host: Swedish Adult Education Association (FBF) Host: Association of Adult Learning in Iceland, Leikn Host: VOFO
2015 2014 2013 2012	Estonia Latvia Lithuania Estonia	Baltic Summer Schools 4^th Baltic Summer School 3^rd Baltic Summer School 2^nd Baltic Summer School 1^st Baltic Summer School

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