SUSTAIN

Project: Sustain

Coordinator: Scienter (I)

Partners: FIM-Psychologie Friedrich Alexander Universität Erlangen (DE), Lambrakis Research Foundation (GR), Associazione CAMPO (I), EDEN (HU), Coimbra Group (BE), EuroPACE 2000 (BE), EADTU (NL), TFT ltd (UK).

Summary: The SUSTAIN project is a beacon project which aims at supporting the sustainability of SOCRATES ODL outputs through dissemination actions. The project wants to create a collaborative approach among actors in the field of ODL facilitating the circulation of information and developing a specialised network allowing operators to share working tools and services. It also stimulates the creation of synergies among projects presenting similar characteristics for dissemination purposes.

The three main target groups of the SUSTAIN project are SOCRATES ODL project promoters, people involved in ODL and operating in Education and Training bodies and potential users who may become aware of new resources, approaches and policy actions relevant to their needs.

Its actions are based on the principle that in order to guarantee effective and efficient dissemination of SOCRATES ODL outputs, top-down dissemination actions implemented on the initiative of the European Commission should be accompanied by directs actions by project promoters; hence, in order to stimulate promoters' initiatives and to enhance promoters' competences in dissemination, a substantial part of the SUSTAIN project is devoted to provide guidance, working tools and support to project promoters who should be interested in the sustainability of their project results. In this way a multiplier effect is likely to be generated and the results of the SOCRATES ODL Programme investment can be maximised. This can only be achieved with a strong support of the key actors involved in the dissemination of SOCRATES ODL outputs, such as the European Community, the SOCRATES TAO, the National Agencies and other SOCRATES projects pursuing the same aims as SUSTAIN.

Bottom-up project level actions are being stimulated by SUSTAIN by making clear that sustainability of the project results can be envisaged as being composed of various elements or "ingredients". They comprise visibility, networking, policy consensus, users feedback, funding (public or external), official recognition, competent staff, human resources commitment, achieved sustainability of related output. These elements are not independent from each other and difficult to measure in exact terms. In fact the sustainability of a specific output may depend, to a large extent, on the achieved sustainability of a more general output such as a new institution; but a number of them will need to be present if a given output is to be defined as sustainable. The type of necessary elements very much depends on the type of outcome. These elements are also not static in their nature, i.e. sustainability is not an eternal state. This reflects the need even for sustainable project outputs to continue developing and adapting. and that dissemination is based on a range of actions, which make project outputs available to persons who are not directly involved in a project. Availability of project results is understood to comprise all degrees of intensity, from pure information up to training exercises or involvement in decision-making. It can therefore be stated that "The reaching of sustainability, as defined above, therefore presupposes dissemination and the main motivation for dissemination, from the project promoters' perspectives, is the achievement of sustainability". The implementation model has been developed with the aim to allow project promoters to identify themselves and the characteristics of their environment, to develop a feasibility exercise on their actions oriented towards dissemination and sustainability, to utilise scenarios on future developments and to implement and assess their action.

URL: http://www.sustain.odl.org/

Supported by: EC, Socrates - ODL