FIL spa FORMAZIONE INNOVAZIONE LAVORO
Was founded in order to manage professional training and provide various services on behalf of the Province of Prato - such as services regarding the labour market and employment service - FIL is a joint stock company including: Province of Prato, Municipality of Vaiano, Montemurlo and Prato, Chamber of Commerce of Prato, CO.GE.F.I.S (organization founded by Unione Industriale Pratese, CGIL-CISL-UIL), Confartigianato of Prato, CNA, Confesercenti and Unione dei Commercianti di Prato. Fil operates in these areas: Professional training, training on-the job, Professional orientation (career advice), Matching work’s demand/offer, Apprenticeships, professional training pilot projects and researching in learning methodologies; Consultancy, recruitment and training for private companies. In last five years, FIL Spa promoted several activities in which mentoring methodology was developed in two fields: 1) mentoring in companies to support the career of new employees (“Progetto tutor aziendale” about good practices in training apprentiship tutors, Progetto “Metodologie innovative per la gestione e la formazione del personale neo-assunto” founded by national founding–Fonter ‘06); 2) mentoring to support students entering in labour market – professional orientation (Sistema moda - programma interregionale moda ‘05/’07).
www.filprato.it

ARBEIT UND LEBEN HAMBURG
Is a 50-year-old adult education organisation, maintained by the German Trade Union Federation and the Volkshochschulen (an institution offering adult education). Arbeit und Leben offers courses in: trade union studies, social and political studies, immigrants, vocational training for unemployed and specially unqualified people, and international youth exchange. Arbeit und Leben organizees more than 200 courses annually with more than 2500 participants.
There are 25 full- and part-time staff working at Arbeit und Leben Hamburg. Arbeit und Leben has a large network of foreign adult education institutions all over Europe and also non- European partners. Arbeit und Leben Hamburg has conducted several international training projects in Europe with continental and especially Nordic partners in the field of vocational, social and political education.
www.hamburg.arbeitundleben.de

SCIENTER ESPAÑA
Is a research centre and service provider organisation, active in the field of education and training that was created as a Limited Company at the beginning of 1.999. SCIENTER ESPAÑA builds on the SCIENTER operational office active in Granada since 1996 and it counts on the experience provided by its main partners: SCIENTER in Bologna (Italy) and the University of Granada.
In general terms, SCIENTER ESPAÑA is interested in innovation of training systems, with main reference to the field of Open and Distance Learning, Organisational Learning, Lifelong Learning, use of Information and Communication Technologies in different fields such as Higher Education, Vocational Training, Professional Guidance, Local Development and Social Inclusion. It carries out research projects at regional, national, and European level. SCIENTER ESPAÑA has quite a vast experience in the field of international relations and in the global management of long term partnerships. We already count on a significant Pan-European network of relations that includes Trade Unions, Entrepreneurial Associations, policy makers, education and training authorities and universities. The working languages of SCIENTER ESPAÑA include most of the main European languages (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish).
www.scienter.es

IMFE - INSTITUTO MUNICIPAL DE FORMACIÓN Y EMPLEO
The Local Institute for Training and Employment (I.M.F.E) is an administrative Autonomous Local Organisation. It was created by the Municipality of Granada to encourage the local development policy by means of integrating and organising the different programmes of Training, Employment Promotion and Economic Promotion. Its aims are the improvement of training in Granada, of non-official education, of professional guidance and integration, of economic promotion, of enterprise supporting, employment promotion and fostering equal rights between women and men. Around 130 people are distributed in 7 centers, one for each town district.
Concerning the specific expertise in relation to the project, IMFE has been developing for many years mentoring actions towards professional career development with entrepreneurs. It is being used in everydays work by the technical staff from the Service for business support. Furthermore, specific mentoring activities directed to specific target groups have been developed within several European projects: EQUAL “Itinerarios de igualdad” (first round CI EQUAL) with an action on mentoring focused on women entrepreneurs; Leonardo da Vinci project “Down-Up” developing a mentoring methodology for the integration into the labour market of people with Down syndrome.
www.imfegranada.es

IFS - VEREIN FUR NEUES LEHREN UND LERNEN
The IFS is a young non-profit institution of applied research, which focuses on selected topics of future learning and work and the promotion of lifelong learning. The IFS mission is to provide active support in applying innovative ways of learning and getting a vision about future challenges of learning, education and training. The Institute investigates actual trends, analyses possibilities and risks in society and examines consequences on professional and private life. It tries to ensure more effective and cost-efficient education and respond to the increasing need to get oriented about the future of learning and the roles of technologies in education. Within a socio-economic context the IFS analyses the different dimensions of learning from a pedagogical, organisational and technological perspective. A strong emphasis is given to research on the future use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for different contexts of learning (formal, non-formal and informal learning) and their combination in education and training and at work. Scientific work is relating to flexible learning approaches and ways to decrease learning barriers. Here, special consideration is given to both individuals and groups with specific needs (eg. preparation of special materials for learners and trainers; Train the Trainer in order to sensitize for special needs). New projects focus on the needs of the ageing population and design-for-all requirements. A main focus of the IFS is the evaluation of projects (external, internal, of processes and results/products)
www.futurestudies.org

AMITIE' s.r.l.
Amitié was created in 1991 as a part of a University-Enterprise Training Partnership in the framework of COMETT Programme, sponsored by the European Commission, with the aim to promote training activities in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Amitié then created a private organisation carrying out the following activities:
Research in the field of the new methodologies of learning and in the labour market, focusing on analysis of employment needs, definition of new professional profiles, identification of good practices and benchmarking, in particular in the sector of cultural heritage, new technologies and social research.
Training activities mainly based on the use of e-learning, with the purpose to increase the accessibility to educational paths and to customise them according to individual needs. Amitié works on the development and testing of new training methodologies and learning materials, addressed to employed and unemployed, to help their professional updating and guarantee the trainers training.
Project Management, Consulting and assistance for projects funded by European Commission. Amitié promotes, coordinates and develops projects, providing support to enterprises and public and private organisations for the project management. Amitié is also active for initiatives of dissemination and promotion, organisation of seminars, courses and info days, to allow a wide and efficient diffusion of the projects developed.
www.amitie.it

MENTORING USA/ITALIA ONLUS
Mentoring USA/Italy – Onlus came into being in 1998 after an experimental stage conducted by C.N.R. in collaboration with the Faculty of Psychology of the La Sapienza University in Rome and the Department of Education Science at Lecce University. The method, on which the Program is based, joins an adult figure (Mentor) to a child or adolescent in their care (Mentee) in a way that is able to support the smooth and winning development of personality.
Every young person is followed by a volunteer who takes exclusive care of that individual. The project provides an exclusive relationship between the young person and mentor on a person to person basis as every individual has the right to be included, encouraged, guided and rewarded to prepare themselves for life with determination and serenity. Mentoring USA/Italy – Onlus has worked in the following regions from 1998 to today: Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Lombardy, Apulia, Sicily, Tuscany and Veneto. TheOnlus benefits from the patronage granted by the following ministries: Foreign Affairs; Culture; Law; Education, University and Research; Italians Worldwide; Equal Opportunities.In 2004, the Italian President of the Republic conferred the Onlus with a medal for a social mission.
www.mentoringusa.it

BHR CONSULTING & ASSOCIATES
BHR Consulting & Associates was established by Bertie Ross in 1994. BHR will be working with ALRA, a consultancy led by Prof. Andrew Miller of Middlesex University. Bertie Ross worked on the national evaluation of the Home Office Active Community Unit ‘Mentoring Fund’, led by Professor Miller. The evaluation process involved 37 programmes across the UK including the NMN, the national body for mentoring in the UK. BHR and ARLA also developed quality standards, mentor and mentee guides, and delivered training for LCEBA Secondary Mentoring in Central London from 2002 – 2006, training over 600 volunteer mentors during that period. Other collaborative projects include HE MentorNet funded by HEFCE and European funded projects such as Maitre. BHR and ALRA experience and expertise covers a spectrum of competencies in evaluation modelling, fieldwork, data collection instruments and analysis, research and report writing. They are proficient trainers and authors of training materials for a wide range of audiences related to face-to-face mentoring, e-mentoring or blended mentoring, WRL and social exclusion, work experience and employment. Both consultants have extensive experience of managing projects and budgets, currently work with transnational partners in Europe, and benefit from an excellent network of colleagues, organisations and businesses.
www.bhrconsulting.net