AlterContacts

How can education and skills partnerships turn ambition into action for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals? Join us for “Closing the Skills Gap for the 2030 Agenda: Lessons from EU Transnational Partnerships, a Virtual Side Event to the High-Level Political Forum 2026, hosted by Think Tank AlterContacts, NGO in Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC.

🗓 Date: Friday, July 10, 2026
💻 Where: Online | Zoom
🔗 Register now: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/hpGeowWTRUadosjXeCyECg #/registration

This interactive event will showcase five EU-funded Erasmus+ projects as concrete, replicable models of how education, skills, and multi-stakeholder partnerships can accelerate SDG implementation.

🌍 What to Expect:

+ A fully interactive roundtable (no slides, no speeches — your voice matters).
+ Direct exchange with practitioners, researchers, and project leaders working on the green and digital transitions.
+ Live polls, audience comments, and breakout discussions to spark new ideas.
+ Cross-sector perspectives from higher education, vocational education and training, adult learning, and local/regional governance.

🎙 Featuring:

Julia K. Skupchenko, Co-founder of Think Tank AlterContacts and an award-winning social entrepreneur, who will facilitate the discussion.

Maja Brkljacic, Head of Algebra LAB at Algebra University and the coordinator of AI4VET4AI project.

Susanne KLEEMANN, Chair and Professor of Sustainability Science and Applied Geography at the University of Greifswald, the coordinator of BlueGOV project.

Mariana Sá, Sustainability Specialist in marine and environmental sciences at Associação Portuguesa de Aquacultores, representing Circutech | EU Project.

Elena Pavić Project Manager at Algebra University, representing GreenScope | EU-cofunded project.

Daniela de Gregorio, Head of the EU Grant Office at the Institute of Mediterranean Studies and the coordinator of Sustainable Ecotourism Awareness.

This April marks a big milestone for the Think Tank AlterContacts: we are celebrating seven years!

Back when we founded this organization in 2019, we could not have imagined the journey that was ahead. From the strong start to the low of the pandemic to the inventive turn towards NGO and the heights of being recognized and referenced by the United Nations — it has been quite a rollercoaster. The only common denominator over all this time is our passion for the Sustainable Development of the planet and people.

We are deeply grateful to our many collaborators, experts and partner institutions that have been supporting us throughout these years. Hopefully, many more to come. You have inspired new ideas, joint initiatives and wonderful friendships.

It will take more than one book to mention everyone who has been collaborating with AlterContacts and everything that has been achieved together. Probably one day we will write about that. In this publication we decided to celebrate the heart of our organization: our volunteers.

We invite you to read this wonderful collection of stories from our volunteers here: https://www.altercontacts.org/publications/faces-of-altercontacts-2026

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