Cardet Cyprus to lead a EuropeAid project

Cardet, a non-profit research and development organisation and a regional leader in the drive for next generation education, innovation and social reform, has become the first Cyprus non-governmental development organization (NGDO) to lead a EuropeAid Project.
‘Raising Awareness on Development Cooperation’ is a EuropeAid project that aims to mobilise European citizens – especially in the new member states – for the fight against global poverty, and to educate the people of Europe about the historical background, aims and scope of the European Union’s comprehensive development cooperation policy. The project is expected to increase collaboration among citizens, NGDOs and universities, and to inspire them to engage in the Development Cooperation debate. The project kicked off with a meeting in Cyprus on January 28-29.
“This is a major win for Cardet, especially since NGDOs are still in their infancy in the Republic of Cyprus”, said Cardet Executive Director Dr. Charalambos Vrasidas. “We are still awaiting the development of a legal framework here in Cyprus to determine how NGDOs should operate and how the government should fund them”.
Cardet will coordinate a consortium comprising the University of Piraeus Research Centre, the Koperazzjoni Internazzjonali (Malta), the University of Malta, the World Vision Romania Foundation, and the University of Nicosia. EuropeAid has charged the consortium with the development of practical opportunities for Europeans to fight poverty at national, regional and European levels by creating educational resources and tools to support the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) agenda. The consortium will design a Development Education Curriculum and an information toolkit – both will be widely disseminated and delivered during national and international workshops and advocacy events.
A series of activities will lay the foundation for building a Pan-European Cooperation on the MDGs, as delineated by the United Nations, in order to achieve the project’s objectives to reach more than 11,000 Europeans, including children, students, teachers, professors and university lecturers, NGO and NGDO activists, local and national authorities, and the general public.
The EuropeAid Project follows Cardet’s October 2009 announcement regarding the findings from its large scale survey of the use of information communication technologies (ICT) by primary school teachers in Cyprus, the first-ever survey of its kind.
Founded in Nicosia in 2004 by an international team of education and technology experts, the Center for the Advancement of Research and Development in Educational Technology (CARDET) is a non-profit research and development organisation with strategic partners worldwide. It provides evaluation, research, development and training services to governmental agencies, private organisations and NGOs.