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The Think Tank addresses pressing socio-economic and environmental challenges by implementing four key pillars of activities: 1) Building action partnerships for SDGs; 2) Research; 3) Training and capacity building; 4) Informing policy-making. In practical terms, to date, we have trained 700 students and 120 corporate professionals, launched collaboration with 37 universities, supported 510 entrepreneurs, mobilized 340 volunteers, and reached more than 80 000 views of our findings.
AlterContacts is the Think Tank for Sustainable Development based in the Netherlands. Its network includes partner organizations, experts and volunteers in countries of the European Union and abroad. Due to its international reach, the main languages of operations are English, Spanish and Italian. In legal form, it is a small enterprise or general partnership (VOF). Since its founding in 2019, AlterContacts has grown to be a highly-regarded organization in the field of sustainability. In 2022, it was granted the Special Consultative Status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Presently, it is a contributing partner to three ERASMUS+ grant projects.
We are open to participating in EU Grant applications as a contributing partner. Our identification numbers are PIC 893270382 and OID E10277518. For any questions, please email to info@altercontacts.org.
Building Action Partnerships for SDGs
Building Action Partnerships for SDGs
We believe that the best way to create a long-lasting positive impact is by collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders across sectors and countries. Thanks to its recognition, AlterContacts can open doors to national and regional governments, universities’ and schools’ administration, prominent NGOs and foundations, UN agencies and other international organizations. In collaboration with them, we have built and implemented seven partnerships that were recognized by the United Nations as SDG Acceleration Actions.
Other UN networks AlterContacts is part of are the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative, the SDG Accord, and the Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle.
Think Tank AlterContacts has developed an alternative approach to solving social and environmental issues. Its unique feature is in utilizing minimum resources while achieving the maximum positive impact. In part, because every action is built with a vision to scale across the EU and worldwide. Each methodology is well-documented for knowledge-sharing and replication. In part, because we can mobilize hundreds of volunteers within a week through our partner youth organizations and the United Nations Volunteer programme.
Research
Research
The foundation of all sustainable actions we design is research, with a particular importance on fieldwork. Part of our expert team spends most of its time in the field, interviewing local communities, making observations about socio-economic development, and building collaborations with public agencies. The remote team supports the field researchers by providing insights into the wealth of academic work and policy documents. By spending extensive time on location, interviewing and studying youth, entrepreneurs, female leaders, and representatives of local organizations, AlterContacts experts gather “voices from the field”. It provides a unique ability to bridge the statistical data with reality.
Training and Capacity Building
Training and Capacity Building
The findings from the SDG Action Partnerships and the research are used for development of specialized training and capacity building programs. From masterclasses and interactive workshops to building full curricula and training modules, we make sure that all our educational programs are hands-on, challenge-based, practical and provide connection with the world of work. They are dedicated to sustainability, school-to-work transition, entrepreneurship, environmental and digital education.
Informing Policy-making
Informing Policy-making
A vital part of the Think Tank work is to inform new policies at the European and international levels. Due to limitations in time and resources, policymaking often relies on desktop research and statistics. However, the hard data does not provide sufficient insights into the reality of local communities. Behind the numbers, there are stories of people – young and old, women and men – whose lives are heavily affected by these policies. One of the key objectives of Think Tank AlterContacts is to close the gap between statistics and reality and inform policymaking by making these voices heard. Based on the insights AlterContacts gathers during its research, training and implementation of SDG Actions, our expert team prepares policy reports. They are shared with or presented directly to policymakers.
Flagship Projects
Flagship Projects
Entrepreneurship (2019-2021)
Entrepreneurship (2019-2021)
In 2019, AlterContacts founded “Business GreenHouse”, a prototype of a global ecosystem to provide small businesses and independent practitioners with connections and support. In a short time, we hosted thirty training events with over 150 entrepreneurs in 10 different countries.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the way to support entrepreneurs had to be re-invented. So in May 2020, AlterContacts launched SDG Action Partnership “Lockdown Economy”. The goal was to help small business owners and self-employed professionals overcome the challenges of the pandemic and reactivate the economy. In the form of video-interviews, AlterContacts team collected insights from 350 entrepreneurs from 42 countries in 17 languages, representing 78 economic activities. While being fully remote, it facilitated a global brainstorm, allowing exchange of knowledge and ideas, creating new collaborations, and bringing visibility to the small businesses in need.
Lockdown Economy was implemented in collaboration with 15 universities, 8 civil society organizations, and 180 volunteers between ages of 18 and 66. For its effectiveness, inclusion and scaling capability, the methodologies designed and utilized for this initiative were recognized by the United Nations as the SDG Good Practice.
The initiative received large media coverage, including video on the TEDx platform, publications on the European Parliament site, international magazines, and a local newspaper. The video-interviews gathered between May 2020 and Sep 2021, were published on YouTube and other social media channels reaching over 75 000 views.
In 2021, Lockdown Economy became the national finalist from the Netherlands for the European Charlemagne Youth Prize for its contribution to promoting European and international understanding and providing role models for young people. At the award ceremony in Aachen, the AlterContacts team had a chance to present the initiative to the European Commission President.
To conclude the Lockdown Economy, the AlterContacts research team prepared a series of country reports, case studies, and books with interview transcripts. The findings of the think tank on small businesses during the pandemic were presented at the UN Conference for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises 2021. In 2022, they were referenced by the Secretary-General report A/77/254 on Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development.
Training and Capacity Building (2021 - present)
Training and Capacity Building (2021 - present)
The Lockdown Economy initiative provided a unique field research with real time information about SMEs around the world during the pandemic. Based on that, AlterContacts built a remote educational program “Lockdown Economy Challenge: Sustainable and Innovative Entrepreneurship”. It was rolled out in 6 universities at different levels of education, including MBA. It increased the remote engagement of over 400 students and their participation in social impact innovation while being completely safe for all people involved. It has been featured as a case study for Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities by SDSN.
This educational program gave a start to the SDG Action Partnership “AlterContacts Academy for Sustainable Development”. It facilitates successful school-to-work transition, promotes active citizenship and sustainability education, by equipping students with the skills and network necessary to start their professional life. During 2021, AlterContacts conducted personal meetings with the rectors of 18 universities active in the sustainability domain to build lasting collaboration. To date, the Academy counts 37 Higher and Vocational institutions across the countries of the European Union and abroad.
As a Think Tank, part of our key activities is designing workshops using interactive and collaborative problem-solving methods. Our experts have facilitated more than 200 workshops, including with scientists at CERN. We regularly deliver this type of training at universities, governments, and corporations. In 2021, by request of a governmental agency of Colombia, AlterContacts designed a large-scale program for public training for building Citizen Innovation Lab. During the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in July 2023, Think Tank AlterContacts was invited by UNITAR to host a training session on Urban Entrepreneurship.
The learnings and methodologies from our training programs are used in the ERASMUS+ grant project for KA220: PREVIEW (2022-2025) - Promoting Resilience and Employability in uniVersity students through Internship for futurE Work. This project aims to design, test, and implement innovative learning and teaching practices applied to make a new remote school internship blueprint for European universities, to address the new societal challenges derived from the digital age. Through remote internships and other e-Learning activities, it will enable students and graduates to develop the employability competencies required by the remote working scenario. Subsequently, they will have the opportunity to apply these competencies during remote internships and verify to what extent they are able to work remotely, and effectively collaborate with distant colleagues.
Digital Education
Digital Education
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when confinement made digital a defining part of our lives, AlterContacts launched a program “Humanizing Digital”. It is dedicated to Digital Health and Safety and the socially meaningful application of digital technologies. In 2021, our project on providing a safe and entertaining environment where children can learn about complex subjects (Humanity Arcade) became a Finalist at the Stanford LEAD Incubator & Startup Accelerator program.
Building on AlterContacts expertise in digital education, we became part of the consortium for the ERASMUS+ grant project for CoVE: AI4VET4AI (2023-2027) - AI-powered Next Generation of VET. The project is dedicated to equipping VET students with digital skills and allowing them to choose their career path. The general objective is to establish a transnational European platform for vocational education and training excellence, which will contribute to the digital transformation of the EU labour market by introducing innovative teaching content and methods into vocational education and training curricula across 11 European countries.
Rural Youth Development (2022-2023)
Rural Youth Development (2022-2023)
In 2022, AlterContacts initiated an SDG Action Partnership “mOther Earth” to explore how we can collaboratively and sustainably revive rural areas of Europe by creating opportunities for social and economic development. With initial focus on Spain, the Think Tank established contact with 17 regional governments and the Ministry of Social Rights, and the 2030 Agenda.
The fieldwork was carried out in the region of Galicia. There, AlterContacts experts conducted open interviews and built collaboration with local associations, entrepreneurs, and schools. To ensure full inclusion in the process of community interviews, we designed an event at the local school CEIP Plurilingüe de Silleda. The event gave 260 pupils a chance to share what they love about their village and what ideas they have for it. Once the results were processed, we shared them with the local and regional governments.
By request from the Galician Government Agency dedicated to Rural Development, AlterContacts prepared the catalog of projects designed to restore the socio-economic fabric of low-populated villages, where the ideas of children were incorporated as well.
The “mOther Earth” initiative was awarded an EU Fellowship for female entrepreneurship. Furthermore, during the Level Up youth event in Oct 2022 at the European Parliament, AlterContacts presented its findings on rural development to the Permanent Representation of Spain and the EC Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport, and Culture. As a follow-up to these meetings, Think Tank AlterContacts was included as an expert on rural youth policy on the stakeholders’ list in order to contribute to the study analyzing the conditions of young people in rural areas across Europe.
The interactive workshop designed by AlterContacts based on the findings of the initiative and titled “Solving EU Housing Crisis: Let’s Create Rural Alternatives for Youth” was selected for the European Youth Event 2023 in Strasbourg.
The practices and methodologies of building this social impact initiative became the foundation of a new training program “Sustainable Actions Design and Delivery” which AlterContacts rolled out in 2023. The goal is to equip civil society organizations with innovative concepts and proven best practices in sustainable development and social impact. More than 1600 representatives of NGOs and foundations were invited to take part in it.
In June 2023, AlterContacts hosted the SDG Networking Forum where we showcased unique examples of rural youth- and female-led enterprises, discovered during the initiative. In 2024, our experts were invited to the International Conference on Sustainable Development to present the “mOther Earth” partnership as an example of Informing Policymaking on Rural Development through Community Dialogue and Children Participation.
We conduct all our activities responsibly and sustainably with well-assessed long-term implications on people and the environment, we have our principles, values, and behaviors written in the AlterContacts Charter.
Coastal Development (2024)
Coastal Development (2024)
SDG Action Partnership “Towards Circular” involved more than 20 partners from academic, public and private sector in the EU, Latin America, Asia and Africa. The goal was to promote the just transition to the circular economy, by enabling less privileged communities to find the path to economic self-sufficiency through education on circular and regenerative practices, and its integration into their daily lives.
The collaboration was launched during an official Virtual Side-Event to the ECOSOC Partnership Forum 2024 which was co-organized by AlterContacts and UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It brought together 150 participants across over 40 countries.
Together with the partners, led by a professor from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), AlterContacts contributed to the development of an educational program “Blue and Circular Economy”. It was designed to support innovation, entrepreneurship, and the mindset change necessary for the transition towards the circular economy.
In the framework of this initiative, from Dec 2023 and Sep 2024, Think Tank AlterContacts conducted fieldwork and academic research in the coastal areas of Mediterranean Europe on various aspects of the circular economy. As a result, we prepared a report titled “Towards Circular: Analysis of the Coastal Areas of Greece, Italy and Spain”. It contains 17 articles looking at the different aspects of sustainable development in coastal settlements through the lens of circular practices. It was released during the European Sustainable Development Week 2024. At the Conference “Ecological Crisis and Economic Impact” in Nov 2024 at the Acropolis Museum, Athens, we presented the insights from the report to the national and regional policymakers of Greece.
In line with the research, AlterContacts was awarded an ERASMUS+ grant for the KA220-VET project CIRCU-TECH (2024-2027) - Circular Competence Training for Aquaculture Waste Management using VR and AR Tools led by UPM. It is focused on the transition of the European aquaculture sector to a more circular and sustainable model while fostering profitability for businesses and a positive impact on society and the environment. This grant project will allow AlterContacts to continue the exploration of circularity and institutionalize our findings in the form of education.
Awards
Awards
In October 2022, Think Tank AlterContacts won the Gold Award as the Non-Profit Organization of the Year in the 12th Annual 2022 Business Excellence Awards for the social impact initiatives with global reach and strong positive impact on sustainability.
Together with volunteers of Think Tank AlterContacts, we won the Gold Award for helping small businesses during COVID in the 14th Annual 2022 Golden Bridge Business and Innovation Awards. We were also awarded Bronze for the best non-profit response to COVID. Our efforts reached 75 000 people in 42 countries and 17 languages. It brought them hope, encouragement, and much-needed ideas.
Grand Award 2021
Grand Award 2021
In September 2021, the 18th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business honored Think Tank AlterContacts with Grand Award as the Non-profit of the Year. It also awarded the co-founder of Think Tank AlterContacts, Julia Skupchenko with a Gold Stevie Award Winner in four categories: Woman of the Year; Female Thought Leader; Female Executive of the Year and Mentor of the Year 2021.
Hero of the Year 2020
Hero of the Year 2020
On 20 October 2020, the team of the Lockdown Economy received the Gold award in the 13th Annual 2020 Women in Business and the Professions World Awards®. In the category "Hero of the Year | Helping Others During COVID-19".
Startup of the Year
Startup of the Year
On 20 October 2020, Think Tank AlterContacts was named the Bronze winner as a Social Impact Startup of the Year 2020 in the 13th Annual 2020 Women in Business and the Professions World Awards®.
Non-profit Organization of the Year
Non-profit Organization of the Year
On 10 September 2020, Think Tank AlterContacts was named the winner of a Bronze Stevie® Award as a Non-profit Organization of the Year 2020 in The 17th Annual International Business Awards®
#EUvsVirus
#EUvsVirus
Our proposal on Economic resilience of self-employed professionals during COVID-19 was submitted to the European Commission during #EUvsVirus online Hackathon 24-26 April 2020.
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