The project “Specialized personnel for quality social services in Eastern Europe” is implemented in a strategic partnership with organizations from Romania – Humanitarian Organization CONCORDIA (non-profit association), Austria - Kardinal Köning Haus Educational Centre of Jesuits and Caritas non-profit Ltd. (educational centre), and Bulgaria - CONCORDIA Bulgaria Foundation (non-profit foundation). The project is aimed at a target group of management employees of organizations providing social services: 15 beneficiaries are professionals active in NGOs (including PP and P2) or in public institutions providing social services from both Romania and Bulgaria (20 organizations), graduates of bachelor’s level university studies, having administration and management responsibilities. Other 150 people will be informed about advanced professional training opportunities (indirect beneficiaries). The project is justified in the context and evolution of the social field: Both in Romania and Bulgaria the social services are currently affected by processes as globalization, demographic and social shifts, migration, economic crisis and the dramatic impoverishment of the population. In this context, there’s crucial need to reconfigure the function system and to tackle the social services strategically and professionally, which can be realized by developing new specialist trainings for professionals, based on professional experience and case studies, in order to adapt the working methodologies and to acquire new competences.Until now, there are no offers for further advanced training in the social services in Romania and Bulgaria. Bringing the know-how from Austria and adapting it to the national context, in order to develop a training course for social services manager aligned with the specific needs of the working professionals is the primary innovation element.The project aims to enhance the capacity of the social services providers from Romania and Bulgaria and also to develop the advanced training capacities in the management of social services matched with the specific context of South-Eastern Europe for one of the most qualitative training providers from Austria.Therefore the project seeks to achieve following objectives: OS1: To develop an advanced training course for management level – social services manager – for professionals from public and NGO sector, adapted to the Eastern European context. OS2: To provide in the management of social services an advanced professional training for 15 social service professionals, NGOs and public authorities and institutions in Romania and Bulgaria. OS3: To promote quality professional training and to inform 150 people regarding the training offers.The main activities of the project are: O1/ A3 To develop the advanced training course for managers in social services (Intellectual output O1), transnational training activities for the project team (C1) as well as for the direct beneficiaries of the project – C2 si C3 (15 professionals from NGOs and public institutions that provide social services), transnational meetings (M1, M2, M3), dissemination activities – A7- (2 national conferences in Romania and Bulgaria; continuous dissemination of the information regarding the project activities).Main results expected by the project are: the main result is an intellectual one – “Training course for managers in social services”. In addition, the project consists of activities that support the development of the intellectual product and that lead to achieving following results:• 15 social service managers trained, thereof 10 certified (results of activity C2 and C3)• 20 organizations and institutions informed regarding training opportunities of their professionals (result of activities A2, E1, E2)• 150 people informed regarding training opportunities in the management of social services (result of activities A2, E1, E2)• 1 accredited course in Romania (result of activity A3)• 4 transnational learning sessions (activities C1, C2, C3)• 3 partner organizations with a developed organizational capacity as providers of professional training (activities A4, A5, C1, M1, M2, M3)• 2 national conferences with 100 participants (E1, E2)• 6 members of the project team participated in transnational training sessions (activity C1)• 90% of participants are satisfied with the social services manager course (activities A5, C3, E1, E2)• 100 printed copies of the training courseAll organizations involved are key actors in social services and the results contribute to the strategic development of their resources, being essential for their own development but also ensuring improved quality of social services