{"id":1171,"date":"2026-04-06T11:37:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thememxpro.com\/theme\/sopot\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2026-06-17T13:07:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T13:07:25","slug":"we-ariations-passages-of-lorem-ipsum-available-but-the-majority-have-suffered-alteration-in-some-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smileheisproject.org\/so\/we-ariations-passages-of-lorem-ipsum-available-but-the-majority-have-suffered-alteration-in-some-form\/","title":{"rendered":"SMILE Project Holds In-Person Kick-Off Meeting and Co-Creation Workshop in Ankara"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Ankara, T\u00fcrkiye, 7\u201310 April 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

The consortium of the\u00a0SMILE project \u2013 Supporting Mobility and Internationalization for Learning and Engagement in Somali HEIs<\/strong>\u00a0(Project Ref. No. 101237721<\/strong>) successfully held its first\u00a0in-person Kick-Off Meeting<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Co-Creation Workshop<\/strong>\u00a0in Ankara, T\u00fcrkiye, from\u00a07 to 10 April 2026<\/strong>, hosted by\u00a0Middle East Technical University (METU)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Co-funded by the\u00a0European Union<\/strong>\u00a0under the\u00a0Erasmus+ Programme<\/strong>, action\u00a0Capacity Building in the Field of Higher Education (CBHE)<\/strong>, SMILE is a 36-month project aimed at strengthening the internationalization capacities of Somali higher education institutions through mobility, institutional cooperation, inclusion, and digital approaches to international learning.<\/p>\n

The Ankara meeting marked an important milestone in the project lifecycle. Following the Virtual Kick-Off Meeting held in January 2026, the in-person event enabled Somali and European partners to meet face to face for the first time, review progress achieved during the first months of implementation, and move from project launch to the first operational phase of activities.<\/p>\n

The first day of the meeting was dedicated to\u00a0consortium coordination and project management<\/strong>. Partners reviewed the status of project implementation after the first three months, including coordination activities, signed partnership agreements, first financial transfers, communication arrangements, and preparation of upcoming deliverables. Discussions also addressed key implementation priorities for the first year, dissemination planning, quality assurance, and reporting procedures.<\/p>\n

The following three days were dedicated to the\u00a0Work Package 2 Co-Creation Workshop<\/strong>, a central activity of the project\u2019s capacity-building component. The workshop brought together Somali and European partners in a highly interactive format designed to refine the training priorities and methodologies that will guide WP2 implementation.<\/p>\n

The workshop focused on the five core training areas of the project:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Staff mobility<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Virtual mobility<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Private sector engagement<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Inclusion strategies<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. Academic collaboration<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    During the co-creation sessions, Somali partner institutions actively shared their institutional realities, priorities, and challenges, while European partners contributed examples of practices, facilitation, and technical expertise. Through plenary exchanges, thematic discussions, and World Caf\u00e9 group work, the workshop helped confirm and update the needs analysis carried out during the project preparation phase and provided a shared basis for the further design of training activities.<\/p>\n

    The active involvement of the\u00a0Somali organizations<\/strong>\u00a0was particularly important throughout the event. Their contributions ensured that the discussions remained grounded in institutional realities and that the future training activities under WP2 will respond to actual needs and opportunities within Somali higher education. At the same time, the\u00a0European partners<\/strong>\u00a0played a key facilitation role by supporting reflection, sharing practical experience, and helping structure the outcomes of the workshop into a coherent framework for implementation.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The SMILE consortium brings together eight partners from Somalia and Europe:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Horseed International University (Somalia)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Coordinator<\/li>\n
    2. Baidoa International University (Somalia)<\/strong><\/li>\n
    3. Plasma University (Somalia)<\/strong><\/li>\n
    4. Somali Education and Youth Development Action \u2013 SOEYDA (Somalia)<\/strong><\/li>\n
    5. Middle East Technical University \u2013 METU (T\u00fcrkiye)<\/strong><\/li>\n
    6. University of Piraeus \/ University of Piraeus Research Center (Greece)<\/strong><\/li>\n
    7. European Society for Socio Economic Integration \u2013 ESSEI (Belgium)<\/strong><\/li>\n
    8. European Association of Erasmus Coordinators \u2013 EAEC (Cyprus)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The meeting in Ankara reinforced the collaborative spirit of the consortium and created strong momentum for the next phase of the project. The outcomes of the workshop will feed directly into the\u00a0Co-Creation Workshop Report<\/strong>\u00a0and support the preparation of subsequent WP2 training activities, practical training visits, and the broader internationalization work to be developed under the SMILE project.<\/p>\n

      Through its work plan, SMILE seeks to support Somali higher education institutions in building stronger international partnerships, developing more inclusive and innovative internationalization strategies, and expanding opportunities for academic mobility and global engagement.<\/p>\n

      <\/p>\n

      <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

      <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Ankara, T\u00fcrkiye, 7\u201310 April 2026 The consortium of the\u00a0SMILE project \u2013 Supporting Mobility and Internationalization for Learning and Engagement in Somali HEIs\u00a0(Project Ref. No. 101237721) successfully held its first\u00a0in-person Kick-Off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capacity-building-training","category-global-partnerships","category-inclusive-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smileheisproject.org\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smileheisproject.org\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smileheisproject.org\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smileheisproject.org\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smileheisproject.org\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/smileheisproject.org\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1988,"href":"https:\/\/smileheisproject.org\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions\/1988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smileheisproject.org\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smileheisproject.org\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smileheisproject.org\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smileheisproject.org\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}