Both EU and Eastern partnership (EaP) BSOs nowadays operate in a very competitive environment. While the majority of EU BSOs are relatively well set off and are operationally sustainable, the EaP BSOs need guidance about the ways of establishing a sustainable basis for development. The Sustainable BSO Model Academy will follow two directions. It will on the one hand, provide EaP participants with the necessary guidance/advice on how to identify a unique selling point of a BSO on the market (linked to the BSO membership target group; services’ package, current economic tendencies, etc.). On the other hand, the Academy will outline how based on this knowledge/understanding, a BSO can capitalise on its current revenue streams and/or identify the new ones. While linking sustainability and income generation the Academy will explain that the former does not necessarily rely on the latter, should not be seen as the only solution to guarantee a BSO sustainability and should be integrated into the overall strategy of the organisation seeking to become competitive and sustainable on the market. The experience of fellow organisations in the EU (and if possible successful EaP ones) will be presented and discussed in classes.

Representatives of business support organizations from 6 Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) attended the Academy. On June 20-23, 2016 Georgian Vocational Education Foundation participated in a BSO Academy on a sustainable BSO model: Income Generation and Services which was organized by East Invest 2 project in Munich, Germany. East Invest 2 aims to strengthen the ability of Business Support Organizations staff to manage professional and independent organizations. Project is funded by the European Union and is managed by EUROCHAMBRES  and UEAPME.