The 3rd European Congress on Global Education builds on the efforts of the NSC and other stakeholders to promote GE since the Maastricht Congress (2002) which established the first European strategy framework for improving and increasing Global Education (GE) in Europe to the year 2015. It follows as well the outcomes of the 2nd European Congress on Global Education (Lisbon 2012), and its strategic recommendations in the following areas of work: national strategy development and implementation; curricular reform; continuing professional development of educators; quality support and monitoring; campaigning and outreach.

The purpose of the 3rd Congress was to take stock of GE achievements since 2012 and define priorities and political guidance for implementation and recognition of GE beyond 2015 - following on Lisbon Congress recommendations and taking into consideration the overall political context and directions taken by other stakeholders - while linking the concept of GE to the concept of Global Citizenship Education (GCED) launched by UNESCO in 2013.

The 3rd European Congress on Global Education recommendations result from this process and were developed in consultation with the Congress institutional partners and participants. These recommendations shall be used by organisations and educators at national, regional and global level in their advocacy work with decision makers.

Globally interrelated challenges such as climate change, the refugee emergency, the financial crisis and security challenges, point to the urgent need of changing the dominant model in order to realize a just and sustainable world. The alternatives come both from local and global levels. Therefore societies need global citizens able to act and create new models. As it is based on a culture of cooperation and dialogue, GE/GCED is a powerful process in combating inequality and all forms of violence (such as extremism and intolerance), to address the above mentioned issues and to build positive alternatives.

To ensure that GE/GCED is implemented and continuously improved, the 3rd European Congress on Global Education adopted a number of thematic recommendations, which were subsumed into five interrelated categories:

- National Strategy Development and Implementation

- Curricula and Education at the National and Local Levels

- Professional Development of Educators

- Quality support, Monitoring and Evaluation

- Awareness Raising and Outreach

Detailed recommendations are available in the attachement of this article.