"<< Background >>As we all know, 2020 was the year when everything changed. It paused many people’s progress on family and career goals and it forced countless classes, trainings, and even holiday gatherings, either onto Zoom or out of existence. Many job positions that require face-to-face contact were lost or just dissapeared. These jobs were, in most of the cases, low-skilled positions occupied by young persons. Youth have now suffered two crisis in less than 10 years, as in some countries the effect of the 2008 crisis arose years later. This difficult situation for young people has resulted in a high and increasing rate of NEETs in Europe (17,1% Eurostat 2020) as the market seems to not being offering the right positions for this target group. Some of the reasons for this increase are the complex and multiple barriers they face, such as living in rural areas, the educational level, gender, migration backgrounds, ethnic minorities, drug and alcohol addictions, adverse family background, or mental health problems. On the other hand, it is been seen that EU Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are not digitalized and therefore can not make effective use of what digital tools can provide them. For instance, a company located in a small rural town in Romania could sell their artisan products to residents living in big EU cities if its staff were competent in digital tools and skilled in digital marketing, but the reality is completely different. Statistics reaffirm this fact, as the index for Digital lifelong learning fell in 3 three of the 4 participating countries in this project: Only Spain ranks within the Top 10 while Romania (24th), Poland (22nd) and Germany (27th) are at the bottom of the list. C4E sees this situation as an opportunity for young Europeans, SMEs and training institutions to impact on the digital transition. As one of the main subjects taught in C4E is Social Media, its staff started to see this as a tool to connect and digitalize both groups (NEETS and SMEs). The Needs Analysis conducted on both sides, reaffirmed Social Media as a tool to tackle NEETs problems since they provide participants with valuable opportunities for both social and digital inclusion. On the other hand, they help SMEs, as they give the opportunity to achieve visibility, reduce costs, and increase sales while achieving the digital transition. The Erasmus + call for 2021 offers an opportunity to promote social inclusion and reach out to NEETs and SMEs affected by socio-economic difficulties by contributing to creating inclusive environments that foster equity and equality, and that are responsive to their needs. By applying to this call, the project will develop the following tools that will address the following needs:- The Follow-us Training Programme for NEETs: Despite Social Media is considered as one of the most effective channels to reach NEETs, get them registered in Youth Guarantee, and later provide valuable opportunities for both social and digital inclusion, there is no programme that has been designed yet where Social Media is the vehicle to create employment for young people. - The Trainer UpSkill Course: A course aimed at training Socio Inclusion workers to become trainers of The Follow-us Training Programme for NEETs, as it requires professionals who are proactive towards working with the target group and knows well their needs. With this win-win strategy, Socio Inclusion Organisations working with NEETs will act as one-stop-shops, as they will outreach, engage, train and certificate NEETs to later putting them in contact with SMEs. - The Follow-us Platform: there is no platform or source where SMEs that are struggling can request Social Media content free of charge, and at the same time function as a tool to connect NEETs with the real labour market.<< Objectives >>The projects’ main objective is to use the existing digital and personal skills of NEETs to inspire, motivate and re-integrate them with innovative training-tools, services and methods to develop their skills as Social Media Managers and connect them to SMEs who need their services. By following this win-win strategy, these vulnerable youth will find a future career while becoming positive members of society, and SMEs will be able to request and use online content for the digital and financial improvement of the organisation. This will be achieved through a holistic approach by a multi-skilled team, which through counselling, mentoring, training, and follow-up will guide them to new opportunities. This approach also involves finding a way to address the main issues NEETs are facing, which are social exclusion, disconnection from groups, and demotivation to become again part of the active society.These innovations and actions will combat unemployment of NEETs as they will directly increase their participation in education and training, and support them to find sustainable work which can also easily be carried out remotely. This main objective will be achieved through the following specific objectives: 1. Connecting and educating NEETs through a motivational training programme of Social Media - The Follow-us Training Programme for NEETs - that will provide them with a Community Manager certificate that companies can trust,2. upskilling social workers in becoming Social Media Trainers through - The Trainer UpSkill Course - as they are the main point of contact with NEETs. This course will offer Socio inclusion institutions a tool to train their staff and act as a one-stop-shop for NEETs3. designing - The Follow-us Platform - where NEETS will be contacted by SMEs to create social media content and will, therefore, enable them to gain experience and build their own portfolio,4. providing SMEs with a tool - The Follow-us Platform - that will function as a Social Media department, that is often limited or even non-existent.By implementing the project, all the needs previously mentioned will be addressed by following this innovative strategy. The Follow-us project is also a good opportunity to foster cooperation within regions as it will implement joint initiatives in regions of Europe that are lagging behind. The implementation of Project Results will ensure transferability, as they can be adapted to other vulnerable groups, re-usability, as they will be of open-access to all interested parties (Socio Inclusion organisations, training institutions and Companies Cooperations) and the transdisciplinary dimension, as analysing multiple branches of knowldge, are needed to become Community Managers.<< Implementation >>For the accomplishment of the Follow-us goals, the partnership will carry out a detailed plan of activities to implement. These will be distributed in 6 different groups: 1. Activities that define the management framework of the project and guide the partnership through the timeframe of the project: These are Project Activities 1 to Project Activities 6 and are as follows: PA1 -Project Management System, PA2 - Management Plan, PA3 - Evaluation Plan, PA4 - Total Quality Management Plan, PA5 - Project Risk Management Planand PA6 - Dissemination & Exploitation Plan.2. Activities that are the building blocks of the dissemination strategy and support the projects' impact by widely informing stakeholders about the activities and the Project Results. These are: PA7 - Dissemination Materials (Logo, Posters, Notepads, Pens), PA8 - Project Website, PA9 - Social Media Presence (FaceBook, Twitter), PA10 - Digital news flashes, PA11 - Digital Flyer, PA12 - End of Project Booklet, PA13 - Tutorial Video.3. Activities that summarize and report the projects activities for control and monitoring of the planned successes, these will be: PA14 - Partner Meeting Minutes, PA15 - Project Evaluation Reports, PA16 - Dissemination Activity Reports, PA17 - Total Quality Management Reports, PA18 - Interim Report, PA19 - Final Report4. Activities that will make possible the tangible outcomes of the Project Results: The Follow-us Training Programme (PR1), The Trainer UpSkill Course (PR2), and The Follow-us Platform (PR3). These will include all tasks to be carried out during the research, design, development, testing and improvement of each project results. 5. Activities to enhance collaboration, face-to-face contact, exchange of practices, transnationality and better quality of Project Results. These will include the 4 Transnational Partner Meeting which will take place in the 4 participating countries and other planned online meetings in between. 6. Activities to present, explain, disseminate and give visibility to Project Results: These will be the multiplier events in its onsite and virtual form, including the National Workshops and seminars, that will be vital for the testing and improvement of the Project Results and the Final Conference, which gives a unique opportunity to present the Follow-us tools to stakeholders that will later make an effective use of them.<< Results >>The Follow-us project presents 3 interconnected tools that will make possible NEETs socio inclusion while achieving the digital transition of European SMEs. These are:a) The Follow-us Training Programme for NEETs, with motivational, innovative and interactive content that will engage youth attention. The training Programme will be conducted on-site, if possible, as NEETs need support and encouragement from the Follow-us Trainers (Socio-Inclusion workers), but also to have access to computers as , in general, this target group struggles to own a digital device that is not a Smart Phone. It deliver the following outcomes:1. Providing NEETs with a training programme that will support and encourage them to study and work again by making use of motivational resources of Social Media. 2. Enhancing access to training in digital tools and key competences to NEETs and Socio Inclusion workers. 3. Creating a Community of Practice of vulnerable youth willing to become Community Managers.4. Providing NEETs with accredited Certificates that companies can trust. 5. Undertaking a mapping of single-point of contact agencies in order to reach more young people and disseminate all Project Results. 6. Targeting support to individuals most in need. 7. Providing career guidance to NEETs.8. Involving NEETs in the design of the Training Programme. 9. Involving Socio Inclusion workers in the design of the Syllabus.b)The Trainer UpSkill Course, that will train and educate Socio Inclusion workers in a new and effective manner to become knowledgeable and successful trainers of the Follow-us Training programme for NEETs. This will result in the following outcomes: 1. Enabling Socio Inclusion workers to become Social Media trainers.2. Supporting Socio Inclusion centers with 3 interconnected tools for their users integration.3. Build a closer relation between NEETs and the Follow-us trainers, as they will be the main point of contact from the outreach till the integration phase.- The Follow-us Platform, a Web and Mobile Platform, that will allow, on the one hand, SMEs to request free social media services in form of one-off jobs, and on the other hand, young people to offer these services by applying what they have learned in ""The Follow-us Programme for NEETs"", with the objective to obtain a Community Manager certificate after successfully completing 10 one-off jobs (or what is the same, a traineeship period). The Follow-us Platform will: 1. Provide SMEs with a tool that will function as a Social Media department by enabling the selection of young people offering their digital services. This helpful service is not of easy access for the majority of SMEs. 2. Ensure sustainability of the Project Results by constantly updating Network/Partnership based iniciative with new actors. 3. Promoting the use of digital tools in youth education and its potential benefits for SMEs in productivity and competitiveness. The project will also produce intangible results which are:1. Fostering cooperation between the education sector, Socio Inclusion centres, young people and SMEs. 2. Building the trust of NEETs and engage them with the community. 3. Reducing the unemployment rates of NEETs in the EU. 4. Increasing the use of digital tools by SMEs. 5. Changing the minds of SMEs owners on Social Media as, in most of the cases, they are not aware of the importance of using them. 6. Creating a Community of Practice to spread the word among vulnerable youth to enroll into the course and to see the possibilities of using Social Media to exit Marginalisation (promoting the peer to peer support)."

Studies show that there is an urgent need for qualified personnel in Europe: As shown, for ex. in the 2 cited studies ‘How mobile is tech talent?’ by Centre for European Policy Studies, 2016 and McKinsey study, 2012 called World at Work the need for young talented people entering the labour market is very high. This study reached conclusion: employers in Europe and N. America will require 16 to 18 million more college-educated workers in 2020 than are going to be available. McKinsey consulting coined the term ‘War for Talent’ to describe this phenomenon. In many EU countries, this is a particular problem for SMEs looking to hire and keep personnel, as SMEs cannot compete with corporations when it comes to salaries and other incentives. SMEs may not be able to fill 1 in 10 roles they need, much less fill them with top talent.At the same time, Europe experiences unprecedented high levels of migration, many of whom are well qualified. In Eurostat report ‘Migrant integration’ from 2017 the result was concluded concerning migrants in Europe: the EU-born population recorded the highest share of graduates (36.7 %). This proportion was 4 pp higher than for the native-born population and 5 pp higher than for non-EU-born population. These statistics reflect potential benefits of migration of EU Citizens where more extensive recruitment of young people with migrant backgrounds or young refugees could help SMEs in finding appropriate employees. Especially that motivation to gain access to the labour market among them remains exceptionally high: e.g. 93,3% of the population in Germany with a migrant background retain that a fix workplace is an important factor for integration in the accepting country.In contrast with these facts however, 7 out of 10 (71%) of DE companies with trainee programmes don’t employ trainees with migration background. This figure is higher for SMEs with less than 50 employees. Those over 50 show higher rates of willingness to employ trainees with migrant backgr. but still 46%. (SVR-FB_Diskriminierung-am-Ausbildungsmarkt, p. 31). This situation indicates a strong tendency by SME towards risk avoidance: The risk is that financial consequences for SME of the trainee breaking off the apprenticeship ahead of time. Research indicates that due to the nature and size, SME give trainees and new employees more responsible tasks relatively early. This requires the trainee to fit in the company’s structure easily and smoothly (SVR-FB, p. 30). In order to avoid these potential negative consequences, decision-makers in SMEs are guided by the unconscious human preference for people like themselves based on the unconscious psychological assumption ‘people who are like each other, like each other’, which seems generally true and in so doing demonstrate an unconscious bias to trainees and employees who are from their own culture. Consequently, for the sake of financial security and social integration in the staff, when it comes to choosing the right trainees and employees, these unconscious decisions, however, lead to the exclusion of many talents only because of the cultural background.Existence of unconscious bias is the fact, there is a need to recognise it and to cope with it. The project’s main aim is to develop competences of SMEs managers and recruitment staff in understanding, recognising, reflecting on and managing the unconscious bias and validating those competences in order to enable SMEs to recruit suitable personnel. The main objective will be achieved through developing the vocational education tool - CUB@work system.Target groups:- Management and recruitment staff of SME- VET trainers and public officials responsible for VET policyIt is expected that the impact of the project will be significant at all levels. Local, regional and national levels will be impacted by the dissemination activities performed by partners in their regions and countries. The project is likely to have a sustainable impact within and beyond its lifetime, especially on the target group, management and recruitment staff of SMEs. The participation in the project activities will increase their vocational skills needed in the recruitment and in the workplace. They will become not only aware of unconscious bias but also will know how to recognise it and how to manage it. In effect small and medium-sized companies will be better able to recruit suitable coworkers, also from the migrant population. It is expected that over 1000 people will participate directly in the project activities and over 20 000 will learn about its results via different digital channels. The project will also have impact on all those institutions and organizations that operate in the field of VET education. As unconscious bias is becoming more and more important due to high immigration recently, the CUB@work system should be found useful by many actors across Europe.

<< Background >>The Retail sector supposes the second largest service sector in the EU, employing 29 million people (8.6% of total employment) and contributing 11% to the EU's GDP. The sector is mainly composed by SMEs, from which 18% are self-employed. Furthermore, it is estimated that the retail sector adds value in the amount of €1 trillion to other sectors like wholesalers, transport, finance or manufacturing, a 10% of total EU amount, according to the European Commission. Retail sector is thus a key driver of economic growth in the long run for its importance boosting internal demand and consumption, as according to the European Commission, households spend one third of their budget in retail shops. Moreover, it has an impact on quality of life in EU citizens, as well as being a key driver of competitiveness, growth and innovation. However, productivity and dynamism in the EU sector has lagged behind in comparison with other sectors and other economies (for instance Japan, US or China), a situation that threatens the sector’s stability and importance. According to the European Parliament, globalization will force actors from this sector sooner or later to internationalize due to the competition and the lack of protection in the domestic markets. This trend was largely accentuated with the COVID-19 pandemy and mobility / shopping restriction, which were accompanied by the explosion of e-commerce. Thus, the internationalization process is becoming crucial for European SMEs in the retail sector, as it supposes an opportunity to obtain additional capacity, strengthen their financial position, achieve innovation, increase revenues, diversify risks and attract talented workers. Even when the EU Single Market gives access to 500 million potential consumers, still few EU SMEs decide to go international, either inside or beyond the EU, as the literature shows relatively low rates of exports (inside Europe and beyond) from EU retails, which shows that the EU still has much room for improvement. This situation is caused by barriers retailers face related to the internationalization process. As such, partners have observed among the major issues: - Disinformation of international markets. The lack of knowledge about local business practices as well as insufficient analysis of markets.- Difficulty of identifying foreign business opportunities and potentially beneficial synergies with local business.- Lack of a solid distribution channel that could guarantee optimal provision.- Limited internal structure regarding human and financial resources, managerial attitudes to growth and training.- Lack of experienced departments (marketing, logistics…) to overcome foreign barriers like culture, linguistics or legal problems.- Reluctance from local business to provide SMEs guidance and representation.From the analysis above, we deducted a clear need for training in the internationalisation field for professionals and future professionals from the sector.<< Objectives >>START- “Improve Internationalization Skills of SMEs in Retail sector” project aims to improve internationalization skills of SMEs in the retail sector in order to encourage retailers to develop their business in international markets. The project will provide experienced retailers and youth or unemployed interested in retail for career development with tools for enhancing their competences in internationalization and achieve required knowledge to be capable to develop a competitive strategy entering in a foreign market. Retailing sector is a low margin business from which benefiting from economies of purchase, supply chain investments and technologies for boosting productivity can only be achieved by large retailers. For SMEs that operate in mature national sectors of the economy, gaining productivity and competitiveness is a tough fruitless work. Reaching foreign markets present an opportunity for diversifying economic activity, decreasing risks and taking advantage of an unexplored market, widening target and market share. The main objective of START project is to help current and future professionals from the retail sector in developing an international strategy for their business, thanks to a proper training able to guide that path and the successful implementation of the internationalization process, using the latest technologies available. In the detail, partners have formulated 4 Specific Objectives that they wish to address:Specific Objective 1: Define the professional profile of an internationalization manager of SMEs in the retail sector that will support further training in this field. This profile should become a standard of reference while talking about internationalization training for retail. Specific Objective 2: Train entrepreneurs, start-ups, and decision makers from retail SMEs with key competences and skills so that they can extend their implementation internationallySpecific Objective 3: Train young and unemployed people seeking for new job opportunities in the retail sector, giving them a strong plus-value on the job market. Specific Objective 4: Increase the digital literacy of learners to ease the distance learning process and for an optimisation of the use of e-commerce technologies to further develop small retail businesses.<< Implementation >>The START project brings together 5 partners from 6 countries and regions that are particularly concerned by the fashion industry: Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Poland, Romania and Cyprus, while meeting the required skills to implement such action, with partners being business support organisations and experts in internationalisation, business management or VET education. Together, they will address: - Experienced retail entrepreneurs, needing to renew their skills and up-skills to develop further their SMEs toward international practices, integrating digital, social, and economic factors.- Youth, especially low-skilled youth or unemployed, providing them new knowledge, skills and competence in international retail business management to develop new career opportunities. - Supporting stakeholders for the exploitation and mainstreaming of the training to be developed. During this project, partners will implement the following activities:- Development of a mobile report about the skills needed by retail SMEs when deciding to internationalise according to representatives from the sector (entrepreneurs and trainers), in the view of developing a professional profile and associated standard of competences and an online training course answering to the international training needs. - Piloting activities will be implemented where the different target group will meet and increase their respective skills. At least 200 individuals will be trained during the projet life. - Dissemination events, that will be organized in each country at the end of the project as a way to promote the results achieved in a sustainable way. - ICT will be used as a catalyst for the project activities impact. - Our activities will be transnational, being in line with an international scenario for smart growth.- And of course, all those activities will be supported by an efficient management system that will itself be designed with the idea of optimisation of resources, transnational meetings and virtual meetings, online dissemination strategy, the use of online management tools, and a continuous reporting effort to spread our achievements.<< Results >>As a main result, our partnership expects to raise the level of competence of retailers and future retailers from all over Europe in the field of internationalisation, bettering our chances to deliver our products on larger territories in the context of globalized markets. This result will be achieved through the production of 2 main results: Result 1 : Mobile report about the skills needed by retail SMEs when deciding to internationalise according to representatives from the sector. This report, established on the basis of large scale questionnaires and focus groups is aimed at delivering a profile of the needed competence to properly internationalise a retail business. It will give us a better understanding of what are the training needs observed on the ground. This report will be accompanied by at least 10 best practices of retail SMEs internationalisation. It will be delivered in a digital format for a higher diffusion and impact. Result 2: START training courseThe START training course will be an online open educational resource that proposes to fill the gap observed in retailers competences profile. It will address topics such as retail sub-sectors market trends, fairs and commercial missions, e-commerce, etc. At least 4 full training modules will be developed and 20 retail entrepreneurs and 20 future professionals from the sector will be trained by each partner (total 200). Thanks to this, partners expect to achieve significant impact at local, and further national and European levels, supporting retail SMEs to open their horizon towards new market niches that were until now non-explored, making full benefits of e-commerce technologies.

<< Background >>The current pandemic has affected everyday lives of people around the world. Countries have introduced various forms of restrictions in order to fight against the virus and keep their citizens safe – including complete to targeted closures. The pandemic has had a huge impact on education system as well. A nationwide closure of schools has been common recently. These closures have affected the way of gaining knowledge not only amongst young people and children but adults as well. It is estimated that the current pandemic has affected the professional development in VET sector.The world in time of the pandemic is a different place: telework has gained popularity in many countries that did not use it before and ICT skills have become a basis for both – work and education environment. The ongoing changes in VET are demanding different kinds of support mechanisms for teaching staff globally. Mostly this concerns implementing new pedagogies, curricula and use of new technologies. However, this is not always easy or possible due to the scale and speed of the labor market changes. As consequence VET providers are often struggling on their own with the future oriented changes. (UNESCO-UNEVOC 2020.)The current situation requires a transformation within small and medium goods producers in Europe. The existing patterns related to trade and export of goods do not work any more – they should be quickly replaced with new methods of communication and online marketing techniques. Furthermore, digital models are essential in order to open up to new markets.There are several organizations SMEs can turn to in order to gain assistance and support: chambers of commerce, clusters and VET agents. Entrepreneurs want to find a partner who will support them with their participation in foreign fairs, completing customs procedures and requirements for the import or export of goods, advertising goods on foreign markets, adjusting marketing strategies and more. The problem is that most common form of communication between SMEs and those institutions was a standard face-to-face meeting. However, in the current situation (the COVID 19 pandemic) there are certain limitations. Firstly, many chambers of commerce or clusters are not able to provide entrepreneurs with quick support in the field of opening / resuming foreign exports in the online dimension. Secondly, the traditional face to face mode is not available during the Covid-19 pandemic and so the entrepreneurs are left with no choice – the only possibility of communication nowadays would be digitalised communication which requires certain skills.The aim of the project: to strengthen the possibility of small and medium goods producers in Europe for successful transformation from traditional to effective and online transborder activities (import/export) by building capacity of Chambers and similar VET institutions for providing digital education support as well as the development and implementation of digital pedagogical competences of VET educators.<< Objectives >>The project focus is on two target groups:•T1: employees of chambers of commerce, regional development agencies, VET clusters, local authorities and centres for entrepreneurship development, VET teachers, trainers and mentors;•T2: owners and managers of small and medium enterprises involved in the production of goods and employees of sales and export departments in these enterprises.By implementing the project and its results the project partners endeavour to provide assistance to the forementioned target groups facing challenges which occurred during the worldwide pandemic of Covid-19. The main goal to be achieved is transforming small and medium goods producers in Europe so that they become effective and online transborder organisations. Moreover it is important for the Chambers and similar VET institutions to provide digital education and support and implement digital pedagogical competences.With the COVID-19 situation continuing and the new Erasmus+ program 2021-2027 with increased possibilities to cooperation and mobilities on a European level in mind there is a need to develop ways of cooperation and learning using digital and virtual methods. The project is a response to the European Union’s call for support for digital transformation in the coming years - illustrated by the recent proposal for the Digital Europe programme (for 2021-2027), which would be the first ever funding programme dedicated solely to supporting digital transformation in the EU.Thus, the project focus is on ICT (new technologies and digital competences); new innovative curricula/educational methods and development of training courses; entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship education. Innovative practices in digital area are the core of the project.Moreover, the activities within the framework of the project will result in a raised awareness and knowledge of VET actors in the area of digital pedagogical literacy. The project will enhance access to quality trainings and qualifications in the area of: Development paths accounting for successful business launch or cross-border expansion; Specifying the transborder business strategies based on EU recommendations; New online marketing techniques for digitalized enterprises in the EU; Assistance in legal and customs procedures applied to EU member states Participation and presentation of products at online fairs or events.The aim is to include as many vocational fields that have been affected by the COVID-19 situation as possible. The emphasis is on organising very few face-to-face sessions and create the online work environment by experimenting and co-creation online. This way the project can proceed according to plans despite the pandemic of Covid-19 but at the same time increase the VET educators skills, competences and confidence to work online.Additional objectives of the project would include:•VET: Enhancing access to training and qualifications for all;•VET: Initial and continuous professional development of VET teachers, trainers and mentors in both school and work-based settings.<< Implementation >>The methodology that the partnership intends to apply is going to be based on proper, competent management and effective monitoring of the activities, on-going assessment and evaluation of project outcomes. Firstly there needs to be a project management plan created to make sure everything is according to the schedule. This step is strongly connected with planning, assigning responsibilities and minding completion of tasks as well as preparing reports. Another important issue is the Promotion and Sharing strategy which would consist of preparing a Promotion plan, deciding on promotion activities, evaluation and feedback collection, preparation of promotion materials and their reporting. There will be one leading organization which task will be to evaluate and monitor the quality of the project cooperation and results. Essential promotion and sharing materials will be prepared including:•Visual identity of the project (logo and templates with Erasmus+ emblem);•Project website;•Leaflets;•Newsletter ;•Articles (partners will prepare articles about the project in order to present its outputs);•Social media (there will be two social media channels created).The promotion materials are crucial for effective communication with the Target Groups of the project. However, the Project Results are the main goals and all the activities and action taken by all the partners are focused on developing the final results of the project. In order to prepare the results the partners need to arrange the very first meeting – the kick-off meeting. During this meeting they will update all working documents, update membership of groups, make detailed decisions and define tasks and responsibilities. Also the training about management system will take place. Details about implementation of all activities within PR1 will be made.During the first months partners will work on setting up and adjusting the m-learning environment structure. Then partners responsible for the individual modules will breakdown their parts into chapters and confirm the capability of contributing to digital education – this way the materials and methodology will be developed. The next step will be to conduct internal testing. In addition, m-learning course will be given for evaluation to external Experts who will provide opinions and recommendations. Works concerning PR2 will start with distributing templates for partners and content division for them to contribute to the works on this output. After introducing improvements agreed by partners after the internal testing and external evaluation, the final version of the m-learning course will be delivered to target groups for testing.The very last activity connected with PR2 will be monitoring the testing phase in partners’ countries. Based on the feedback gathered, the team of developers will fix all bugs and malfunctions identified, but also will implement all reasonable suggestions for improvements. After the establishment of the final version each of the partners will need to translate the content into their national languages.In the last month of the project, partners will meet in Spain. This meeting will be the time of summarising the project and plan the activities to be done by all partners in order to sustain the results after the project ends.<< Results >>During the project two Project Results (PR1 and PR2) will develop. The first result is Methodological VET handbook - methods for effective digital education. The agreed learning outcomes outlined in the Research Report will be the constant benchmark for partners’ work and this will allow partners to tailor content to suit local cultural and societal values. Demonstrating the flexibility of the Methodological VET handbook, it will also aid further transferability beyond the project consortium. Methodological VET handbook developed will specifically address the needs of the owners and managers of SMEs involved in the production of goods and of VET teachers, trainers and mentors regarding the appropriateness of learning environments, structure and relevance of learning content and accessibility of learning platforms.The proposed new Methodological VET handbook will consist of 5 main Chapters:1 – Development paths accounting for successful business launch or cross-border expansion;2 – Specifying the transborder business strategies based on EU recommendations;3 – Assistance in legal and customs procedures applied to EU member states;4 – New online marketing techniques for digitalized enterprises in the EU;5 – Participation and presentation of products at online fairs or events.The estimated size of a module will be 30 pages. The structure of the handbook will consist of the following parts:- the educational objectives;- the content with the description of the 5 modules (exercises, source texts, quizzes, practical advices etc.);- detailed description of the possibilities of using content modules, for further development and integration with other development topics;- tests verifying the increase of knowledge.The handbook should be used to increase competencies of the goods producers in the 5 topics (and consequently, to increase their chances of transborder digital readiness). Furthermore, it could be used by VET teachers, trainers and mentors and employees of chambers of commerce as a standalone textbook for courses aimed at increasing competencies. Finally, it will be a basis for the digital Methodological VET handbook that will be posted on the platform developed in PR2.The second result of the project will be the On-good m-learning training materials for small and medium goods producers. Because of overwhelming amount of information we have access to today, VET teachers can find it difficult to learn about the most efficient ways towards implementation digital qualifications aspects in their teaching. This is why the On-good m-learning tries to build upon the scheme of data/information collection – processing and matching – customised learning path presentation. The innovative character of the On-good m-learning is definitely its ability to perform a fully automated knowledge/skills diagnosis of each teacher and response to the results of this analysis with a customised learning path. This approach will ensure that the On-good m-learning is not aiming at delivering universal resources to all VET teachers, but will instead focus on presenting a set of action fiches that can be treated as a direct response to the analysis performed. The expected impact that the On-good m-learning will have on VET teachers is that these educators will be able to implement different actions that will help them engage in digital education related activities and therefore contribute towards better resources utilisation and consumption.

The current COVID-19 crisis hit certain sectors very hard. One of these sectors is Small and Medium Sized companies around the world. The financial support provided, SMEs are in difficult situation. Now, more than ever they need well educated, skilled owners, managers and employees. They need to keep learning in various areas in order to be able to last in this new, difficult and turbulent environment. But the pandemic has taken away even the possibility of training as many training providers are not ready to provide education online. The addendum says that now more than ever there is “the need for modernisation and digital transformation of education and training systems across Europe”. In order to do this, education and the case of SME, VET education, needs to be ready for delivery of high quality inclusive digital education. The pandemic deepened the situation, but even before it the digital revolution influenced the way people live every day. The technology surrounding everybody everywhere requires the society to acquire at least basic digital skills. Those without even a basic level are unable to benefit from the advantages that the ICT brings. “An estimated 90 % of jobs nowadays require some level of digital skills and one significant threat is that Europe will lose its most competitive edge - a highly-skilled and educated workforce - should we fail to teach digital competences to Europeans of all ages.” (Digital Education Plan, EC, 2018). This quote underlines how important it is for people to acquire the digital skills. This also or rather especially refers to the SMEs and even more to those VET trainers who are responsible for educating this sector. VET trainers in order to teach, should have the skills themselves.As rightly pointed in the “Use and benefits of ICT in education” report (Kennisnet, 2015), “You won’t change education just by digitizing it”. There is a need to equip VET trainers in the right digital skills and competences, so that they are able to take advantage of available technologies to further supporting their learners. To this end the “Digital Education Action Plan” (EC, 2018) says that “Digital readiness in education requires knowhow and involves adaptation and change”.Taking the above into account together with partners experience and knowledge about SMEs’ education in their regions, the project wants to make a meaningful contribution to the upskilling VET trainers in response to the growing need to improve digital competences of VET trainers around Europe. In addition, the DIGI4SME project aim is also to promote the DigCompEdu framework (EC, 2017) which was created to be used at all educational levels and is a response to the emerging need observed in many European countries that educators can only use the potential of digital technologies for delivering innovative education if they are, themselves, equipped with a set of digital competences that matches their profession. The aim of the DIGI4SME project if extending digital competences of VET trainers providing training to SMEs in line with the DigCompEdu will be achieved through development of:IO1 – Training needs detector IO2 – Training e-course The primary target group are VET trainers with either no or basic digital skills working in VET centres particularly those that deliver various trainings to SMEs connected with effective functioning of a company. They will benefit directly from project activities and will be able to gain or improve their digital skills. The secondary target group can be defined as employees of SMEs, learners of the above-mentioned VET trainers that that through digitally enabled learning methods will improve their own digital skills and skills needed to successful business operations.The DIGI4SME project is expected to impact participants, participating organisations, target groups and relevant stakeholders. The most important indicator of success of the DIGI4SME project will be positive impact on VET trainers and VET and SME sector as a whole.In general, it is desired that the project will contribute to improving teaching methods and tools through effective use of innovative solutions and digital technologies among them and in the long run to raising the digital skills of Europeans.