COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on many sectors of employment. Cultural and creative sectors are among the most impacted, as cultural activities traditionally require people to come together. The above mentioned has deemed very difficult in many countries and many cultural sector employees have lost their jobs or been forced to switch careers. However, vibrant cultural life is a cornerstone of a community or a society, and thus creating and spreading digital innovation in the cultural sector is pivotal. Our aim with this project is to aid cultural organizers and cultural (and creative) sector employees in finding alternative means to create and deliver culture to the people. This is done through enhancing various digital skills of cultural organizers and sector employees, as well as introducing and teaching design-thinking methodology as a foundation in finding new activities and outputs to carry out and spread cultural and creative activities. Many cultural sector employees work outside big cities and increased digital skills and knowledge in design-thinking are pivotal for them in reaching a bigger number of audience and clientele. Also, many cultural sector employees are older and may lack necessary digital skills to succeed in today’s work environment. Thus, the project also aims at increased equality and inclusion, offering cultural workers better opportunities despite their age, gender, or location. A small research will be carried out for mapping the needs of cultural sector in every partner country. Based on the research, a multilevel training program (for mentors and employees) is created for cultural sector employees. The training course is supported by the creation of an online learning platform and a progressive app. The mentor course is designed in a way which enables its graduates to act as trainers for their colleagues, making the impact of the project even greater.The online learning platform (with educational modules and a handbook) together with a progressive web app help us to reach more audience inside and outside of partner countries. All of the materials are free, which enables all interested people to educate themselves on the above mentioned topics, as better digital skills and more developed design-thinking can come to use for all of the cultural sector during the COVID time. The materials will be available in 4 project languages (incl English). The learning platform will be available for 3 years after the completion of the project and will be free for use. A new skill-set of competencies will be added to the to the current framework of competencies in Estonia. The competency model of the Estonian cultural leaders could be used as an example in creating similar competency models in other EU countries. As one of the outputs of the project, a blueprint for a completely new profession – a cultural technologist will be created in Estonia with the support of The Estonian Ministry of Culture. This serves as a basis for the creation for a new job/area of expertise and possibly a basis for a study curriculum for this job.Participating organisations:BCS Koolitus has been carrying out national ICT and digital competence enhancement programs for citizens since year 2000, the latest, ongoing program “E- Citizenship” (2018-2022), procured by the Ministry of Commerce and Communication, aims at raising awareness on ICT literacy of 6000 inhabitants, of whom 1/2 are elderly people ( aged 55+) and 1/2 various sectors employees with poor IT competencies. Training course program and materials are developed by BCS Koolitus and delivered via face-to-face training courses.ECFC has been the leading training partner on folk culture in Estonia for 30 years, offering in-service training for cultural sector leaders, cultural organizers and members of cultural ass. across Estonia. The project supports ECFC’s aims in increasing digital competencies among leaders and employees on different levels, as well as providing effective support in introducing and rooting innovative technological solutions throughout all the cultural sector. The project enables to concretize the needs of the target group, increase their technological competencies, and establish communities of creative networks, thus opening up new horizons for cooperation between different sectors and also internationally.Efektas Group (Lithuania) has been working in education and training field for adults and educators since early days of its’ establishments and one of the most crucial topics is critical judgement on daily activities and habits people have. This project is supporting this purpose by educating our organisation and stakeholders to be more aware of digital applications, online threats, develop habits that prevent from loses.Prios Kompetanse from Norway is an educational software and web applications provider, who will be responsible for creating a website and an online application for the project.

<< Background >>Our project EDUCATE is designed to support adult education organisations in 6 countries (LT, LV, GR, IT, HU, TR) and across Europe in their efforts to deliver inclusive education, especially in the field of digital literacy, which is crucial for the employability of their target groups. This will be achieved both through providing with useful and accessible materials, which they can immediately introduce to their work (in the face of the EDUCATE Sustainability & Monitoring toolkit) and through the creation of a network of adult educators, which exchanges best practices (certified according to a specific set of criteria to be developed) and fosters cooperation (through the EDUCATE Interactive hub).Adult education is a key tool for boosting economic, as well as personal growth, and is an indispensable tool for improving the lives of disadvantaged people and reducing inequalities across the board. Yet, as a 2019 report by the European Association for the Education of Adults shows, countries across Europe are struggling with supporting adult educators in different manners. From low levels of participation (especially in Lithuania), stagnation in the incorporation of innovative practices, to lack of inclusivity and lack of consistency from government policies, adult education providers face numerous hurdles to their effective work. The field now more than ever has the chance and needs its actors to be connected and united in the push for its own transformation, evolution and blossoming.The best approach in transformation of traditional adult education methods is through digitalisation, as well as through efforts, which ensure sustaining and monitoring of constant high quality. Improving digital literacy means proactively using or addressing digital media and technology in education, which ensures inclusiveness for adult learners, what is more it contributes indirectly to the development of their digital competencies. Digital technology has implications for adult literacy; therefore, it is essential to adapt how and what adults learn.Alongside the opportunities that digital adult education offers, there is also a lack of confidence, competence, strategic planning and investment to enable the lifelong learning sector to fully embrace these developments. For that reason, EDUCATE aims to increase capacity of the adult education sector to engage with these two areas through recognition, connection, and useful practical materials. EDUCATE also creates opportunities to raise the profile of and showcase the value of digital adult education, aimed at adult learners with no general skills, low qualifications, or other disadvantaged groups.<< Objectives >>EDUCATE aims to promote quality adult education through supporting open and innovative practices in a digital era. The project objectives could be summarised as follows:– Share certification and guidance for high-quality adult education practice across Europe leading to improved practice and innovation within the European lifelong learning community;– Create effective opportunities for connection, collaboration and mutual learning between adult educators;– Build capacity of adult educators to respond to digitalisation through training that meets their needs, based on monitoring and sustainability approach;– Improve planning and development of digital literacy education of high-quality lifelong learning strategies through increasing awareness and digital methodological skills of adult educators and lifelong learning organisations staff for requirements and best practices for practical application;– Raise awareness of digital adult education within the lifelong learning sector and to policy makers and funders nationally and EU-wide.The target groups for the project are:- Adult educators - the main task of EDUCATE will be to benefit this target group. - Adult learners – the project will promote digital literacy of adult learners through educational methods using digital technologies.<< Implementation >>1. EDUCATE Interactive hub2. EDUCATE Certification of quality3. EDUCATE Sustainability & Monitoring toolkit4. Training adult educators<< Results >>The expected outcomes during the EDUCATE implementation and in the conclusive stage can be outlined in two main categories, highlighting both quantitative and qualitative aspects, as follows:Tangible results:1. EDUCATE Interactive hub that includes platform and a co-creation virtual space in 6 partner languages and in English (EN,LT,LV,GR,IT,HU,TR)2. EDUCATE Certification of quality in 6 partner languages and in English (EN,LT,LV,GR,IT,HU,TR)3. EDUCATE Sustainability & Monitoring toolkit in 7 language versions (EN,LT,LV,GR,IT,HU,TR)4. 12 adult educators from partner organisations trained to deliver digital adult education recognised as high-quality to adult learners with no general skills, low qualifications, or other disadvantaged groups (2 from each partner country)5. 120 stakeholders and policy-makers from partner countries will be involved in co-creation process and they will be informed of project results and invited to sustain the EDUCATE Interactive hub through 3 Multiplier events6. 4200 partner staff members, target groups and stakeholders on both national and European levels informed of project results through dissemination activities carried out during the whole project life cycle7. Project social media profiles - Facebook and Instagram accounts for adult learners and the wider public and LinkedIn professional group for adult educators and other relevant practitioners8. 30 info items related to project goals and results, published on the online platform and social media profiles within project lifetime9. Project management documents - Implementation plan, Quality Assurance plan, Risk management strategy, Dissemination and exploitation plan, Interim progress reports, and Final report.10. Other documents - research synthesis reports, visual identity guidelines, events agenda templates, feedback forms, online statistic reports.Intangible results:1. Adult learners will improve their:- awareness of their qualifications and guidance, mentoring, and further opportunities for adult education;- engagement in the social life of their local communities;- recognition of adult education means to increase the engagement of other adult learners from disadvantaged groups and facilitate their participation;- knowledge and skills of digital literacy through the EDUCATE Interactive hub and open-educational materials.2. Adult educators and lifelong learning organisations staff will improve their:- knowledge and skills in delivering digital adult education as innovate practice through the use of digital technology and media to actually engage adult learners from differentcommunities with the aim of personal and professional development;- skills in using digital adult education tools;- skills in planning, designing, and evaluating digital adult education;- motivation and skills to engage in international collaboration work with other adult educators in;- different skills in the field of community-building and maintaining a diverse and inclusive network or adult education initiative.3. Other partners’ staff will improve their:- awareness on planning, designing, and implementing adult education with recognised certification for high quality;- motivation to use the EDUCATE Interactive hub and engage in the project activities.4. Other stakeholders (adult education providers, lifelong learning platforms, mentoring communities) will improve their:- awareness as to the methodological aspects of engagement of adult learners from different communities;- understanding of the benefits of high-quality education for enhancing and facilitating the environment for sustainable lifelong learning organisations across Europe;- cooperation prospects with peer organisations from different countries and sectors.5. National and EU policymakers will improve their:- evidence base to promote, multiply and mainstream high-quality adult education;- understanding of the needs for strategic investment in adult education

The aim of the project is to give effective tools to young women living in rural areas to take up their lives thanks to specific entrepreneurial training in sustainable development, to foster their employability, socio-educational and personal development. Through the promotion of green thinking, raising awareness of sustainability, promoting the development in rural and/or isolated areas, exchanging good practices, providing expertise and knowledge for women from rural areas, the project will considerably promote the entrepreneurship education and activities amongst young women. As stated in the European Green Deal for the European Union (2019), the future development of the EU must be green and sustainable, or it shouldn’t be at all. Offering young people and particularly young women, tools, to improve their potential in the labour market and, at the same time, find sustainable solutions to support the local development of their rural communities, is a good strategy to have a “greener” Europe. This is also in line with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals and with what is called for in the UNESCO’s Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Addressing sustainability, development of rural areas and capacity building/training opportunities for young people is the key to make sure that younger generations, even in disadvantaged conditions, can be the real change-makers.In fact, YOU_WEEN! focuses on young women as they suffer from a particularly challenging set of educational barriers, due to cultural, political, social reasons that leave them out of education or job market: nearly 14% of world’s young women are unemployed (UNESCO, 2016) and are considered globally as a vulnerable youth category, having limited knowledge of their civic and political rights, including the capacity to express their political and social views (UN Interpeace).On the other hand, it has been shown by numerous studies and field researches that working with young women becomes particularly effective thanks to the social role played by women since when they have the opportunity and the skills to do it, women take the lead of the social change (UN Womenwatch Organization).YOU_WEEN! objectives are:- train the trainers about instruments for rural development, (social) entrepreneurship, women empowerment, and sustainable ideas- start rural development local grass-roots initiatives lead by young women- Inspire rural communities for agro-economic and social change- Share good practices of rural development and women empowerment in Consortium countries- develop 3 I.O.:1- Set of educational videos2- Virtual Interactive Network and platform3- Exploitation roadmap and guidelines for policy influence- Strengthen Consortium partnership by developing common events and activitiesTherefore, at the end of the project, we’ll have:- 280 young women involved, that will have, as results:- empowered entrepreneurial and managerial skills;- discovered insights and knowledge about different rural life, hidden opportunities and organizational structures (in terms of business and entrepreneurship);- improved communication, interpersonal and foreign language skills;- refined and increased teamwork capacity, social skills, cultural awareness, acceptance of cultural diversity, increased tolerance to others and gender equality;- raised awareness and knowledge about environmental issues and good practices as well as sustainable solutions;- better ICT competences thanks to the use of the platform and the creation of innovative content;- increased self-confidence and self-worthiness;At the end of the project the 56+ Youth workers will have:- improved competences in non-formal training methodologies;- improved communication, interpersonal and foreign language skills;- improved ICT competences;- experience in leading youth groups in sustainable grass-roots projects.The intellectual outputs are all addressed to foster the long-term impact, as they will remain available for further training and bottom-up projects, as well as the Virtual Network that should become a reference for young women all over Europe.Moreover, each community will have trained youth workers that will continue applying the acquired competences with other young women willing to improve their entrepreneurial potential in the framework of sustainable development. At the same time, we hope and seek out that the young women that had participated to the project will continue their path in promoting sustainable development, as well as involving their peers and their communities. The effectiveness of the bottom-up approach is a fundamental pillar for guaranteeing the project sustainability over time, while the tools such as the educational videos will remain at disposal and eventually updated by the youth workers.

Partner institutions from the UK, Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania got together to implement this project about inclusion and respect for diversity. All partner countries experience situations of intolerance (related to ethnic origin, sexual orientation, etc), especially among youths, and a lack of efficient strategies at national level to deal with it. With this project, partners, who are organisations working with youths at different levels, decided to come together and share methods and techniques in order to equip youth workers from the partner organisations with tools to promote respect for diversity among youth people and develop successful long term strategies to create a better society. Project partners identified as target group educators and trainer working with youths. Each partner identified the needs of their target group to acquire new strategies to promote respect for diversity and social inclusion and, on the other hand, to share the strategies each partner is using, enhancing European experience to deal with cultural diversity. The project aimed to develop a culture of diversity in order to facilitate the social inclusion of young people belonging to discriminated groups, such as ethnic minorities. The main objectives were the following: 1. To increase the professional development of each partner organization through European collaboration, through non-formal and intercultural learning for managing cultural diversity by means of 2 Short-term joint staff training events. 2. To create a project website containing information about the project, including videos of the activities carried out, which could serve as a point of reference or inspiration for members of the community who wish to use the tools provided in their daily activities with young people, to facilitate social inclusion of young people belonging to minorities. 3. To launch an awareness-raising campaign- Respect for Cultural Diversity The objectives were achieved through: - 2 Short-term joint staff training events during which the target groups of each partner learned, among other things, to use arts (drama, painting, dance) and sports (football, volleyball), and other activities (making bread) for developing a culture of diversity and to stimulate social inclusion of young people belonging to different minority groups. - A project Website containing information about the project, including a section with Videos containing examples of the activities carried our, including best practices in non-formal learning- as a valuable tool for learning will be used by youth workers. - Launching of an awareness raising campaign called Respect for Cultural Diversity. This campaign was first launched via a dedicated Facebook group, due to lockdown and the difficulty in organising public events in the partner countries. Each partner organised different activities in their country to promote diversity, such as flash mob in the UK, or a singing and dancing activity in Lithuania, and so on.- Local activities with young people to implement the methods and techniques learned during the international training events. The project had an impact on the staff of the partner organisations taking part in the trainings. They acquired skills and competences to be better prepared to train youth to develop o culture of diversity, to respect cultural diversity and to stand against intolerance, for social inclusion. Also, the project had a great impact on youth too. Through the activities they have become more capable to develop a culture of diversity, to respect people belonging to different cultural diversity groups, to stand against intolerance. Partner organizations also improved their professional capacity acquiring new strategies and practices to deal with cultural diversity as well as acquiring innovative methods of combating intolerance, so that youths can be more tolerant and more involved in lives of their communities.

This project seeks to address the following problems today's society is facing:- Unemployment among young people- The need for EU businesses to become more competitive through talent and innovation - The need to address problems in society such as as pollution, waste management, recycling, overuse of single-use plastic products, etc. through sustainable entrepreneurial activities to the benefit of individuals as well as of the communities where they live. The main objective of the project is to equip youth workers from the participating organisations with the tools and knowledge to be able to train other youth workers and support young people in the development of new and innovative social entrepreneurial activities. This will be achieved through the following means:-International Training of youth workers form the participating organisations-Exchange of Good practices-Meetings with successful entrepreneurs-Local activities with youth workers who will learn about how to teach social entrepreneurship to young people. -Continuous mentoring and support given to young people through their endeavours.-Collection of best practices and training materials in a toolkit that will be a point of reference for the participating organisations as well as the wider community that will be informed about the project through targeted dissemination- Adaptation of the toolkit into an e-course which will be put online via a Moodle platformThe target group of the project will be:Direct target groups:Youth workers who are staff members of the participating organisations. They will benefit from the exchange of good practices and the acquisition of new skills and competencies during international training events. They need to be better prepared in supporting young people wishing to start their own social entrepreneurial activities. As we noticed in similar projects (Sharing Ideas for Social Innovation, of which Kairos Europe was a partner), young people have ideas and are willing to learn, but if they are not guided through the process by experts, the idea is soon abandoned. Indirect target group:Youths workers from local organisation who wish to learn about how to raise awareness on young people about social entrepreneurship and are willing to establish a conversation on the issues affecting everyday society and try to work together to find sustainable solutions through social entrepreneurial initiatives.Members of the wider community including training organisations, councils, community centres, etc. who are interested in learning about the project and its outcomes.