Over the last decades, social and emotional learning (SEL) has been increasingly acknowledged to impact on competency areas such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships skills, and responsible decision-making. Mindfulness training is a multimodal intervention informed by the principles of positive psychology, with a central focus on skills that enable more effective coping and stress reduction. The application of mindfulness-based practices (MBP) has been strengthened by the results of evaluation studies that typically report on the positive effectiveness of MBP in terms of SEL. In parallel, research results show that exposure to natural environments arouses positive emotions and stress recovery, and improves compliance to mindfulness training, making it more effective. As such, the role of nature in the workplace is receiving increased attention, and existing theory and research suggest that nature contact can be considered as a workplace strategy for reducing stress, while at the same time enhancing performance and overall well-being. Therefore, Mindfulness-in Nature-based practices (MiNBP) joins together the healing effect of nature and the distressful effect of MBP, with greater benefits. It is therefore essential for company’s managers to understand how MiNBP has the potential to benefit their staff towards a systematic approach to SEL, in particular when considering the perspective of the five-competency-area framework. The Mindfulness-in-Nature Based Training through Virtual ENvironments (MINDLIVEN) project aims to provide an innovative solution to this issue. Building on existing research, partners will identify a required set of needs in terms of preventing and addressing work place stress, leading to the development of a set of MiNBP contents supported by an online MiNBP platform with communication tools and additional resources (like an Android and iOS app to facilitate access to the platform and contents) to facilitate the transfer of learning into the workplace but also to create the MiNBP user support community. This e-environment will raise the awareness for the problem and it will enable owners, managers and decision makers to plan for and to mitigate the occurrence and the negative consequences of work-based stress. After the pilot testing the real impact of the MiNBP in the main competency areas and on the individuals’ life and on the companies’ productivity will be assessed and consequently a policy report and recommendations will also be produced. The project targets:- Employees and owners/managers of SMEs as end users and main beneficiaries. They will be empowered and helped to improve their personal & professional life by being able to prevent and address workplace stress; - VET trainers, HR and Health & Safety consultants will be provided innovative tools for assessing the situation with their trainees and clients;- Professional associations, that have an active role in the sustainability and maintenance of the results of the MINDLIVEN project;- Organizational Health decision makers and governmental entities at regional, national and European levels will be contacted in order to persuade and make them aware of the need for more immediate actions. About 260 direct stakeholders (managers, staff, owners of micro and small enterprises) will be directly involved through direct contacts and other project activities like the MiNBP user support community and another 240 will be involved through the multiplier events. The MINDLIVEN network will also include about 100 HR consultants, health experts and decision makers leading to about 600 stakeholders directly involved in the project. Through a vast set of dissemination and exploitation activities, the consortium expects to reach other 6000 stakeholders (from all the identified target groups). This wide and systematic European intervention, rather than a casual local/national approach, will allow the project outcomes to be tested on different cultural and socio-economic contexts, showing the potential transferability of results across Europe and allowing for a European policy adoption.Note: Bibliographical references for the context and background of the project are provided in an annexed document

<< Objectives >>The main priority of the project is training the trainers, strengthen their capacity and improving their skills and abilities to promote entrepreneurship programmes with a social dimension based on the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.<< Implementation >>- Planification- Preparation- Implementation- Evaluation- Dissemination<< Results >>- A training toolkit for trainers on how to design social entrepreneurial itineraries for entrepreneurs- A set of resources and practical activities based on Project Based Learning methodology with specific guidelines for use in promoting social entrepreneurship based on the DGSs- A set of new entreprenesaurial ideas to solve common challenges through innovation social entrepreneurship- A Final report of conclusions and recommendations to be t

In a European context, in which it is increasingly clear that the so-called 21st Century Competencies are essential to understand and peform in the world today, we find groups that for various reasons do not participate in activities aimed at developing these competences. Since 2017, the European Commission (after public consultation) highlighted the key importance of 3 competences: mathematical competences, literacy and digital competencies.Some key data allowed profiling the main target group of the project: adults. For example, about 55 million adults between 15 and 65 have difficulties with reading-writing in their own language; 24% of the EU population have a level 1 or below in maths (on the five-point scale); and 44% of Europeans have no basic digital skills.On the other hand, the technological innovation that has broken into the last decades implied structural changes that decisively influenced virtually all areas of our lives. Technology changed the way we relate with others, our habits and lifestyles, our way of understanding and enjoying leisure time and also our way of learning and teaching.Thus, the App4skills project focused on the development of a web application that allows, in a playful-educational context, to improve the basic skills of European adults in mathematics, literacy and digital skills.The project focused its activities towards the fulfillment of the following objectives:- Improve creativity and develop in students the ability to create new problems / activities, ask questions and share relevant ideas.- Improve students' perception of learning mathematics, improve their literacy skills and promote their digital skills, increasing their interest, motivation, flexibility and perseverance, and correcting negative attitudes traditionally linked to lack of trust, low self-esteem or the anxiety that can be generated by formal learning settings.- Prepare students for continuous and autonomous learning, developing critical thinking and promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship.- Promote the professional development of adult trainers in basic skills, providing them with a new tool for use in informal and non-formal contexts.The project implementation counted on specialists from five countries (Spain, Finland, Poland, Italy and Turkey), members of the partners' work teams, but also from other local, national and European entities linked to them. Professional networks were activated and dinamysed to obtain valuable feedback for the project.In addition, the project counted on the direct participation of 391 people in the phases of testing of the prototype and in the presentations made in the different multiplier events. All of them representatives of the project's target groups: adults and their trainers.The web application was developed in several phases, which we could summarize in 3: design and development of the prototype, testing with real users, adaptation and inclusion of improvements for the development of the final version.It is worth noting the wide participation of users in the testing phase (159 people, of which 123 were adults and 36 trainers), and the positive feedback received. As an example, we can highlight that 91.82% of the participants considered that the webapp meets their expectations and 91% believed that its design is attractive.In addition to the direct positive impact on these users, the project continuously carried out networking and dissemination actions with the objective of gathering the interest and collaboration of other entities for the use of the webapp, once the project is finished. In this sense, some interesting connections have already been made, and the data recorded in the web application show that the number of activities has increased from 300 published by the partners to 342, which is a sign of their use by third parties.

Demographic aging is one of the most serious challenges for Europe. The scale of this phenomenon and limitations in the access to institutional care for the elderly means that a rapid, professional and integrated on a European scale the development of informal care services is necessary. Currently, about 60% of carers of the elderly are the closest family. These carers, while providing home care, usually have their own intuition and life experience, and not proven, substantive theoretical and practical knowledge.The project HomeCare for Dependent Elderly People - Educational Path for Informal Carers - HomeCare is a response to the existing and deepening skills gap in the provision of home care for the elderly by adults from their close environment.The aim of the project is to strengthen the care skills (knowledge and skills) of adults-informal carers in home care over dependent older people and provide professional, personalized and relationship-based home care educational path for informal carers of elderly people.As part of the HomeCare project, two key results will be created:-The Training Pathway for Home Care for the Elderly for Informal Carers, which assumes a holistic approach to the issue of caring for an elderly dependent at home, i.e. provides basic knowledge and skills in caring and proactive approach to aging.-Open online course for Informal Carers of Older People at Home (MOOC), which is intended to equip adults with necessary competences (knowledge and skills) to act as carers for dependent elderly people.An adult-homecare carer will get open, universal access to a modular course that develops the care skills of older people through informal learning. Professionalizing the services of informal carers will complement and support the institutional care system for the elderly at their place of residence and in a more individualized way, which is particularly important and needed in the context of demographic forecasts.

Health and safety in the workplace are part of the EU policy on employment and social affairs, under the Rights at Work directives. However, in spite of the large sums spent on risk prevention, there are certain areas where results are still limited. That is the case of work-related stress, which is dangerous and expensive as it affects performance, leads to frequent absences and, if prolonged, may result in serious health problems, such as cardiovascular or musculoskeletal diseases. Furthermore, with the advance towards the ubiquitous use of digital technology at work, new psychosocial risk factors and health hazards emerged, namely difficulty to focus, cognitive losses, deficits in social skills, sense of isolation, etc. The negative impact on productivity represents a major hidden cost in many organisations but especially in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Unlike larger enterprises, which have dedicated human resource specialists and welfare offices, managers in SMEs have few, if any, resources and no access to experts.Developing Competences for Stress Resilience @SMEs (DeSTRESS) aims to provide an innovative VET-based solution to this problem. Building on existing research, partners will develop a VET curriculum supported by an innovative VET Digital Training Platform using the latest techniques in game-based training and gamification, complemented by a set of practical tools and resources to facilitate the transfer of learning into the workplace. This environment will expose the main psycho-social health risks and their real impact on the individuals’ life and on the companies’ productivity. Players will assume roles, enabling them to think back on their experiences with these specific situations and how it happened, and which solutions are available for each scenario. Besides raising awareness on the problem, the project outputs will enable owner, managers and even decision makers to plan for and to mitigate its occurrence and the negative consequences of work-based stress. For that purpose, both a policy report and recommendations will be produced. A network of facilitators will also be created as an open forum to debate these issues. As such, the project will contribute to strengthening key digital competences while preventing the inherent hazards.Therefore, the project targets mainly employees, managers and owners of SMEs and micro companies. About 250 will be directly involved through the multiplier events and another 250 will be involved through direct contacts and other project activities like the network of facilitators. This network will also include about 100 HR consultants, health experts and decision makers leading to about 600 stakeholders directly involved in the project. Through a vast set of dissemination and exploitation activities, the consortium expects to reach 5000 stakeholders (from all the identified target groups).The project follows the Key Action priorities by using ICT based methodologies, fostering more modern, dynamic, committed and professional environments inside the organisations, increasing the level of digital competence of the involved participants and increasing motivation and satisfaction in the daily work life. It will create open and innovative practices, in a digital era, developing learning materials and tools that support the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in training. As a result of DeSTRESS, SMEs will benefit from improved staff productivity and will be better placed on the Digital Transformation whilst mitigating many of the negative consequences associated with it. The project will also contribute to improving the competitiveness of European SMEs enabling them to compete more effectively with larger, better resourced and digitally competent enterprises both in Europe and globally.