<< Background >>The Covid-19 pandemic is having repercussions in all areas of social, economic and educational activity, forcing the closure of educational institutions throughout Europe. According to the European Data Portal (2020) only 10% of EU countries had a more robust digital learning capabilities to offer educational materials outside the educational institutions. The sudden closures of educational institutions and the forced transition to distance learning have not allowed the time required to plan or reflect on the potential challenges and opportunities of e-learning. According to the World Economic Forum (2020), although it is too early to judge how reactions to COVID-19 will affect education systems around the world, there are signs suggesting that it could have a lasting impact on the trajectory of learning innovation and digitisation. Nevertheless, countless sectors are suffering to adapt and find new ways to overcome the educational and social crisis that COVID-19 pandemic has brought. NGOs, CSOs and education institutions education did not escape to this challenge, which show the unpreparedness of the entire educational community for a scenario in which technology can be an instrument that facilitates the learning process. Furthermore, it is important to note that the coronavirus pandemic and its wide-ranging implications have accelerated digital skills demand in many occupations, especially non-ICT ones. Effective use of digital skills has proven to be a driver of resilience, helping workers and entire organisations adapt to the new realities shaped by the pandemic. According to CEDEFOP (2021) Strengthening digital competences is a priority area for both EU Member States and candidate countries. While there are many activities focusing on initial vocational education and training (IVET) learners, more extensive progress needs to be made in continuing VET, addressing the digital skill gap of adult citizens. In addition, training teachers, trainers and professionals in the social inclusion and innovation field in in digital competences so that they can effectively support learners, is often an underdeveloped part of national skill systems. Technological innovation and digitalisation have the potential to transform learning fundamentally – not only by equipping the population with digital skills so they can work and engage in active citizenship, but also by improving access to learning, as made evident by the pandemic<< Objectives >>Educational institutions, CSOs and NGOs throughout the EU should be able to rely on professional preparation programmes to ensure that they are prepared ed to use technology in meaningful ways. These professionals should have the access of preparation programmes with a solid understanding of how to use technology to support learning. In fact, they need to know how to use technology as a support tool for their professional development (Foulger et al., 2017). Since there is the need to have a coordinated response to help educational and social institutions to acquire digital skills, which are needed to keep pace with this fast-changing landscape, where is important to cultivate digital citizenship along with a broader set of digital skills that can facilitate participation and support students in maximizing opportunities and minimizing risks in the digital world (Jackman et al, 2021), the DIGI:GO project aims to support adult educators, VET providers, teachers and other professionals from the social and education field in the incorporation of online tools to enhance teaching and learning; how to use educational technologies to deliver training in hybrid environment, and how to use the best pedagogical approaches that will prepare them to effectively deliver a tailor-made training programmes with their target-groups.According to OECD (2020) expanding adult training provision through online environments would have significant advantages, by reaching a wide number of learners through a cost-effective solution of learning during the pandemic. However, OECD states that for online learning to represent a valuable alternative to face-to-face instruction, there would be the need to provide high-quality up-skilling opportunities for educational institutions to shift their training offer to online delivery. There is the need to include the technological element in educationalpolicies. Otherwise, all those who are excluded from digital and technology competence are condemned tomarginalisation. Digital exclusion - and consequently social inequalities are increasing. Preventing the learning crisis from becoming a long-term catastrophe needs to be a top priority of the entire EU educational community.<< Implementation >>The DIGI:GO proposes a wide range of activities that will be implemented throughout the 24-month projectlifecycle. The proposed PROJECT RESULTS are: Toolkit of Digital Skills Development (PR1), led by PROPORTIONAL MESSAGE with the support of all partners; In-Service Training Programme (PR2) led by SYNTHESIS with the support of all partners; E-Learning Platform (PR3), Led by SYNTHESIS with the support of all partners; Policy Paper (PR5), led by SYNTHESIS with the support of all partners. LEARNING, TEACHING, TRAINING ACTIVITIES: a short-term staff training event will be held in Cyprus to deliver PR2 to adult educators, VET providers, teachers and other professionals from the social and education field from each partner country. MULTIPLIER EVENTS: (i) The DIGI:GO Learning Lab aims to: a) Present and showcase the Project Results developed: PR1; PR2; PR3 ; b) To enable the engagement and interaction with the target-groups and stakeholders with the developed resources; c) To promote the creation of new community dynamics and synergies, seeking new spaces for the exchange of professional and educational practices. The DIG:GO Learning Labs will be held in M22 in all partner countries (ii)The Final Conference will be held in Germany aiming to present the operational and policy recommendations gathered by the project consortium to policy and decision-makers.PROJECT MANAGEMENT TASKS: Risk Assessment and Management will be led by iserundschmidt GmbH with the support of all partners; The Promotion Strategy will be led by CARDET with the support of all partners: The Quality Assurance Strategy and Management will be led by THE SQUARE DOT TEAM with support of all partners; The Impact Planning and Management will, led by PROPORTIONAL MESSAGE with support of all partners; The Exploitation Strategy, will be led by EXEO LAB with support of all partners.PROJECT MEETINGS: There are 4 transnational meetings scheduled in M1, M9, M18 and M24. The transnationalmeetings are scheduled to meet all the important project implementation phases. TPMs will be supported by ONLINE MEETINGs in M3, M6, M11, M14, M17, M20 and M23.<< Results >>The key actions to achieve the project results are: - The development of a Toolkit of Digital Skills Development (PR1) that aims to support the development on key digital skills that are aligned with the Digital Competence Framework for Citizens 2.0 (DigComp) as follows: 1: Information and data Literacy. 2: Communication and Collaboration. 3: Safety. 4: Digital Content Creation.- The development of an In-Service Training Programme (PR2) The DIGI:GO In-Service Training Programme aims to provide adult educators, VET providers, teachers and other professionals from the social and education field a tailored training experience on innovation on educational technologies and hybrid learning systems. PR2 has a clear modular structure as follows: Toolkit of Digital Skills Development (PR1) - Implementation and Assessment Strategies.2. Foundations of E-learning and Distance Education.3.Learning Management Systems. 4. Innovative Pedagogical Methods, Techniques and Resources in Hybrid Learning Environments. - The development of a E-learning Platform (PR3) which will enable full access of PR1, PR2 and PR3 in bite-sized units. - The development of a Policy Paper (PR4) which aims to provide operational and policy recommendations based on the analysis of the results of the transnational project, for decision and policymakers in the adult education and social innovation field. We believe that in education, as in other spheres, it is important to analyse the implications of either the combination of European and national priorities, guidelines and political institutions, and on the creation of a European education sector and policy.By the end of the project:90 adult educators, VET providers, teachers and other professionals from the social and education field will be involved in the piloting development of The Toolkit for Skills Development (PR1)12 adult educators, VET providers, teachers and other professionals from the social and education field will attend the LTTA that will be held in Cyprus.12 adult educators, VET providers, teachers and other professionals from the social and education field will be involved in the Local Working Groups.120 target-group representatives will attend the DIGI:GO Local Labs that will be held in each partner country.35 target-group representatives will attend the Final Conference in Germany.

<< Objectives >>Many companies have been challenged during the pandemic to attract and retain talent. Not surprisingly, smaller companies have had the most difficulty. They simply don't have the resources, know-how and capacity that larger organisations have.RE-CREW intends to support the sustainable growth of EU small businesses, making them informed, prepared, aware, equipped with innovative tools and skills to effectively perform recruiting and hiring. In other words: finally ready-to-labor-market<< Implementation >>Starting from the investigation of the current state of EU small businesses, with focus on their ability to execute recruiting/hiring in the pandemic era and future trends, RE-CREW will deliver: an innovative training curriculum for EU small businesses to effectively carry out recruitment and hiring; a performing digital tool to check the actual recruiting/hiring capacity of small businesses; the Open Guide for VET Trainers to facilitate the re-use of the RE-CREW training curriculum and tools<< Results >>RE-CREW will:- ensure the full understanding of the EU small businesses’ capacity to deal with recruiting and hiring in all its phases;- allow EU at least 60 EU SMEs to express their full potential, grow in sustainable way and address the new challenges of the labor market; -support the VET providers and business support organisations in extending their service portfolio by integrating innovative tools, consultancy and training for the small businesses, the key players on the EU single market

"<< Background >>The outbreak of COVID-19 has significantly affected all aspects of life across Europe. In addition to threatening our health, the pandemic is also posing serious challenges to our socio-economic systems. Especially in rural areas farmers, entrepreneurs and communities in general have been particularly and negatively affected with respect to their employment and production prospects. According to the latest Eurostat figures (2018) rural areas account for more than 341 m ha, which represent 83% of the total EU area, and 30.6% of the EU’s population lives there. Rural areas are the fabric of our society and the heartbeat of our economy. They are a core part of our identity and our economic potential. We need to cherish and preserve them and invest in their future. Moreover, Covid-19 pandemic has created new challenges to overcome and has accelerated the need for rural areas to adapt to new market needs and digitalization. As regard the latter aspect digital skills are considered essential for global competitiveness, boosting jobs and growth, while internet can also play a vital role in terms of providing high- quality education and training. In 2019, the overall level of digital skills in the EU was lowest among adults who were living in rural areas (48% had basic or above basic digital skills), rising to 55% for adults living in towns and suburbs, and peaking at 62% for adults living in cities. Transitions require locally adapted solutions that both improve the economic and social conditions of farming, enable generational renewal and contribute to the development, resilience and attractiveness of rural areas. Research and innovation is critically important to develop and upscale knowledge, practices, technological and social innovations that will enable transitions towards sustainable farming systems and the development of rural communities.The project is conceived as a tool to promote and reboot entrepreneurship in the agri-food sector in rural areas, through the digital training of people and exchange of good practices, facilitating the learning of business management contents specifically adapted to the agribusiness, craft and the production of local goods. Europe is boosting the agri-food sector, both at local and regional level, with the aim of strengthening it as much as possible and advancing competitiveness and sustainability. EU Member States need to build their rural development programmes following and respecting all the needs of the industry. The importance of the rural environment for all European countries is already sufficient motivation for the development of training actions that seek their territorial integration, combating the gender and socioeconomic imbalance between rural and urban areas, by improving incomes through economic diversification and by promoting sustainable development and job creation.So, the RURAL JUMP-START project addresses the following needs:1. The urgency to give a concrete boost to rural and sustainable tourism and gastronomic offer focusing especially on the production of local goods and craft fostering their competitiveness on the territory with the aim of strengthening the sector as much as possible;2. The necessity of building a balanced territorial development of rural economies and communities including the creation and maintenance of employment;3. The exingency to create a synergy between local producers, entrepreneurs and artisans in order to promote and raise awareness of the delights of the territory from a gastronomic and local artifacts point of view;4. The necessity of feeding the revaluation and the preservation of the territory and local communities by training in a personalized way not only adults but also young people and immigrants;5. To improve local entrepreneurship and professional development by emphasizing the importance of acquiring innovative competences providing participants with digital tools and e-skills to make locals competitive.<< Objectives >>As the COVID-19 pandemia is spreading around the globe, the introduction of social distancing, national lockdowns and tier systems at national and local level since March 2020 has hindered almost all economic activity across European countries, especially in rural areas and countryside where the economy was already at risk.So, by implementing the project and his activities, participating partners and the coordinator aim to achieve and accomplish the following objectives:1. To promote the territory by expanding the dissemination of its local products (both handmade goods and gastronomic products) to make them better know at both local and regional level increasing productivity in rural areas. The main aim is to stimulate the dissemination of economic activities to a wider level and to to reach a higher employment rate, which ultimately results in balanced regional development;2. To foster sustainable tourism by both improving the Km0 market and energy efficiency of businesses and reducing the development of waste attracting in this way more and more responsible and aware tourists to the country;3. To create and strengthen a network of cooperation between local entrepreneurs, owners of hotels, museums, local producers, craftsmen whose works can be complementary (website, marketing, handicrafts, food processing, etc.) offering them the opportunity to get to know more deeply both at the local level and by tourists. The main objective is that everyone actively helps each other by creating a strong, lively and lasting synergy;4. To build a social environment in which adults, young people and immigrants can feel integrated in order to avoid migration of villagers to larger cities. The main aim is to give to these people specific training so that they end up living in the country;5. To promote entrepreneurship in rural areas through integrated digital training and by developing innovative pedagogical tools. The aim is to improve cross-cutting business management skills and the exchange of good entrepreneurship practices. It is necessary to provide participants who have opted or are interested in investing in the rural environment with the necessary e-skills, management skills, financing, distribution and communication thus contributing to the sustainable development of rural area.Moreover, relevant stakeholders and policy makers at the most appropriate level will be identified and involved in project activities such as round-tables that will promote the course content. Therefore, the objectives of the project will be achieved by following specific priorities:-Common values, civic engagement and participation: the project will support active citizenship and ethics in lifelong learning; it will foster the development of social and intercultural competences and critical thinking;- Improving the availability of high quality learning opportunities for adults: this priority provides support for the creation and development of flexible learning offers adapted to the learning needs of adults by developing digital training opportunities;-Creating upskilling pathways, improving accessibility and increasing take-up of adult education: this priority aims at promoting adult education opportunities, particularly for adults with a low level of skills, knowledge and competences. Creation of new upskilling pathways should allow adult learners to enhance their key competences and to progress towards higher qualifications.<< Implementation >>The RURAL JUMP-START project is going to implement the following specific activities: - 3 Project results; - 5 Transnational Meetings; - Online meetings each month; - 1 LTTA (C1) in Turkey in September 2022; - 6 Multiplier events in September/October 2023 in each participating country; PROJECT RESULTS ( they will be better explained in the next section) TRANSNATIONAL MEETINGS and ONLINE MEETINGS: 5 transnational meetings will form an integral part of the strategic partnership. Each partner meeting will address key project deliverables, project management and monitoring activity. This will include budget management, progress and timesheet reporting, workplan and risk register review, project results progress update etc. Transnational meetings within RURAL JUMP-START project will take place within key periods of the project’s lifetime: before the development and/or after the finalization of the project’s key outputs and results, allowing partners both to reflect on the achieved results as well to effectively plan and organize the project’s upcoming tasks and activities. The schedule of the transnational project meetings is described herewith:1. Kick-off meeting will be held in Spain by ADRI JILOCA GALLOCANTA and GEINNOVA in Month 1 (M1); 2. Second transnational meeting will be held in Poland by IDEA4LIFE in Month 6 (M6); 3. Third transnational meeting will be held in Italy by EXEO LAB in month 12 (M12); 4. Forth transnational meeting will be held in Portugal by UPYOUTH in month 18 (M18);5. Fifth transnational meeting will be held in Cyprus by DIONE in month 24 (M24). The face-to-face meetings will be complemented by monthly steering committee meetings (online) to ensure the project outcomes. LEARNING, TEACHING, TRAINING ACTIVITIES: RURAL JUMP-START Transnational training in digital competences (C1) will be organized in Turkey in September 2022. The training event will last for 4 days and comprise a total of 20 hours of face-to-face learning for adult participants of the project on how to improve digital and IT competences to both ensure their fully participation in the PR3 implementation ( the cooperative online platform) and to improve their skills so that they can subsequently apply them also in rural contexts where they operate in order to be more competitive and recognisable in the local labour market, how much regional and national promoting in this way their social and economic empowerment and inclusion. The result of the training will be the establishing of a dynamic ""hub"" of like-minded adult who are highly interested in high quality learning opportunities and who desire to develop strong relationships and prolong their collaboration into future projects and/or initiatives with the aim of improving rural areas from an entrepreneurship perspective.MULTIPLIER EVENTS 6 RURAL JUMP-START campaigns will be organized and implemented in each partner countries in the form of a multiplier event in September/October 2023 (each multiplier event will be implemented in different days). The main aim of these events will be to present and disseminate the project’s achieved results and attract participants for the further implementation of the training programme and contents developed . In addition, the campaign in each country aims to make known the cooperative online platform and his forum section to fuel the importance of creating a strong network and collaboration between participants, associated partners and stakeholders more so in the post-COVID era.<< Results >>RURAL JUMP-START project is expected to have significant intangible results on the direct target group: (a) creation of new possibilities for economic development by increasing entrepreneurship and training opportunities; (b) enhanced opportunities for social inclusion of participants;(c) the development of highly innovative and transferable training content that encourages entrepreneurship in the rural agri-food sector, thereby improving the sustainability of Europe’s rural environment; (d) skills increasing of participants in their working and learning backgrounds;(e) enhanced opportunities for economic inclusion and employability of participants; (f) enhanced employability, productivity and active participation in the local economy; (g) improving the interest in the field of local products and craft in rural areas; (g) creation of new possibilities for economic development by increasing training opportunities.Moreover, within RURAL JUMP-START project, partners will develop the following Project Results: PR1: RURAL JUMP-START local action report. It will be a report on good entrepreneurship practices in the European agri-food sector. It will define the training objectives to be developed later and it will integrate local and regional stakeholder groups. The RURAL JUMP-START local action report is considered an important milestone for the start of the project as it will guide the development and final achievement of the educational and supporting objectives.PR2: RURAL JUMP-START training programme. It is a specific formative guide focused on digital and entrepreneurial skills that the project wants to give participants in order to foster local entrepreneurship and disseminate local products in a more widely way taking into account all the information and data collected thanks to PR1. Contents will be adapted to the agribusiness, craft and the production of local goods and tailored to the needs of participants in each country with a common guideline.PR3: Cooperative online platform. It is a cooperative online platform including an online chat forum and gamification make available to participants in order to assess, develop and improve their employability and IT skills and competences; expand their network, keep in touch and share ideas and material with other people from both their area and all over Europe; create a sense of community and connectivity. Beyond this, the project aims to obtain concrete and immediate outcomes (that will be developed and explained in detail in the project description part) such as:1. RURAL JUMP-START GUIDE 2. RURAL JUMP-START PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT 3. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE PLAN 4. QUALITY ASSURANCE REPORT 5. SURVEY FORMS 6. DISSEMINATION PLAN and SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY 7. RURAL JUMP-START PLATFORM 8. RURAL JUMP-START BRANDING PLAN 9. PROJECT’S BOOKLET 10. IMPACT RELEVANT REPORT 11. SUSTAINABILITY PLAN 12. MULTIPLIER EVENTS"

<< Objectives >>The WeNEETlabs project seeks to tackle social exclusion and unemployment of young NEETs, especially women, through key competences development like entrepreneurship and digital literacy in the context of social entrepreneurship labs to bolster the employability of young European women aged 18-30.WeNEETlabs will offer youth trainers practical methods to approach SE with young NEETs, a digital game to upskill them, and an employment portal to pair young NEETs with social entrepreneurs.<< Implementation >>The WeNEETlabs project will implement the following activities: -Project management and coordination related activities;-Pedagogical framework for the delivery of social entrepreneurship education to youth NEETs, especially women in a post-COVID-19 setting;-WeNEETlabs educational game and accompanying operational manual;-WeNEETjobs employment portal with cross-sectoral mentoring support;-Pilot-testing activities;-Dissemination and communication ones;-Exploitation and sustainability ones.<< Results >>The WeNEETlabs project results and outcomes are:-upskilling of young NEETs, specifically women, with key competences-increased capacity of youth workers to deliver innovative interactive resources on SE in the COVID-19 era-empowerment of youth NEETs to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes that will enable them to enter/ transition into the job market-development of high-quality digital resources -networking and mentoring relationships with experienced social entrepreneurs.

<< Objectives >>Through the Think Global, Act Local project, the team of 8 organisations propose to deliver a holistic training package that can change attitudes and foster diverse and inclusive workplaces within SMEs in Europe. We will use the power of storytelling to inspire managers and employees to change, to share values, and to transfer not just knowledge, but experience and wisdom, that motivates and engages employees, and helps them to buy in to the values and culture of the company.<< Implementation >>Think Global, Act Local partners will undertake the following activities:1. Develop CPD programme for VET Professionals2. Create a Storytelling Toolkit for VET professionals, managers, business owners and employees addressing topics related to diversity management3. Host VET trainers at a transnational training event in Netherlands4. Develop a eplatform where all learning materials will be presented as OERs.5. Ensure the widespread animation and mobilisation of VET and businesses<< Results >>Think Global, Act Local will develop 3 interconnected results:(1) CPD training to support VET trainers to update their knowledge on what diversity in the workplace means, how it can be managed and why it is beneficial to businesses and employees; as well as to update their pedagogic skills.(2) Storytelling Toolkit comprising the core diversity management educational intervention in this project.(3) A partnership with a local company to test and pilot the educational resources