Digital literacy and 21st century skills play a crucial role, because all young people will have to have technological and digital skills & a flexible approach at work for the future and in everyday life.Therefore, the development and promoting quality of diversity youth work is crucial for inclusion in socio-economical environments and promoting digital empowerment allowing greater synergies across all fields of actions concerning young people with special focus on autonomy, participation with active citizenship, notably for those at risk of social exclusion by enhancing critical thinking and media literacy, sense of initiative and promoting entrepreneurship education (EU Rec. Digital Inclusion for a better Europe) . We will develop Diversity Youth worker to be able to empower the disadvantaged young people to take charge of their own life. The Diversity Youth Worker will learn new technical skills such as video-blogging, but also intra/entrepreneurial skills & coaching techniques to enable them to make disadvantaged young people more employable in the future and put ideas into practice; to become active EU citizens. The project tackles also challenges of discrimination and poverty through the aid of video-blogging and facilitation skills developed so that the Youth woker is able to promote diversity, common values of freedom, enhance critical thinking, media literacy & strengthening the sense of initiatives of disadvantaged young people. We will create two training pathways : Diversity Youth Worker and Digital Enterprise. This project will also promote quality youth work by developing youth workers/trainers to engage with marginalised young people & strengthen cross-sector cooperation. They will be able to offer education provision to marginalised young people, that is seen as relevant to their personal development & incorporate new learning methods. It will attract young marginalised people to be involved in education and training as learner. The trainers will enjoy developing practical learning activities as the young people will develop skills and develop sustainable & innovative ideas with new technology. This type of project is only workable in association with partners who have the relevant skills and experiences. This project develops a new approach to strengthen the education and training paths of youth worker by developing the capability to design, resource and facilitate entrepreneurial workshops & citizenship skill development with modern media usage such as video-blogging and coaching methodology that are attractive and educational for young people. The youth workers will gain skills and competencies in innovative training skills for empowering young people and promote active citizenship within young people across different cultures. We will also use Youthpass certification & the EQAVET system which will promote high quality of youth work & training paths. Having built this capacity within the Diversity Youth Workers, they will in turn present national workshops to disadvantaged young people with disabilities, NEETs, migrant background and from deprived or rural areas.The partnership is between organisation which work with youths and also develop professional pathways, there are from: UK, Italy, Romania and Spain. There are 2 target groups: 1. Trainers/Teachers/youth workers/Teachers/trainers/coaches and mentors who work with Young people also from marginalised backgrounds. 2. Disabled Young people (16- 26 year old) mainly from marginalised background which are at risk of isolation. Diversity Youth Worker will have all the skills to facilitate innovative youth work and use technology and digital skills to enhance the offer and programs. Digital Enterprise Facilitator will be able to guide the Young people into adulthood with enterprise and digital skills for integration into the labour market. We will train 12 Diversity Youth Workers and Digital Enterprise Facilitator, and 24 Young people in turn.

Since the advent of the Erasmus+ Programme, Gecko (UK) has devised and piloted an Enterprise and Employability programme which is complementary to KA1 VET work placements in foreign organisations. Throughout the lifetime of the project, this programme was shared and improved with the help of a network of European VET partners, working together towards achieving transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications to facilitate learning, employability and labour mobility.The organisations involved were: Gecko (UK), Reattiva, CEDIT & CPA Bomba (Italy), INCOMA & INTEGRA (Spain), Globtrain (Germany) and European Academy (Romania).Our now improved DEEM programme complements the KA1 VET mobility schemes, and adds value to them by offering a training scheme that equips and empowers beneficiaries of such schemes with entrepreneurship and employability knowledge and skills, leading to sustainable employment at the end of the mobility. The improved materials take the shape of: - 1 Workbook on Digital Competencies - 1 Workbook on Digital Competencies - Tutor's Copy- 1 Workbook on Intrapreneurship- 1 Workbook on Intrapreneurship - Tutor's Copy- 1 Workbook on Teambuilding- 1 Workbook on Teambuilding - Tutor's CopyTogether with:- Methodological notes- 1 Improved Individual Development Plan- 1 Improved Log BookThe training programme has been designed to work in symbiosis with the work placement, allowing the students to record both their professional and personal goals through the use of the Individual Development Plan and Log Books that are complementary to the training.The project built on the UK approach to student-centred learning, offering an innovative pedagogical approach to partner nations. The curriculum materials offer a formal training route, and opportunities for national and ECVET certification. The DEEM programme that we devised is based on an empirical approach, offering immediate solutions to engage employers in work-based learning and to help beneficiaries of mobility schemes into sustainable employment. Through implementing the project, the partnership also led to the development of better quality assurance mechanisms in VET, by identifying clear statements of learning outcomes.We worked together in sharing good/better practices, improving the materials of the Enterprise and Employability programme and then standardised them, with inputs from all the partners representing 5 EU countries. By using the knowledge of all the partners, we acknowledged the different pedagogical approaches of partners/nations, but also sought to be uniform in our approach, so that the DEEM programme can be used or adopted in any EU nation. The main result of the project: the DEEM network developed a common curriculum which we all own now – both as intellectual property and “own” in terms of our commitment to its quality delivery. The project built and strengthened a network of European VET providers, enabling them to deliver a standardised enterprise and employability curriculum, building organisational capacity, whilst working collaboratively towards achieving results that tackle EU's 2020 Strategy.

The TEACH KA2 Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership was a collaboration of 4 European Countries (UK- Leader, France, Romania and Turkey) who sought to work together to develop and test a series of intellectual outputs and materials that are now being used engage and support disadvantaged learners through the use of traditional arts, crafts and enterprise.TEACH, a partnership of Adult Education, VET,and Employer bodies, worked together to develop innovative education training methodologies and outputs that supported disadvantaged groups to reconnect with learning, training and in the process developed skills whilst having fun. In doing so were were able to address the barriers to learning and labour the market TEACH focused on the following objectives:1) To train educators from across educational sectors (teachers, VET trainers, adult educators)2) Develop new and innovative training methodologies and training resources around Arts, Crafts and Enterprise that can better meet the needs of our disadvantaged learners3) Provide an in depth analysis of how the use of arts and crafts linked to enterprise can help the re-integration of disadvantage groupsThrough our work we have seen the use of arts and crafts as effective engager to learning and our project has examined/ tested the following themes:* Lack of learner engagement with traditional learning methods* Engagement and Empowerment of hard to reach learners* Use of Arts and Crafts to motivate learning whilst retaining national traditions* Progression of learning routes for learners* Use of non formal education around arts and crafts and entrepreneurship* Use of social enterprises around traditional arts and crafts By working on these themes we:1) Shared knowledge with our partners through practical and focused arts and crafts based workshops and training activities (Engaging and training learners/trainers in many different art and craft forms)2) Developed intellectual outputs and materials, that demonstrates the use of Arts and Crafts as an 'engager' to education, with pedagogical materials, trainer guidance, lesson plans3) Produced a comparative analysis of key art and craft forms and their value in supporting different forms of learning (School, VET, AE and work based skills development) linked to enterprise.4) Involve learners and trainers in producing our project materials and outputs.TEACH was needed for a number of reasons that are still common across our partner countries and more broadly across the EU, they include the high levels of unemployment particularly amongst people with little or no formal education and those facing significant deprivation and disadvantaged.TEACH sought to train educators and develop resources to better engage, empower and work with disadvantaged groups to develop their employability skills and then to help them develop enterprises where they can sell their goods at decent prices to earn a living or have the confidence to re-enter formal education or work.We sought to address:* The engagement disadvantaged groups helping them to re-enter education through the use of arts / crafts and Enterprise based learning * Empowering people with low skills to improve their confidence and develop their employability, helping them to find and sustain work or learning opportunities* Creating learning, teaching methodologies and a series of outputs around arts and crafts/enterprise* To train cross field educators on arts and craft techniques as well as using and developing social firms and enterprises to support learning this will involve developing solutions for a spectrum learners and trainers* Sharing best practice on education training techniques on the use of arts, crafts and enterprise based learning across our partnershipTEACH has been great in bringing educators from across the EU to learn and develop new skills that they have been able to test with their clients, it has helped them to implement organisational step changes when working with marginalised groups. For instance our Romania partner has been able to engage young adults with low skills, helping them to develop their basic skills through crafts based workshops and in doing so have been able to set up social enterprises around Christmas markets.Our project has been able to train trainers though our training activities, build trainer confidence, explore new teaching methods and develop organisational capacity and resources, We have also demonstrated our project successes through local conferences and other dissemination activities. These activities have informed our wider network of partners and stakeholders who have been able to explore our projects work and sought to develop mechanism to support disadvantaged learners, for instance Birmingham City Council used elements of our projects learning to test family learning activities and Wolverhampton Adult Education Service has sought to increase their creative adult education provision.

Youth Talent to Market is a Erasmus+ KA2 project in the field of youth, composed of three organisations that work with the creative sector; in the UK (Gecko Programmes), in Italy (CEDIT) and Cyprus (LC Youth).The project developed, tested and and adopted innovative practices, by providing enterprise workshops and work placements in a blended mobility for youths, that supported them to develop and sustain a creative business in this sector.The project identified a non-formal entrepreneurial training pathway for artisans, who have learnt their craft, and wishing to develop their business skills so that they can take their talent to market; either a national or international market. The non-formal entrepreneurial training pathway took the shape of a 10-day enterprise workshop, that was designed after a close consultation with representatives from the creative sector in the three countries. This was then piloted in two cycles, with 60 creative makers from the United Kingdom, Italy, and Cyprus benefiting from the training designed by the partnership. The 10-day enterprise workshop was followed by a 45-day work placement with a creative business, for 30 chosen participants, providing them with the opportunity to observe and learn the mechanisms of managing and marketing such a business, with the aim to equip them to transfer this knowledge to their own business.The project worked closely with artisans and artists groups throughout the life of the project, and engaged them to contribute to the design of the workshops and the style in which it is presented. Sixty young artisans were developed in this pilot, along with nine youth workers being developed as enterprise mentors specifically for this sector.The project also featured three big dissemination events (multipliers), which were held in each of the partner nations, with the aim to continue to engage with artisans, artisan groups and other young people, and report to stakeholders and shapers, and exploit the results of the project.

Entrepreneurship is seen as one of the 8 key competences for lifelong learning. Entrepreneurship curricula in primary education continue to evaluate, but focus mainly on the development of relevant training materials, support tools for secondary and tertiary VET teachers and universities. At present, there is no new approach to adult skills and entrepreneurship. Adult learners represent a group of the unemployed, the excluded, often without proper entrepreneurship education. Even if they are ready to start their own business, they do not have TIK skills, social competences as younger EU citizens. The YouBrand project responds to this need. The YouBrand Project - Storytelling and Pitching for Start-ups (YouBrand) was implemented from 31 December 2017 to 30 December 2019 within the framework of ERASMUS+ Adult Education. The main objective of the project was to create innovative tools for entrepreneurship education and to test them. The YouBrand project has achieved the following objectives: shaping a proactive entrepreneurial mindset as a means of reducing unemployment, improving entrepreneurial education, providing services to support business start-ups and promote self-employment opportunities, creating a programme for start-ups to strengthen their TIK competences, creativity, innovation, providing continuous updating of teaching / learning resources through a small-scale collective awareness platform, dissemination of results and products developed within the project. The YouBrand project supports the above mentioned priorities through:1) Creation and testing of an innovative training model / programme for the development of disadvantaged young people (NEET) of the following key competences: initiative and entrepreneurship, digital literacy and creativity. (O1) 2)Define and test a trainer pathway to introduce digital innovation into the training model to support start-ups in their development path. (O2) 3)Design and implementation of a web portal aimed at making available the developed training concepts, information and exchange of experiences and good practices. (O3) Key elements of the training programmes developed within the project: 1. knowledge and practical skills in human resources management, in particular in the area of recruitment, selection, motivation; 2. Business model canvas; 3. Digital corporate Storytelling; 4. Personal Branding; 5. Corporate Storytelling; 6. Pitching Fundraising & Crowdfunding. As part of the project, a YouTube channel was created with videos and interviews presenting business experiences of entrepreneurs with brand awareness building. Also as part of the project, five conferences were organized: the first conference with a min. 60 participants took place in Lublin, the second conference with min. 30 participants took place in Cartaya, the third conference with min. 30 participants was held in Birningham, the fourth conference with min. 30 participants took place in Larissa, the fifth conference with min. 60 participants took place in Rome. Project activities involved the following target groups: 30 beginning entrepreneurs, 20 trainers, 20 people connected with vocational training directly participated in the development of training programs, 15 representatives of public institutions involved in activities concerning opinions, advice and suggestions, 15 trainers directly participated in training activities YouBrand, 210 interested people took part in conferences. During the project four project meetings were organized: in Rome, Warsaw, Athens and Lublin.YouBrand has a significant impact on participating trainers, young people, entrepreneurs and key partners, stakeholders and the wider community. However, the focus is on strengthening young people who have the opportunity to start a business in order to successfully enter the labour market, increasing their resilience and vocational training, as well as shaping their entrepreneurial spirit. Trainers directly benefit from project activities and intellectual products, by continuing to use training in their professional activities and updating their professional profiles with new teaching techniques and ICT skills, improve their knowledge and develop new skills, update their pedagogical skills through the exchange of training materials, engage in the design and implementation of an online community of trainers on entrepreneurship, engage in European teamwork and interdisciplinary cooperation, broaden their horizons, experience different European cultures and improve their knowledge of different communities. Young people: They will receive a set of innovative technical competences and skills to increase their chances of success in a start-up process, they will receive knowledge and skills to help them succeed in the labour market, they are supported by an international team in developing a business idea, they are in direct contact with entrepreneurs, improving their business skills through the development of sustainable business contacts, they improve their decision-making skills, communicate their ideas, improve their language, social and presentation skills, develop and improve their digital ability to work with different sources of information, develop a higher level of cultural awareness and understanding of social and business issues, and improve and develop self-awareness and self-esteem in terms of their knowledge, talents and skills. Entrepreneurs: develop skills to contribute effectively to the education of the young generation of entrepreneurs, appreciate the knowledge, skills and ideas that young people can bring to the labour market, business, improve business skills through the development of sustainable business contacts, receive new suggestions and opinions on the potential for further development of their business. Partners: improved education by adding innovative content and processes to their training offer, equipped their employees with new skills and competences, created a network of cooperation. Institutions: obtained results of the project as a practice of supporting the labour market and social integration policy of adult learners, received access to the YouBrand programme. The 2020 Entrepreneurship Action Plan envisages the creation of SME as the main source of employment. It stresses that in order to boost European growth, employment and competitiveness there is a need to create new businesses and innovative start-ups. Member States should provide more services to support and promote business start-ups. They should focus on the need to promote entrepreneurial and business spirit, training new generations of entrepreneurs, encourage schools, education centres, universities, training institutions and labour market institutions to actively support entrepreneurship. The biggest gaps in terms of competences, skills and entrepreneurial knowledge are: problems with communication, presentation, planning, definition and development of business plans and creativity. Investing in education for entrepreneurship supports economic growth and the creation of enterprises. The YouBrand project supports these objectives and bridges the gaps in terms of competence, skills and entrepreneurial knowledge.