The main aim of “OPEN-UP. Institutions and youth for innovative ideas” is to create a path of exchange and discussion between youth and policy makers on the issue of youth entrepreneurship.The partnership observes that youth initiatives often fails to result in concrete output due to:- Lack of education and training in the field of entrepreneurship, which can be seen as a path to value youth skills and competences- Lack of support by public authorities to the innovative working methods, widespread in the youth world, such as coworking, fab-lab, community cooperatives.- Difficulty to value the innovative contributions of young people within the traditional structures and know-how of local enterprises.These are the reasons why, through a process of structured dialogue, within OPEN-UP youth and institutional representatives will discuss the following issues : 1) pro-working initiatives; 2) Innovating methods. Coworking, FabLab, community cooperative; 3) Innovating contents. How to valorize young ideas within the framework of the traditional structures.OPEN-UP aims at:1. developing new tools in order to interact with youth and collect their needs and ideas, involving them in the policy making process2. receiving feedback and effective proposal to improve the existing opportunities in the field of entrepreneurship, and developing recommendations to create new lines of intervention. This will give young people a real opportunity to make their voices heard in the issues that directly affect them3. promoting entrepreneurship and the culture and values of participation, by valuating the good practices and tools still not widespread.OPEN-UP will involve 60 young people and representatives of institutions in a ten months project. In this period good practices will be exchanged, needs will be collected, proposals and new lines of interventions will be figured out.Many different activities and working methods will be used, so that all participants will feel actively involved within the seminar. Among these, visits to local realities, storytelling paths, workshops, exchange of practices, meetings and online focus group discussions.The partnership is composed by a strong network of public bodies (Regione Toscana, Regione Puglia, Fondazione Toscana) and no profit organizations (associazione WIP, soc.cooperativa Puntodock, Ceis). These realities work since many years in the area of youth policies, with the aim of empowering youth and creating dialogue opportunities with local authorities through cross-cutting strategies, since youth policies affect many different areas not always related to each other.The partnership has already collaborated in previous initiatives and actively worked together for the design of the present project proposal. This is undoubtedly a guarantee not only of the long term project sustainability but also of the impact on youth and local youth policies.On the one hand, OPEN-UP will give policy makers the opportunity to improve the existing opportunities in the field of youth policies, specifically in the issue of entrepreneurship, so that these con be really responsive to youth needs. On the other hand, OPEN-UP will give institutions the opportunity to learn new ways and tools to interact with youth, in the frame of non formal education, that can be replicated in other contexts.Most of all, young people will have the concrete opportunity to interact with institutions and be involved in the policy making process.

In a context of high youth unemployment rates and depopulation in rural areas, entrepreneurship becomes a key element to build an adversity-safe future of Europe and a tool to find alternative ways to deal with labour market challenges. Building local ecosystems focused on promoting and enabling youth entrepreneurship with a glocal perspective can help in tackling these challenges, with teachers and youth workers as key enablers to promote innovative entrepreneurial models in a lifelong learning context. Led by Vestland County Coucil, YESpecialist gathers experts from six European regions in Spain, Italy, Croatia, Denmark and Norway, plus a European network of regional & local authorities for lifelong learning, to create a new innovative methodology that will build up local ecosystems, introducing non formal and informal methods into formal education and to promote innovative entrepreneurship concepts. The project will specially focus on rural areas and will be inclusive regarding young people from vulnerable groups. Cooperation between all actors (authorities, business, NGOs, and schools), with an emphasis on VET teachers and youth workers is key to achieve the project results. Key outputs of the project will be a repository of active youth involvement in local ecosystems at European level, guidelines for building up regional/local ecosystems to promote youth entrepreneurship in rural areas, and a training course for stakeholders aiming at building such ecosystems. The latter will be implemented in two international pilot training courses that will build capacity in rural local contexts while promoting their interconnection at regional, national and European level.

The role of apprenticeships in vocational education and training has been recognised as an important factor in employability of youth and it is in a strong relationship with the needs of labor market. Eventhough small and medium entreprises represent a backbone of european economy providing employment, economic development and social cohesion, most of the apprenticeship positions are in large companies or in the public sector. Agriculture and food processing industry is a very important factor in the economy of Croatia, Greece, Hungary and Italy. The majority of the employees in the agricultural sector is older than 35 years. There is an urgent need to attract young and qualified employees with mutual benefit for the growth of the sector and employment. The engagement of small and medium entreprises working in agro-food sector in apprenticeship schemes should contribute to better employment of students and recently graduates who are in the labor market for the first time. Apprenticeship offers and positions contribute to the better employment and qualifications of students, as well as to the better adaption to the needs of small and medium entreprises. Leading partner of the project is Zadar County Rural Development Agency AGRRA from Croatia. Other project partners are: School of agriculture, food and veterinary medicine in Zadar, Croatia (PPVS Ozanic), IDEC a Greek certified LLL centre experienced in online platforms and quality management, INASO PASEGES the Panhellenic Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives, Tuscany Region in Italy, TREBAG a Hungarian consultancy and quality assurance company specialized in the sector and Hungarian Chamber of plant protection.Project is focused on the promotion of work-based learning and apprenticeship in agricultural sector. The specific objectives are following: - to increase the offer of high quality apprenticeship places in agricultural and food sector, by engaging small farms and small food industries in apprenticeships; - to build sustainable partnerships between VET providers and employers/farmers on both local and transnational level;- to build capacity of VET providers and employers/farmers in organizing and hosting apprenticeships;- to increase transnational mobility and workplacements of VET students in agriculture. Target groups of the project Apprenticeship HUBs in agro-food sector can be divided into two larger groups - primary target audience and secondary target audience. Category primary target audience refers to following : • VET providers in agricultural sector, including VET schools at lower and upper secondary level, VET centers of post-secondary level providing initial or further VET, agricultural chambers, local or regional authorities and other stakeholders that provide training in the sector of agriculture;• farms and small and micro food industry companies; • VET students of agriculture.Category secondary target audience includes following categories:• support staff that will liaison between VET providers and companies of agricultural sector in the field of apprenticeship;• journalists;• the public.Using different types and methods of dissemination (publications on websites, publications on DISCUSS platform, four newsletters, social media posts, creation of project's FB page (317 likes) and website, creation of project's leaflet and logo, articles in websites/magazines/newspapers, e-mail campaigns, workshops, multiplier events, meetings, workshops, presentation in meetings, distribution of leaflets and dissemination in local and regional fairs) project reached in total 77.828 persons. This numbers consist of all the dissemination efforts made by all the partners in the project.Main results of the projects are Apprenticeship Hub model and establishment of four apprenticeship hubs in Croatia, Greece, Hungary and Italy. The services that hubs provided are: awareness raising on usefulness of apprenticeship placements and position, capacity building of actors involved in apprenticeship (farmers, employers and VET centres) through targeted actions, methods and instruments, establishment of partnership between VET providers and SMEs on local and European level and networking of actors involved through a web platform and social media. A web platform is a powerful tool which supports the operation of Apprenticeship hubs and its work is focused on awareness raising materials for small and medium entreprises VET providers, students, etc., list of companies offering apprenticeship places and positions, toolkit for VET providers on how to organise apprenticeships at local and transnational level and prepare grant applications and supports services of organization of transnational apprenticeship of VET students. By the end of the project, in total 293 users registered on the platform, out of which 7 hub representatives, 7 VET providers, 184 SMEs, 92 students and 2 keymasters. Partners will ensure the availabilty of the project resulsts for at least 5 years and they will focus their effort on establishment of hubs in their countries and in Europe.

ContextForest fires are a complex problem in Europe, especially in Southern countries. Fire can seriously impact the environment, rural development and economy. Forest degradation is considered a key to the spreading of human diseases, as COVID-19. Although wildfire research and substantial technical advances have been made in recent years, we have not been able to provide quality training in Forest Fire Management (FFM). This requires inputs from related disciplines and stakeholders, continual updating and hands-on experience. Introducing innovative approaches in the FFM training will contribute to overcoming the shortage of skilled workers and will boost employment in fire-prone regions with high unemployment rates. Objectives The overall aim of FacingFIRE is to encourage social engagement among students to improve the capacities in FFM training and gender-balanced employability. FacingFIRE introduces the Service-Learning (S-L) approach to develop training projects in areas impacted by wildfires. The scope of which will be further enhanced by the use of innovative online learning tools and international collaboration. Employability skills, with special emphasis on women, will be boosted by hands-on practices and direct contact with employers. To transfer the project benefits to society, multiple interactions between educators, researchers, forest companies/ NGOs and decision-makers are planned. The project will promote employment among recent graduates. Emphasizing the role of women in forest management will also be an important statement in the project. All this will be done in the context of the current health crisis (COVID).Number and profile of participantsThe consortium comprises 9 partners from the most fire-prone regions in Europe: Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. The 5 academic partners (4 HEIs and 1 VET center) have recognized expertise in FFM and teaching innovation. The 4 professional partners (1 Forest Association, 1 Research center and 2 Decision-makers) and associates will play a key role in identifying the main training needs and enhancing the impact of the outcomes. The coordinator (USC) has vast experience in managing S-L projects and other environmentally-related educational projects.Description of activitiesIn order to reinforce FFM training capacities, the project will provide training activities for staff (academic and practitioners) and students. The training will include a) S-L management, b) innovative online learning (ePortfolio) and audio-visuals tools (SPOCs) and c) joint events between academia and stakeholders to exchange good training practices.To enhance this strategy, two types of blended mobility are planned for students. Practical experience and employment skills will be provided via international S-L projects combined with solid online and personalised training. Certain outputs will have strong multiplier effects on academic and professional sectors: a) use of S-L to address specific problems and reinforce employability skills, b) publication of the first guide to implementing S-L in fire-prone areas and c) launch of the first FFM training network to reinforce training capacities. Specific actions are designed to buffer the indirect consequences of COVID-19 on forest fires and employment.MethodsThe project will be divided into three phases:1. Staff training and production of materials for interactive activities with learners using innovative virtual tools.2. Development of pilot S-L projects, in which trainees will participate in international hands-on practices and use the online learning tools.3. Dissemination/multiplier events aiming to a) exchange good practices in S-L management, b) promote flexible and blended training involving both educators and stakeholders and c) launch of the first network in FFM training network. Results and envisaged impactsAt the individual level, the envisaged impacts include access to innovative training strategies, improvement of language and digital skills and increased employability. At the organizational level, the associations/policy-makers/research centers will benefit from access to state-of-the-art methods and a greater supply of skilled workers. The HEI and VET structures (teaching innovation, employment, gender equality) will be also reinforced by new procedures and skilled workers. The outcomes will benefit decision-makers and practitioners facing one of the most serious cross-border environmental and social challenges in Europe.SustainabilityThe network on FFM training network will open multiple possibilities for future cooperation. The outcomes will be maintained after the project as a result of the institution`s structures and procedures reinforcement (e.g. S-L recognition, gender equality). FacingFIRE is based on different EU policies (“Green Employment Initiative”, “EU strategy on Biodiversity “EU Youth Strategy”) and on the “Strategic framework for European cooperation in Education and Training.

The NOVIS project was carried out successfully, fully achieving the set objectives, and indeed the results obtained have strengthened the commitment of the partners to continue with further local and transnational activities, in the belief that the developed model constitutes a valid practical and concrete response for the prevention of all violence in the sport sector.The project carried out all the activities, with a substantial alignment in terms of timing and content. The results achieved by the project were particularly significant in Greece and Italy, where excellent results were achieved in both cases also from the point of view of the involvement of stakeholders and policy makers. The results achieved in Spain, Holland, Romania and Bulgaria were excellent, both from a qualitative and quantitative point of view. The results achieved in Poland were satisfactory, even if the final phase of implementation saw a decreasing commitment from the Polish partner. Faced with this evolution, the consortium reacted consistently thanks to the risk planning already developed in the design phase, recovering the numerical and qualitative targets set through a greater commitment by the other partners.In general, the project has created a vast and heterogeneous set of tools and methodologies for an educational approach in the world of school and young people aimed at developing critical skills towards one's approach to sport, to cheering and to the behaviours of the adult world. A large number of participant has been involved during the testing phase: more than 5.000 children were involved, together with their parents, coaches and school teachers. 300 coaches and teachers have been engaged in train the trainers activities, and 46 persons from the internal staff of the participating partners have supported those activities. A huge communication and dissemination plan took place during all the lifetime of the project. A large media coverage has been ensured, targeting children, professionals (coaches and school teachers) and stakeholders. We collected a large number of positive feedbacks and the voluntary adoption of the Novis model by more than 200 external organizations. Many sports federations were reached and involved, becoming in turn Ambassadors of the Novis model. The consortium has already decided to continue the development and implementation of the model also in the near future.All of the following Intellectual outputs and Multiplier events have been completed:IO1) Surveys and data analysisIO2) Teachers Methodological GuideIO3) OER Online PlatformIO4) OER (video, testimonials’ interviews, tools and presentations for schools and for families)IO5) Pilot affiliation supporting tools and documentsIO6) Sport Chart Against Violence in SportIO7) One scientific article, submitted to an international reviewME1) Transnational conference, “Creating the EU network of sport clubs, federations and associations against violence”ME2) Transnational conference, “Promoting EU Sport values and fighting violence in sport”The project has partially suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic in its final part of dissemination, both locally and transnationally. After having had to cancel the final multiplier event in March 2020, the consortium asked for an extension of the project duration until 31/12/2020, moving the date of the event to November 2020. Unfortunately, the second wave of the pandemic forced to convert the conference in an online event, which in any case obtained more than satisfactory results, exceeding the pre-established target of over 200 affiliated organizations and stakeholders. Also due to the Covid, the fifth partners' meeting, which was scheduled in parallel with the final multiplier event, took place online.