CONTEXT The demand of equal opportunities is one of the main focus to improve as a society. However, the construction industry remains a predominantly male enclave, despite the efforts made to make it inclusive. Today, there are signs of a cultural shift in the industry and women can be found in high-skilled occupations, such as engineers or architects, being still scarce the percentage of women working on construction-site (9% average UE). What are the real obstacles to women entering and remaining in different construction occupations? Some individual, market and social difficulties have been identified: *Intrinsic barriers: women don’t see themselves as construction workers.*Labour market barriers: low recruitment of women; poor visibility of women's professionals. *Sectoral barriers: sector's inability to attract women and young people. In addition to above blockades, it could be also mentioned the inappropriate provision of training, as well as employment and working conditions, which also determine the male-oriented shape of the construction industry. OBJECTIVES In order to contribute to overcome the barriers explained above, Women can Build tries to re-envision the vocational training towards an equal construction industry by achieving the following objectives: *To provide gender-oriented measures to main actors involved. *To enhance women sensitivity towards this sector.*To re-envision the training focus approach in VET providers and trainers. *To establish guidance measures to enterprises towards a gender awareness-raising and balance. ACTIVITIESVarious activities have been carried out to achieve project's objectives and contribute to remove existing barriers to women's access to the construction sector: 1. VET trainers' overview on gender-equality status quo and gender-sensitive MOOC (Massive Open Online Course)2. Learning by-doing: immersive experience for women to attract women to the construction sector3. Role models/testimonies of women in construction sector, as a fundamental element to change social imaginary4. Guidelines for VET centres to provide a training offer better addressed to women5. Definition of an action plan for companies to encourage the recruitment of women in the sector6. Dissemination actions for awareness raising (social networks, events, media, etc.)PARTICIPANTSThe project has addressed 4 direct target groups and 1 indirect: 1 Women: testimonies and course (100+43)2 Trainers of construction sector: survey and MOOC (500+90) 3 VET centres: survey (292)4 Enterprises: survey (60)5 Stakeholders and society in general: dissemination (4.187.174) All in all, we have addresed 1.085 participants directly benefited by project activities, as well as 4.187.174 potential recipients. METHODOLOGY The project has used a participatory methodology, aimed to target and involve, on the one hand main beneficiaries that have participated directly in the activities, and on the other hand relevant key players that provide feedback and endorse results. Also, the combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques has gotten the most out of different sources, allowing sound and supported conclusions and recommendations. Besides, the holistic approach of the project based on the three pillars recommended by the European Insitute for Gender Equality (EIGE), which are education, sensitizacion and dissemination, allows its transfer to others sectors alike and countries with similar difficulties. RESULTS *Provision of new educational approaches with a gender-oriented approach*Encancing access to training for all: MOOC for trainers and immersive training experience for women*Dissemination of inspirational stories of women in the sector (role models). *Awareness raising among constrution enterprises and sector in general for women recruitment*Favour social inclusion, especially the labour integration of women in the construction market*Valorisation of the construction sector and improvement of its social image. IMPACT The project has obtained a very high impact, with many relevant stakeholders interested in the project and its results and with many news and references on media (press, radio and even TV), as well as a lot of participation in dissemination events and professional fora. This high project’s impact within the sector and its organisations has been possible due to the presence of large and relevant VET providers, which are mainly formed by employers' associations and trade unions and/or public institutions. Moreover, the European dimension of action has fostered social innovation and impact at EU level exceeding the initial expectations. POTENTIAL LONG-TERM BENEFITSThe findings may guide organisations to develop and implement policies, strategies and initiatives geared towards attracting, integrating, supporting and motivating women who are, or wish to be, employed in historically male-dominated occupations in the construction industry.

<< Background >>The emerging “new” world sweeps away the “old economy” setting a prevailing role for innovation and ICT. SMEs, despite comprising the backbone of EU economy and playing a vital role for its growth and development, are in the midst of this global transition towards a digital and green economy and society lagging behind its tremendous benefits and potential, especially for the micro & small ones and the self-employed. This digital gap has increased inequalities allowing for an increased inclusiveness gap since SMEs make the most of the industrial fabric in many EU countries creating the majority of jobs and being the cement of inclusive and sustainable societies. COVID-19 pandemic has further hindered traditional ways of doing business highlighting their vulnerability and increasing the necessity and pace for change and adaptation to the distance economy disruption apart from the challenges posed by the digital transformation of the emerging 4th Industry Revolution. This unpreparedness of SMEs to harness the potential benefits in productivity and competitiveness deriving from adopting digital technologies for inclusive growth results from their lack of support and orientation to identify their needs or the value proposition and understand the potential game changer the digital ecosystem provides. SMEs are often not aware of innovation potentials, struggle to understand what to digitalize, which technology to use, how to prioritize goals, and which organizational changes (e.g. skills and roles) are required. This highlights the need for systematic guidance through support units.<< Objectives >>Against this context, enabling self-employed, micro & SMEs’ digitalisation with supportive strategies for their introduction and orientation has become centrepiece for inclusive growth in EU. Roadmaps providing step-by-step guidance through the digital ecosystem landscape from simple technologies such as e-commerce, e-invoicing and e-payment to more interconnected systems such as e-platforms and digital marketing and further forward to the new generation of technologies such as Big Data, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Blockchain, Augmented Reality and Robotics with simple, concrete and practical examples and micro-learning experiences can be viewed as top priority and urgent catalyst for uplifting the barriers and constraints SMEs face to grow digitally and optimise their capacity for skills and resources for their digital enablement. #SMEsGoDigital project strategic objectives if to provide this supportive ecosystem in the form of a Tech hub, a one-stop-place for stakeholders providing awareness, orientation and digital competence to guide our target groups, micro & SMEs manpower and self-employed through their digital transformation of their business models.<< Implementation >>The project will deliver four main Project Results (PRs) consisting of a number of tasks and subtasks framed by three multiplier events in the form of Thematic Workshops aligned with certain PRs for feedback and dissemination purposes and the Final Conference for maximization of the project’s impact.The PRs to be developed for #SMEsGoDigital tool are as follows:1.Design of #SMEsGoDigital tool•Design of the #SMEsGoDigital online platformoDefinition of requirements with focus group discussions and extant research identified through literature review;oBlueprint of the online portal functionalities answering the stakeholders’ needs as mapped; •Design of the supportive orientation programmeoDefinition of three-level roadmap towards digital transformation, basic, standard and advanced, with incremental stepwise benchmarksoDefinition of digital transformation mapping criteria and design of digital readiness self-assessment questionnaire •Design of incremental stepwise micro-learning experiences oCompetence-based course design for the SMEs professionals (management and employees) continuous professional development of digital skills and awareness of current trends based on bite-size, practical, real-life examples, scenarios and best practices ->Multiplier Event: Workshop with micro and small SME’s manpower and self-employed to validate the requirements and the blueprint process 2.Development of the #SMEsGoDigital tool•Development of the #SMEsGoDigital online portal•Development of supportive orientation programme•Development of digital skills and awareness e-course->Multiplier Event: Workshop with micro & SMEs and self-employed professionals and stakeholders for feedback on the PR2 deliverables and participatory action plan invitation 3.Piloting of the #SMEsGoDigital tool->Multiplier Event: Workshop with micro & SMEs and self-employed professionals and stakeholders for participatory action plan with applicable implementation of innovation1.Sustainability & Exploitation plan framed with Policy Recommendations->Multiplier Event: Workshop with micro & SMEs and self-employed professionals and stakeholders for launching the #SMEsGoDigital tool (Final Conference)<< Results >>#SMEsGoDigital project is a dedicated online tool tailored to the SMEs requirements for guidance, skills and resources to fuel capitalisation on their digital business models and processes transformation fociusing on the micro and small enterprises and self-employed. An online Tech hub initiative which aspires to develop a single point of entry for businesses combining a competence centre with the required resources for the digital gap via micro-learning experiences to help SMEs to understand and implement Digital Transformation initiatives and practical sector specific orientation provision in one convenient online location providing a holistic ecosystem. This tool will offer a one-stop portal which will combine a platform with resources for knowledge, skills and competences to incrementally develop the SMEs’ digital literacy culture which actually synergises with their practical day-to-day activities and sectorial roadmaps with sequential feasible objectives detecting the current state of readiness for the digital transition and a mix of quick-wins as well as sustainable innovations resulting from their digital upskilling.The digitalisation roadmap via #SMEsGoDigital tool will support and complement digital adoption and diffusion as it will:-create a three-level digitalisation track guide, basic, standard and advanced, to set the foundations for sectorial roadmaps to follow for incrementally increasing the digital capacity;-provide supportive and practical orientation with a digital transformation plan consisting of a readiness questionnaire, current trends awareness with real-life examples and implementation tangible goals demonstration; -increase digital literacy and culture with the upskilling of management and employees depending on the company positioning along the digital transformation roadmap;-offer micro-learning trajectories through participative action plans for stepwise clearly defined and feasible goals towards strategic benchmarks;-foster the transition from brick-and mortar to digital business required for the new distance, digital and green economy-ensure inclusive growth