"<< Background >>In an era of advanced technology, human interaction is become less and less frequent. Tasks like doing your grocery shopping, managing your finances, making travel arrangements, accessing information, and communicating with people has all moved to the digital realm. This has led to a reduction in face-to face communication with people daily. This move may have had little impact on Baby-Boomers, Generation X and Y who grew up in periods of little or none of the technology available today, who sent letters instead of emails and played board games instead of video games. Those generations have adapted and moved with the technologies around them. However, it seems the impact of a more technological driven society has been quite different for Generation Z. Often deemed “digital natives”, Gen Z (born between 1995 and 2010) have grown up in an environment where technology is readily available, high speed internet was the norm and social media platforms are the primary form of communication. As this generation begins to join the workforce, it is becoming apparent that they often lack the soft skills required to be effective in the modern workplace (Tulgan, 2018). By soft skills for employment, we are referring to skills like good communication, time-management, problem-solving, punctuality, a good work ethic – all skills that professionals today may take for granted, but that could be real obstacles to employment for young people today.Research presented in ‘Gen Z @ Work’ (Stillman & Stillman, 2017), states that 37% of Gen Z's believe that technology has weakened their ability to maintain strong interpersonal relationships and develop people skills. Through the Workplace Preparedness Study, commissioned and published by McDonalds in 2018, employees of the fast-food chain who participated in the study stated that they valued the soft skills of their colleagues more than their hard skills. The study engaged over 6,500 employees in McDonalds, and they rated the soft skills of problem-solving (95%), teamwork (94%), verbal communication (94%) and being on time for work and having good attendance (94%) as being the most valued soft skills for colleagues to have. This survey also found that in most cases, Gen Z learners only gain these skills through their first job and cannot learn and cultivate these skills through school and social settings.Roles and opportunities in the jobs market are evolving, the importance of hard skills has shifted. Although hard skills are still necessary, the importance of soft skills is becoming more and more visible in the labour market. A survey, called the Global Talent Trend Survey, conducted by LinkedIn (2018), found that 82% of organisations said that soft skills are more crucial to the success of their company than hard skills. However, 62% of Gen Z’ers think hard skills are more important than soft skills for employability (LinkedIn, 2018). This survey also showed that 61% of organisations believe Gen Z employees will need extra support in the development of their soft skills in the workplace.Soft skills, also referred to as transversal skills, are needed to help employees to be more adaptable and resilient to possible changes (World Bank, 2018). The OECD (2019) have outlined a framework for soft skills, called “the Big 5 Domains”, looking at the 5 areas of soft skills: Task Performance (achievement motivation, responsibility, self-control, persistence), Emotional Regulation (stress resistance, optimism, emotional control), Collaboration (empathy, trust, cooperation), Open-Mindedness (curiosity, tolerance, creativity), and Engaging With Others (sociability, assertiveness, energy). Gen-Quest will explore each of these 5 areas and will design a suite of active learning resources that will support Gen Z learners, and the youth workers who engage with them, to develop their skills under these 5 themes. The GENQUEST consortium will address these competences using a WebQuest methodology.<< Objectives >>Supporting youth employability is a core objective of all EU Member States in the aftermath of the pandemic. Young people have statistically suffered the work job losses through pandemic-induced closers of sectors. Young people are typically engaged in economic sectors where informal, low-skilled jobs are most common – including retail and the tourism sector in our countries. To provide young people with every possible chance to succeed in the post-pandemic economy, partners feel that in their role of supporting the progress and wellbeing of young people in Europe, that we have an obligation to support young people in our networks to develop the soft skills they will need to succeed in the modern workplace.Research published on TechTarget (2020) states that making a meaningful contribution to the world is important to GenZ, and that young individuals expect to have their input welcomed and respected and are less tolerant of authoritarian working environments. In the workplace, research tells us that GenZ employees expect greater flexibility; seek authenticity and truth in their work; are more motivated by the desire to contribute to something meaningful in work, etc. While this is the ideal for GenZ employees, most of these young people realistically will not find employment that offer these conditions. Even in modern workplaces, while there are advances in organisations having a purpose, being more diverse, offering more work-life flexibility and being mindful of individual needs and desires of employees, even the most progressive and open workplaces, required employees to have well-developed soft skills so that they can work effectively as part of a team, be motivated and conscientious enough to work independently on tasks allocated to them and trouble-shoot and solve problems as they arise. GENQUEST partners believe that these transversal skills that are key to employability are basic competences that all employees should have and that GenZ often lack. It is for this reason that this project will dedicate itself to supporting young people to develop these skills so that they can attain employment and begin building their purposeful careers. In this way, GENQUEST is responding to the needs of our target group of young learners so that they can develop the soft-skills they need to access sustainable and meaningful employment opportunities.WebQuests were chosen as the format for these resources because they are inquiry-oriented activities which encourage learners to engage in collaboration and team-work exercises, and to develop their creative and critical thinking and problem-solving skills through completing the proposed challenges. The format of the resources in themselves will support young people to develop some of the key skills they require to support their employability; however when focused on the targeted subject of developing their soft skills, these activities will be developed to create authentic and deeper learning experiences for Gen Z learners, which will appeal to their interests in seeking truth and authenticity in their experiences, while also supporting them to enhance their transversal skills that employers value. As such, through these innovative learning resources, the GENQUEST project aims to bridge the gap between Gen Z and the needs of the labour market by increasing their soft skills; but it is also significant that the education model chosen to deliver these educational activities will also align with the learning preferences of young learners. While this project will prioritise soft skills for employment, through using the WebQuest methodology, our aim is also to foster independence in learning among our youth target group, so that they can be informed, well-rounded and confident European citizens, able to make the most of social, civic, and political life, as well as supporting their employability. These are the primary outcomes that the GENQUEST project team would like to achieve.<< Implementation >>The project workplan has been built around a phased methodology comprising interlinked and overlapping design, development, testing and implementation actions. GENQUEST is a result-oriented project and at each phase tangible results will be developed. While the two main target groups are front-line youth workers, who will be the primary beneficiaries of the proposed in-service training programme, and young people, who will reap the benefits of the new WebQuests to support their employability, in reality, both the professionals and learners engaged will extract significant benefits from all proposed project results.To support project development at local level, each partner will establish a stakeholder forum comprising key youth service providers, employment support organisations and business representative bodies. Having this composition of representatives in these forums will be beneficial to youth workers, as they will learn the real-needs of employers in terms of the soft skills that young employees should develop; and also beneficial to employers who will gain insight into the motivations and desires of Gen Z learners and potential employees. These forums will play a pivotal role in the development process supporting the work of partners by testing and validating all prototype resources produced. The forums will meet on a regular basis throughout the project duration and will act as local advocates for the project within the sectors they represent. Bringing representatives of business and youth development together is an important added value and it is expected that these forums will endure after the project has ended.The planned new challenge-based resources will represent a considerable addition to the lexicon of available employment readiness resources. In total, 50 WebQuest learning resources will be provided addressing a broad range of competences. These new resources will be available as an open educational resource in 5 partner languages. As all challenge based materials will be produced in media-rich formats - integrating short instructional videos and quizzes where appropriate, and accessible through the project website which will be optimised for mobile-use - the potential impact of this resource will be significant. Innovative soft skills training resources can only achieve the desired results if they are supported by appropriately trained youth workers. Partners will design and produce a bespoke in-service training programme for front-line youth workers addressing 3 key skill areas that have been identified during research conducted to inform this proposal. As this in-service training will address issues like online learning, developing employment-related soft skills and the use of challenge-based educational interventions the demand for this training will continue into the future as all of these issues become more and more mainstream.A project website will be developed by FIP. This website will function on a wide range of mobile learning platforms and will be populated with the innovative WebQuest challenges. This website will also host all completed WebQuest challenges as a reference to support exchange of best practice and will provide access to the social media pages of the project to help build a sustainable network of youth workers who complete in the in-service training and young people who complete WebQuest challenges to build their key transversal skills and competences. The project Facebook page will be embedded in the project website so that youth workers and young people who use these innovative training materials can post and share the results of their Quests on the project Facebook page, and this can be shared by youth workers and young people in all partner countries. In this way, the website will facilitate the intercultural networking of young people and youth professionals.<< Results >>According to McKinsey (2019) the gap in soft skills that Gen Z employees currently possess, and the soft skills that employers desire, comes from this generation’s need to find the ‘truth’ at the root of everything. As such, they seek authenticity in their conversations with others, and may appear to lack the skills to understand and adhere to the nuances of established workplace etiquette. Gen Z learners also seek authenticity in their learning experiences. Authentic learning motivates them, as they see a real and lived outcome from their educational effort. It is for this reason that the GENQUEST project proposes to use WebQuests to develop the key transversal skills in young people that will support their future employability. Based on our plans, partners have agreed to developing the following core project results: Result 1 – A suite of 50 WebQuests to build Key Soft Skills for Employment - WebQuests are a structured learning experience that use links to essential resources on the internet and an authentic task to motivate learners’ investigation of an open- ended question for the development of individual expertise. Effective WebQuests involve a process that transforms newly acquired information into a more sophisticated understanding. The best WebQuests inspire students to see richer thematic relationships, to contribute to the real world of learning, and to reflect on their own metacognitive processes. WebQuests are frequently described as 'scaffolded' learning structures to support learner performance beyond their capacities. The WebQuest challenges that comprise this innovative learning resource will address ""the Big 5 Domains”, that were identified in the OECD report (2019) and will specifically support Gen Z learners to develop their soft skills under the following 5 themes:(1) Task Performance (achievement motivation, responsibility, self-control, persistence);(2) Emotional Regulation (stress resistance, optimism, emotional control);(3) Collaboration (empathy, trust, cooperation);(4) Open-Mindedness (curiosity, tolerance, creativity);(5) Engaging With Others (sociability, assertiveness, energy).Embedded in the resources will be strategies and actions aimed at developing key transversal skills like: - digital competence- learning to learn- critical thinking and problem solving- negotiation and team-workThe primary target group of the project are young digital natives who have mobile technologies embedded in their daily lives. Designing bespoke game-based educational resources that can be directly accessed on smart-phones and other mobile devices significantly increases the chances of making a lasting impact on the target group in all partner countries and building high-value transversal skill sets that are much sought after in the labour market.Result 2 – In-service training programme and learner manual – The in-service training will place a significant emphasis on working in new dynamic, online learning environments and explore the different roles of youth professionals in these environments. The proposed new media-rich and interactive resources will potentially bring a wide range of new educational environments into the learning process especially smart phones, other mobile devices and social media platforms and partners need to ensure that all youth service providers are:- comfortable working with the new WebQuest resources in these non-traditional learning environments;- fully bought-in to the benefits that online learning can bring;- fully aware of the risks that pertain in online environments;- able to safeguard against possible negative factors associated with online learning.All partners will localise the new training resources to ensure that they are culturally appropriate in their local environment and translate them into their local language. All partners will also pilot the youth worker training and the WebQuests directly with members of our local target groups."

Youth workers and social workers play an important role in helping migrants overcoming problems they encounter in a new society and integration. Youth work has much to offer in services for migrants and refugees. From a skill base that integrates intrapersonal and inter-personal helping with the practicalities of assisting people to find their way around the social welfare system, youth workers and social workers can respond to the complex needs of young refugees within an understanding of the wider context of family relationships and social institutions. That’s why it is important developing youth workers’ knowledge, skills and competences in helping refugees and migrants. In order for youth workers to feel prepared to work with immigrant and refugee youth, training program must offer trainings that can help youth workers gain necessary knowledge and skills specifically related to the unique needs, assets, challenges and strengths of immigrant youth. For youth workers that will work with immigrant youth, training program need to develop supplemental training materials that specifically deal with issues they may encounter in these unique relationships. Topics that can be covered include: tips and ideas for helping a young person with language and acculturation issues, activity suggestions involving cultural sharing, good practices related to working with families, listening skills and understanding both assets and challenges of the migrant and refugee population.Considering all these needs, the main OBJECTIVE of the project was to develop and test an innovative training curriculum for youth workers to support them in reaching out to young migrants and refugees, and increase youth workers’ competences and foster their professional development. The specific objectives of the project were:1)to analyse the training needs of youth workers 2)to develop of an innovative training curriculum for youth workers who work with young migrants and refugees.3)to train youth workers with this new training curriculum 4)to increase professional knowledge and skills of youth workers in the area of migrant and refugee work5)to improve the quality of the youth workThe project consortium was consisted of 6 organizations from different backgrounds: •A university experienced in the European projects and migration issues (Yasar University, Turkey, coordinator)•Two youth civil society organizations active in the field of youth projects and volunteering work (United Societies of Balkans, Greece and Eski Avrupa Gonullu Hizmeti Gonulluleri Genclik Dernegi, Turkey)•A network of social cooperatives providing services for the migrants and refugees (Formazione Co&So Network, Italy), •A social service provider for youth (Jugend am Werk Steiermark, Austria).•A public organization providing services for the migrants and refugees and involved in several European projects in the area of youth. (İstanbul Valiliği,Turkey), The main activities involve; developing and implementing a needs analysis survey, developing new training curriculum and training materials, organizing local testing sessions to test developed materials; organizing a short term joint staff training event, organizing 4 local multiplier events and one joint international multiplier event, other dissemination activities and quality assurance and evaluation activities.The main results, outputs and impact attained were: 1-Better understanding of the needs and expectations of the youth workers in terms of reaching out to the young migrants and refugees. (IO1. Need Analysis Report)2-Development of an innovative training curriculum for youth workers the content of which is based on the need analysis as well as analysis of current literature and research results on the subject. (IO2. Training Curriculum and Materials)3-Development of a Trainers' Handbook containing tips and recommendations for trainers. (IO3. Trainers Handbook)4) Implementation of the training programme, training of youth workers at a joint staff training event, increase in professional knowledge and skills of youth workers in the area of migrant and refugee work 5) Improvement of the quality of the youth work.All together more than 500 people come in direct contact with the project, learn about the outputs and provide feedback and opinions. Their awareness regarding young migrants and refugees and importance of the youth work are increased. The knowledge, skills and competences of youth workers who joined the training events are also increased. Furthermore, for partner organizations, the training of their staff with a new training program increased the quality of their services.

<< Background >>For many people, digital working became a reality, especially last year through on-the-job training during the pandemic. Students were home-schooled,companies and offices operated in distance working. However, unemployed (young) people, school leavers at the transition to work, not embedded in a supportive institutional framework, widely missed this capacity building opportunity.They now need to become familiarised with forms of new digital professional life, as dealing with these new digital job realities is assumed by potential employers.<< Objectives >>This project aims to close precisely this gap of digital divide during job onboarding for vulnerable target groups, especially young unemployed people without academic educational backgrounds. Together with partners from Cyprus, Finland, Italy and Czech Republic theAustrian lead FH JOANNEUM, University of Applied Sciences, plans to develop a training program and evaluate its application within the frame of work-related sustainability projects. These projects, having both strong relations to sustainability, digitalisation and innovation, which are defined by the participants during the training under the supervision of partner Fondazione Fenice Onolus are an important part of the training for several reasons: First, in order to practice what they have learned in the course modules, second to support self-management and independent and team work, third as basic sustainability knowledge is now also a must in every job profile – not only because of the Green New Deal wave.<< Implementation >>The activities in the project will be1) Study to get the big picture about the situation in the partner countries2) Development of a training course to make young people fit for the digital job market3) Run the training with at least 40-60 participants4) Conduct five multiplier events to inform our target groups including multipliers5) Dissemination of information and discussions about the project in our national and international networks, offline and online6) Secure long-term use of project results by anchoring them in several ways also beyond the consortium and the partner countries<< Results >>The following major results are planned: 1. A study on (new) digital professional life and the current situation at working places,the needs of employers and employees, available as White Paper 2. Curricula and content for a training program targeted especially at the 18- to 25-year-old unemployed youth consisting of 5 modules: a. Digital Tools b. New forms of work and work organisation c. Personal work life d. Professional social responsibility in social media e. Security aspectsHere we want to add significant resources with this innovative, multi-disciplinary, combined approach, that is – compared to other initiatives - not only focusing on the technical digital skills, but aiming to support a smart and “healthy” digital transformation. Healthy for humans and for the planet, with a view on all relevant aspects: the technology, the context, self-management, legal and ethical and security aspects, sustainability, theory and practice. 3. Implementation in the form of eLearning with links to physical learning (blended learning), suitable for learning at home but also in the context of the workplace. 4. Training program successfully applied by 10–15 young people in four partner countries during 12-16 weeks work-related sustainability projects with a weekly workload of 10–15 hours Dissemination measures such as a website and platform, social media activities, multiplier events (1 per country with approx. 50 participants), networking and publications as well as conference participation will expand the number of young people enrolled in the training at least once by the end of the project to a total of around 300 and other people personally and provenly reached in principle to around 600.

<< Background >>For the project partnership of the #me#us#now project it is absolutely essential to apply for this project, as the focus is set on low-qualified people in VET, VET professionals including external VET trainers and VET schools, and the aim of changing our current situation not only on local, regional, national or EU levels, but also on international level for the better and to include everyone to counteract the effects of climate change in a sustainable and participative way based on common green values.The project #me #us #now focuses on low-qualified young people between 15 and 30[1] years of age in Vocational Education and Training (VET) and VET professionals across Europe.The addressed needs can be clustered according to the two target groups in VET and stakeholders, including professionals and experts, as follows: (1) low-qualified young people in VET -identify the status quo, needs, barriers and awareness levels -raise motivation -reduce given barriers -support them with easy-to-handle and low-threshold activities and measures -use their capacities in peer-group settings -accelerate their self-efficacy -allow for and further the building of common values -create access to societal participation -encourage a sustainable lifestyle (2) VET professionals -meet the need for common guidelines -offer innovative tools and strategies -encourage cross-institutional acting and supporting-provide potential innovative contributions to be incorporated into the curriculae of VET systems -encourage exchange of results, best-practices, experiences and lessons learnt -further exchange on local, regional, national, EU and international levels (3) stakeholders, professionals and experts -meet the need of a common green networking platform -encourage exchange of results, best-practices, experiences and lessons learnt -further exchange on local, regional, national, EU and international levels[1] age range is leaned on the European Youth Guarantee: https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1079&langId=en<< Objectives >>The project partnership of the #me#us#now project has set the following objectives to be achieved during the project for the following target groups: 1.low-qualified young people in VET -Identify the awareness, needs and barriers of low-qualified young people in VET concerning climate change by conducting national field studies and desktop research, both enabling conclusions and recommendations for VET professionals (R1) -furthering motivation, identification, development and implementation of effective and sustainable countermeasures that are applicable and adaptable daily and permanently (R2) (R3) based on the results of R1 -further active participation in society (R3) -further the development of shared green values (R2) (R3) - promote the transfer of the planned project results, especially R3 to more representatives of the target group -contribute to effective climate change countermeasures for all groups of young people through the implementation and delivery of the #me#us#now project. 2.VET professionals -support low-qualified young people in VET to increase their awareness and self-efficacy on climate change (R2) (R3), based on the results of R1. -support VET professionals in motivating the target group in the daily context of VET (R2) -providing useful tools, activities and measures that can be easily implemented and adapted (R3)-encourage the incorporation of innovative and sustainable contents in all curriculae, including those in VET schools and the education of VET teachers/trainers - establish a networking platform to promote exchanges between VET professionals on multiple levels 3.experts and stakeholders on different levels -establish a networking platform to promote exchanges between stakeholders and experts (R4) at local, regional, national, European and international levels -provide a Green Policy Paper for public and educational bodies and political decision-makers-encourage education, VET policy and political discussion at a broader level (R4)<< Implementation >>The project activities that will lead to the successful implementation of the #me#us#now project can be divided into the following categories: 1. Project management and implementation activities These activities form the basic framework of the #me#us#now project by defining all the tasks necessary for the proper implementation of the project inside and outside the project partnership and consist of -administration (A.PM1) -monitoring (A.PM2) and -budget control (A.PM3) 2. Quality Management These activities include the -Quality Management Guide (A.QM1.1) which defines quality benchmarks on process, product and impact level and the-Quality Assurance consisting of regular evaluations of process, product, and impact quality on internal and external level. 3. Sharing and promotion, Exploitation and Sustainability These include-Sharing and Promotion Products (A.S1), such as design of project logo, Sharing and Promotion Guide, brochures, flyers and posters, the project website, social media channels and continous sharing and promotion activities sharing regular news about status-quo and product development process through online activities and personal activities at target group and at stakeholder level. Additionally, the-Impact Assessment (A.S2) provides regular sharing and promotion reports of partners. Moreover, there is the development and implementation of the-Sustainability Strategy (A.S3) 4. Transnational Project Meetings Direct and personal exchange between the partners in the crucial phases of the project split up into -TPM1: Trim, IE, Apr 2022 -TPM2: Bilbao, ES, Dec 2022 -TPM3: Graz, AT, Aug 2023 -TPM4: Vicenza, IT, Dec 2023 5. Learning, Teaching, and Training Activity (C1), Aug 2023 and Learning, Teaching, and Training Activity (C2), Dec 2023 In this 3-day short-term staff training each, both target groups involved will be trained in using and applying the #me#us#now project results R3 and R4. 6. Multiplier Events The national multiplier events further the sharing and promoting of project results, include relevant stakeholders and are split up into -E1: AT, Jan 2024 -E2: IE, Jan 2024 -E3: ES, Jan 2024 -E4: IT, Jan 2024 The project consortium of the me#us#now project will produce four high-quality and easy-to-use project results for the beneficiaries of the project and for further use on regional, national, European and international level. These consist of - the #me#us#now Research Report (R1), including national Field Surveys, a Transnational Report concerning low-qualified young people in VET and a video summary subtitled in all project partners’ languages. - the #me#us#now Methodological Collection (R2) providing activities and measures for raising the motivation and awareness of low-qualified young people in VET concerning climate change, including national motivational workshops. - the #me#us#now Action Plan for Eco-Pro’s (R3) offering a practical guidebook to VET professionals, a peer-group setting with role models of the target group of low-qualified young people in VET, and implementation activities. - the #me#us#now Green Merge Networking Platform (R4), allowing for a long-lasting exchange between professionals and experts on local, regional, national, European and international level and providing a Green Policy Paper to political decison-makers and public and educational bodies to accelerate discussion on multiple levels.<< Results >>(R1) Research ReportGathering relevant national information about the target group - low qualified young people - and the professionals who work with them, is necessary for providing tailor-made further results. This will help the project consortium to understand the perspective, needs and awareness of low qualified young people concerning topics such as climate change, sustainability, and their self-efficacy. Additionally, professionals working with the target group in the context of e.g., VET, youth coaching, counselling, will be asked as well. The project consortium will need to meet low qualified young people in VET and VET professionals alike at their current state, to create a deeper understanding of their situation and perspective. All project partners will conduct desktop research concerning existing activities/measures on national levels in the context of climate change and sustainability. The Transnational Research Report will serve as an important basis for the following project results. Video summaries will be available in all partner languages.(R2) Methodological CollectionBased on the findings and conclusions of R1 the project consortium will implement a collection of activities and measures for raising the motivation and awareness of low qualified young people regarding climate change. This can be used and implemented by VET professionals who support the target group. Due to the implementation of feedback loops with the target groups and further developed as an opportunity to motivate the youth for taking action. The main purpose of this project step will be to nominate one role model per country for the further project process. These will help the project to create a new approach for counteracting climate change. Raising self-efficacy and social responsibility of the role models will help spreading the idea of climate-awareness through peer-groups and will be ensured that not only professionals will motivate low qualified young people, fostering awareness, participation, and acting in a sustainable and self-efficient way by implementing motivational workshops in all partner countries.(R3) Action plan for Eco-Pro’sThe findings of (R1) and (R2) will be compiled in a guidebook that will help and support professionals to integrate climate change activities and measures into their work with low qualified young people. They will learn how to motivate them to become active and to take their societal role in counteracting the negative environmental results. The Action Plan for Eco Pro’s will be the core output of the project and will include practical advice and case studies. The result will include the important findings and conclusions of (R1), but also on the other hand recommendations and guidelines for a step-by-step implementation of the defined activities and measures of the result for professionals. Role models will be consistently included to offer a deeper understanding of the target group and their motivating factors and barriers regarding the topic and together with them custom-tailored ways in peer-group settings will be developed and implemented to reach the target group.(R4) Green Merge Networking PlatformAs the European Union underlines the importance of exchanges beyond experts, the project partners will elaborate the structure of setting up an online platform. This will include the creation of the design, the functions and an easy-to-handle user interface. It will provide free access to all results and findings collected in the project, and the Green Policy Paper. In addition, professionals, experts, stakeholders and interested parties will have the opportunity to get in touch with each other and exchange views on the content and practical implementation. In this way, the results will even be more spread and accelerated across borders, bringing together interested experts and will therefore create international impact and good opportunities for a follow-up even after the projects end.

The people with disabilities (PwD) are the most disadvantaged group with regards to employment. Up to 2011 (the latest official date available) in Bulgaria their number (aged 18-29) is about 227 000 and more than 60% of them are unemployed. In Turkey they are 273,915 and only 15% are in employment compared with the national average of over 80%. In Austria they are around 850,000 and only 19% are employed and in Spain they are 3,847,900 and only 11% of them have permanent job.This project was built in line with the one of the key areas of both European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and Europe 2020 to allow full accessibility to the labour market for people with disabilities. In many European countries and beyond (Turkey), the access to the labour market is still not given because of the lack of suitable and powerful implemented support concepts who may ensure a smooth preparation and follow-up.The impact of the Supported employment (SE) approach (a method of working with disabled people and other disadvantaged groups to access and maintain paid employment in the open labour market) is very beneficial to the PwD and during its implementation phase it gives clear quality improvement of the accessibility to the labour market for those targets.The COACH@WORK project continued the inclusion and implementation of the Supported employment approach in Austria and Spain, but also in new countries such as Bulgaria and Turkey where this was done for the first time by developing EQAVET system for recognition, validation and accreditation of their knowledge, skills and competencies, dedicated VET programme together with (self-) assessment procedures and tools. It involved 4 partners from Bulgaria, one from Austria, one from Spain and one from Turkey. This COACH@WORK VET programme related to the new job profile of Supported employment specialist was accredited by the national body (NAVET) which happened for the first time in Europe in that field. In Spain and Turkey the accreditation procedure also applied and the outcomes are expected from the relevant authorities. In Austria it is provided on a regional level by the biggest SE provider. This training programme was followed by piloting implementation phase where a memorandum of understanding for the further exploitation of the ECVET based project outputs was concluded.The long term impact of the project increased the employment rates of PwD who were inactive in the labour market and have low or no work experience. This led to greater independence and financial security, allowing them to become fully active members of society in general and ultimately to an improved economy. On the other hand, SE consultants who successfully completed the pilot course and were validated by the dual verification tool (IO2) now have the ability to increase their opportunities for sustainable employment by providing this very innovative expertise on National and EU levels.The developed VET training programme is consisting of predefined learning outcomes which are connected with the dedicated unique ECVET training programme for SE providers and consisting of the following modules:1. Module 1 - Disability Awareness2. Module 2 - Acquisition of key and transversal competences3. Module 3 - Practical methods in the coaching process4. Module 4 - Mainstreaming and Digital Technologies as Support to the Education, Employment and Well-Being of People with Disabilities5. Module 5 - Supported employment basics - the five steps process6. Module 6 - Attitudes and approaches towards people with disabilities7. Module 7 - Pre-employment agenda8. Module 8 - Career guidance - labour market methods9. Module 9 - Implementation and NetworkingThe project successfully achieved all its objectives: introduction of appropriate EQAVET system for recognition, validation and accreditation of the knowledge, skills and competencies of the Supported Employment (SE) providers. It allows a more efficient and effective monitoring of the recruitment of SE consultants and providers. The project has demonstrated the capacity to adjust the type of IOs according to the needs of the target groups. The project demonstrates a real impact on target groups, beneficiaries and gatekeepers.The impact of the project was observed directly – related to the main results of the project, as well as indirectly – related to the dissemination and exploitation of the concepts and methodologies developed and implemented through the project. The main impact of the project can be measured as a real support for establishment of a clear legal framework for the national inclusion of the Supported Employment around the partner countries (BG & TR). The project has reached the expected impact in number of courses implemented and number of people taught.All project results are available via: www.supportemployment.eu