<< Background >>According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), around 30% of all food produced globally is lost (in the production phase) or wasted (in the retail and consumption phase). In the EU alone, an estimated 20% of food is lost or wasted with a grave impact on the global economy, society and environment. Food that is discarded at any stage of the supply chain directly causes the wastage of the energy and water resources that would have been used up in its production, harvesting and delivery to the market. By cutting down food waste, we can decrease the unnecessary stresses on our soils, water and energy sources. In this perspective, the project contributes directly to Indicator 12.3.1 - Global Food Loss and Waste supporting EU countries in halving food waste by 2030.For this reason, the FOODy project will promote the empowerment, participation, active citizenship and sense of initiative, using social entrepreneurship as an effective intervention to re-engage young NEET in solving issues in their communities, connected to food and its waste. The aim is to ensure they have the life skills and knowledge to foster their ability to overcome barriers to participation, employment and transition to adulthood. Reducing youth NEET rates is one of the targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development under Goal 8 on “Promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” (target 8.6 foresees a substantial reduction of youth NEET rates) and is also directly linked to SDG 4 on education. The difficulties faced in entering the labour market can lead NEETs to social exclusion, and can have negative long-term social consequences, not only for the young person but also for the society. For this reasons, our project proposes a programme that addresses the personal development of NEET, focusing especially on building their self-confidence, improving attitude and behaviour, and enhancing basic skills such as communication, team working, etc. In the present situation, using circular economy at community level and not only at big companies or industrial level, could start grass-rooted initiatives, useful to reduce the number of youth facing poverty or social exclusion, due to their socio-economic barriers (unemployment, low education, low school results, NEETs, migrant background) while lowering the impact of food waste.<< Objectives >>The FOODy project promotes the empowerment, participation and sense of initiative using social entrepreneurship as an effective intervention to re-engage young NEET and help them overcome their barriers preventing their participation to their community or the labour market. As results of taking part in the programme, NEETs will experience the following benefits:*Enlarged perspectives on issues as entrepreneurship, climate change, sustainable development, and food waste*Improved civic skills enabling for their social participation and increased awareness of social responsibilities.*increased transversal skill needed for employment and a full transition to adulthood Offering professional development to YOUTH WORKERS’ to increase their ability to address the learning needs of the target groups, their knowledge in their knowledge in food waste management, entrepreneurship possibilities, employability and soft skills needed for a successful transition to adulthood, together with a better understanding of the specific needs of the target group and the specific challenges they face.With regard to employment, it is necessary for youth workers to get to understand in depth the concepts of the Circular economy and how a more holistic approach. In fact, youth can become instruments and at the same time beneficiaries of the circular-oriented economic process. By participating in preparing the scope of possible (social) enterprises that can contribute to solve actual local issues, will encourage them in connecting with others, thus developing communication and team working skills, basic skills necessary for the world of work. In addition, the involvement of the community and local actors in supporting participants in their work, by offering them the opportunity to enter in direct contact with them, while ‘protected’ by the project, will boost their networking possibility, engagement of the community, social inclusion and contribute to make them more confident in their abilities to participate in society.<< Implementation >>The cooperation is based on a fare division of tasks, based on partners’ specific abilities and professionalism. This will ensure the success of the consortium. The 1st main activity on the timetable is the collection of best practices and other training possibility the partners will use to base the new training possibility for their staff. The aim is to make sure the trainers have all the same awareness on the topics at hand and will be able to deliver what is expected from them. The idea is also to use good practices and the long experience mobilised for the project is capitalized from the work in the youth field, entrepreneurship and youth work, in cross cutting areas such as social inclusion, innovation and creativity, non-formal education, participative models and circular economy, applied to the food industry. The initial discoveries are formalized in the table of contents necessary to produce R1. The draft is assessed with a selected group of trainers and experts to make sure the document is covering all elements that are necessary for educators to deliver the FOODy program. The course is prepared by the partners under the direction of SEAL. The 2nd main activity in the project is the creation of the FOODy program, led by XXXX, that will lead the preparation of the new and effective way to increase youth employability and entrepreneurial spirit using the food industry and its waste management system as an inspiration for community improvement. Once fully prepared and digitalized the program is tested with a selected group of participants that will help the partners in making sure all elements are appropriate for the target group and that the micro learning are clear and easy to follow. The 3rd main activity in the project, is the testing of the R2 FOODy program. The activities described in the program are organized to foster entrepreneurial skills in youth that had concreate, practical and feasible ideas to solve the local issues analysed in the previous part. The process will guide the participants in assessing their community to understand how and when food or agricultural products are wasted, how they can be reused, with the support of whom…. In a typical session of this program, participants are introduced to food production, how the industry works and how so much of the food produced get wasted. Then by learning more about circular economy and how it applies to food waste management, they are guided in analysing their area, and select an issues in the food value chain management that can be solved with circular economy (sell food leftovers to use them as compost by farmers, buy ‘ugly food’ and use it to prepare juices and jams…) To tie up the process, they will learn how a social enterprise could help in solving this situation and they will together plan the scope of a social enterprise that can offer a services to improve this situation. The participants are supported to prepare the scope of possible (social) enterprises that can contribute to solve one real local issue, connected to the food industry. As mentioned the starting of the enterprise is outside the scope of the present proposal and the partners will be free to choose how to proceed with the ideas developed in the pilot of the program. Educators and professionals working in the food waste area provide participants with practical tips and techniques on how to effectively cut down on food waste. During the 24 month long project, the coordinator will supervise the progress by monitoring partners’ activities and organizing the regular virtual meetings. At the same time the quality control manager from FRM.it will offer the tools and guidance to ensure quality production and support to the external experts in conducting an unbiased assessment of the proposed program and handbook. All along the project duration, MVNGO will help the partners in organizing the necessary dissemination activities needed to make the project visible, inform the stake<< Results >>OUTPUTS R1 virtual TC and e-course are aimed at youth/social workers and trainers active in youth NGOs, with the aim of enhancing skills and knowledge in entrepreneurship, sustainability, participants’ engagement and support, multi-actor program coordination, different form of assessment to be performed by participants, monitoring and assessment of participants’ activities and production.R2 FOODY guidebook The handbook illustrates the FOOD-Y program made of workshops and tools used to increase youth employability and entrepreneurial spirit using the food industry and its waste management system as an inspiration for community improvement. The proposed program will lead the participants in learning more about food, how its produced, processed and disposed, to prepare the scope of possible (social) enterprises that can contribute to solve one real local issue, connected to the food industry. As an example, the participants will learn more about what happen to food discharged by huge public markets and how can be used to produce jams OR how to use expired (but still edible) goods the supermarket are required to throw away by law. In addition they will learn more about social enterprises and how those can be used to help the community in reducing food waste. By participating to the FOODy program, NEETs are expected to reinforce social and transversal competences as communication, entrepreneurial mind-set, critical thinking and creativity in both young participants and other involved in the activities promoted by the project. In this way, participants will increase specific set of skills and competences that are valued on the labour market, as analytical skills, problem analysis, decision taking and other transversal skills widely required by the actual labour market, and by the fast changing requirement brought about this age of technology and uncertainty. The ability to analyse and understand the value/production chains will have a positive benefit on a wide set of transversal competences that will boost their employability skills too.During the project lifetime, the FOOD-y programme will tested in the different countries , involving end users and local key stakeholders (SMEs, local government, NGOs, employment services…. ) thus contributing to the program usability and relevance. The idea is to use good practices and the long experience mobilised for the project is capitalized from the work in the youth field, entrepreneurship and youth work, in cross cutting areas such as social inclusion, innovation and creativity, non-formal education, participative models and circular economy, applied to the food industry.

<< Background >>The Connecting Europe partners, representing intermediary organizations and VET providers from Finland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Malta and Greece, have noticed that there is a lack of understanding of the realities and obstacles that intermediary organizations and VET providers face when it comes to hosting VET students. When planning the project and its project results (PRs) we noticed that although we have similar challenges, we have different solutions and ideas on how to cope with these challenges. Our partnership is based on the idea that we can learn from each other and improve the way we work with Erasmus+ mobilities as we all know the challenges of working with Erasmus+ mobilities and have the experience/skills of dealing with these challenges. Representing different kind of organizations will also the ability look at these challenges from different viewpoints and angles which will enable us to develop tools that helps not just us involved in the project but all actors involved in Erasmus+ KA1 mobilities in VET.To be able to provide students with successful and gratifying learning experiences we need to gain understanding in and accept the realities in which intermediary organizations and VET providers work. Doing this will enable us to improve the quality of collaboration between the sending and hosting organization & intermediary organizations and VET providers and establish and maintain the Connecting Europe Consortium.An increased and improved collaboration between intermediary organizations and VET providers is also needed if we want to make it easier to identify, evaluate, recognize and validate the formal and non-formal skills that VET students develop during their mobilities. The improved validation will have a positive impact on the employability of these students as they have proof of how their skills have increased and improved during their virtual/blended mobilities. The new Erasmus+ program stresses the importance of inclusiveness. To be able to provide ALL students with fair and equal opportunities it is important that all involved in the mobilities raise awareness by showcasing the benefits of including students with fewer opportunities in the mobilities. We need tools that enables VET providers and intermediary organizations to provide students with positive learning experiences and who will spread the word that Erasmus+ mobilities are for all regardless if the learning/social background. The PR2 will help to raise awareness of how Erasmus+ mobilities develop formal and non-formal skills and this will encourage more VET providers to implement inclusiveness and providing all students with equal opportunities to take part in a mobility. Europe needs habitants who are active European citizens who can work in multicultural environments and adapt to change. Developing tools that will enable this is needed. The project will address this need by developing a PR (PR1) that will provide students with realistic expectations of what living and working abroad is like and what opportunities Erasmus+ mobilities will give them.<< Objectives >>The Covid-19 pandemic made it clear how vulnerable current ways of organizing mobilities are and forced us to rethink the way we work with internationalization of our students. During the past year virtual mobilities have been piloted/implemented by several of the partners involved in this project and they have proven to be a valuable complement to the traditional Erasmus+ KA1 mobilities. By sharing existing practices obstacles and our experiences will allow us to create and evaluate (existing) tools and methods that enables us to deliver qualitative blended Erasmus+ mobilities and merge these experiences in the project results that will be developed within Connecting Europe. Doing this will enable us to make current and future Erasmus+ KA1 mobilities fit the requirements and quality standards of the new Erasmus+ program 2021 – 2027. Our aim is to improve the collaboration between sending and hosting partners and intermediary and VET providers. This is why we have involved an equal amount of partners representing these groups. By joining forces we will be able to modernize the way hosting and sending organizations deliver Erasmus+ KA1 mobilities and involve the hosting organization in the preparations students receive before the leave for a transnational mobility. By giving hosting organization a bigger role in the preparations of students, the students will receive accurate and first-hand information which will increase their preparedness and readiness to enter their transnational mobility with realistic expectations. This in turn will have a positive effect on their ability to adapt and work in a foreign company.To ensure that the skills that students develop and obtain during a mobility will be identified, evaluated, recognized and formally validated we will develop (self-)evaluation tools and skills matrixes that describes the informal and non-formal skills that students within the hospitality, healthcare and technical sector can develop during a virtual/blended mobility. The 2 project results developed and implemented in this project will help establish a collaborative, transparent and qualitative support service system for VET students in these 3 sectors which will encourage more students to want to take part in Erasmus+ mobilities and will encourage inclusion of students and internationalization at home. The increased collaboration and the support system will also enable and encourage the Connecting Europe Consortium to continue collaborating in the future and transferring into other sectors and VET provers and intermediary organizations in Europe.<< Implementation >>Connecting Europe will comprise of the following activities:1) 5 transnational project meetings where the partners will together and face-to-face work with developing the 2 project results of the project will be held. Spending time together face-to-face will enable the sharing of best practices and will allow us to build up a working relationship built on mutual trust and respect.2) 1 Learning Teaching Training Activity (LTTA) will be held approx. halfway of the project. During this LTTA the Steering Committee members will disseminate the PRs the LTTA participants that consists of VET students (incl. students with fewer opportunities) representing the Hospitality, Healthcare and Technical sector from the partners that are VET providers. The aim of the LTTA is to learn from the students, pilot the PRs, collect feedback and language and visual aspects of the PRs and thus make the outputs more user-friendly and sustainable.3) Virtual workshops working with the PRs will held regularly (at least 1 – 2 times between each transnational meeting) in which those involved in the development of the 2 PRs will participate. This to ensure that the collaborative work continues throughout the project and not only during the PMs4) National workshops to work with the PRs will be held regularly. The persons involved in the national workshops will consist of international coordinators involved in the project, teachers, students and employers. The aim of these workgroups is to ensure that the viewpoints of all beneficiaries will be addressed and taken into consideration when developing the PRs.5) Steering Committee meetings will be held at least every 2 months. The aim of these meetings is to work on administrative issues relating to the project and to monitor the progress and quality of the PRs and project work in generalAll activities above will use the Deming’s Circle methodology (Plan – Do – Check – Act) 6) Dissemination activities: All partners will actively disseminate the project internally and externally according to the Connecting Europe Dissemination plan7) Implementation activities: All partners are committed to take needed actions to implement the PRs and the other outcomes of the project in their organization and their daily routines of working with Erasmus+ mobilities and thus ensure sustainability of the project and its results<< Results >>The Connecting Europe partners will become an established Erasmus+ Consortium that will continue to collaborate beyond the project’s lifespan. Partners with whom the Connecting Europe Consortium collaborates with will be invited and encouraged to join the Connecting Europe Consortium and work to further improve the quality of Erasmus+ KA1 mobilities offered to VET studentsThe 2 project results; a) PR1: A virtual preparations course that prepares VET students within the hospitality, technical and healthcare sector for their Erasmus+ KA1 mobility and gives them the skills needed to work in a multicultural environment; and b) PR2: Tools that enable VET providers to identify and recognize 21st century skills and other soft skills that helps VET students succeed in the world of work but that are currently not identified and recognized formally due to a lack of tools, will be implemented by the partners and will be used beyond the project’s lifespan when sending and hosting students on Erasmus+ mobilities. Partners with whom the Connecting Europe Consortium collaborates will be encouraged to implement the PRs and develop similar online preparation units that the partners have developed and have begun using when preparing students for mobilities. After the project ends the Connecting Europe Consortium members will also begin the work of transferring the PRs to other sectors involved in VET and thus ensure that a larger number of students, sending and hosting organizations and employers will benefit from the outputs in the future. The self-evaluation tools and the skills matrixes focusing on formal and non-formal skills will be used by the Connecting Europe Consortium when preparing students for their mobilities and when (self-)evaluating the skills developed during the mobility so that these skills can be identified, evaluated, recognized and validated by the VET providers at the end of a mobility. We will also develop, implement and start using a Connecting Europe Certificate that will visualize the skills that students have improved/gained during the mobility. This Certificate can be used by the students when applying for work and showcasing their skillsets. The methodology of collaboration between VET providers and intermediary organizations that begins during the Connecting Europe project will continue after the project ends. The Connecting Europe Consortium are aware and in agreement that a transparent and genuine collaboration where knowledge and experience is shared is one of the cornerstones of being able to provide VET students with qualitative learning experiences.

In 2015, the European Commission established a unique comprehensive strategy, the Circular Economy Package, aiming to close the resource loop by introducing measures covering the whole life-cycle of products and materials – from production and consumption to management of waste and its re-use as secondary raw materials in the economy. The suggested measures also tackle climate change with energy savings and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and include the first-ever European Strategy for Plastics. A Circular Economy is part of the modernization and transformation needed for the EU to become the world's first major economy to go climate neutral by 2050, as per the long-term strategy put forward by the Commission in November 2018. Furthermore, the EC is currently reflecting on which steps are now needed to make Europe ever more sustainable. This transition has the potential for the creation of a wide diversity of job typologies, but for that is necessary re-skill the actual and future workforce, aligning it with the needs and challenges of this new economic model, where different types of circular activities require different skillsets.So, education, awareness raising and training are fundamental elements for this move towards a circular economy, and the schools have a major role in it. The teacher profession is also considered an indirect circular job due to its contribution on educating the future consumers and workforce on the circular economy. Within this context the CESAR project aims to:•Raise awareness on circular economy;•Enhance the power and benefits of circular economy;•Promote awareness among teachers and students on greener methodologies and approaches;•Establish students' initiatives to investigate local and regional problems that require sustainable and/or circular solutions;•Enhance the students’ skills for circular economy, helping to prepare the future workforce for the transition challenges from the linear to the circular economy.In order to achieve this, the partnership will design and develop a set of educational and training materials that can be used by the teachers on the VET (and other schools) courses to promote the awareness raising and skills development of the students on CE subjects.The project will produce:1.A Set of Educational Materials for Awareness Raising in Circular Economy.2.A Set of Training Materials for Skills Development in Circular Economy.3.The Programme of a Course in Circular Economy for VET students that can be use by schools in curricular units, within the scope of their curricular flexibility and autonomy.The development of these 3 outputs will be supported by another project activity and output, the Circular Economy at Schools “State-of-the-Art” Study. The objective of this study is to find out what and how is taught about circular economy at schools, mainly VET schools, in the partner countries and made a collection of good practices.To ensure that all resources developed are accessible at any time, to any interested learner or VET staff, teachers and educators, and in a range of formats for use on different media devices, an online interactive project webpage will be developed where all materials can be accessed.The partnership of this project, composed of 7 partners, from 5 different countries (Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain), is a well-balanced and strong one, with a mix of partners in close relation to VET education and training and common commitment to raising awareness about the circular economy among the scholar and training communities. During the project lifetime a group of teachers and students by country will test, evaluate and comment a pilot version of the produced materials, in order to get inputs for their review and improvement.The partners will be responsible for organising one Multiplier Event in each partner country upon completion of the whole set of CESAR intellectual outputs. Furthermore a Final Conference will be held at project’s end to promote its results to stakeholders, decision- and policymakers at regional, national and European level.The project will include all the necessary planning, management, and resources in order to be successfully implemented, and it will also deliver, in addiction to mentioned before, a comprehensive project management toolset (work programme, quality assurance, risk management and compliance), interim and final reports, and a Dissemination & Exploitation Strategy, project logo, leaflet and website. Apart from these tangible results, the project will also achieve important intangible results for the partnership, such as transfer of knowledge, know-how and experience amongst the partners.On completion, the CESAR project will be able to provide access to a comprehensive learning programme and materials promoting circular economy concept, principles and objectives that has been tested, piloted and validated in VET learning settings.

The project brings together 8 partners and several associated partners from Netherlands, Finland, UK, Spain, Portugal and Greece representing vocational education and training, higher education and SMEs. The unique blend of experience and diversity of the project partnership group ensures a critical and supportive approach to the project. Helping students drop their negative baggage and overcoming skills mismatches, creating new and innovative ways of supporting and encouraging students to take ownership of their learning takes time and a change in existing attitudes. This is why the length of this project is 3 years during which 6 transnational meetings and a teacher training event will be held.Many VET students are going through big personal battles, they are trying to find their place and their self-worth. This creates a kind of survival mode so that there is no room for conscious participation in the education provided at the school. School can however be life-changing to these students as it gives them time and opportunity to establish social contacts and sometimes even an escape from home. Teachers, teacher’s assistants, job coaches, study coaches (= teachers) who are openminded and non-judgemental can challenge students in a positive way and help them drop their baggage. Dropping the baggage aims to improve students´ 21st century skills in a way that helps them set goals, invest in their future and help them rethink on how they look at themselves.Dropping the baggage is a project that will focus on developing tools that will help teachers encourage students to drop their negative baggage, take ownership of their learning and develop hidden strengths that will help them succeed in working life and in life in general. The project aims to change existing mindsets, ways of educating and teaching and making teachers facilitators of learning in a way that encourages students to open their minds to the way they look at their own role in the learning process. Within the project we will develop and open up one intellectual output for the wider audience. The output is called S.C.R.E.A.M! – How to help VET students drop their baggage and invest in their future through the S.C.R.E.A.M.!-method. The output will be developed as a web-page allowing all interested parties to implement and use it once it is ready. The manual will help change restrictive and judgmental attitudes of students towards more openminded and inclusive. By showing teachers what positive impacts collaboration, respect and motivation has on students will help teachers encourage students to succeed in life. Dropping the Baggage will result in a change when it comes to the approach of learning. The persons involved in educating VET students will welcome a more holistic approach in which the social context and the problems in which the students find themselves is taken into consideration when setting up personal study plans and when setting aims for school performance. A change of attitude among those involved in educating VET students will occur and this will make students who carry baggage heard and understood, making the baggage more manageable and enable them to graduate and obtain a degree.The online manual will be available in Dutch, English, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, Portugeese and Greek on internet towards the end of the project. The target group and potential beneficiaries are students, VET providers, teachers, job coaches and youth workers and other stakeholders who play a role in educating VET students. Project Management and Implementation are important tasks within the project. A steering committee consisting of one representative/core partner, will collaborate virtually on tasks relating to management and implementation. Money allocated for project management and implementation will be divided between the following actions: a) Project administration and management, b) Dissemination activities and c) Implementation and sustainability. To increase sustainability and impact, the participants are committed to disseminate the project through various channels (e.g. national, European and international networks and a joint Multiplier Event and Multipliers Events held in each partner country). The Cronona virus showed us how fragile our education system is and gave us proof that those students who have high self-esteem and a good support system will be able to succeed in their studies when the methodologies of teaching changes suddenly. However students with low self-esteem and poor support systems were left stranded and their learning comes to a standstill. The Corona virus showed us how important it is to set up learning networks that provides students at risk of dropping out with the support and encouragement they need. As the situation is today the Corona virus has resulted in unhealthy, unequal and unfair situations when it comes to learning and keeping up with curricula.