The unemployment rate of the partner countries is among the highest in Europe (IT 9,7 % -SRB 12,1% -MK 16,6% - Cy 8,2% - SP 14,1% - BU 5,8% - FR 8.9% ; source taken from national statistics). And homeless, migrants, people in marginalized conditions are the more affected from this lack of employment. Their condition of marginality is often due to lack of opportunities, economic possibilities and stimulus. On the other side, the areas covered by partners, metallurgic/enterprises and welder, are strategical sectors where new and increasing skilled labour force is required. In the last years, the job offer is augmented and had to face a diminishing job demand, as young people are not considering VET as a possible career for their future. The SMELT project- : Skilling Marginalized people to Enter Labour Market, is aiming to face the paradox of job vacancies that are available but cannot be filled, by promoting a new model for solving this workforce shortage and support vulnerable and marginalized people in acquiring and developing key competences strategical for the labour market. Marginalisation, is often due to a lack of adequate education and/or specific technical skills, which contribute to cut off those people from the labour market and, as a consequence, exacerbates their social isolation and marginalisation, which in turn, further hinders their access to the labour market. This vicious cycle perpetuates inequality, marginalization, poverty and isolation.Combining expertise and experiences of association/NGOs working with marginalized people, enterprises, VET centres and educational institute proceeding from 7 countries, the project is expecting to promote the access to VET and low-skilled professions (in the specific the welder one) through organizing specific training courses.The training course will be shaped for this specific target group mixing/merging technical workshops to learn the welder profession and classes to increase digital skills and soft skill to facilitate people’s access into the labour market and, more in general, into social tissue. Specific courses will be carried out to explain how to create a CV, where to send it, how to find job offers and to reach the job center. The idea at the basis is to foster their inclusion and participation in the society.The project is addressed to people living in situations of social marginality, namely vulnerable people who are normally excluded from the labour market, as often as a consequence from the society as well, because of their age or their lack of skills, homeless, migrants, people who do not have access to training or have not the possibility to acquire specific professional skills. The project foresee the realisation of 3 IOs: a training to explain vulnerable people the most fundamental information on rights in the workplace, principal contact of where to find a job, a training course, how to write a cv and hoe to send it, which will end with the co-creation of an Easy handbook on the Labour Market, accessible and easy to read to all; a more technical and practical training course “VET for all – training new welder workers” aimed at increasing job opportunities and developing specific skills in the welder sector; and the IO3, indeed, will be a ITEM to Improve The life of Marginalised people, namely the creation of an item, useful in the daily life of vulnerable people, co- created by the participants of the welder course and specialised workers. The innovative aspect resides in the formula of the training and its aims. We believe in an active participation of the direct beneficiaries of the project as well as in their essential contribution to create effective products able to impact their lives and those of people living in the same marginalisation. For this reason, the training modules proposed are followed by a moment of co-creation where participants, educators and trainers will give birth to innovative outputs able to trigger a solidarity mechanism – where people can give back something to the society. The SMELT project is expected to improve vulnerable people lives and support them in find their personal path, increasing their self-respect and giving back their dignity, enabling them to form social connections, enrich their knowledge, engage with professionals of the field, familiarise themselves with training, getting the opportunity to ask questions and seek meaningful support.

According to the Radicalisation Awareness Network, “fighting terrorism and violent extremism involves more than surveillance and security….The most effective prevention strategies stop people from getting involved in violent extremism or acts of terrorism in the first place”.When we speak about extreme militant groups such as ISIS,their main target is thought to be young people between 16–24 years old;however, the radicalisation and indoctrination process may start at 11-12 years old. Security officials and analysts in the U.K. believe that, many times, far-right extremists are inspired from Islamist militant and terror groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda;and they form their nationalist ideology around those groups, while they use online platforms and social media to spread it.This suggests that the need to combat radicalisation lies in the grassroots of education and knowledge at an early age.It is crucial that disenfranchised and vulnerable young people, and “easy targets”, are supported and guided to identify and stop such process,and that they are offered the necessary tools to do so. Target group: Young people, youth workers, youth organisations, social workers, front-line practitioners, trainers, educators. The participants in the project will be:1)Researchers, project and financial managers involved in the project as staff. 2)Young people, youth organisations, youth workers, youth professionals, social workers, front-line practitioners3)They will be invited to take part in the Multiplier Events and the Final Conference4)Other participants: This category includes participants such as media representatives, NGO representatives, EU VIPs etc.The project RADEX aims to prevent and divert young people’s radicalisation through providing the target groups with the following results:•The capacity and power to identify and comprehend different types of online radicalisation processes aiming at youth, by offering them a full suite of educational resources containing real data and information on youth radicalisation processes.•A simulation video to showcase how,when and where different types of radicalisation processes may take place, their subject matter, based on real data and online research investigations and spread of hate-propaganda.•A Digital Alert Tool aimed at disenfranchised youth.The digital alert will be available and used as a “rescue line” for young people who may feel as subjects to radicalisation processes, which will offer support and guidance.Initially, the tool can be used as a game,guiding young people through the process of exploring whether they (or another person) is being radicalised or not. Objectives:•Prevent and divert violent radicalisation and extremism of young people•Provide the target groups the tools and knowledge to detect the radicalisation process,online and offline•Provide the target groups the knowledge to identify radicalised and extremist behaviour and different radicalisation processes•Provide for a full suite of educational resources on radicalisation and extremism•Provide for a digital alert for disenfranchised youth that will serve as a tool to detect radicalisation processes•Raise awareness among local, national and EU actors on youth radicalisation processes and patterns•Address emerging social and ethical challenges and foster a culture of peaceAccordingly, RADEX will:•Enhance young people’s critical thinking•Improve vigilance and alertness of young people, online and offline, and educate the target group on approaching such topics and young people that are vulnerable to radicalisation•Enhance young people’s pro-activeness in online social communication and behaviour•Raise awareness of young people and youth workers on critical matters such as online safety•Provide for educational resources and a tool to prevent and divert violent radicalisation which will be used by young people, youth workers, social workers, trainers, youth organisations etc. All the above will be achieved through three IOs,which will strengthen young people and youth worker’s awareness and vigilance regarding online platforms, as well as raise awareness among local, national and European networks to prevent and divert youth radicalisation in Europe.RADEX will make an impact on countering, preventing and diverting violent radicalisation, as it will equip young people, youth workers, social workers, youth organisations with the tools needed to identify patterns, methods, and different processes of youth radicalisation and a digital tool to prevent and/or divert it, when it happens. RADEX will also enhance young people’s critical thinking and improve vigilance and alertness of young people, online and offline, and teach youth workers, social workers, youth organisations etc., how to approach such topics.

CONTEXT Rates of early leaving from education and training are falling since 2002 in the European Union. Despite this positive trend, early leaving remains a serious issue in many Member States (Eurydice, 2016) as the number of young people leaving school before completing upper secondary level is still high. EUROSTAT (2015) reports an 11% of early school leavers (either man or woman). Young man, ethnic minorities, and foreign-born residents are more likely to leave education. In particular, foreign-born residents are twice as likely to leave formal education than natives (19 % vs 10,1 %). This is mainly due to problems related to languages skills, underachievement, and lack of motivation. In addition, about 60% of early school leavers are subsequently either inactive or unemployed, illustrating the long-term and negative repercussions of the issue (Education and Training Monitor, Eurydice, 2015). OBJECTIVE School Talent Bank is a project aimed at promoting entrepreneurial education in secondary schools in order to prevent early school leaving, facilitate the transition from school to work and increase students’ engagement especially in those schools which register a high percentage of ethnic minority and foreign born students. Entrepreneurial education is an empowering method that enables students to take the future in their hands, by promoting learning by doing, self-efficacy, resilience and motivation (Bacigalupo et al, Entrecomp, JRC, 2016). TARGET The project wants to target teachers in secondary schools, who play a central role on learners’ attainment, talent valorisation, motivation, and engagement. The project aims at enriching school teachers with entrepreneurial competences and mind-set in order to foster school engagement, and to inspire them to apply entrepreneurial methods across a variety of subjects. The indirect target group is represented by secondary school students. ACTIVIITES - Development of a training course: increase the entrepreneurial competences and mind-set of school teachers with a particular focus on Diversity and Talent management and Emotional Intelligences delivered through “learning snacks”. - Creation of a Student Talent Bank Platform which will host the “learning snacks”, a community of practice and a Student (Time) Talent Bank. METHODOLOGY The project methodology is based on 3 principles: 1. Develop products that are tailored to the needs of the target group identified. 2. Ensure that the products and outputs of the project are sustainable and usable, making them available to a large number of stakeholders even after the end of the eligible period. 3. Develop a learning process based on “active learning” and “learning by doing” principles. In order to achieve its results, the project foresees the participation of 7 partner organisation gathering teachers, students, teachers’ networks, and other relevant shareholders (training centre, incubators, city halls, NGO, and universities). School Talent Bank wants to address the EU2020 target of reducing the rates of early schools leavers below 10 %, which is currently challenged by the increasing migratory flows throughout Europe. In particular, the project will be focused on “Education and training 2020” (ET2020) challenges of: 1) Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training; 2) to promote equity, social cohesion and active citizenship; and 3) enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training. In the long term, the project aims at developing a more integrated society based on active citizenship and mutual respect for diversity. The talent (time bank) community and the teachers’ community of practice will work as drivers for the sustainability of the project even after the end thanks to the empowerment of the primary and secondary targets and the virtuous cycle that these communities will create.

In the light of the Paris Declaration on Promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education1 , the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning, and the recently proclaimed European Pillar of Social Rights, the EU CONVINCE partners underline that the promotion of shared fundamental values in and through education needs to include democratic citizenship principles. When it comes to the educational performance of students from migrant backgrounds, data from international surveys such as PISA has consistently shown that migrant students are at a disadvantage in European societies. As reported in the PISA study of 2018, the difference in the proportion of low achievers between migrant students and native-born students is quite large. France has a large population with a migrant background, the composition of which is influenced strongly by its colonial history and driven - particularly until the 1970s - by economic motivations (INSEE 2012b). According to PISA results, France has 14.8%, Slovenia has 8.2%, Greece has 20.7%, Italy has 12.2% and Turkey has 31.2% underachievement rates of 15-year-old students who have a migrant background (OECD 2018.The project aims to strengthen the integration of students with migrant background in schools and improve their success in education by providing training, coaching and guidance to teachers equipping school leaders and educators with the necessary skills and innovative tools to support secondary students in the process, strengthening collaboration between schools, families, and other external stakeholders by providing them:● An educational content to help teachers to integrate students with migrant backgrounds (EC)● An open online course for middle and secondary school teachers (OOC)● A teacher community to share good practices(OEC)In close collaboration with partners from 5 different countries in a cross sectoral way, we aim to:● Develop the professional development of teachers in dealing with migrant and refugee learners and diversity in classrooms● Support schools to facilitate inclusion and success of newly arrived migrant and refugee students, thus contributing to the tackling of early school leaving (ESL)● Support and enhance the performance of newly-arrived migrant and refugee students in secondary schools● Strengthen collaboration among all members of the school community (school leaders, teachers and non-teaching staff, learners, parents/families)● Extending and enhancing secondary school teachers’ skills and competences in teaching of literacy and numeracy to students with migrant background● Providing a diagnostic tool for the effective assessment of literacy, numeracy and digital competences, gaps and needs of students with migrant background● Promoting innovative practices, digital and non-digital, in teaching literacy, numeracy and digital competences of secondary students with migrant backgrounds. The proper management of migrant flows for the upcoming years and the integration of these groups in the EU by fostering education integration and preventing their school leaving are transnational issues. The products and innovative approaches of this project are designed to be fully transferable and testable at EU level and at the same time adaptable to domestic needs, the multiplier events will also serve to this aim. Consequently, a transnational partnership, where 6 partners have different and complementary expertise with migrants, is critical to achieve the objectives of the project, and thus, to tackle a EU-wide issue.The project aims teachers, students with migrant backgrounds and their parents as well as school leaders. During the lifetime of the project, 78 teachers, school leaders and educators, 100 students with migrant background and parents (in pilots) and 475 stakeholders will be involved. A wider audience, of a minimum of 1000 recipients, will be reached at local, regional, national and European level through the planned dissemination activities including 300 teachers and educators in 6 multiplier events in 6 different countries. Moreover, there will be a direct impact on target beneficiaries, improving the skills on national languages of both migrant youngsters and parents and strengthening school integration and success in education of students with migrant background , and in the target users, improving the teaching competencies of teachers. The long-term impact envisaged is a better integration of secondary students with migrant backgrounds in the schools and a higher collaboration between schools, families and other external stakeholders, strengthening the school system in Europe. And yet, intercultural education needs teachers who are able to question some fixed truths, who are open to change and able to confront emotionally difficult issues

<< Background >>CONTEXTThere is growing recognition and awareness that nature can help provide viable solutions that use and deploy the properties of natural ecosystems services in order to address urban environmental, social and economic challenges. The European Commission (EC) defines NBS as “Solutions that are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more, and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient and systemic interventions”.The EC has several objectives focusing on NBS, being one of them the advancement in “the development, uptake and upscale of innovative NBS”. In order to reach this objective, the EC has funded several NBS implementation projects under the H2020 programme (EdiCitNet, CLEVER Cities, proGIreg, URBiNAT, CONNECTING Nature, GrowGreen, UrbanGREENUP, UNALAB, CLEARING HOUSE, REGREEN, RECONECT, Operandum, MyBuildingIsGree). Cities are showing a growing interest in the integration of NBS to address urban challenges. Currently, NBS projects for cities are mainly developed by external entities specialized with the necessary knowledge to develop such complex projects, where experts from the fields of botany (e.g. plants resistant to pollution), technology (e.g. irrigation, impermeabilization), design (e.g. integration of the project in the existing urban environment) and economy (e.g. economic impacts of the implementation of NBS as savings in the Health sector, possibility to create extra incomes for citizens as in the case of urban cultivation) are required. In order to further strengthen the integration of NBS in cities, experts working in the public sector need to be empowered and trained with a transdisciplinary knowledge. In turn, this will help: (1) introduce NBS projects in the cities with more efficient action plans and visions targeted at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially SDG 13 Climate Action; (2) integrate NBS in the urban and climate action plans; (3) develop new innovative NBS projects; and (4) receive,implement, and manage NBS projects developed by external entities.<< Objectives >>“Green Skills 4 Cities” aims to establish a transdisciplinary educational platform targeted at the development of skills in the field of NBS implementation in cities. The project will bring together trainers and learners from the fields of botany, technology, design, and economy and cities involving them in an unique transdisciplinary learning environment aiming at the development of curricula targeted at working in the public sector.GOALS:The project goals are: > Develop curricula of professionals targeted at NBS implementation, thus increasing cities sustainability; > Increase the quality and relevance of higher education, focusing on the transdisciplinary dimension, to better respond to the labour market needs;> Reinforce networks in the field of urban sustainable development, establishing collaborations between HEIs, RTOs and Municipalities, thus facilitating the introduction of the learners in the labour market;> Produce results that are reusable, transferable, up-scalable.CONCRETE OBJECTIVES:In order to reach these goals, the project has the following specific objectives:> OBJ 1 Setting up a “Training for Trainers” Programme to enable trainers to develop transdisciplinary educational formats for learners;> OBJ 2 Setting up a “Long-term Programme” aimed at creating a transdisciplinary educational format embedded in each of the participating Educational Institutions academic programmes;> OBJ 3 Setting up a “Short-term Programme” aimed at the development of a one week format for professionals (lifelong learning);> OBJ 4 Setting up a series of dissemination activities in order to promote the upscaling and replication of the project. All the activities will be jointly designed and implemented by municipalities and HEIs and RTOs.<< Implementation >>The project is going to implement educational activities with the following characteristics:> Trainers will be trained to work in a transdisciplinary environment, incorporating teaching methodologies from other disciplines;> Curricula will be jointly developed by Educational Institutions and Municipalities;> Learners will work on the Urban Challenges defined by the Municipalities;> Municipalities will review the work of the learners;> Trainers and learners will be involved in a transdisciplinar environment learning about botany, technology, design, and economy;> In the three training programmes (Training for Trainers, Short-term and Long-term Programmes) learners will receive classes with “Flip Teaching” methodology: they study the resources made available online and the theoretical transdisciplinary classes are used to solve doubts, consolidate knowledge, and envision new ideas;> Theoretical transdisciplinary classes will be given online at the same time to all the learners participating from the different countries;> Within the Long-term Programme, students from different disciplines will work online to jointly develop a project targeted at the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions for a specific municipality;> Within the Long-term Programme, the “Learning by Doing” methodology will be applied: design students will build a working prototype of the project jointly developed with the other students, thus testing its performances.<< Results >>The project outcomes and results will be related to the project objectives:OUTCOME 1 - “TRAINING FOR TRAINERS” (related to OBJ 1):“Training for Trainers” is aimed at enabling trainers to develop transdisciplinary education formats for students.It will include:> educational resources aimed at enhancing the transdisciplinary skills of the trainers and to allow them to co-design the “Long-Term Programme” and “Short-term Programme”. They include the description of the basic concepts and fundamentals of each discipline and the teaching pedagogy and methodology.OUTCOME 2 - “LONG-TERM PROGRAMME” (related to OBJ 2):The “Long-term Programme” is an educational format embedded in the academic programmes. The learners will be selected within the students of the 3 educational institutions (IAAC, UNIGE, WU). It aims to form professionals able to work in municipalities and public bodies on urban sustainability enhancement through the implementation of NBS. The students will be involved in a transdisciplinary theoretical module and a practical module in which they will cooperate transnationally towards the development of a project addressing urban challenges selected by the cities.It will include:> Curriculum and guidelines for the “Long-term programme” - report including the characteristics of the curricula developed, the students selection process, the guidelines for the course implementation, the evaluation implementation procedure.> educational resources (e.g. books, videos, etc.) addressing botany and technology dimension, design dimension and economic dimension.OUTCOME 3 - “SHORT TERM PROGRAMME”(related to OBJ 3):The “Short-term Programme” is a 5 days long educational format targeted at lifelong learning. It aims to introduce the participants with the key concepts related to urban sustainability and NBS implementation and guide them to a better understanding of the theory through the development of a practical exercise. The learners will be professionals, employees of municipalities and public bodies and university students in the fields of botany, design, architecture, urban planning, engineering, business. The learners will be involved in a transdisciplinary theoretical module and a practical module in which they will develop a project addressing local urban challenges selected by the cities.It will include:> Curriculum and guidelines for the “Short-term programme” - report including the characteristics of the curricula developed, the learners selection process, the guidelines for the course implementation, the evaluation implementation procedure.> Educational resources (e.g. books, videos, etc.) addressing botany and technology dimension, design dimension and economic dimension.OUTCOME 4 - “DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES”(related to OBJ 4):The dissemination activities will take place along the entire duration of the project. They will be done through the use of online media channels (e.g. the website and social media channels of the project and of each partner, through external platforms and journals, etc.) and through 7 multiplier events specifically organised to promote the main results of the project and foster its replication. In detail:3 National Symposiums, one for each country where the programmes will be implemented, to disseminate the results of the whole project. 1 Webinar to promote the educational programmes and to present the NBS projects produced by the learners to municipalities and public bodies.1 Webinar to promote the results of the Training for Trainers programme to Higher Educational Institutions and RTOs.1 Webinar to promote the results of the Long-Term Programmeto Higher Educational Institutions and RTOs, municipalities, public bodies and students.1 Webinar to promote the results of the Short-Term Programme to Higher Educational Institutions and RTOs, municipalities, public bodies, students and professionals.