The world is being transformed by new technologies, which are redefining the way people live, work, do business, and function as a global society (Introducing the Digital Transformation Initiative, World Economic Forum, 2017). We are witnessing the digitalisation of our society, the digital transformation of the economy. New ways of working are affecting the types of skills needed, including innovation and entrepreneurship. Digital skills are needed for all jobs and occupations, and many sectors are undergoing rapid technological change (New Skills Agenda for Europe, European Commission, 2016). People need digital competence to be able to participate, link to and benefit from digital opportunities - but also to mitigate possible risks. This is clearly a challenge that is being addressed today (DigComp 2.0: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens, 2016) and that become even more critical in times of pandemic.Digital transformation was a growth driver within the Europe 2020 Strategy which emphasises smart, sustainable and inclusive growth to strengthen the EU economy and prepare its structure for the challenges of the next decade. Digital transformation will be present in Europe 2030 Strategy as well. Digital technologies are key drivers of innovation, growth and job creation, and therefore digital competence is more and more linked to participation in the labour market. Digital competence is not only about being familiar with digital technologies. It is also about the way new technologies and social media are used. In terms of digital skills, considering that to function effectively in a digital society more than low level skills are needed, about 50% of the EU population can be considered as insufficiently digitally skilled (having either low or basic digital skills). In Turkey 45% of the population does not have the skills they need to function effectively in the digital world, while the share is 43% in Portugal, 47% in Italy, and over 50% in Bulgaria and Spain (Eurostat 2017). The situation is far from having become better, according to the most recent data (Eurostat 2019).The job search process and the employers’ recruitment and selection methods are being re-shaped by internet. Employers and recruiters are not only posting vacancies on the internet, but they are increasingly using the internet (including social media) to screen and select applicants. Despite the significant increase in the use of ICT & social media by low-skilled/low-qualified adults, they reveal a low level of awareness and understanding of the broader implications that their online activity can have on their social and professional life. It was - and it continue to be - thus important that low-skilled/low-qualified adults (especially over 45) develop their media and digital skills in order that they can effectively use social media in a way that can create increased opportunities for them in the social and professional sphere. More specifically, LINK-UPS project targeted: - Low-skilled/low-qualified unemployed adults, particularly over 45, in Bulgaria, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Turkey and - Employment/career counselors and/or other relevant professionals and organisations working with low-skilled/low-qualified unemployed It aimed at: - Developing the digital and media skills of low-skilled/low-qualified unemployed adults, mainly over 45, through innovative tools, so that they are motivated and able/ready to build a strong online professional identity to reinforce their access to employment, thus leading to social and economic inclusion. - Upgrading the knowledge of employment/career counselors, VET providers, recruiters and/or relevant public and private stakeholders working with low-skilled/low-qualified unemployed and providing them a new approach and tools for supporting and interacting with middle-aged unemployed persons through social media. The above-mentioned goals were achieved through the implementation of the following activities/tasks: 1. Development of a methodological framework for the building of digital skills through social media for low-skilled/low-qualified unemployed persons (assessment of online recruitment, screening and selection methodologies, practices and tools; development of skills building framework). 2. Development of a mobile and online interactive platform for building the digital competence of low-skilled/low-qualified unemployed persons (development of the interactive platform and mobile app, production of the training content); pilot implementation of digital skills building carried out with 190 participants). 3. Development of an online self-assessment tool and a usability manual for professionals supporting low-skilled/low-qualified unemployed persons (development of pre/post self-assessment tool and manual for professionals; dissemination of self-assessment tool and manual to professionals, namely by means of Info Days nationally organised for 437 participants).

The SEYMM project idea is to develop new educational modules for young members of local communities in the area of community media technical skills, entrepreneurship skills, management of the collaborative involvement of community, members, and target groups. Social Entrepreneurship for Young Community Media Makers (SEYMM) Project aims to be in line with the recent media literacy strategies to increase access to media training opportunities, media skills training and to hands-on coaching in media tools. SEYMM Project involves three partners from the countries of Turkey, Portugal and Bulgaria, all of which have experience in volunteering and youth training. The duration of SEYMM is 30 months with start date 01/09/2016 and end date 28/02/2019.OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECTDevelopment of innovationPromoting enterpreneurship education and social entrepreneurship among young peoplePromoting high-quality of youth workTransparency and recognition of skills and qualifications to facilitate learning, employability and labour mobilityStrengthening the media and entrepreneurial activities of the participants. Creating Europeon network to develop further innovative projects.Enterpreneurial learning-entrepreneurship education.ICT-new technologies-digital competences.New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses. OUTCOMES OF THE PROJECTSThe SEYMM project has four main intellectual outputs:• Community Media Training Framework Report; It includes the youth pedagogical framework and specic learning outcomes which are expected to be achieved by the young people at the end of the training process.• Community Media And Social Entrepreneurship Training Curriculum; The results of the research outputs will lead to the development of concrete learning material which will form the basis of the e-learning curriculum.• E-learning Modules With Practical Exercises; The main aim of this intellectual output is the design and imple- mentation of training contents and methodologies for active usage of community media and social entrepreneurship competences of young people.• Assessment And Impact Scales Strategy; The aim of this intellectual output is undertaking activities to create assessment scales, observation checklist and impact tools which will ensure the gathering of feedback in terms of effectiveness, engagement and level of achieved learning goals and learning outcomes.NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS;EGE UNIVERSITY – SEYMM project coordinatorEge University is a 64 year-old State University that acts as a focal point for education, research, cultural and social activities in the city of Izmir and the Aegean region.CONSULTIS – Consultoria Empresarial, Unipessoal Lda.Consultis is a private limited company located in Vila Nova de Gaia. It was founded in 2005 to work in the field of entrepreneurship consultancy, innovation and specialized research, as well as education/training activitiesZGURA-M Ltd.ZGURA-M is a consulting enterprise with centre for information and professional orientation, having its activities fully directed towards people with disabilities and young people. The company was established in 2000 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and up to this moment in their education, training and consulting activities they involved more than 7000 beneficiaries.DESCRIPTION OF UNDERTAKEN MAIN ACTIVITIES;1. Partners agreements,steering commitee 2. Quality and Dissemination Strategy3. National advisory boards in each partner country/ five meetings each.4. Community Media Training Framework Report (IO1)5. Seven TPM meetings6. Community Media and Social Entrepreneurship Training Curriculum (IO2)7. E-Learning Modules with Practical Exercises (E-Platform) (IO3) (www.communitymediamakers.eu) 8. Assesment and Impact Scale Strategy (IO4) /internal evaluation9. Pilot Trainings in each partner country.10. Three Blended Mobiliy Activity in each partner country (LTA1, LTA2 and LTA3)11. Dissemination activities through conventional and digital media 12. Multiplier Event in TurkeyIF RELEVANT, LONGER-TERM BENEFITS:Improvement of skills of youth in community mediaEnabling youth to create their own community media enterprisesCombating indiffirence and marginalization of young people Providing innovative Community Media training options. In line with Europe 2020 strategy on education to encourge the ICT literals to continue their education on the webIn line with the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training(ET2020)In line with EU values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities, includes impact on widening the possibility of participation in easly accessible education options. Increasing social well-being of youth and active media literate citizens.Creating a multiplier efect by producing e-training materials.

Bringing pupils into contact with foreign languages results in improved communication skills and better performance in other areas. Good language skills and awareness of the basic fundaments for the existence of the EU and national states are important for all individuals, especially for the forthcoming generation of citizens.Unlike their peers, the pupils from families living at high risk of social exclusion and later dropping out the school do not reach educational stages where the advantages of having fundamental preparation are obvious. In this way, these students are deprived of vital language awareness and essential understanding of what the world of their adult relatives is. Taking into account this challenge, the project team is aimed to address the following identified needs:- No adequate foreign language training content stimulating students tend to drop out to continue learning and showing them perceptible advantages in short term prospective- No adapted training content on basic legislative principles in order to justify the reasons for further education to young people tempted to cease rendering of efforts in school- No explicit training content to junior classes explaining the fundaments of existence of the EU and fostering of feelings of common citizenshipThe general objective of the project is to provide tailor-made training content encompassing English language training, basic familiarization on the legal principles and procedures, and introducing the base structure of the EU institutions in order to retain students tend to drop out and to point out the usefulness of acquiring of further knowledge.The project has the following specific objectives:- To select and adapt appropriate training fragments, and to organize them into thorough course structure- To equip the teachers with ready-to-use lesson sections and complete train-the-trainer handbook- To establish a virtual environment for drilling of language skills and practising of terminology understandingWithin the project the following participants across BG, PT, RS and TR will be involved:- Low educated students due to frequent absence in school (at least 300) - Low skilled students living in high risk of marginalization (at least 360)- Students of minority origin or having migrant background with poor level of use of the official language (at least 180)- Primary school teachers on English language training (at least 90 people)- Teachers on subject other than English language (at least 120 people)The project will include the following activities:* Development, piloting and optimization of intellectual outputs:IO1 Survey on training sections within regular school programs devoted to the EU and its neighbors, legislation basics and related English terminologyIO2 English language training course thematically oriented to legislation basics, fundamentals of the EU and its neighborsIO3 Assistive Toolbox with ICT aids and Train-the-trainer HandbookIO4 Networking and data exchange platform for peer support of teachers non-specialized in language and legal training* Project management, dissemination, quality monitoring and exploitationIn order to produce the planned outputs and to achieve the results, the project team has adopted a methodology consisting of a set of the following approaches:- Building of deliverable-oriented work breakdown structure around the project’s desired outcomes- Selection of proper methods for project management- Using of up-to-date technological tools- Structuring of balanced hierarchy framework of involved actors- Maintaining proper document and reporting system preventing from misunderstanding due to different language levels- Mobilizing of associated partners and partner organisation outside the consortiumOn its completion the project will achieve the following results:- Collection of country specific information about the coverage of subject related to the national legal systems and the EU law- Removing barriers towards insertion of sophisticated topics on the EU and national legislation using English terminology- Stimulating retaining in school for acquiring of necessary knowledge by socially challenged students- Offering of a tool for school teachers to facilitate teaching the EU legislation and language- Establishing multilingual platform for share of training examples and knowledgeThe longer term benefits will be expressed by:- Decreasing of level of alienation of students living in socially challenged areas due to not understanding the real requirements and applicable rules in society- Improved understanding within legal and foreign language learning community on the problems of the young people facing challenges to their educational integration due to shortfalls in their fundamental preparation- Enhancement of the interactions among organizations dealing with EU law and language training

"People with disabilities (PwD) are the most disadvantaged group with regards to labour market inclusion in Europe. In accordance to the 2012 last official data of the EU Commission, in Portugal PwD were 875 000 (more than 42% unemployed), in Turkey they were about 8 500 000 (more than 80% unemployed), in Bulgaria 681 000 (more than 60% of them unemployed), in Belgium 1 125 000 (more than 72% unemployed), in Slovenia they were 172 000 (more than 89% were unemployed, in Lithuania 307 000 (more than 77% unemployed). In 2017-2019, the situation became better but far of being positive. It was one of the key areas of both European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and Europe 2020 to allow full accessibility to education and to the labour market for people with disabilities. This corresponded to the annual priority related to increase employability of the EU Commission listed in ET2020 & Official Journal of the European Union, C 72/5 . From this was evident that still in many European countries and beyond, accessibility to the labour market is not given yet due to the lack of suitable and powerful implemented support concepts and schemes. Taking into account existing career guidance services around Europe - supported employment, sheltered employment, work-based mentoring etc. is still evident that they cannot reach, as a final result, the improvement of the employment rates of people with disabilities. That's why our consortium is offering a novel holistic guidance model called ""JobCircuit"" which combines: - individual support based on person centered approach - vocational guidance towards job readiness and applying for a suitable job - on the job follow up and support- job rotation - strengthening employers’ engagementJobCircuit methodology focus on strengthening cooperation among the labour market representatives, the educational institutions and the social services providers, with the goal of enabling and creating work possibilities for people with disabilities. The main goal of this methodology is to offer to PwD a complete support programme to achieve relevant work experience and become employed. JobCircuit methodology is a combination of individual follow-up services and a job rotation concept. The target group is constituted by PwD who need relevant work experience. JobCircuit supports the target group through short periods of different job activities. PwD can try different companies or different jobs within the same company, i.e., they experience different job possibilities during the job rotation. As a key differentiating factor in relation to other working methodologies with people with disabilities, the job rotation or circulation stands out as an approach not used in most of the partner countries and which is innovative in the European area. The impact of job rotation was very important for reaching sustainable retention of the job of the employees with disabilities.Skills and competencies of PwD were improved through the work linked to vocational training and apprenticeship and follow up support.This model strengthened the knowledge, skills and competencies of career counsellors, job coaches, mentors etc. in terms of successful provision of guidance and support to their disadvantaged from the labour market clients, who from other hand improved skills and competencies via work-linked guidance and support which are relevant to the labour market needs. JobCircuit methodology was pre-implemented with success in Portugal, Turkey, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Belgium and Lithuania taking into account national and cultural differences of all involved partner countries in accordance of the current labour market needs and legal framework. Project consortium involved VET institutions, national inclusion institute, vocational rehabilitation centres, counselling bodies and governmental institutions. Piloting phase with target groups was carried out: 80 mentors/counsellors, 124 job-seekers with disabilities, 45 employers and 27 training and social services providers were effectively involved, exceeding the established goals. Feedback was very positive.JobCircuit measurement impact tool supported the evaluation process that career guidance and service providers conducted at the end of the service provision to clients with disabilities. By improving the quality of service provision and measuring the impact of the JobCircuit model implementation within the career guidance service providers, we ensured better results, benefits and best value for PwD and relevant stakeholders. The concrete intellectual outputs of the project were: IO1: Manual for policy liaison and incorporation of the JobCircuit method for career counselling of people with disabilities IO2: JobCircuit guidance model - practical manual for career guidance providers IO3: Measurement impact tool of the JobCircuit model IO4: Manual ""Training the trainers"" on JobCircuit model IO5: Interactive JobCircuit learning portal"

"Context/background of the project;The European Disability Strategy (EDS) 2010-2020, “A renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe”, (European Commission, Brussel, Nov. 2010) defined employment and accessibility of labor market as one of the 8 areas of action. On this basis member states are required to offer accessibility to the labor market for people with disabilities and provide support structures for this target group to be able to earn their living on the open labour market. Some of the European member states have introduced the concept of Supported Employment coming from North America during the late 1980s slowly into their systems discovering the power and effectiveness of this approach in ensuring accessibility and equal opportunities on the job market. People with disabilities (PwD) are the most disadvantaged group with regards to employment. Currently in Turkey they are 8,5 million and only 15% are employment compared with the national average of over 80%. In Bulgaria their number is about 227000 and more than 60% of them are unemployed. In Slovenia they are around 850000 and only 16% are unemployed and in Portugal people with disabilities represent 8,2% of total population and unemployment rate 9,5%.It is one of the key areas of both European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and Europe 2020 to allow full accessibility to education as well as to the labour market for people with disabilities. In many European countries and beyond accessibility to the labour market is still not given because of the lack of suitable and powerful implemented support concepts.Supported employment (SE) approach defined as a method of working with disabled people and other disadvantaged groups to access and maintain paid employment in the open labour market. Objectives: -To conduct a needs analysis to determine the SE providers training needs for providing high quality services to their clients with disabilities (Intellectual Output1)-To create a EQAVET system for recognition, validation and certification of SE providers (Intellectual Output 2)-Developing an instructions guide for the system of competencies monitoring in the SE service (Intellectual Output 3)-To provide a dedicated VET programme for training of supported employment specialists that provide services to people with disabilities which does not exist so far in Europe as officially accredited job profile.The project supports the inclusion of the supported employment approach in Slovenia and Portugal, 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 SE Specialists' knowledge, skills and competencies.The learning outcomes of the training program developed is in connection with the dedicated unique ECVET training programme for SE providers which covers disability awareness, acquisition of key and transversal competencies, application of interactive technologies and methods in coaching process, supported employment basis, pre employment support agenda, career counselling etc.(Intellectual Output 4)-To make pilot studies for our training program and to write a usability report. (Intellectual Output 5)-To set up an online learning system for ""Tools for SE Specialist"" (Intellectual Output 6)Number and profile of participating organisations;The project is completed by 5 partner organizations. The coordinating organization was İstanbul Medeniyet University. The other partners were Marie Curie Associatio from Bulgaria, University Rehabilitation Institute from Republic of Slovenia, Consultis from Portugal and CASGEM (a government organization) from Turkey. Brief Descrition of the Activities Completed: We conducted a training needs analysis in 4 countries. We conducted surveys to determine the needs of the people working with PwDs and supported employment providers. Total number of 232 people participated in the survey from four countries. The participants were including people working in VET Centers, employers that have employees with disabilities, people working in NGOs related with PwDs, service providers, and people working in the public bodies providing services to PwDs. We prepared an EQAVET system for recognition, validation and certification of SE providers. This tool could be used also by external bodies (VET centres, VET training providers, third sector organizations, employers etc.) for a ""third part"" monitoring of the acquired competencies. This system enables the delivering of a Declaration of the competencies acquired during the SE service. We prepared a 6 modul training program .""Tools for SE Specialist"" VET training programme for supported employment providers which is also available as an open online course, based on the needs analysis conducted at the beginning of the project and revised by the piloting phase. We prepared two books in Turkish (Annex 1) and in English (Annex 2) for the professionals providing support"