The Social Media for Business (SMB) project support 30 VET learners from Capacity London’s Qualification in Social Media for Business accredited by City and Guilds. This qualification trained learners in the application of social media and digital marketing as a competitive business tool. They also learned how these and associated skills can be utilised proactively and constructively. The training included units covering a range of knowledge and abilities to fully understand the impact and power of social media and digital marketing.The Social Media sector is a fast moving sector undergoing constant change as new ‘disruptive’ technologies; new applications and methodologies continuously push the boundaries of what is possible. Individuals need to be practising their trade and continuously developing. Through the provision of European work placements the SMB project provided a valuable and essential bridge for participants from their vocational training course to overcome these barriers in their chosen sector, increasing their chances of success in the labour market in the UK and across Europe. To that end the specific objectives of the SMB project were:• Support the aspirations of VET learners by providing them with work experience to develop their newly learned social media skills• Assist VET learners in moving into future employment in the Social Media for Business sector in the UK or across Europe• Enable participants to develop linguistic and cultural skills essential to accessing employment in other countries within the European market• Allow Host Employers to benefit from knowledge and implementation of new social media tools to help improve their business impact• Increase organisational capacity of Capacity London to run, disseminate and evaluate mobility placement projectsParticipants entering the SMB through Capacity London’s Social Media for Business vocational qualification were from one of three distinct groups with diverse backgrounds. The first group are young people who are taking a more traditional vocational training route, rather than entering higher education, and that have limited work experience. The second group were those who undertaking vocational training to update or expand their range of skills or those that are seeking a career change. The third, people with a background in other industries who recognize that social media is now a mainstream skill, applicable across employment sectors and who wish to expand their skill set.Participants undertook a mobility placement with a dynamic host employer in Seville, Spain. Through observing people in small and successful businesses the participants were able to observe successful working practices and utilise these skills for their own professional benefit in the future. This allowed them to gain much needed professional knowledge and put into practice their skills along with gaining greater confidence in their abilities and increased awareness of where their chosen career can take them.Learning Outcomes for the participants were focussed around three key themes:(1) General employability learning outcomes(2) Linguistic and cultural learning outcomes(3) Vocation specific learning outcomesParticipants attained a number of benefits from the project, including an increase in employability skills, professional skills associated with their vocation, linguistic and cultural skills.

According to new data on unemployment, published by Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union), in December 2014, the youth unemployment rate was 21.4% in the EU28 and 23.0% in the euro area; young people unemployment is a big problem that the European Union is trying to resolve nowadays this topic being found as well in policies as Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes, EU Youth Strategy and Europe 2020 targets. As a solution to drop the unemployment rate we wanated to promote and introduce the concept of apprenticeship; we believe that kicking off their career with an apprenticeship is a great way for young people to get a head short in the field they want to work in.This will help them gain and develop professional skills and get experience in the work field while they earn some money .We organised a seminar that helped 29 youth workers from UK, Romania and Spain understand in a deepeer, more meaningful way the concept of apprenticeship, share their experience, learn from good practice schemes, identify the challenges with regards to the topic etc. and a training that helped 21 youth workers from UK, Romania and Spain develop the necessary skills and competences to be able to bring together the unemployed young people and the local firms and create a successfull Apprenticeship Program in their area. Developing high quality apprenticeship programmes is the best solution to equip young people with the right skills and experience for sustainable employment.The main objective of the project was to raise the employment rate among young people, with an accent on young people with few opportunities.Specific objectivesO1 Support the understanding of the apprenticeship concept and programmes in a deeper, more meaningfull way by the 29 youth workers from Romania, England and Spain.O2 Raise awareness among employers and other social actors of the importance of apprenticeship as a method to increase employability.O3 Develop the necessary skills and competences to be able to bring together the unemployed young people and the local firms and create a successfull Apprenticeship Program by the 21 youth workers from Romania, England and Spain.O4 Improving the way of operating towards their target group in the 3 partner organisations: CREED Romania, Capacity London and Building Bridges.Working methods used: open discussions, research, presentations, debates, open forum, open space, games, peer to peer education, Walt Disney Strategy, brainstorming, SMART method, mentoring, role play, games, debates, public speaking, workshops, storytelling, open discussions, games, public cafe etc. We published a brochure to support organisation. The brochure is available on www.asociatiacreed.ro and www.implicare.eu. Meanwhile there is a blog with a lot of information about apprenticeships in UK, Romania and Spain - https://apprenticeship2employability.wordpress.com/The partners are still trying to work at local and national level on developing apprenticeship programmes. The need of the apprenticeship programmes was noticed by the Romanian Government and starting with 30th of March apprenticeship programmes will receive more financial support from the government.We raised awareness among young people, prepared professional youth workers that facilitate the process, created a brochure that will help other social actors multiply the project and promted our project online through few videos . This project will decrease the rate of unemployment among young people on longer term. CREED is ready to contribute to this sector and to employee an apprentice from Piatra Neamt in 2017.

The project Inclusive Partnership has been developed by 3 youth organizations, CREED, BB and EEHYC, and a 4th partner, Capacity London, training provider company experienced in VET and working with disadvantaged groups. The project has as sole purpose the improvement of youth workers competencies in relation with inclusive activities for young people with fewer opportunities and more specifically, for young people from rural areas.The specific objectives are:- To assess the availability of learning opportunities for youth workers from UK, Spain, Lithuania and Romania aimed at improving the impact of inclusion related activities- To identify good practice examples for informal and non-formal learning activities (i.e. mentoring programmes) designed to improve youth workers competencies and assess whether such programmes can and should be replicated at local, national or European level- To challenge and improve the competencies of 19 youth workers from CREED, BB, EEHYC and Capacity London, during an 8 days short term joint staff training event- To develop recommendations on the topic of youth workers competencies improvement in relation to inclusion activities for young people facing fewer opportunities, especially those from rural areas. The needs that we identified refer to an improved training and education system for youth workers. Although the partners encourage their staff to be actively engaged in personal and professional development opportunities, including through non-formal education activities and trainings, there is still the need of a unified approach that would allow youth workers to be involved in an efficient training and educational process meant to improve competencies required for raising the impact of inclusion activities and overcoming the various differences existent at national levels.The activities of the project include a short term training for 19 people. The Intellectual Outputs of the project consist of a Comparative analysis of learning opportunities avaialable for youth workers in the 4 countries, a Good practice document in the filed of competencies improvement for youth workers, and a Youth worker's guide to better inclusion activities.

The DMCI TEFL 2016project will offer VET learners opportunities to gain valuable European work experience and knowledge within the Digital Media, Creative Industries and Teaching English as a Foreign Language sectors. The project partnership includes Host Employers from Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic selected for their ability to provide high-quality and relevant placements to our VET learners.The project will offer European work placements for learners from Capacity London’s vocational courses in: • Digital Marketing and Social Media for Business• Professional Practice for the Creative Industries• Teaching English To Speakers Of Other LanguagesThese placements will provide an invaluable bridge for participants from their vocational training course to employment or self-employment in their chosen sector. It will also provide a platform for learners to enhance their language skills and develop a cultural understanding that will help them become more mobile within Europe in their future careers.The primary objectives of the project are to: • Support the aspirations of VET learners by providing them with work experience to enhance their recently developed vocational skills• Assist VET learners in moving into future employment in the Digital Media, Creative Industries and Teaching English sectors in the UK or across Europe• Enable participants to develop linguistic and cultural skills essential to accessing employment in other countries within the European market• Enhance links between our VET provision for the Digital Media, Creative Industries and Teaching English and employers in these sectors to support pathways from VET courses into the world of workFor all three sectors the opportunity to undertake a professional placement in another EU country will support participants in establishing a career in their chosen field. To that end the specific objectives of the DMCI TEFL 2016 project are:• To support the aspirations of VET learners by providing them with work experience within employers that will develop their newly learned skills• To assist VET learners in moving into employment in the Digital Media, Creative Industries and Teaching English sectors, in the UK or across Europe• To enable participants to develop the linguistic and cultural skills required to access employment in other countries within the European labour marketParticipants entering the DMCI TEFL 2016 through Capacity London’s Digital Media vocational qualification will be from one of two distinct groups with diverse backgrounds. The first group are young people who are taking a more traditional vocational training route, rather than entering higher education, and that have limited work experience. The second group will be those who are undertaking vocational training to update or expand their range of skills of those that are seeking a career change. Participants entering the DMCI TEFL 2016 project through Capacity London’s Professional Practice for the Creative Industries vocational qualification will be those people with creative craft skills who want to develop their employability, professional practice and business skills. These individuals need to gain experience in the industry side of their field in order to learn to apply their skills to generate an income. Participants entering the DMCI TEFL 2016 project through Capacity London’s Teaching English To Speakers of other Languages vocational qualification are students who have completed the English Teaching qualification but lack work experience. Undertaking a work placement abroad will be a major factor in enabling them to compete effectively in the jobs market. Learning Outcomes for the participants will be focussed around three key themes:(1) General employability learning outcomes(2) Linguistic and cultural learning outcomes(3) Vocation specific learning outcomesParticipants will attain a number of benefits from the project, including improved professional skills for the target sector and enhanced employability, as well as increased linguistic and cultural skills.The most significant measure of the impact of the project for participants will be success in securing sustainable employment after they have completed their mobility placements. Based on our experience of previous mobility projects, we expect that, of the 98 participants, 74 will enter employment within 3 months of completing their mobility and, of these, 67 (90%) will sustain employment for at least 6 months. The project will raise awareness of the opportunities and benefits offered by the Erasmus Plus programme and promote all three project vocational area Industries as vital parts of the trade landscape at national and European levels.

The Digital Media and Creative Industries (DMCI) project supported 27 VET learners from two of Capacity London’s VET qualifications.• Certificates in Social Media and Digital Marketing (Level 3)• Award in Professional Practice for the Creative Industries (Level 3)The Digital Media sector is a fast moving sector undergoing constant change as new ‘disruptive’ technologies; new applications and methodologies continuously push the boundaries of what is possible. Individuals need to be practising their trade and continuously developing. The Creative Industries are a difficult sector within which to establish a career, as the early stages of the career are characterised by very low pay which can push people out of the sector or discourage them from entering it all together. For both sectors the opportunity to undertake a professional placement will make it easier to establish a career in their chosen sector. Through the provision of European work placements the DMCI project has provided a valuable and essential bridge for participants from their vocational training course to overcome these barriers in their chosen sector, increasing their chances of success in the labour market in the UK and across Europe. The specific objectives of the DMCI project were:• To support the aspirations of VET learners by providing them with work experience within employers that will develop their newly learned skills• To assist VET learners in moving into employment in the Digital Media or Creative Industries sectors, in the UK or across Europe• To enable participants to develop the linguistic and cultural skills required to access employment in other countries within the European labour marketEach of the three objectives of the DMCI 2014 was met, as a result of the work placements abroad. 78% of participants have since gone on to find work in their chosen sector, and the DMCI project played a vital part in their career progression, as stated in the participants’ final reports, with 96% of participants stating ‘strongly agree’ or ‘rather agree’ to the question ‘I believe that my chances to get a new or better job have increased’.Participants entering the DMCI through Capacity London’s Digital Media vocational qualification were from one of two distinct groups with diverse backgrounds. The first group were young people taking a more traditional vocational training route, rather than entering higher education, and that had limited work experience. The second group were those undertaking vocational training in order to update or expand their range of skills or those that were seeking a career change. Participants entering the DMCI project through Capacity London’s Professional Practice for the Creative Industries were those people with creative craft skills who wanted to develop their employability, professional practice and business skills. These individuals needed to gain experience in the industry side of their fieldd in order to learn to apply their skills to generate an income. Participants undertook a mobility placement with a dynamic host employer in either Spain or the Czech Republic. Through observing people in a small and successful creative business the participants were able to observe successful working practices and utilise these skills for their own professional benefit. This allowed them to gain much needed professional knowledge and application of their skills along with gaining greater confidence in their abilities and increased awareness of where their chosen career can take them.The DMCI project provided two different lengths of mobilities, reflecting the different needs and situations of the potential participants. Learners with limited work experience who would benefit from additional time to develop workplace and interpersonal skills accessed 3 month mobilities, providing an extended period of work experience. We are aware from previous mobility projects that a 3-month duration allows sufficient time for participants to develop and apply a wide range of skills, enabling them to feel settled in their work and to practice and become confident in the new skills they learn. Learners with more experience in the labour market who required less time and support in developing workplace skills and professional confidence were able to access 2-month mobilities providing experience in a vocational area specifically relevant to their professional development objectives.