<< Background >>The N-Pear project combines collaborative expertise of technology-enhanced learning researchers, computer scientists, and educators to build a strategic partnership to streamline the adoption of Augmented Reality (AR) technology in educational practice. The project will create innovative open specialised educational resources for physical education educators that help implement and integrate active and collaborative learning pedagogical approaches supported by AR. This will enrich the teaching practice and support inclusive, peer to peer learning relevant to the requirements and preferences of the students. The N-Pear project is an extension of three ERASMUS+ projects ViLi, i-Pear and AR-FOREU.The ViLi (https://www.viliproject.eu/) aims to improve the visual literacies of educators, making learning more visual through static, dynamic, and interactive visuals. The AR-FOR-EU and I-Pear projects (https://codereality.net/) aim to train AR-development skills of sport trainers. The N-Pear project further develops visual representations in learning and participatory learning approaches, specialised in physical education. The main objectives are to: 1. Map the educational use of AR in physical education, focusing on collaborative and peer learning approaches The consortium will map the existing research results and available applications, supplementing these results and validating them in case studies following the research methodology of Informed Grounded Theory. The focus on peer learning and collaborative learning approach is within the inclusive education framework, as defined by the United Nations – taking into account personalrequirements and preferences. In 2016, the United Nations released General Comment No. 4 to explain the right to inclusive education, focusing the new definition on providing all students with an equitable and participatory learning experience and environment that best corresponds to their requirements and preferences. 2. Facilitate the adoption of ARin physical education by creating open access teaching and learning material for educators. The new materials will include a toolkit of educational AR apps and platforms supplemented by teacher guidelines, a compendium of best practices, and a competence framework for AR educators all available as independently as OERs and delivered as aMOOC with professionally designed audiovisual material) 3. Create and maintain a community of experts in physical educational AR and other stakeholders that will ensure sustainability of the project and keep the most useful results up-to-date The design of the project is guided by the European policies, strategies and tools. The project aims to improve the digital competence of educators and subsequently their students by developing a comprehensive set of educational resources that are open and accessible online worldwide (EU initiative “Opening Up Education”). The project supports the “Digital Learning & ICT in Education” 2018 and “Digital Education Action Plan” 2018 by promoting innovative technology-enhanced learning practices with both the content of the materials and by making all materials designed for and available online as OERs and as a MOOC. The project supports the European skills frameworks: “Digital skillsframework” and the “Digital Competence Framework for Educators (DigCompEdu), by extending them into a framework for specific skills educators need to integrate AR in their teaching.<< Objectives >>The nPEAR project aims to mainstream the adoption of educational AR apps by assembling a comprehensive overview of available offers, collecting best practices, creating guidelines for physical education educators and developing an online course to deliver these materials. AR is a rapidly growing market amongst the ICT technologies. AR provides an enriched view onto the physical world, adding layers with contextually useful information, delivered visually or by stimulating other senses using hand-held or wearable devices. Many industrial use cases of AR in, for example, manufacturing, construction, health, the service sector, or in trade can be found. The technology is currently being introduced in front-runner organisations at large. While the AR R&D community is growing stronger in Europe, the adoption of the technology in education is still very fragmented. The flagship European educational AR research projects (such as H2020 http://www.tellme-ip.eu/ and http://wekit.eu/) and European AR companies (such as Re-flect and Totalimmersion) focus on solutions for workplace training in high-tech and highly automated industries. At the same, systematic reviews of AR application in wider formal and non-formal education recent years report that the use of technology has a positive impact on engagement and learning performance (see e.g., Garzón & Acevedo 2019 DOI: 10.1016/j.edurev.2019.04.001 and Liao, Chang, & Lee 2020, DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-816958-2.00006-X). Theaforementioned reviews report mostly on experimental studies, which indicate low adoption rate despite the often positive impact on learning. We argue that the reasons for the slow adoption are not only in the technology itself, but in the insufficient support of educators. The newest models of smartphones-in-development in 2021 are getting AR-enabling hardware (such as depth cameras) and better other sensors, while the AR software industry is growing in the offer of platforms for designing content and self-sanding applications. The adoption of AR in education is already happening in Europe, although as experiments or as part of the overall digitisation. Given this backdrop, physical education providers should begin now to create strategies for immersive learning experiences. The world of immersive technologies is still unexplored territory for educators and their students especially in EU Universities, despite their immense potential.Therefore, we need to map the territory and come up with innovative pedagogies that address the so-called generation z. Peer-learning is one of most effective pedagogies to make learners more active and engaged with the resources. Educators and researchers highlight the importance of active, interactive and inclusive learning (Dewey, Vygotsky, Dede), but it is often ignored in education due to lack of understanding and adoption guidelines. The young people often feel bored and uninterested while being in lecture halls listening passively to lecturers’ endless ppt slides. At the same time, Cisco research and Ed Tech Trends and LinkedIn put emphasis on collaboration and peer-learning among others. Main Target Group : Higher education on Physical Education (educators and their students).<< Implementation >>The tasks are allocated according to the experiences of the partners and a cost-effective perspective. For example, it is less expensive to produce audiovisual material in Portugal rather than in Spain or Italy. Each partner will be responsible for clearly defined tasks and activities and other partners will collaborate and provide feedback and peer review for all work-packages outputs. EIA will be leading the “TOOLkit of Educational AR apps” task. Clictic will be in charge of the “Compendium of best practices in Educational AR” BEFO will be in charge of the pedagogical strategy for AR and peer learning Step will be in charge of the nPEAR MOOC. Primerframe will be in charge of the open access audiovisual material. Idef will be leading the nPEAR publications of the project.<< Results >>Visual resources: Development and sharing of visuals to enhance text resources. A new method of teaching on how to use these visual and open educational resources in physical education will be disseminated. Toolkit: Development of an up-to-date and educator-friendly review of educational AR apps. For each app, a unified guideline will be added thus accumulating models and guidelines allowing physical education educators to choose the best applications for their practice. nPEAR conference: Organisation of a conference where physical education students and educators meet to disseminate the outcomes of the project, feed further exploration and explore future research steps. Dissemination activities designed to reach 10,000 people, including major stakeholders and may have an impact on policy makers in Higher education. The project will produce six major intellectual outputs during its lifetime : 1.A toolkit for AR apps 2. Compendium of best practices (case studies in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece) 3. A Pedagogical strategy for AR and peer learning: A strategy for implementing AR in peer learning in physical education based on existing best practices in the educational use of AR, including an educational AR skills framework 4. A MOOC (massive open online course) aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web, including elements of educational games 5. Audiovisual material for the toolkit and the MOOC 6. Academic publications (an AR for educators book containing all major results of the project and the nPEAR conference proceedings) In a nutshell, results encompass all project outcomes that may be used by the project partners or other relevant stakeholders outside the project. The intellectual outputs have the potential to either be used as they are or lay the foundation for further research, work or innovations (i.e. novel knowledge, insights, technologies, methods, data, and apps). By the end of the project we expect to equip the participants with skills of future jobs in AR, to help participants gain generic competencies and to provide a model of modular nonformal education informed by contemporary educational approaches for other European countries. The modular curriculum will be delivered online via MOOC platform. Course materials will be in English, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Latvian and Greek. Therefore, it is also expected to reach international learners.

The context analysis shows that, in every partner country, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only limited the way people can relate to each other and perform their most basic every-day-tasks, but has also had a significant impact on the regular delivery of education, training and youth policies. At such a critical time for our societies, access to education is proving, more than ever, to be essential to ensuring a swift recovery, while promoting equal opportunities among people of all backgrounds. In light of these exceptional circumstances, the SIE project takes up the challenge to confirm the role of education and training as the main instrument supporting youth social innovation, education and training as well as providing opportunities for personal, socio-educational and professional development of youth people in Europe and beyond, with the aim of leaving no-one behind. This instruments are definded in the following two IOs:* IO1- Storytelling Mentorship Guideline for Youth : How to mentor young people to start their own businessThis Intellectual Output is a support tool for youth workers to Mentor and Stimulate Youth Social Entrepreneurship in their youth organisations and communities. Its main aim is to strengthen mentoring skills of youth workers, to be able to fully follow a Youth Entrepreneurship Process, from idea development to realization and provide the necessary support for the idea to be realized.* IO2- Storytelling Training kit on Entrepreneurship for Youth :This is a youth support video tool, to show that social entrepreneurship is possible in the context of COVID-19. It introduces Entrepreneurship (Social) training related to Entrepreneurship in her lifelong learning. It is divided into two parts.- The first part is a training curriculum for young people to conduct training and learning activities on the topic of youth entrepreneurship.- The second part is composed of the methods and practices from youth work and non-formal education, that youth people can use to develop and stimulate entrepreneurship on local, national or international level.The intellectual results of the projects round out the projects aim to motivate youth organizations to support youth entrepreneurship and further broaden this topic, develop the capacities of young workers, reflect on the necessary competencies of young workers, act as motivators of young people for entrepreneurship and to motivate their lifelong learning skills to improve in this area.Additionally, the SIE project will be also benefit from the involvement of stakeholders. These organisations will contribute indirectly to the implementation of specific tasks/activities and support the dissemination and sustainability of the project. This partnership ensures a relevant dissemination network with great potential to meet the project objectives.In order to ensure that SIE Project achieves its objectives, the following activities will be carried out:- 4Transnational Projetc Meetings to manage, develop and control de activities of the project.- 6Multiplier Events, one per country participating in SIE Project.- 1 Learning activity, “Short-term joint staff training event”, in Romania. This activity will be essential to ensure that the SIE products and results are adjusted to the current reality of Europe, and to the needs of young people when developing a social entrepreneurship project with a cultural background.The Dissemination Plan will be developed by Asociatia D.G.T., as Dissemination responsible; due its huge experience and network. The Dissemination Plan will be subject to compliance with the project objectives and specific dissemination objectives, reaching each detailed target audiences, taking into account their profile, needs and preferences. Its activities will ensure: - Dissemination of the project, its outputs, results and synergies. - Transparency in implementation. - Accessibility of people involved and non-participants. - Transfer and capitalization of expected results.Creative entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship are elements with an immense versatile application capacity in multiple environments. For this reason, sustainability characterizes the SIE dissemination since the first moment, assuming the following facts:1) Characteristics of the outputs, outcomes, and associated materials. It will be designed allowing its application by target people, but also as a present or future application tool in multiple contexts; offering a flexibility in its contents and structure that enables its use, application or processing in multiple environments.2) Dissemination and scope configuration. SIE project establishes an ambitious Dissemination Plan with collaboration of the important networks of stakeholders, associated partners and regular collaborators of the partners involved.3) SIE project will promote free access to all the materials produced, as a way of increasing its scope and sustainability.

<< Background >>Due to the ever-increasing importance of rapidly evolving digital technologies, the European community has a strong need to take a closer look at the digital transformation of work and how it affects opportunities and challenges for the inclusion of persons with disabilities.The inclusion of people with disabilities is reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, committing all UN Member States to leave no one behind. The 2030 Agenda recognises people with disabilities as a vulnerable group, and various sustainable development goals refer to them, such as Quality education, Decent work and economic growth, Reduced inequalities, Sustainable cities and communities, Partnerships for the goals. The COVID-19 pandemic is having severe and long-lasting consequences around the globe, which are further aggravated for marginalized groups, people with disabilities, especially parents and families of those representatives of the vulnerable group. As the result, during and after lockdowns in different countries, family members of people with disabilities have to stay at home. This leads to great job loss and problems within the economic sector. Moreover, it leads to depression and mental problems of family members and parents, who are struggling to find governmental support and are facing a lack of communication.Likewise, the pandemic has already significantly accelerated the digitalisation trend, including in the world of work.Taking into account mentioned above facts, the 'Need for Lead' projects was designed. It aims to address and present the solution to the two needs:1. To develop a Guide (Methodology) of mental adaptation of family members of those disadvantaged groups. (We will create a space for new knowledge and abilities for the social and community workers, volunteers, educators. This knowledge and skills will assist to transform the set of minds of family members of people with disabilities).2. Solution on online employment. This will be training on online professions that will give space, time, flexibility to every parent individual. An inclusive digital future of work is key to the achievement of this Sustainable Development, which is the main basis for the development of the 'Need for Lead' project. All stakeholders, including governments, companies, trade unions, employers’ organisations, centers of persons with disabilities, NGOs, have an important role to play in creating a digitally inclusive future of work that benefits all people. This project is considered as a bridge between people with disabilities and their families with the whole national, local, and even international community through digital technologies.Within this project, we aim to address the following needs of family members of people with disabilities: - obtain knowledge on online employability/entrepreneurship;- receive training and help to perform better;- mental adaptation of parents, family members, guardians;- improve inclusion in Europe; recognise the mentioned vulnerable groups and include them as an equal part of society;-decrease a gap between the whole society and people with disabilities, as well as their relatives;- learn how to be able to receive education digitally;- improve digital qualification for all spheres of lives by all our target groups;- raising awareness about the European funds and opportunities for life-long learning, as well as all types of mobilities.As one of the priorities for the Erasmus+ 2021-2027 is digitalisation, this project directly meets the goal and needs of the whole European community.We do believe that via improving the well-being of the family members of people with disabilities, we contribute to the general economical growth of the communities, to the mental health of a wide circle of people. If we will improve the level of life of the parents of family members of people with disabilities - they will have an opportunity to make the lives of their children happier.<< Objectives >>The initial priority of the 'Need for Lead' project is to enable front-line adult and partner education providers to take on the task of building a bridging platform, which can ensure the implementation of all the set goals of the learning process.We are experiencing a huge digital transformation of our societies in real-time. These changes lead to an ever-growing 'digital economy' as well as 'digital life' in general. Thus, they deeply impact the world of work as a whole. With opportunities also come challenges like the imperative to leave no one behind in the digitalisation process, including the more than one billion persons with disabilities across the globe.We plan to achieve a set of objectives within this project:- to improve the mental adaptation of family members of people with disabilities;- to convey the knowledge on working online and digital skills to the target group of this project;- to improve inclusion in Europe and decrease a gap between the whole society and people with disabilities, as well as their relatives; - to contribute to adult education, to make it more flexible, to improve digital education;- to improve digital qualification for all spheres of lives by all our target groups;- to raise awareness about the European funds (including the Erasmus+ programme) and opportunities for life-long learning, as well as all types of mobilities.All the mentioned above will be achieved through the implementation of the Project Results, which are the following: 1. Developed an Online Guide on mental adaptation and transformation of family members of people with disabilities. It will be created based on the researches in participated countries about the needs of the organisations, social workers, and public bodies, who collaborate with people with disabilities. A Guide will include the methodology of working with parents and family members of those people; innovative approaches of work; types of online instruments, sources of communication, and creative methods. It is expected that social and community workers will use this Guide as an instrument to communicate and collaborate with family members of people with disabilities.2. Training on online employment. It will be created with an e-learning approach, for family members and parents of people with disabilities. It is expected that his training will provide adult individuals with up-to-date knowledge and entrepreneurial skills of working online. 3. Created online accessible free-to-use platform where training is allocated.In addition, this project will help educators and social workers to boost their knowledge on inclusion and digital transformation through the LTTA activity. Last but not the least, this project will unite different European countries through qualitative dissemination. This way, they will joint their efforts on making our society more inclusive and open to all the representatives and diversity. As the final result, people with disabilities will participate in life equally, will receive a chance to develop professionally, which is also beneficial for the economy of every partner country and community.We do believe, the 'Need for Lead' project will contribute to the solution of many problems and will be beneficial for social inclusion, economic well-being, cultural and healthy states of every participating country.<< Implementation >>The 'Need for Lead' project will consist of a set of activities, which are formed in a logical sequence: - Research on digitalisation phenomena in the social sector of every partner country. This activity aimed to help the consortium to identify the exact needs of the target groups.- Creation of the Online Guide on mental adaptation and transformation of family members of people with disabilities. It will include the methodology of working with parents and family members; innovative approaches of work; types of online instruments, sources of communication, and creative methods.- Learning, Training, and Teaching Activity. Through this activity, a set of formal and non-formal instruments will be integrated into the learning process. It will provide up-skilling opportunities for educators, social and community workers.- Transnational meetings. These activities will provide opportunities for face-to-face exchange of information, as well as defining the next logical steps of actions. These will also allow to set a team-building flow, to implement and evaluate the various project outcomes, to give each partner an opportunity to illustrate their approaches, traditions, and cultural history related to the project objectives. Face-to-face partner meetings can be replaced by online meetings via Skype, Zoom and other platforms in the worst-case scenario. However, during the whole project life-cycle, partners will communicate online on a regular basis. - Collaboration and meetings with associated partners. All the partners will approach local organisations to be further involved in the project development, stakeholder groups, and training. The engagement of local, regional and national actors will be essential to the success of the project to reach the target group's end-users and to maintain a sustained suite of project materials. The role of associated partners in providing transversally these competencies in their training will enhance not only the training process but a sustainable impact on the adults, who directly linked to people with disabilities. As well they will be promoting cooperation between regional authorities. - Multiplier events. In every partner country, a multiplier event ‘Future Learn’ will be organised and dedicated to local actors in the fields of adult education, social and community work. Participants of these events will be introduced to the aims and outcomes of the project. - Involvement of the adult individuals in the online education. This will include the involvement of people with disabilities, their parents and family members in the e-learning format (via a created app). It will be beneficial from a couple of perspectives: will reach better inclusion of people who are not keen to the online education; will be accessible for a larger audience; will decrease the communication gap; will bring a method of innovation to the project; will engage direct beneficiaries to the learning process; will test digital tools in the working process.- Dissemination of the project's results. There are a number of dissemination activities that will be carried out by partners at local, national, and transnational levels to ensure proper dissemination of the 'Need for Lead' project and its outcomes. Partners will focus on directing innovative and appropriate dissemination approaches due to the new challenges and online behaviors of people in this digital era.<< Results >>The potential longer-term benefits are linked to the objective of improving inclusion in Europe and digitalising citizens. All the partners of this project are committed to contributing significantly to every objective the project has set. It has created a permanent network that will keep collaborating within this project but also in some other ones in the same line.Our project aims to reach the highest level of sustainability. Thus, the results and deliverables will be used even after the end of the funding. Mainly, an Online Guide and other Project Results will be available after the end of the duration of the project’s development and implementation.Developing this project in an international context, partners joined their efforts and desire to change the attitude of how societies in partner countries perceive problems linked to the equality and lack of knowledge within the digital tools; as well as partners, are willing to call for action among their beneficiaries to contribute to the inclusion.Expected results of the project are considered from various perspectives:- Management: settled effective and smooth cooperation among partners; establishment of new partner ties. - Resources: up-to-date Guide developed; a created online platform as the way to unite all the target groups; developed for use by adult learners an application training.- Communication: established effective methods of communication on the international level. - Language: improved level of English by all beneficiaries of the project.- Intercultural exchange: understanding other cultures, working approaches and diversity.- Action: researching on behalf of each partner will participate in concept development about the methodology and curriculum.- Inclusion: the main component of this project, which aims to raise equality of people with all abilities in their communities & Europe wide.We plan to achieve all the mentioned above through the implementation of the Project Results, which are the following: 1. To develop an Online Guide on mental adaptation and transformation of family members of people with disabilities.2. To create training on online employment (with an e-learning approach). 3. To create and operate an online accessible free-to-use platform where training is allocated.In addition, this project will help educators and social workers to boost their knowledge on inclusion and digital transformation through the LTTA activity. The last but not least, this project will unite different European countries through qualitative dissemination. This way, they will joint their efforts on making our society more inclusive and open to all the representatives and diversity. As the final result, people with disabilities will participate in life equally, will receive a chance to develop professionally, which is also beneficial for the economy of every partner country and co

<< Background >>Education, as a fundamental function of society, is obligated not only to inculcate values, provide knowledge, develop abilities and educate people; but also it is obligated to generate and maintain knowledge, designing and implementing novel learning-teaching modalities, creation of tools that satisfy the student requirements; but, the most important aspect, it must be capable of responding to the continuous social transformations of a world in permanent evolution.The European Commission’s lifelong-learning policy recognises adult learning as vital for its accomplishment as it contributes to improving social cohesion and economic competitiveness; it helps to counter age-based disaggregation and promotes active citizenship. This year, the annual Education and Training Monitor has placed its focus on teaching and learning in the digital age. Along with the changes brought by the pandemic-related crisis, it has become more obvious the inexorable dominance of digital technologies in everyday life, and the consequent fast-growing need for developing and enhancing people’s basic and digital skills. The Monitor emphasises the urgency of closing the gap between technological advancement and the corresponding development of people’s basic and specialised competencies; as strengthening Education’s contribution to building a green digital Europe, is one of the Commission main goals.Digitalisation and entrepreneurship are important drives behind the profound transformation of the labour market. The implementation of digitalisation into all areas of businesses and the introduction of innovative technologies, products and/or services are key subjects for the labour market. In order to keep up with this transformation, it is important that educational programmes are created to support adults in the process of developing or acquiring corresponding skills. The project aims to contribute to up-skilling pathways and high-quality learning opportunities for adults, by advancing entrepreneurial transversal competencies and planting seeds for new job creation. To achieve this goal, the partners will provide educational training for entrepreneurship focused on 3D-learning and gamification practices. This aim is twofold: on one hand, the project aims at equipping individuals with the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes needed for industry 4.0 and the future demands of the market. On the other hand, the initiative supports adults in the journey of taking responsibility for their own learning and career development: empowering them to be actively involved in socio-economic transformation and to be capable of creating new jobs and opportunities that the current market might be missing. In other words, it encourages entrepreneurial and enterprising behaviour to hence innovation. A developed entrepreneurial mind-set is, at the same time, a key driver to fight joblessness, isolation and related challenges in our communities (Biney, Isaac. (2018). Adult Learning and Small-Scale Business Promotion in the Communities: Prospects, Challenges and Strategies).Both aspects are highly needed, especially considering that adults are often not involved in structured educational programmes anymore. The technology and the demands of the market are rapidly changing, and demand for everyone to be able to keep up with this progress, nonetheless it can be very challenging for some groups that do not have direct access or the sources needed to accomplish so. In addition, non-formal education and 3D learning constitutes a great ally to adult learning, as the formal educational system limitations do not allow it to fully address different learner groups’ needs and do not have the capacity to actively engage them.<< Objectives >>The project centres its focus on adult education/training for empowering people with low skills, in response to related challenges: the lack of correspondence between education preparation and professional demands in terms of capabilities and competences; the passive role of adult learners, who solely rely on existing job offers in the labour market; exclusion and unequal access to educational and professional opportunities, among others.These challenges are common among the different European state members. There is a need for economic growth, decrease of unemployment (especially in the south) and up-to-date practices that promote the European Commission’s Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan goals. Despite the fact that unemployment rates differ from one partner country to another, building skills is essential for the future of any context. The OECD has published the report Skills Strategy Diagnostic Report Executive Summary, which elaborates in depth on the needs for skills development. Even though the report is focused on the Dutch frame, the needs are relevant to all countries, especially in relation to digitalization and economic growth, as both are taking place on a global scale and affect the union as a whole on many different levels.To properly address the complexity of the subject in the partner and programme countries, the partners aim to develop a basic training programme with a transversal axis focusing on employability and socio-economic growth.<< Implementation >>The core Learning, Teaching, Training Activities include 1. a 3D-Tech Workshop, a joint staff training embedded in the project development to achieve perfect collaborative and participative teamwork. Every partner will send 3 staff members to attend the training where they are going to present four different models that will be merged into one European model of work. This work model will be the base for the product results.2. a 3D-Tech Experiential Lab, a training that aims to implement different workshops, assignments, and activities for 3D entrepreneurship. It is designed for low skills adults and trainers who work with the target group. The training will also allow them to come together towards the end of the training, interact and test the material in real-life scenarios. On post-implementation level, national events will be organised in order to share the project results with stakeholders and anyone with an interest in 3D and entrepreneurship.<< Results >>For such an ambitious initiative focused on the implementation of fast-changing technologies, the partnership ensures the quality of project management and implementation:- Design an innovative curriculum and a methodology for entrepreneurial training. This theoretical background will structure the strategic direction of education for both learners and trainers.- Develop a 3D technology-based entrepreneurial training programme aimed at improving and extending the supply of high-quality learning opportunities for low-skilled adults.- Carry on a pilot training as a study case to assess the 3D-tech training programme developed along with the project and analyse the practices in depth- Create a digital platform containing specialised methodology and a 3D-tech toolbox for entrepreneurial training (best practices).The above will address the different needs of the target groups in partner countries: close existing gaps between education and employability and strengthen skills for both learners and trainers, while promoting inclusion through the implementation of digital technologies, which can help reach and benefit a larger audience.

"<< Background >>Our foundation, having 10 years of experience in working with marginalized and vulnerable target groups targeted the need for VET training provision to migrants, refugees, farmers and individuals who have ultimately been marginalized due to their living in remote areas. We have witnessed that it is vital for our target group to receive training based on their educational background also promoting the entrepreneurial spirit. The aforementioned completely agree with the EU priorities and objectives as well.The Commission and the Committee of the Regions have launched a new partnership to increase cooperation and support to EU cities, regions and rural areas for their work to help integrate new arrivals. The partnership is a follow-up to the action plan on integration and inclusion 2021-2027 that the Commission adopted last November. The initiative refers to the ""Integration of migrants: Commission and Committee of the Regions partnership for EU support to local action"" It constitutes a project inspiration based on which our concrete objectives have been built.“The Commission’s top priorities are safeguarding the health and well-being of our citizens and using all available tools to mitigate the socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak. The outbreak of COVID-19 has disrupted the normal operations of many EU industries and put some companies under severe financial pressure.” European Commission, The Corona Virus response, Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.The European Commission has also announced a new plan to help countries better integrate migrants. The plan is aimed at fostering migrants' sense of belonging and fighting an 'us and them' narrative. The project will offer novel training and educational material, with close consideration to the target group as far as linguistic and informal educational and training approaches are concerned.The novel coronavirus outbreak is a trying time for everyone, the more so for those on the margins of our societies, like migrants and refugees who are often the most vulnerable. (International Catholic Migration Commission, The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Time for Empathy and Solidarity).Facing an increasingly uncertain, complex and challenging world that faces numerous changes due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, there is an utter need for people to be equipped with digital skills. The project relies on adult education and the provision of VET opportunities to migrants, refugees, migrant and refugee centers, people that live in remote rural areas and enterprises, people at risk of societal exclusion due to occupational barriers and/or tribal background in correlation with the acquirement of contemporary training and vital information, skills and capacities on the COVID 19 pandemic so that entrepreneurial activities are maintained and profitable during this challenging time. The project focuses on the rural enterprises, also with emphasis on the green sector for those interested, as well as existing on potential new entrepreneurs on the field. The project idea focuses on providing adequate, appropriate and state of the art training to migrants, refugees, people marginalized in remote areas and all interested parties that wish to start up a nosiness or maintain and even grow their existing one by equipping them in various mandatory fields (digitalization, e-entrepreneurship, green businesses and more). Being able to enterprises safeguard entrepreneurial operational capacity and create new entrepreneurial opportunities and pathways constitute the project core objectives. As Commissioner Thierry Breton stated, “joining forces is the only way to beat coronavirus spread”. Thus, the project aims at being a powerful tool, also beneficial for RDP startups of young farmers, migrants and refugees providing knowledge and skills, establishing innovative national and European models based on an EQF framework.<< Objectives >>The main expected project achievements are:- promotion of the entrepreneurial spirit- empowerment of vulnerable individuals (migrants, farmers in remote areas etc. as described in the relevant section)- social activation- social inclusion - opportunity for profit and better living standards- Societal protection-Training and education provision with contemporary means on innovative approaches during the pandemic and post pandemic.-creation of entrepreneurial opportunities in the rural sector for all during the pandemic-maintenance of entrepreneurial operational capacity and profitability in the rural sectorThe project long term expected achievements are:-elimination of vulnerable end users marginalization due to the outreach and potential stereotypes with their incorporation as active members of the society in such a challenging time-relationship building and trust on mentors and mentees-end users being trained to impact local, regional national, EU and transnational societies.-use of the project results on future projectsThe intermediary project expected achievements include:- the adequate and frequent partner collaboration and communication towards the project synthesis and implementation.-the commitment of all consortium members to the proper project management and regular activities monitoring-the targeting of the end users and their encouragement to engage and benefit- the intense dissemination and exploitation actions-the project sustainabilityMigration is vital as far as keeping our economies and societies active and fully working. The project target group faces numerous challenges in their efforts towards integration as well as social and economic activation. Their need for specialized training in considered vital. In addition, the project aims at creating a solid pillar that will create sustainable growth and employability in the VET sector (both for individuals with migrant background but not only).<< Implementation >>During the project lifetime, the consortium aims at raising awareness on the target groups, as they have been defined, in order for them to be fully informed of how the project can actually benefit them in the short and long term. Migrants, refugees, marginalized individuals in remote rural areas, enterprises set up by migrants and not only as well as individuals who wish to run a business and/or entrepreneurs who are at stake of bankruptcy can be supported by the project outcomes and the highly experienced consortium members synthesis of results.With the project finalization, end users will be able to exploit the project revolutionary training material via e-learning, with personalized features that apply individually with the end users’ preferences and availability. The training material will be synthesized with consideration of the end users’ educational background too. Conclusively, the produced material will lead up to: •creation of entrepreneurial opportunities for marginalized individuals during and after the pandemic•creation of entrepreneurial opportunities in the rural sector for all during and after the pandemic•creation of entrepreneurial opportunities for individuals in the green/ecological sector•maintenance of entrepreneurial operational capacity and profitability •elimination of societal exclusion•Training and education provision with contemporary means on innovative approaches during the pandemic and post pandemic.•Encouragement of migrant enterprises during and post- pandemic and job creation with the outbreak standards.•Training and instructive approaches incorporating the new outbreak standards towards the entrepreneurial spirit•Societal protection•Stigma and stereotypes breakdown through education and training provision•Entrepreneurial digitalization •Familiarization with the mentor-mentee process•novel profitability opportunities for all through entrepreneurship<< Results >>The project envisions the synthesis and delivery of four innovative intellectual outputs:IO1 SMART BUSINESS: NATIONAL CASE STUDIES ON MIGRANT NEEDSIO1 aims to outline the emerging needs and state of the art with emphasis on the project target group at national level. Extensive and up-to-date research will take place for this sole aim examining and mapping the migrant and refugee needs at various levels (also incorporating rural, remote, local and regional areas). The outputs also incorporates the EQF system to create a solid basis for the IO2 with dedication and special emphasis to green entrepreneurship too. All IOs are directly correlated with each other.O2 Certified Training Programme: e-learningThe second Intellectual Outputs targets the unique needs of migrants and refugees who wish to start up their own business or potentially run one that needs enhancement. The IO2 core is an e- learning training programme that will be personalized to the end user needs, learning background and gaps. The output will be an interactive online tool that will assess the end users’ competencies and skills and will smartly navigate them towards their enhancement or towards their educational elevation based on tailored needs that will derive from qualitative users’ results. The training programme will be personalized in many more levels such as the devotion time the learner is able to offer, taking into consideration other obligations the target group may have (e.g. already running a business, working, attending special schools etc.). It is foreseen that these facto will act encouragingly towards the training programme attention and completion. The output also envisages part of its training programme to be dedicated to green entrepreneurship and farming.IO3 The Career Kit STARTUPMIGRANTSThe Career Kit addresses migrants and refugees who wish to start up a business and seek for •counseling, •empowerment•guidance and practical assistance, also in the form of mentoring provided.IO4 The Resource CenterThe project Recourse Center (RC) will be a virtual online platform with highly interactive features that will not only include all the project outcomes and outputs but also allow the end users to interact online. The RC will be build with sole aim to be user friendly and easily navigated taking into consideration the target group features. A unique feature of the Resource Center will be its ability to host migrant and refugee entrepreneurial profiles online in specific forms too.Other project outcomes include:-The project Management Pan-The project Quality Assurance Plan -The project Dissemination Strategy Plan-The project Sustainability PlanThe latter constitute internal project documents that will be made available to the NA."