CONTEXT‘Considerably lower employment rates are observed for women than men’ .. ‘Particular attention needs to be given to women [and] older workers.’ (Eurostat, December 2014). Older women are disadvantaged in the labour market for complex reasons that include age and gender discrimination, low skills/qualifications, caring roles etc. BREW aims to improve older women’s economic inclusion through its training Toolkit that combines training in entrepreneurship and digital skills with resilience and confidence building supported by a guide on engaging this target group. OBJECTIVES* Creation of the BREW Toolkit, comprising: - Training in enterprise and digital skills that embed resilience and confidence building (IO1)- BREW's Outreach, Engagement and Planning Guide (IO2 and incorporating element of IO3)* The pilot of the toolkit with 178 older women and 16 practitioners for an average of 25 hours per learner (IO1/IO2)* Creation of the project platform for the Toolkit * Delivery of a training workshop for to enable partners’ staff to carry out the BREW programme.* Wide dissemination via the project’s website, social media, multiplier and other events: reaching an audience of 12,000+. * Securing BREW’s sustainability through: 1) a follow-on project, ‘ADVANTAGE’ inspired by BREW which includes the BREW toolkit as part of the resources available through its peer mentoring community platform for older women; 2) further related programmes aimed at this target group. PARTICIPANTSOlder women who experience many barriers to economic inclusion, e.g.:* Discrimination (gender/age)* Caring responsibilities* Lack of visibility to policy makers* Lack of confidence and ambivalent relation to ambition, money and risk,* Low skills and lack of up-to-date training and qualifications* Less willing to take risks because of financial commitments* Lack of relevant information/ advice and participation in business networks* Social and economic isolation DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES AND METHODOLOGYBased on the research carried out for the application, we knew that that women in this age group are often neglected in terms of training tailored specifically to their needs. We had already identified enterprise skills, social media and self-confidence and resilience as key areas for the project’s ‘toolkit’ as well as information and advice on engaging this often hard-to-reach target group. We carried out further needs analyses in each country to refine those topics most needed in these main areas of the toolkit. Each partner then took responsibility for creating a specific aspect of the kit: ALPE for social media and marketing, SEC for enterprise and WCLL for confidence building and resilience. ABN took on the development of the project’s Guide to Engagement including advice on setting up similar programmes. The first year of the project was spent in researching and developing the Toolkit and training programme, culminating in a joint staff training workshop in October 2019 for 10 trainers. The final year was spent in piloting and refining the toolkit. The Covid 19 pandemic meant that ABN and WCLL were unable to complete all of their planned pilot workshops within the original timeframe of the project and a 6-month extension was approved to enable them to do so. The budget for the proposed project platform (IO3) was not approved by the UKNA. It therefore consists of a Google Site linked to the basic project website and is not as versatile as originally foreseen. However, the tools and resources are freely and readily accessible to all and are having a real and lasting impact on many of our participant’s lives. The project has been particularly important to many of them throughout the pandemic which affected the second half of the project as one of its key pillars – building resilience – has been an essential part of everyone’s lives throughout the past very challenging 15+ months.KEY RESULTS AND IMPACTS* The BREW toolkit - a model of training and development that is economic, sustainable and transferable to other sectors and disadvantaged groups. * Partners’ deepened understanding of the importance of embedding resilience generally in teaching and learning.* 100% of participants felt their resilience and confidence had been improved and a range of progression outcomes into enterprise and training also achieved.* Development of educators’ professional competences and understanding of this group* Wider understanding of the application of engagement strategies for this target group. * The potential to extend the length of some participants’ working lives * Potential improvement wellbeing of participants * Enrichment of aspects their personal lives * contribution to partners’ local and regional objectives of widening the participation of disadvantaged groups in education and the labour market: * potential savings in pension/unemployment benefits by providing more opportunities for older people to work.