‘’Media Literacy Explorers’’ aims to help youth workers to achieve social, democratic and intercultural skills by fostering critical thinking and media competences as the part of ‘’21st Century Literacy’’, preparing the European youth to become active citizens, ready to proceed their life with the critical and analytical skills, needed to navigate in the digital world.Our main mission is to advance the understanding of the so-called 21st-century literacy, specifically media and information literacy that are considered as not just being the most important tools for social empowerment and inclusion but are also perceived as key skills for young entrepreneurs. By gaining information literacy, the learners will be enabled to understand and contribute to the global discourses on our societies. Moreover, by gaining media literacy, the involved youth groups will gain specific knowledge on how to share their own stories and ideas and make their voices heard.The MLE project contributes to the basic skills that are necessary for the youth of the 21st century to become conscious citizens: critical thinking, intercultural skills, active involvement in social issues-this will happen during the blended mobility of young people where learners and youth workers will learn from each other and share good practices together. This open education form mirrors the modern work life in the digital area, which consists of co-working, critical design thinking, and sharing.The good practices and methodology shared within the MLE projects will promote empowerment. The to training curriculum will help young people not just to understand and analyse media, but will provide them with methods to make their voices heard, co-create their stories and participate in the broader European discourse and help to shape the future of the European Youth Strategy after 2020.

"<< Background >>At the time when the coronavirus is a threat to health and life and wreaks havoc in the economy, the role of social entrepreneurship that does not limit itself to running a business only for profit, but solves real social problems should not be overlooked. Social entrepreneurs are organizations that solve social problems using business techniques that support values ​​such as empathy, social solidarity, entrepreneurship, zero waste, decent work, and respect for other people.Currently, European youth faces the great challenge of employability, which has become even more acute because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In July 2020, 2.906 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.338 million were in the euro area. In July 2020, the youth unemployment rate was 17.0 % in the EU and 17.3 % in the euro area, up from 16.9 % and 17.2 % respectively in the previous month. (Eurostat, 05.09:20). The countries with the highest youth unemployment rate are Spain (42%), Romania (15,04%), while in Cyprus youth unemployment equals 9,4% and in Poland 9,5%. (TRADING ECONOMICS, 05.09:20).Socioeconomic reality makes access to the youth labor market complex and hinders their quality of life and their families, reducing their well-being, and conditioning their personal and social development. One of the objectives set by the European Union in its 2020 strategy is to generate higher and better levels of EMPLOYMENT, PRODUCTIVITY, AND SOCIAL COHESION. Seeks to ensure employment for 75% of people between 24 and 64 years.<< Objectives >>Specific objectivesTrain entities and young people from a work methodology that fosters the mentality and entrepreneurial skills of European youth with a social focus.Promote the design of creative initiatives and projects led by young people that promote employment and self-employment, generating added value and benefit in their social environment from the acquisition of new skills and abilities for their employability.Strengthen cooperation between social, public, and business entities for the exchange and implementation of innovative practices that foster young social entrepreneurship<< Implementation >>The project will be divided into phases and each of them will finish with a prepared result.1. FIRST PHASEIn the first phase, the project partners will prepare the Book of Good Practices ''Just startup!'' in the form of a PDF to be published in the website and social media of the partners. It will contain useful information about starting one's own capital-intensive business the best practices from 4 partner countries. It will bring closer the topic of starting one's own capital-intensive business. It will be able to be used by the youth workers without additional explanation or costs. It will be prepared in English and then translated to the national languages of partners. The Bulgarian organization will be the leader of this project result due to their experience. 2. SECOND PHASEIn the second phase, the project partners will prepare the Training Modules ""Start-up? Chase your vision!"" that will be used by partner organizations to train youth workers and other interested persons during the project and after its completion. The Polish organization will be the leader of this project result due to their experience. 3. THIRD PHASEIn the third phase, the project partners will organize the short-term Training ""Start-up? Chase your vision!"" aiming to provide youth workers with the knowledge and information and equip them with entrepreneurial skills, including the concept of start-ups. Additionally, it is planned to ensure a holistic approach about the personal development of young people and facilitate successful integration into the labor market. The Latvian organization will be the leader of this project result due to their experience. Each organization will send a training team of 6 people (1 leader + 5 participants). The team will consist of youth workers aged between 20 and 35 years old from partner organizations, such as employees and volunteers who have engaged themselves in the activities of the partners. The main assessment criteria for the selection of participants will be their involvement in organizational activities and their motivation to support learning processes and the capacity building of grass rot organizations. Two facilitators from the Polish organization who have experienced running their own start-ups in modern technology industries (mainly IT, MES, consulting) will conduct the training. Moreover, on the last day of the training event, there will be an organized small conference in which one expert in the field of youth unemployment will also take part. The expert will share his knowledge and good practices on how to foster youth entrepreneurship.<< Results >>The project partners will create two project results and organize two events to ensure the highest quality and value of the project implementation. The project partners will work together to obtain the best possible outputs and outcomes. However, to ensure working flow and project correctness, the project tasks were split among partner organizations based on their expertise in the topic.The project results will be as follows:1. E-book ""Laboratory of Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation"" in the form of a PDF will be published in the website and social media of the partners. It will contain useful information about starting one's own capital-intensive business the best practices from 4 partner countries. It will bring closer the topic of social enterprenership and show good practices connected with the promotion of employment of young people 18-30 and promoting social entrepreneurship in this target group. It will be able to be used by the youth workers without additional explanation or costs. It will be prepared in English and then translated to the national languages of partners.2. The Campaign ''Be a Changemaker'' is going to be a powerful inspiration, especially during the Covid-19 epidemic for young people (18-30 years school graduates, students, unemployed youth) who want to enter the path of social entrepreneurship and take up responsible consumer decisions. We want to make young people aware of the importance of where we buy and what products we choose. Thanks to this, we can have an impact on many important aspects of social life, e.g. employing people with fewer opportunities, people with disabilities, people with financial or health problems. The 4 videos will be recorded collaboratively by social entrepreneurs from partner countries and participants of blended mobility of young people, they will include the following issues:1. What are social enterprises? How to set up them?2. Social enterprises- change the world ( main assumptions in a social enterprise people who set up and run them are important, what is more, it is crucial to act responsibly and change the world for the better)The campaign will be montaged and published after the blended mobility on the project's website.The project events will be as follows:1. The short-term Training ""LABORATORY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SOCIAL INNOVATION"" aiming to provide youth workers with the knowledge and information and equip them with Develop skills for the development of content or social initiatives through the use of a specific LEARNING CREATIVE METHODOLOGY, based on the DESIGN THINKING,- Encourage the imagination and favor divergent thinking, favor the group climate, as well as teamwork and positive thinking and Increase proactivity. Additionally, it is planned to ensure a holistic approach about the personal development of young people and facilitate successful integration into the labour market."

Context of the project: The project ''First Steps Into Business Success'' puts the great emphasis on enhancing youth employment and entrepreneurial skills by presenting youth at the age form 18 to 30 years old who are school graduates, university students or are in the group of unemployed youth the possibilities to set up their own companies in the field of eco-innovations, including also the idea of Fair Trade. We would like to make young people aware of the fact that eco-innovations are not only the distinctive form of innovations, that bring benefits to the environment by prevention or reduction of negative influnce of production activity on environment but also will enable them to create opportunities for setting up enterprises which have lower costs connected with running business that as a result will bring competitive advantage over other enterprises.The major objective of the project ''First Steps Into Business Success'' will be to equip young people in entrepreneurial skills- the knowledge connected with setting up their own companies, eco-innovations in business and the idea of Fair Trade throught the undertaking by them e-learning course and attending the training in the field of eco-innovations in business lead by professional trainers during the blended mobility of young people.The specific objectives of the project are:-presenting youth the benefits of self-employment-activation of young people on labour market-sharing good practices in the field of innovation in business. Partner countries are characterized by different level of innovation in the European economy : Estonia is a country that is quite close to the position of leaders of innovation, partner form Spain is in the section called moderate innovators, however, hesitant results in this field has Poland and Bulgaria (Horizont 2020).-to establish an innovative way of learning by using ICTs methodologies and virtual collaboration;-to use online tools throughout the project period to share results, offer online training and develop the partners ICT competencies.-to compose a set of learning materials as open educational resources (OER);-to strengthen formal and non-formal learning for young people across European countries-to share the experience of European youth mobility projects and innovative educational practices related with setting up innovative youth eco enterprises-to develop not only knowledge and skills, but also to help youth to become more active, responsible, committed and open-minded members of society-to reinforce a more inclusive society through the education of our youth, the future of Europe;Together with project partners we see the necessity to conduct this project transnationally. It is motivated by our intention of developing a common European framework inside the project in order to boost the entrepreneurship for youth spreading its results in all partner’s countries through the organisations that belong to their networks, encouraging them to follow this approach as a useful tool to foster employability and empowerment of youth and the entrepreneurial skills especially in the field of setting up innovative eco enterprises. We also promote the exchange of knowledge and best practices among countries, the interculturalism, the encouragement of a European sense of belonging and the respect for the principles of the EU Treaties.

"<< Background >>Nowadays, the world is rushing forward without paying attention to aspects related to the future of societies and the environment. In a way, an international movement of various institutions called Fair Trade responds to this problem. We would like to carry out this project in order to:1. Encourage young people to set up their own enterprises that will meet the needs of today's world.2. To increase the awareness of the society about the aspects related to sustainable development, ethical approach to business, conscious, responsible, and sustainable consumption, and the need for changes that the world needs nowadays. 3. to solve the problem of unemployment among young people.4. Increase of satisfaction of young people from the activities.5. Providing young people with knowledge and experience, which they can't get on the labor market by themselves - somehow directing and facilitating their career start.6. Communicate to local communities about fair trade, in which one person does not live at the expense of another, and that consumers pay specific prices that ensure producers are fairly compensated for their labor and an acceptable income for the trade organization;Above all, however, it is important to raise public awareness that people are more important than business.<< Objectives >>We would like to make the communities as aware as possible about the Fair Trade principles of (general objectives): - Respecting and caring for people and the environment, putting people's needs before profit;- Creating means and opportunities for producers to improve their living and working conditions;- Developing mutually beneficial relationships between sellers and buyers;- Paying buyers a price that ensures producers are fairly compensated for their work and an acceptable income for the trade organization;- Increase awareness of the situation of women and men as producers and traders;- Promotion of equal opportunities for women;Specific objectives:- to improve employability, to promote social inclusion, tolerance, respect for diversity, and non-discrimination.- to tackle youth unemployment- to raise awareness of youth in partner countries about the idea of Fair Trade- to promote the idea of entrepreneurial spirit- to generate an innovative way of learning with the application of ICTs methodologies and virtual collaboration- to use online tools throughout the project period in order to share results, offer online training, and develop the partners ICT competencies- to create a set of learning materials as Open Educational Resources (OER);- to foster formal and non-formal learning for young people across Europe- to promote the concept of peer learning between youth workers based on active participation, creativity, and intercultural learning.<< Implementation >>To achieve the planned goals, we believe that the following activities are necessary:1. International meetings:- Kick-off meeting - to develop a project implementation plan, discuss potential risks that may arise in the implementation, discuss project assumptions, time frame, tasks to be performed, and dissemination. All this to properly plan the activities foreseen in the application. - Intermediate meeting - after a few months of joint cooperation, it is necessary to verify the work already done, ""correct the course"" of the project, discuss the next steps, the budget used, and take further materials to create a report. What is more, the dissemination activities so far and plans for the next months will be discussed.- Final meeting - summary of the whole project, where we will verify the assumptions vs. effects, as well as the plan for dissemination after the project implementation.2. Local conferences - to communicate the project ideas and activities within a wider audience consisting of people from varying professional, educational, and cultural backgrounds and from all walks of life. The conference will draw upon ''Fair Trade Our Fair Future'' ideas, best practices, and outcomes but it will be broad in scope; it will be rooted in application-oriented interactive activities with labor market reinsertion and inclusive education methodologies and training practices for youth in the field of entrepreneurship with great emphasis put on the concept of Fair Trade. A very important aspect of the conference will be the presentation of the e-learning course and digital handbook, that corresponds to the needs of young people from partner countries in the terms of Fair Trade.3. Short-term joint staff training events - during the short-term joint staff training event, youth workers are obliged to take an e-learning course (each participant will sign the agreement). At the end of the training event, each youth worker will receive a Youthpass certificate. New trained partners’ youth workers will transfer and implement all the knowledge acquired during the project concerning entrepreneurial ideas, mainly how to set up a company and put great emphasis on the concept of Fair Trade.4. Implement ""Fair Trade Our Fair Future - e-learning platform: - through Internet tools we would like to reach a wide audience, and technology nowadays makes it easier for us. The online learning platform should be simple and intuitive so that also people with lower digital competence can easily acquire the knowledge we provide.5. Create ""Open/online/digital education - E-learning course/modules"" - for the above platform to be fully equipped, it needs relevant content prepared by experts (in our case, these are Youth Workers). The modules have to be complete enough so that after passing the course, the user is fully equipped with the knowledge of the broadly understood concept of Fair Trade and elements related to entrepreneurship and sustainable development.6. Create ""Fair Entrepreneur"" - digital handbook - in order to provide knowledge about the project in a structured way, we would like to create a digital handbook, which will contain all relevant information related to sustainable development, responsible consumption, entrepreneurship, and other aspects referred to in the Fair Trade principles. The Handbook is to be created by theoreticians and practitioners who consider such a mix of knowledge as the best way for people who are just starting their careers or want to change their approach to business.<< Results >>As the project is implemented jointly with Polish and Bulgarian partners - our common goal, which was defined during intensive discussions during the preparation of this application, is primarily:1. Encouraging young people to set up their own enterprises that will meet the needs of the current world.2. to increase the awareness of the society about the aspects related to sustainable development, ethical approach to business, and the need for changes that the world needs nowadays. 3. to solve the problem of unemployment among young people.4. Increase of satisfaction of young people from the activities.5. Providing young people with knowledge and experience, which they can't get on the labor market by themselves - somehow directing and facilitating their career start. Supporting the realization of these goals are the Project's Results that we would like to produce during this undertaking:1. Fair Trade Our Fair Future - e-learning platform - through Internet tools we would like to reach a wide audience, and technology nowadays makes it easier for us. The online learning platform should be simple and intuitive so that also people with lower digital competence can easily acquire the knowledge we provide.2. open/online/digital education - E-learning course/modules - for the above platform to be fully equipped, it needs relevant content prepared by experts (in our case, these are Youth Workers). The modules have to be complete enough so that after passing the course, the user is fully equipped with the knowledge of the broadly understood concept of Fair Trade and elements related to entrepreneurship and sustainable development. 3. Fair Entrepreneur - digital handbook - in order to provide knowledge about the project in a structured way, we would like to create a digital handbook, which will contain all relevant information related to sustainable development, responsible consumption, entrepreneurship, and other aspects referred to in the Fair Trade principles. The Handbook is to be created by theoreticians and practitioners who consider such a mix of knowledge as the best way for people who are just starting their careers or want to change their approach to business."

Digital push for creative transformation (DPCT) project aims to create a sustainable and efficient education program dedicated to young people with low digital skills working in the cultural and creative sectors (CCS). DPCT is concerned over the future sustainability of the CCS given the uncertainty generated of COVID-19 and its potential impact on CCS workers and professionals, which for the majority are young people with low digital skills. Indeed, across the EU-27, 1.3 million young people (aged 15 to 29 years) were working in the field of culture in 2019 (Eurostat, May 2020). They represented 17.1 % of cultural employment, a proportion slightly lower than the average share of all young people working in the whole economy (17.5 %) and mostly of these young people are usually self-employed (one third (32%) of the cultural workforce is self-employed, Eurostat 2020). Following, DPCT will provide innovative online course on Digital Skills and Social Inclusion for young people working in CCS, being aware that the demand for digital skills will increase. DPCT will provide young people with high level digital skills which are required to enable them to develop their capacity to operate across a range of platforms and take advantage of new and emerging markets that without digital skills cannot be approached. From the other side, without these skills and with low level of qualification they will be at higher risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. So, DPCT will help them acquire a wider set of digital skills, knowledge and competences, relevant for the labour market and active participation in society.The following methodology will be applied: Plan, Do, Check, Act. This aims to constantly monitor the project advancement and to ensure permanent quality improvement. The project has been designed over 24 months to happen in 3 major consecutive phases.DPCT will make available to young people working in CCS innovative Open Educational Resources (OERs), the MOOC, meaning that young people will count on a much wider range of learning materials at their disposal. So, DPCT will be a project that will answer to the need of young people to constantly innovate and adapt their curriculum and competences to the challenges of our time.DPCT will see the realization of four outputs, five multiplier events, four transnational meetings, one blended mobility and many dissemination activities.Impacts on young people:-Develop new skills and knowledge in key concepts of digital skills applied to CCS, which is an important issue for youth working in CCS with low digital skills, mostly freelance and independent workers, which often for their precarious position lack the resources for upgrading their education and knowledge. Young people will be able to improve their career opportunities and adding new forms of digital expression to their work.-Be introduced to online digital education for CCS, the MOOC.-Become accustomed to the ongoing need to update their digital skills. Young people will get aware that the continuous technological change suggests that the need for continuous personal development may be greater in the CCS than in parts of the economy which are less directly exposed to technology.-Improve contacts with youth organizations and public bodies offering services to young people that can help them to acquire skills in CCS within their own environment.-Be able to develop a digital strategy and management plan for their professional activity.-Share their knowledge and skills with their peers through positive action.