<< Objectives >>With the project implementation, we want to strengthen micro-entrepreneurs in particular through a tailor-made and efficient online training format in the area of innovation and digitalisation of business models. Micro-entrepreneurs with up to 10 employees are part of the SME group, but often have different needs than SMEs with more than 10 employees. This is to be particularly taken into account in this continuing education concept.<< Implementation >>For a successful project implementation, we have planned three activities that build on each other. The development of an innovation process for micro enterprises, an implementation of these findings in an online format and a user test for quality assurance and success measurement. These implementation activities are accompanied by active project management and exchange meetings of the partners.<< Results >>We expect to provide our target group with a customised and efficient continuing education format in digital form. This should strengthen the micro-entrepreneurs to initiate and implement an innovation and digitalisation process in their companies, to find easier access to digital business models.

"<< Background >>""Let me go, my dear mother, to probe my fortune"" - storytelling and folk/fairy tales had been guiding people's lives for generations in the past. And actually, they have a lot to say about how to start an adult life, how to navigate in-between separation from parents, study and work for young people. Working with folk tales is a good coaching method to work with all the different issues around the life start of young people. Life start is always difficult, but it’s never been as difficult as now, when the future is completely uncertain because of climate change, world migration and economic crises. Sustainability has several meanings, not only ecological, but economic and social issues and goals (SDG-s) also consider part of it, and young adults have to navigate among all those different issues, like between Skylla and Charybdis. That means they have to be prepared for changes, challenges, - which are actually entrepreneurial skills - as well as “traditional” life start skills as carrier choice, separation, setting up an independent life, and setting and sticking to goals.<< Objectives >>The main aim of the project is to improve the preparedness of young people for carrier and life choices by developing their self-reflection, their resilience as well as having them actively make decisions and steps forward their future. As additional aims, we would like to increase the acceptance of cultural diversities and also positive attitude towards sustainability.<< Implementation >>In this project we will use the Folk Tale Work method to develop sets of self-help and coaching / training tools for young people and their helpers, advisers and coaches to think through their choices, their motivation, and design their life steps. Folk stories teach them a lot of things of trial and error, of not giving up even when it's hard, or not that exciting (as the hard bread talks to Jankó in one of the Hungarian tales: because you have to know, it's not luck and fortune, which is waiting for you in life, but hard work, in which you have to be persistent, until your last breath and lost drop of blood ). Folk tales are also a way of narrative therapy. Stories we live by influences the way we live, and the way we thing, as ecolinguist Aaron Stibbe discusses (http://storiesweliveby.org.uk/ ) As in folk tales nature is presented in a revered and active way, as an important support factors, these stories change attitude towards nature, and using folk tales from different backgrounds also provides a good opportunity for increasing cultural awareness.In order to reach our aim, we do the next steps:- to set up a group of developer experts as well as a Youth Board, to engage them throroughly during transnational live and virtual meetings, - to develop the three project results discussed- to run training events for young people (C1) and youth workers' trainers (C2) as piloting and also engagement and training occasion- to run a set of multipliers to engage the larger stakeholder community as well as workshops on our results for young people and youth workers.<< Results >>We are going to develop three main results:1.a Framework and Screening Tool on Carrier Preparedness for councellors2.six (6) Folk Tale Boxes, containing tools for self-help and councellor work, such as the analysis of the tale, cards on the scenes of the tales and assessment questions for self-help and coaching, instructions for coaching on the specific tales, and also group work schedule and tools to work with the tale in youth groups. The six tales used will come from the 4 partner countries, at least one from other cultural region, and at least one with a very strong nature representation.3.a training curriculum for youth workers including modules for direct delivery for young people.Other outcomes at organizational levels:- Dedicated, trained young people (our Youth Board)- motivated and engaged staff- strenthened partnershipOther outcomes at transnational level:- change in the way we talk and think about nature as well as of other cultures- more connection to our ancestors' knoweldge and use it in changing our own future.... So we can all become queens and kings of our own lives, and live happily ever after...."

Young people (in their adolescence and their tween-age, aged 13-20) are in the process of identity formation, and this is the time when their self-esteem, self-efficacy is also built. This process is connected to their feeling of agency – their feeling of control over their lives (Zimmerman and Cleary, 2006). Being an agent in your life have a clear connection of seeing why to finish school and be able to work. Rates of early school leaving (12,1% EU average, with a peak of 12,5% in Hungary, 14% in Italy) and increasing, as well as a 14% in Italy from partner countries), as well as of youth unemployment (14,9% in the EU).Schools, and especially teachers have a very important role in both tackling these challenges of social background as well as tackling the everyday phenomenon of bullying within school. However this is a field, where teachers feel on unsafe grounds, as original teachers training is less focused on this area.What teachers face that usually there are no available psychological / mental health help for young people, even less at the countryside, and they have to deal with these issues themselves if they want or not. They themselves feel helpless several time, and need support.This project aims exactly at that: assisting teachers working with these problem-facing young people, to gain methods, which can be used in the difficult peer-to-peer situations, including peer-mentoring. During our project, after analysing what can be well implemented locally, we would like to develop a reference frame / national adaptation plans for schools, a toolkit for teachers, a teacher training curriculum, and run pilots, and finally develop an Empowerment Platform for gaining access to materials, case studies and online help.

<< Background >>According to The Updated OECD Youth Action Plan successful engagement of young people in the labour market and society is crucial not only for their own personal well-being and economic prospects but also for overall economic growth and social cohesion. Factors other than age affect their needs and vulnerability, including the country and region in which they live, as well as their age and gender; educational attainment; geographical location; family status and income; disability/medical condition; unemployment history; and access to transport conditions. However, in all countries, disadvantaged young people face an increased risk of high and persistent unemployment, poor quality jobs when they do find work, and a high risk of social exclusion. Specific attention to these groups is needed to ensure they receive the support they need to thrive in life. At the global level, the labour force participation rates of youth (ages 15-24) tend to decline. The “Global Employment Trends for Youth” report released by the ILO in March 2020 showed that while the youth population increased from 1 billion to 1.3 billion in 1999-2019, the size of youth in active labour markets receded to 497 million from 568 million.Especially, the global economic crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic has created even greater challenges for youth. Young people are facing the risk of early school leaving or the risk of being out of the education, and many of them find that the only work open to them involves poor working conditions and low wages. They suffer disproportionately from growing inequalities and decreasing labour force. The most common variables leading the risk of being youth with disadvantaged background: age and gender; educational attainment; geographical location; family status and income; disability/medical condition; unemployment history; and access to transport. Turkey’s late 2018 economic recession not only ended a period of increasing employment levels but also slashed more than 700,000 jobs. These losses affected young people (15-24) in terms of a tougher labour market and can be measured by increases in their NEET rate (21.9 to 23.5 per cent, 2018-2019) and unemployment rate (20.3 to 25.4 per cent, 2018-2019. Just when the economy had started growing again the COVID-19 pandemic arrived to Turkey bringing the NEET rate further up to 27.1 per cent as of November 2020. The “Youth and COVID-19: Access to Decent Jobs Amid the Pandemic” report conducted in Turkey (available below) notes that 77% of the young respondents from Turkey and 61% of young refugee respondents report that COVID-19 has adversely affected their job search. The youth further report that available jobs have diminished, and negative responses to their job applications have increased.Moreover, since 2010, youth participation in the labour market has been one of the main concerned issues in the EU policy agenda.1 Youth unemployment is more affected by the fluctuations in economic activity than adult unemployment thus it has gained a great importance as the labour market force in both the developed and the developing countries since the global recession leading to a significant increase in youth unemployment rates. In Turkey, youth labour market is characterized by high levels of unemployment and inactivity. The Effective Job Orientation Support By Visualizing Potentials project intends to provide young people having disadvantaged background with opportunities to improve their key competences through non-formal learning methodologies, in order to boost their employability and participation in society as strongly emphasised by the 2020 Council Recommendation framed by the European Commission. The project consortium consists of the partners having experience working on the fields of training and counselling, that enable us to implement a holistic, resilient, and well-organized methodology with all young people regardless of their educational and vocational background easil<< Objectives >>The main objective of the project is to enable young people having disadvantaged background to increase their vocational and professional skills through the methodology of career counselling based on symbol scenarios called planning road map and life road map or other scenarios. Project activities aim to all young people with disadvantaged background, especially those young people who are from rural areas or face geographical obstacles and are looking opportunities for building a roadmap for their career and education paths. Moreover, young people will receive support that are relevant not only to the labour market, but also for increasing social inclusion and active citizenship, and decreasing discrimination and obstacles they face in their life. Moreover, trainers, career counsellors and educators will be able to develop innovative approaches and pathways for young refugee and migrants to facilitate their access into the labour market and to get practice the methodology based on symbol scenarios to adopt them to use their daily practices. •To enable youth workers trainers, career counsellors and other actors working vocational orientation to discover what a competence-based approach is and its applicability in the context of youth work.•To introduce the ETS competence model for youth workers working internationally and to link it to their personal youth work practice.•To explore competence self-assessment tools.•To facilitate disadvantaged young people to discover ways and tools for professional development.As long-term project objective, decision makers will be informed about importance of dissemination of the project methodology at national levels, and they will be encouraged to take concrete steps and bring solutions on inclusion of young people having problems with health and well being, barriers to studying or working; difficulties managing money; the absence of a safe and comfortable place to live; and difficulties feeling involved and respected in society<< Implementation >>PR1 “ELO 4 Youth” Blended Learning Approach and AccreditationThis Intellectual Output is based on creating a profile of Competencies for the professional Counsellor with competencies which are needed for a professional orientation method in youth work in the different countries.PR2 Youth Workers F2F raining Curriculum and Toolset based on Symbol WorkWithin the scope of PR2, the training for professionals in ELO4Youth is essential for the implementation of the methodology and Toolset.PR3 Professionals Distance Training Course DevelopmentThis PR is based on transferring the learning of the f2f method from PR2 to online content and in this way make it available for more people, also those trainers who will not be able to join a f2f training.<< Results >>Work methodology and counsellors training within this specific approach already used in Austria is expected to extend impact in several counsellors’ professional fields: it is expected to be applied by counsellors within other counselling processes, universalizing this approach in professional counselling in different countries. The train-the-trainer course for youth workers in VET providers, NGOs, Youth Centres, and schools will be structured following the principles of ECVET as one coherent unit of learning outcomes that can be recognised, transferred, and accumulated in the framework of ECVET.The train-the-trainer course will be assigned ECVET credits, after comparison with qualifications and training programmes, existing in the partners countries.For facilitating the process of recognition of the learning outcomes of the train-the-trainer course, ELO4Youth will produce a Europass Certificate Supplement that will accompany the training certificate, detailing the learning outcomes acquired in the course.The use of ELO4Youth method for youth workers and youth intervention provision will lead to the identification of skills and competences that the young people possess through non-formal and informal learning. The project will produce an implementation and recognition plan with concrete guidelines on how these learning outcomes that have been acquired through non-formal and informal learning can be recognised in the different countries involved. The recognition will be achieved by established tools in the partners’ countries (e.g. Europass, ECVET, Youthpass) and will be proposed to include into action plans of national strategies in this field.

Student motivation and engagement is a vital component in reducing school drop-out, which is identified as one of the key targets of the EU growth strategy for 2010-20. ARTPAD aimed to support the engagement and resilience of participants from disadvantaged backgrounds in formal and non–formal education to help prevent early school leaving. The 5 project partners worked co-operatively to disseminate, develop and extend the expertise and international reach of their practice. The programme covered 3 complimentary aspects: 1. Understanding resilience and children’s development and behaviour through Play.2. Drama techniques for engagement with learning.3. Drama and Play to build social understanding and behaviour. ARTPAD:1. Enabled understanding between partners and identied best practice in their delivery of drama techniques and children’s play facilitation2. Created learning resources that inform, inspire and enable leaders of schools and youth projects to deliver the above practice and training for educators.3. Placed emphasis on developing the practice for disadvantaged children and young people to aid the building of resilience and engagement for learning. The project aimed to reach 1,125 people in total:50 new trainers trained to enable pilots to take place in each partner country;100 via 5 training events, 20 teachers and youth workers per country to test out the materials;100 children and young people via the changing practices within the school and youth settings75 Educators and leaders via 5 localised engagement events, one per country with 15 delegates at each;150 Educators and leaders via a localised dissemination event, one per country with 30 at each50 Educators and leaders via a National Conference to be held at the end of the project;600 Educators and leaders via online access to the website and social media and the reach of articles and lobbying activities. The project will ran for 36 months from 1st September 2015 and was split into 7 work areas on the Project Timetable including project management, 3 intellectual outputs, transnational meetings, multiplier events and training activities. The partners were given individual areas to lead or co-lead based on experience and expertise. For each of the intellectual outputs, transnational meetings and activities, the number of days each partner was allocated depending on their roles. Overseeing the work was the project management and implementation. Three Intellectual Outcome packages of work then followed; as a result of a thorough research phase, partners develop a best practice guide for leaders of settings, subsequently the new course was developed and produced prior to piloting in each partner country. Following the piloting and associated feedback, the materials were finalised and the work was disseminated through articles and other lobbying activity. Running alongside this activity was project evaluation to support the recommendations at the end of the project. Dissemination commenced at the start of the project and continued throughout. Localised engagement/ dissemination activities ensured an effective opportunity to spread the learning from the project. Results include: 1/ A Best Practice guide utilising the expertise of all partners, detailing existing best practice in regards to play and drama techniques for the building of resilience in participants in schools and youth settings. 2/ A certificated course for teachers/ youth workers in drama techniques and play facilitation to support engagement with learning, resilience and behaviour. 3/ An evaluation report with recommendations for lobbying and to influence of policy. 4/ Delivery of the training detailed above via staff and student training and exchange of best practice ideas. 5/ Dissemination of the project via: a) Communication during the developmental process of the project through visits and social media and the web. b) Localised dissemination through events with stakeholders c) An end of project conference, as well as day to day project communication The expected impact on the educators participating in the pilots was that they will have an improved understanding and skills in drama and play techniques and their application within their work. The aim wass to give them tools to support participants from disadvantaged backgrounds in engagement in formal and non–formal education.This will ultimately enable them to perform at a higher level in their teaching through gaining greater knowledge and confidence to maximise the potential offered by drama and play for learning both inside and outside the classroom, thereby improving the whole-school environment for pupils. Longer term, the project will generate insights into educational delivery and learning environments. The impact for institutions and teachers is that the project will lead to better, more efficacious learning opportunities for children an