We4Change aims to contribute to the EU Youth Strategy by engaging, connecting and empowering young people with skills and confidence to contribute to prosperous, cohesive and sustainable societies. Specifically by adopting a gender specific approach, the We4Change project is concentrated on empowering girls and young women (aged 15-25) from disadvantaged backgrounds and supporting them to build their confidence, develop digital and innovation skills, increase civic engagement and unlock their changemaking potential from a young age. Responding directly to the needs of girls and young women to break down stereotypes, develop their creativity and confidence and contribute to society, the project will offer an innovative combination of hands-on activities, training on digital, innovation and environmental awareness skills, problem-solving and co-creation of prototypes to address climate change and drive environmental transformation. In this respect, during the We4Change project the following activities, outputs and results are foreseen: 1. The project will develop the We4Change Changemakers Event Curriculum, that will offer the basis for organising and facilitating 15 Changemakers events in 5 European countries whereby more than 200 socioeconomically disadvantaged girls and young women will be provided with the skills, resources, inspiration and confidence to collectively design projects that address climate change. 2. We will create the We4Change “Train the Trainers” Programme and train and enable more than 50 youth workers and trainers to deliver effectively the We4Change events.3. We will develop the We4Change “Train the Mentors” Programme offering a training package for adult women who will be involved in the project to provide mentoring, coaching and role models for girls and young women from disadvantaged backgrounds. We expect to train and engage more than 50 women mentors.4. Our team will create and promote 40 Inspirational videos showcasing how young girls and women from disadvantaged backgrounds are leading positive change in their communities.5. Finally, the project will develop the We4Change community platform that will act as a unique reference point for engaging girls and women from any background to raise their voice on climate change and to collectively innovate to deliver a sustainable future.

<< Objectives >>WOMEN STEM UP tackles a key challenge related to the persistent gender gap in STEM higher education & consequently in the labour market. The high dropout rates of women in STEM the leaky pipeline syndrome indicates that women change their study and careers from STEM to another field more than men. By employing a gender-based approach for inspiring recruiting and retaining women in STEM & by training the education communities it breaks down stereotypes and unlocks female confidence & creativity<< Implementation >>The project activities will be research design activities (focus groups, surveys), training of educators and university staff on gender neutral teaching methods and tools, co-design sessions, development of resources and training material for an online course, a digital platform and a mentoring program, mentors’ engagement and training activities, the development of ESTEAM training material and the implementation of a three day international Hackathon event.<< Results >>Project results will include a “Women STEM UP for GOOD” program to encourage female students to design socially aware projects and incorporate gender issues in technical projects. A “Leadership & Inspiration Academy” that will provide training resources with inspiring women stories and a mentorship program as well as a training programme offering career guidance and tools to strengthen gender equality capacity in STEM acting as a point of reference for university staff and educators.

Covid-19 has initiated a new era to the way we live, learn and interact. Schools are invited to change the way they function, shifting their methods to digitalisation, sending children at home and interacting with them online in an attempt to retain the school main schedule whilst losing touch with more social and creative activities when arts subjects in schools in several countries have been eliminated from the curricula. At the same time the Culture and Creative Sector (CCS), a sector with a major socio-economic contribution, has been hit hard by the pandemic while being already in a difficult position with little recovery plan since. In this respect, creativity scholars are advocating for years towards incorporating teaching for creativity at all levels of education. Our needs analysis indicates that teachers are in need of professional development that will enable them to apply creativity in lessons and establish learning environments that encourage creative growth. Therefore, responding directly to their needs, Social &Cultural Innovation Labs (SCIL) will attempt to bring the CCS back to schools but on a new basis of a cross-sectoral, purpose and community driven partnership, building capacities for teachers and creativity and innovation for students. To accomplish this mission, the project is setting the following objectives: Reinforce the development of creativity at school by creating a framework and a curriculum for establishing cross-sectoral partnerships among schools and CCS; train teachers of secondary education on applying arts-based educational tools, such as digital art and augmented reality, on a new collaborative, learner-centered, challenge based and purpose driven approach; equip students with the necessary arts-based tools and competences to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams and develop creative and innovative solutions around societal challenges.Therefore, teachers and students of Secondary Education are within our primary target groups as well as CCS professionals and local communities who will be actively involved in SCIL in the 4 partner countries. Intellectual Outputs foreseen for the SCIL project are:1. SCIL Student arts-based Curriculum for introducing and applying digital art and campaigning tools with real hands-on case studies2. SCIL Teachers’ Training programme for the development of teachers’ competences and the methodological integration of new forms of art and advocacy tools in curricula, leading to social innovation3. SCIL Audiovisual Hub with tutorials, ready-to-use materials, step-by-step methodology and testimonies of SCIL participants4. SCIL Interactive Platform, with dialogue forum and the creation of an online community of students, teachers and artistsA joint staff training is foreseen for teachers and artists as well as multiplier events in al countries. The project implementation is structured around the 4 IOs and their implementation is planned for 24 months. All activities carried out serve the production of the IOs that will unfold in the following phases: – preparation – design and development– testing-evaluation and fine-tuning.The production of the above results will ultimately lead to the following long-term expected impact:Support students in acquiring and developing new age necessary skills that will transform them into up-to-date, creative and active citizens; enhance teachers’ professional development by supporting them to apply innovative interdisciplinary teaching practices related to creative citizenship education; engage students, teachers, schools, artistic groups and associations, parents, community stakeholders and policy makers to build an ecosystem that exposes and encourages children evolve more creative competences using tools from the CCS to solve problems, change perspective and gain confidence; building long-standing partnerships between schools and the community; advocating for updated arts education in schools.The main exploitation goal for the future is to ensure that SCIL outputs will be utilised after the project completion by secondary education schools in the 4 partnering countries and also beyond so as to foster the next generation of creative changemakers in Europe.

<< Background >>The partnership feels that the WELFARE project is important as it focuses on social innovation and entrepreneurship not only as topic of a university training course but : - An opportunity for integration and cooperation of academia and enterprises/organizations within the welfare system - An interdisciplinary and creative educational environment, creating a multidimensional perspectives to a community challenge, workshop, mentoring and transnational cooperation. - An international network of enthusiasts (professors, teachers, practitioners, students and stakeholders) for social innovation and entrepreneurship that will work together and share ideas both during and after project implementation. - An opportunity to analysis and compare institutional environment and social innovation policies in partners countries and Europe, as well as creating a platform and workshops where these policies will be discussed and used as a sources for social innovation and improvements on local welfare systems. With our unique approach the partnership aims at meeting the needs of: - Practitioners and stakeholders within the welfare system for training in social innovation as well as for developing innovative solutions/approaches within their sectors or organizations.- Universities and training organisations involved in developing cooperation between academia and enterprises/organizations within the welfare sector, gaining insights into their operations, beneficiaries and user needs.- Education and innovation systems of partners countries, focusing on policies and infrastructure of social innovation, providing best practices and comparative analysis of social innovation policies and institutional environment for inclusive and social entrepreneurship.The partnership will use the teaching method of flipped learning in the pilot training, as all teaching material will be produced and accessible to students enabling teacher to create teaching environment of exploration and creation in a workshop settings and problem based learning, using processes like Design Thinking for social innovation and Ikigai for self realization as a social entrepreneur. This approach will also allow for single modules to be used in shorter courses or workshop settings either in the education system, workplace training, adult and youth training.<< Objectives >>The main objectives of the WELFARE project are to: - develop high quality Open Educational Resources, including curriculum, online/f2f training content and training course. - promoting and enhancing understanding of the importance social innovation and entrepreneurship within partners countries welfare systems, - create an open university, training and networking environment for discourse, research and social innovation in the welfare system both within partner country's and trans-nationally through the WELFARE platform.<< Implementation >>The WELFARE project will include 1 multiplier event being the final conference in Iceland, 3 transnational partners meeting, dissemination material like 3 online newsletters and articles in periodicals and open science journals as well as 5 project results. Project results will demonstrate the project process that is, GAP and need analysis, university curriculum 4-5 ECTS, high quality open online/f2f training materials and short documentaries, pilot training (5 months spring 2023) followed up with the finalization of project results as well as follow up training (5 months autumn 2023) using adapted results. Parallel to he implementation of these project results the WELFARE training and networking platform will be developed as a platform for online support, training, and mentoring for social entrepreneurship. Partners will use their extensive European and International networks to transfer and disseminate project results.<< Results >>Project results include online training material for social entrepreneurs in English and partners languages. Following results and outputs will be created: 1. GAP analysis and using the research methodology of “Design thinking” interviews and focus groups to define target group needs. 2. Course curriculum (including modules, descriptors and teaching, methodologies) equal to 4-5 ECT units, in English and partners countries languages. 3. OERs: Preparing online training material in English and national language, allowing for country specific information. Focusing on strengths and interest profiles (ikigai), networks, regulation and licences, business plans and budgeting as well as creating 1-3 short documentaries from each participating country on social entrepreneurs or innovations within the welfare system. 4. Pilot training 20+ participants in each country in spring semester 2023, students and practitioners. Finalization of the training material based upon participant’s feedback. Second testing of the training/curriculum for 20+ participants in Autumn semester 2023. 5. WELFARE training platform in English and partners languages, including all project results as well as being a network for social innovation within the welfare system. All partners will participate in the creation of each and every project result and have allocated lead roles of each results/outcome to different partners based upon their skills and expertise. All project results will be available on project platform at least 24 months after the finalization of the project.

Covid-19 is having a devastating effect on the Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS) across Europe. Thus, there is a strong need to enhance the development of entrepreneurial and creative skills of the young generation to stimulate innovation and make the CCS more resilient. However, the creative curriculum has been marginalised in European schools. From UK and Belgium to Greece and Serbia -even before the covid-19 crisis- secondary schools were under enormous pressure to focus on core subjects which resulted in schools being forced to reduce, and even cut, creative and cultural subjects from their curriculum. Hence the CCS and education system need to quickly innovate to provide students, educators and CPs with the understanding, skills and opportunities to support the sector. In parallel, youth unemployment in Europe is high and people who want to work in the CCS need to develop entrepreneurial skills to contribute to the post-covid recovery of the sector. A PEC study found that creative graduates are three times ‘more likely to be self-employed, freelance or running their own business than non-creative graduates’. Moreover, schools across Europe have reported that creativity is one of the most important factors when attempting the new normal. Thus, we need to harness the knowledge and skills of current professionals in the CCS to inspire and educate the students of today and empower them with innovation and entrepreneurial skills, so that they can become the creative, innovative and resilient professionals of the future. The objectives of Creatives Academy project are to: Empower secondary school students to become the creative professionals of the future and contribute to resilient recovery in the CCS by sharpening their creative and entrepreneurial skills; provide students with high quality encounters with creative professionals to provide information and mentoring on both industry knowledge and transversal entrepreneurial thinking and skills; help schools and educators develop the knowledge and confidence for embedding these practices in their educational setting.CA will provide a comprehensive creative, entrepreneurial, careers and competence development based curriculum that harnesses the knowledge and skills of current CPs to inspire and educate secondary school students and empower them to become the creatives of the future. The expected results of the project are: CA framework: creating the project framework which will set out the rationale, contexts, practices and processes for the Creatives Academy (CA) model; CA Student curriculum: the project will provide a comprehensive handbook and resources for educators to implement the CA framework and foster the creative futures of young people; CA Toolkit for Teachers, will provide thoughtful, comprehensive resources, to increase teachers’ confidence and skills in applying the CA curriculum in different settings; CA Audio-visual Guide for CPs will equip CPs with the skills and confidence; a training activity is also planned for the intense training of teachers and CPs. The project aims, through training, pilot applications of project’s outputs, dissemination and multiplier events, at engaging at least 150 secondary school students, more than 200 teachers and CPs and reach out to more than 2000 school staff, arts and education stakeholders, community members and policy makers.A participatory approach and process throughout the project will ensure that each IO is co-created by the whole team and thus benefits from the field- and location-based knowledge of each partner. SEi will be supervising, coordinating and managing the project while the rest of the partners will contribute accordingly and leading their respective IOs. All IOs will follow the phases of ‘Preparation’, ‘Design and Implementation’, ‘Pilot testing at School’, ’Evaluation and Fine-tuning’.The project anticipates a considerable impact on: teachers who will be trained on how to work with CPs within the school environment and curricula, in a cross-sectoral way and enhance their project based thinking leading to their personal and professional development; students who through engagement with CPs professional encounters will enhance innovative thinking, their motivation for the CCS, gain quality knowledge in the field of creativity and entrepreneurship to become more resilient; CPs will increase their professional capacity of working in a schools and develop new audience. The project will also have considerable impact on schools’ profiles which will pluralise their curricula. CA aims at eventually opening the dialogue with policy makers on the importance of the creativity and entrepreneurship education and the support to the CCS as such. Main Exploitation Goal: to ensure that CA outputs will be utilised after the project completion by secondary education schools in the 4 partnering countries and beyond to foster the next generation of creative thinkers and changemakers in Europe.