"This project will stimulate open innovation and open education including developing educational tools and materials using digital technologies in efficient, collaborative and creative ways by co-developing an online training program customized for the target groups i.e. personnel from university transfer offices, science parks and technology centers offering a holistic view of the various technologies and available capacities that facilitate innovation and sustainability within the agri-food sector. The program will be designed to facilitate the transfer of knowledge about test beds, new technologies and other innovation infrastructures to companies, above all SMEs, for the enhancement of their innovation processes. Together the partners will develop digital tools and learning materials using Open Educational Resources. The project will also stimulate synergies between participating research and innovation activities, promote new technologies in order to improvement education and access to Open Science.The project will support the target group (educators) in their professional development, especially by exchange with other persons having similar professions, they will learn about communication and strengthen the link between research and innovation with education within the agri-food sector.The project activities have been designed to meet the needs of the target group, and lead to the achievement of the project objectives and delivery of the planned results.The objectives of this project are a) To have increased the knowledge about and the use of participating facilities, helping especially SMEs in the development of food related innovations such as new processes and products. b) To have co-created digital tools/methods for learning and collaborating as tools for development and entrepreneurship for participating organisations, expecting that other stakeholders within higher education, companies and mediators can benefit from the experiences made in this project. The ambition is to create a program that can be further developed, including more testbeds and other facilities for innovation. This project will produce a range of intellectual outputs, dissemination events, reports and other outputs which support the implementation and sustainability of the project. The impact we foresee include:1.Increased exchange, better flow and co-creation of knowledge between higher education teaching staff, company staff as well as staff at mediator organisations.2.More innovative, and multidisciplinary approaches to food related learning and teaching and R&D.3.Higher level of commercialisation of research results in the participating research institutions.4.Increased growth, innovation and empowerment amongst the food companies thanks to better support from the eco-system.5.Participating organisations have extended their networks, knowledge and insights which has resulted in more common activities such as join international projects, improved structures for further development of methods for learning as well as increased knowledge about the industry and the challenges we face internationally.6.Access to each other’s testbeds and networks for increased impact as well as stimuli to develop new concepts and opening of new markets.The project partners were chosen based on their expertise as well as their strategical aims to secure that all will bring knowledge, valuable input in their capacity to engage and create a community of practice at a local level. This was some of the criteria for choosing the partnership as well as knowing that all have a good track record and can bring other added value to the project. This project is seen as the starting point for a collaboration, starting with the development of the project’s online training program for Business designers/developers (mediators), key agents in the dynamization and support of innovation processes, in incubators and other environments that serve as an interface to companies including start-ups, within the food supply chain. The consortium firmly believe that the project will lead to an increased motivation and knowledge about how to participate in international transdisciplinary collaborations such as international projects and networks and is therefore foreseeing that cooperation will continue on the organisations’ own expense. The e-platform will be kept active thanks to the internal resources for a 24 months period from the end of the project. The consortium is also going to support and to ""multiply"" the results of this proposal, exploiting broader contexts of cooperation and it will try to retrieve i) the funds made available for the territorial cooperation and ii) those funds made available by Horizon2020 as well as national and international funds, including the EU. Finally, the associated partners will share the project results among their networks and thus enhance the project visibility and outreach."

To protect against the rapid spread of the virus, all countries around the world have adopted protective measures, some of them drastic, which severely restrict citizens' freedom of movement and choice. As a result, cultural and leisure facilities, schools, day-care centres and universities were closed, as were numerous shops that did not serve the needs of daily life. The entire world economy will not be spared the consequences of Covid-19. Some politicians are already saying that we are facing the worst crisis since the Second World War. Unemployment will inevitably also rise, which is not only a major loss at individual level, but also puts additional pressure on the economy. The consulting firm McKinsey, for example, estimates that around 59 million jobs could be lost in the course of the Corona pandemic. In the EU countries this would correspond to an unemployment rate of 7.6%. This would particularly affect the wholesale and retail sector, restaurants, the tourism industry as well as the arts (music, performance arts) and entertainment sector.The project focuses on key players of the creative sector, therefore, aims at: a) supporting, mobilizing and empowering entrepreneurs (organisations and individuals), active in the creative sector and in the EU cultural tradition, to develop online collaboration and sustainable networks for sharing their knowledge with trainers and adult learners; b) supporting, mobilizing and empowering educators to use online collaboration and tools for raising awareness of the benefits of teaching and creative activities, especially in the EU cultural tradition, including music, performing arts; c) raise interest and offer skills in adults, to develop their creativity in constructive ways and in support of inclusion, especially of migrants and other marginalized groups. So, the target groups are entrepreneurs (organisations and individuals), active in the creative sector, educators and adults.The planned Intellectual Outputs (IOs) are:- IO1 Needs and requirements identification of the target groups.- IO2 Online eLearning and networking platform containing the subsequent IOs.- IO3 Guidelines for trainers in adult education and educators: a manual that will focus on creativity and the use of arts in different settings, and as inclusion promoting activities, the use with migrants and marginalized groups, and on the integration with recent complex EU data and copyright regulations.- IO4 Self-assessment tool: An online questionnaire, which will help to identify and assess the creative strength, interests, challenges and earlier experience of adults. This tool will facilitate the use of the platform by the target groups, by proposing the right exercises, tools and creative areas for each user from a pool (collection) of practices and exercises.- IO5 Collection of practices and exercises: A collection (data-base) of practical, culture sensitive and easy to implement practices and exercises of wide variety will be set up, that can be used in the awareness raising of the benefits of creativity and the development of creativity aided by experts in that field with so far underused knowledge in this are linked through the website.- IO6 Engaging flexible tools: a set of engaging flexible tools based on modern Graphical User Interface such as Anime and/or Avatars that will implement specific exercises. It is addressed to the trainees using the audio-visual language with which they are familiar aiming at increasing the level of engagement.The project, is innovative, first and foremost, for making use of the gamification approach and the multiple benefits for groups especially challenged by the present pandemics related situation. By introducing attractive features of the gaming industry (badges, achievements, avatars, anime) the project will be attractive for its target groups, giving a sense of purpose, of progress, achievement, and finality. It will make it easier for all target groups to “come back” to the platform and complete the training. Secondly, the platform will be innovative for targeting two intertwined target groups at the same time: a. offer new horizons of opportunity for those in the creative professions and arts in the difficult time of the COVID, b. train trainers in adult education on how to collaborate with these groups, effectively and efficiently raise creativity in their adults-clients, and contribute to inclusion and integration in the EU culture and at the same time enhance a very broad and critical ability of adult learners. The project will build upon previously implemented EU lifelong learning projects delivered in collaboration by some of the partners, i.e. “Resilience” and “ARTIP” and a special open source online platform using the successful model developed by the partner Greek University Network.

"<< Background >>Women shoulder a heavier burden of family work than men in modern society, preventing them from matching male success in the external labour market. So far, the decrease in the employment rate due to the COVID-19 crisis has not seen substantial differences by gender on average in the EU. However, women’s over- representation in lower paid sectors and occupations, as well as in part-time employment, makes them particularly vulnerable in the labour markets struck by the COVID-19 crisis. Gender gaps are larger for women with young children: in 2019, they faced a negative employment gap of 14.3 pps in contrast to women without children, whereas men in the same situation saw a positive gap of 9.6 pps. Employment outcomes are poorer in particular for older, non-EU born and low-skilled women and women with disabilities. Female labour market participation could be strengthened by reforms and investments in work-life balance policies, such as gender balanced parental and care leaves.The position of women in the labour market, either when talking about employed ones or entrepreneurs, is still lagging behind quite considerably in relation to the one of men. For decades already the debate has opened raising awareness on the pronounced pay gap, the limitations of professional growth and the ""invisible ceiling"", low representation in key managerial or decision-making positions and a series of obstacles for women entrepreneurs (from access to funding to lack of governments support for balancing professional and personal life to incentives and programmes to support the development of very small and small enterprises conceptualised and run by women); however the problem still persists without much changing in the conditions and opportunities available for women. The EMPOWERED project will create a training programme for women to achieve a two-fold purpose: on one hand, it will equip women with digital skills which are necessary in the era of digital transformation and are valuable for accessing the labour market with a competitive disadvantage, and on the other it will address a spectrum of psychological obstacles women are facing when they need to claim a better position in the world of work. Therefore, the needs of the target group of the project which will be met relate both to technical skills and emotional/ psychological reinforcement which is equally important for all women who wish to either find a job or change their career path. The former will be achieved through the adaptation of an already existing training course that P3 (Found.ation) has developed and successfully implements for digital upskilling and the latter will be covered through the development of a set of modules specifically for providing emotional and psychological support and fostering increased self-awareness and self-worth.<< Objectives >>The conditions under which women are employed (in terms of schedule, demands, expectations) and them with their professional life form a challenge that they are forced to deal with. If one also considers the existing prejudices in terms of a woman’s position, her knowledge and skills, her ability to undertake certain tasks, it becomes a multifaceted problem which, ultimately, impacts their perception of self and worth.Empower is a multidimensional word including social, physical, spiritual, mental, political and psychological dimensions. Empower means personal growth in decision-making, analysing critical situations, coping with all circumstances and facing challenges. The objective of the project is the empowerment of women through the development of a training course for their digital upskilling, as well as their psychological empowerment to reinforce their position in the labour market. The course will be based on the Found.ation Business Academy (FBA) a tailored professional skills platform developed by the Found.ation, which offers structured and dynamic content on emerging technologies, innovation & digital transformation, which can be delivered with great flexibility. The content of the FBA will be adapted to the needs of unemployed women, as well as women who wish to pursue a career change but are reluctant. In addition to the digital skills that will be enhanced, the partners will also develop a horizontal set of modules, aiming at helping women address the psychological factors that demoralise women for claiming a better employment or even daring to The partners will also develop a handbook to facilitate the delivery of the Empowered course by AE teachers and trainers, career counsellors and CSO representatives aimed at providing the theoretical background, the tools and methodologies of the EMPOWERED training course to facilitate its implementation after the end of the project. The handbook is expected to bring important added value to the sustainability of the results developed. Moreover, a virtual community will be set up, through which the members of the target group will be able to access the training programme and, most importantly, connect with their peers, exchange experiences and thoughts and provide support to one another. Representatives from the stakeholders of the project will also have the opportunity to connect through the platform with the target group and disseminate information on education, training and employment opportunities, as well as initiatives at local, regional and national level aimed at the facilitation of access to employment and balance of professional with personal life.<< Implementation >>The EMPOWERED project has been designed with 4 results and 4 project phases which have been structured in such a way as to deliver high quality outputs tailored to the identified needs. Moreover, apart from the phases of the project which will be described below the following horizontal processes will support its implementation: Project Management, Quality Assurance and evaluation, dissemination and exploitation.Τhe 4 phases of the project are:Phase 1-Preparation: in the first part of the project the partners will undertake a state-of-the-art research to document the challenges that women need to face when trying to achieve employment or change their career, especially following the changes brought about from the pandemic and in the era of digital transformation. The parteners will focus on women 30-50 years old and from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. (months 1-4)Phase 2-Development: during the development phase, the partners will focus on the development of the EMPOWERED training programme, the corresponding handbook for AE trainers, career counsellors and CSOs, and the digital community for peer-support and encouragement, as well as dissemination of information related to opportunities for training, employment, etc. The basis for the development will be the FBA training programme developed by P3, the expertise of P4 and P2 on addressing emotional and psychological obstacles for (re) entering the labour market and the findings of R1. In this context, two LTAs are foreseen, aimed at bring together the partners for the coordinated development and finalisation of the outputs prior to the pilot phase. (months 5-14)Phase 3–Pilot phase: this phase will aim at the pilot implementation of all outputs aforementioned with a selected number of target group members. The aim of this phase will be to collect grassroots level feedback on the results, if necessary undertake some updates/ revisions and draw conclusions for the final stage of the project (months 15-21)Phase 4–Finalisation: the last phase of the project relates to the drafting of a report which will summarise the progress of the pilot phase and the feedback collected, resulting in recommendations for policy makers, national and local institutions, as well as labour market representatives on how they can effectively address the issue of gender inequality in the workplace. (months 22-24)<< Results >>The project implementation will lead to outcomes both tangible and intangible. In particularTangible Results:1) A state-of-the-art report presenting the challenges that women have to face when in need of changing their employment status (either accessing employment or changing career paths)2) The EMPOWERED training programme for women, including the adaptation of the FBA (provided by P3) and a horizontal set of modules for the psychological empowerment of the target group3) A handbook for AE trainers and providers, career counsellors and CSOs to ensure the sustainability of the projectIntangible Results:1) Development of the EMPOWERED virtual (digital) community among women and project stakeholders2) Increased visibility on the challenges women face in terms of their employment status, especially if they have been long-term unemployed for a number of reasons3) Increased sensitivity on how policymakers, institutions and the civil society as a whole contribute to the resolution of these challenges4) Promotion and exchange of good practice examples in the field of facilitating access to employment for women5) Networking among all stakeholders involved in the partner countries, through both the focus groups organised in the context of the project, the multiplier events and the virtual community"

<< Background >>Climate change and, in fact, environmental sustainability is one of the most crucial challenges in nowadays society. As stated by the EU Commission “the last two decades have witnessed 18 of the warmest years on record, and an increase of extreme weather events” (Going climate-neutral by 2050 - ML-04-19-339-EN-C). The role of youth in implementing good practices and leading sustainable lifestyles are essential to creating a change on a long-term basis and has been recognised by the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE). In particular, two of the six goals of the ACE are the main focuses of this project: education and training.We believe that professionals should play a key role in guiding young people to engage in volunteering activities as they represent the “bridge” between youth and active society.Community media are great tools to empower the young audience and vehicle important messages such as the ones related to climate change, due to their wide networking potential, sustainability, and accessibility for all; they facilitate active citizenship and enable innovative ways for e-volunteering and activism.Based on The National Youth Council of Ireland 2016’s statement “there are a lot of youth work practitioners who lack the digital skills or attitudes to fully benefit from the opportunities created by digital technologies for delivering quality youth work” and also that “many youth workers see digital media only as social media. Their understanding of the possibilities of digital media and technology should be widened” (Developing digital youth work - NC-02-18-021-EN-C). This is the reason why the main goals for this project are:Increasing digital skills and community media literacy amongst professionals working with youth, i.e. social and youth workers, mentors, trainers, tutors, school guides;Raising awareness of climate change through the engagement of youth in e-volunteering activities and activism, using community media as an innovative tool.For the above-mentioned reasons, with this project, we aim to equip social and youth workers, school guides, mentors, tutors, and, in general, professionals working with youth, with useful digital skills and tools based on community media, to promote and raise awareness amongst youth on e-volunteering and activism in the scope of climate change.<< Objectives >>One of the main innovative aspects of the ECO-Media project is its versatility: the creation of community media networks and tailored training are designed to comply with the scope of the project, i.e. climate change, but they can be adapted to any other field related to social change based on volunteering and social activities.The project aims to train professionals working with young people in using community media as a tool to enhance the quality of their work and communication as well as to raise awareness on other volunteering approaches, i.e. e-volunteering and digital activism, with a focus on climate change.The project will consist of 4 project results:R1: Descriptive map of community media approaches for digital youth workR2: Curriculum on climate changeR3: Youth work and young engagement toolkit in the scope of climate changeR4: ECO-Media e-learning platformSpecific objectives will therefore be:- To create a greater understanding of the recent situation of digital youth work around Europe, through the development of comparative analysis;- To provide the target groups with useful knowledge on youth pedagogical framework about community media and digital youth work;- To enhance the level of youth engagement through community media tools;- To create ad-hoc contents related to e-volunteering and youth engagement in climate change matters;- To support youth workers, and professional working with youth with the development of a digital toolkit on digital youth work in the scope of climate change;- To increase the motivation of youth workers on the engagement of young people in climate change and environmental challenges;- To create results that are transferable, versatile, and adaptable outside the scope of this project, to better guarantee its sustainability;- To make the partnership and cooperation of EU countries stronger, by implementing a transnational project based on common needs;- To enhance awareness of climate change through the engagement of youth in e-volunteering activities and activism, using community media as an innovative tool.<< Implementation >>The activities that will be developed to achieve the aforementioned objectives and to produce concrete project results (Rn) will be the following:- Comparative analysis on digital methodologies for youth engagement in volunteering activities (R1);- A pedagogical framework for best practices in youth work (R1);- Curriculum on youth engagement and e-volunteering through community media (R1);- Curriculum on youth work in the scope of climate change (R2);- A digital toolkit on digital youth work in the scope of climate change (R2);- 6 units for youth engagement, i.e. digital activism; E-volunteering for social challenges; networking; European opportunities for e-volunteering; community media for social responsibility; active citizenship.- 3 training units for youth workers, i.e. social media activism; engagement of young people; becoming a better youth worker/trainer/mentor.- ECO-Media e-learning platform, the means to share and make the outcomes of this project available for everyone;- Creation of dedicated social media accounts, in particular Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube;- 1 project website, with news, contacts, description of the project, its goals and objectives, useful links, and updates;- Creation of several promotion materials, newsletters, press conferences, and publications.<< Results >>Concrete results for this project will be:1. R1: Descriptive map of community media approaches for digital youth work, aiming at a more comprehensive understanding of youth work in the frame of community media and digital methodologies, through the creation of a pedagogical framework and the development of a database of community media;2. R2: Curriculum on climate change: aiming at the creation of a digital toolkit on digital youth work in the scope of climate change, to be included in the e-learning platform (R4) and to identify successful methodologies to engage youth in environmental sustainability matters;3. R3: Youth work and young engagement toolkit in the scope of climate change - the structure and the content of the e-learning platform (R4). It will involve the creation of 3 training units that will guide youth workers in their daily tasks as well as 6 units for young people engagement in e-volunteering and digital activism;4. R4: ECO-Media e-learning platform - it will include the outcomes of the other project results including - user-free registration system, divided into two separate entries, one for the youth workers (who will be able to access all of the 9 training units) and one for the young people, potential e-volunteers and digital activists (who will access their dedicated 6 units); - digital toolkit on digital youth work in the scope of climate change (R2); - digital animations, video, for the correct usage of the platform; - forum.4TPMs will be held throughout the project and each hosted by one partner organisation that will attend with 2 representatives. The meeting will be organised at key project milestones, to check on the progress, achievements, and conduct quality and evaluation controls. In this way, we can ensure a smooth implementation of the project activities, guarantee clear and transparent communication, and adjust working methodologies when and if needed.Relevant dissemination activities will be better described in its specific, dedicated section, and they will include, for example, press conferences, newsletters, social media posts sharing, and the organisation of 5 Multiplier Events.

In this very hard period, due to the Pandemic, we need to reinvent the way we work; there are less opportunities to have face to face meetings and a lot of activities are carried out on-line. We want to discover and learn how the EU countries are responding to the new lifestyle Covid-19 imposed on us.As an organization working in the youth field, the most relevant priority is supporting educators, youth workers, educational leaders, support staff and teachers with a path on education and training about the strategies and the good practices that associations and schools are using to offer the same quality services.The idea is developing strategic partnerships supporting the setting up and implementation of international strategies for VET providers and for the organizations involved in the project: NaKa from Italy, K.A.N.E. from Greece, Marketmentoro Ltd from Cyprus, Hexagonal from France, CIP Lumbier from Spain, Liceul Tehnologic “Valeriu Braniște” from Romania.We know that some partners have started to find and apply, in their daily work, strategies and methodologies that have allowed them to move part of their work online while continuing to guarantee the same services that were offered before the global pand. Therefore, the first step of the project will be the analysis of the methodologies and good practices of the partners. This stage will be carried out online. The second steps of the project is staff mobility. Youth workers, educators and teachers will learn from the hosting partners, which methodologies they are developing to continue to work in the field of career guidance, orientation and training.The third step will be the application of the methodologies learned from the other countries involved in the project. We think about applying the acquired methodologies in schools, during meetings sessions with the students to help them identify their educational path and professional interests. At the same time, we want to improve the services we offer in NaKa, opening an educational and career guidance service point inside of our organisation.We would like to improve our capacity to:- identify labour market issues to offer the best career guidance for fight the unemployment of young and adult people;- developed new ways to write more effective curricula and innovative educational methods;- develop training courses to upgrade the opportunities of the young and adult through open and distance learning.