EDEA project promotes the exchange of good practices among organisations working, in different ways, with youths, young entrepreneurs and NEETS in rural and marginal areas, facilitating the collaboration between new working places (coworking spaces) and the social economy dimension (social cooperatives/enterprises). EDEA project main objective is, through the exchange of good practices among different actors, to improve the level of key competences and skills of aspiring and prospective entrepreneurs, targeting in particular unemployed youths (especially among disadvantage groups and immigrant communities) and enhance the international dimension of their education, training and networking, building a transnational learning community. EDEA project is composed of 4 partners: 1. OXALIS, the lead partner, is a cooperative of entrepreneurs active in social economy at national level. 2. Labirinto Social Cooperative is the most important cooperative of socio-medical and educational services of the province of Pesaro-Urbino. 3. Pamoja Value is a private consulting company funded with the aim to empower local small and medium enterprises in Marche Region (Italy) to implement innovative projects and become active agents of social change. Warehouse Coworking Factory is the coworking space and creative hub they built 3 years ago to harness in a unique physical space talented young people from the entire Region which today is a platform for social entrepreneurs, freelancers and companies working in different aspects of social entrepreneurship and digital innovation. 4. Croatian Independent Professionals Association (CIPA) is a unique not-for-profit professional cross-sector association aiming to create, promote and sustain a healthy ecosystem for independent professionals working in Croatia. EDEA project activities will be implemented through 3 workpackages = WP1 dedicated to transnational project management and coordination, WP2 on project communication and dissemination, WP3 called Peer reviewing and good practices identification, exchange and testing. EDEA project will adopt three main kind of methodology: 1. For project management: project cycle management methodology based on logical framework, milestones and Gantt for project monitoring and evaluation. 2. PPs exchange of good practices: the exchange of good practices activity among PPs will be based on peer review and benchmarking methodology 3. Transnational learning: laboratorial and participated methodology. The main results of EDEA project are: Enhanced quality and relevance of learning offer on entrepreneurial and social entrepreneurial training development; Improved level of skills for employability of identified learning path beneficiaries; Increased level of digital competences of learning paths beneficiaries; Peer implementation of 4 good practices on project issues; Transnational short term learning paths successfully implemented; EDEA project learning model transferred and shared among PPs; Validation of the transnational learning paths through Europass system; EDEA youths community network set up and active; Project learning outcomes fully disseminated through ICT systems and local events. All the project partners have as core mission the objective to contribute to the territorial social and economic development of their areas. They have taken the commitment, through EDEA project, to implement the lesson learned and good practices exchange in current adopted working methodologies. The results related to the good practices identification, testing and implementation will be shared through PPs websites and social networks even after the project end.

<< Objectives >>PENELOPE aims to develop, transfer, and implement innovative practices on gender mainstreaming strategies in SMEs following a cluster-based approach, through the definition of guidelines for cluster organizations’ staff, the support of SMEs in building gender-inclusive cultures, promoting online cooperation and blended learning opportunities among Industry Clusters and SMEs in the field, and the development of a methodology for EU clusters to implement Gender Mainstreaming training for SMEs.<< Implementation >>PENELOPE includes implementation activities to develop the expected results that will involve partners, associated partners and target groups, like interviews, compilation of good practices, design of training paths, production of didactic content, testing, evaluation and improvement. It also includes activities to ensure the adequate planning, implementation and follow-up and an efficient collaboration, as well as online and physical activities to share, explain and promote the results.<< Results >>- A pioneer and innovative training handbook specifically developed for clusters’ staff towards gender mainstreaming.- A video toolkit on gender equality strategies for SMEs to build gender-inclusive company cultures.- An innovative Virtual Learning Environment that facilitates online cooperation and blended learning opportunities.- A defined methodology for European clusters to implement their own gender mainstreaming training for their associated companies, focusing specially on the SMEs.

The EMBRACE Project aimed to structure and test a transnationally recognized methodology to identify, document and validate non-formal and informal competences acquired by migrants in their countries of origin or in other EU countries in order to improve migrants’ opportunities for entering the European labour market. The main target group of the project was represented by migrants from countries outside the EU who had recently arrived in our continent and who had or didn’t have formal qualifications or previous job experiences, gained in their country of origin or in another EU state. The project addressed the challenges that migrants face regarding their professional inclusion and strived to contribute to a more inclusive and cohesive society and to a better well-being among citizens, linking together economic development and social cohesion. The project raised awareness that an effective skills validation system could improve the supply-demand matching and foster a long-term professional inclusion based on the actual skills and competences of individuals. That also encouraged a higher level of transparency of the acknowledgements (due to the comparability of the professional qualification systems) and promoted the transferability of competences between sectors and companies also at EU level. This challenge was taken through the elaboration and experimentation of a specific procedure, based on “migrant-friendly” tools and on intercultural approaches. The objectives set in the planning phase have been achieved through the contribution and active collaboration of the whole partnership. Furthermore, in order to achieve the project objectives, it was pivotal to share a methodology based on the awareness that people from third countries constitute a plural universe of individuals, families and communities that cannot in any way be seen as a homogeneous whole: they come from dozens of different countries, they profess different religions, they reach Europe for work, for family reunification, for birth, for transit, for study, for health problems or to escape from a war, they are young (above all) and they are elderly women and men who arrive alone or in family groups. In this scenario each partner implemented several actions in the frame of their institutional activities that followed two directions: recognizing and validating professional skills and paying attention to foreign citizens and their inclusion in society. The partnership was composed by 8 organization from 6 EU countries and included partners from traditional countries of arrival (Italy and Spain) and from countries of destination of the migration flows (Denmark, Netherlands and Germany); partners’ profiles are vocational training and guidance agencies, cooperatives and associations dealing with migrants reception and social integration support, local public bodies and workers’ organizations that, beside their diversity, have been able to carry out the entire project process. The activities have been mainly focused on the agri-food sector, considered as a growing and strategic sector in many EU countries. This sector absorbs a lot of migrants in their countries of origin and shows a strong demand of migrant labour force. Furthermore, despite the various production technologies, it presents basic analogies in the different countries (origin and arrival). EMBRACE has produced 3 main Outputs: the Catalogue of professional profiles and skills required in EU and in the agri-food sector (Output 1); the methodological approach described in the Methodological Guidelines for the recognition and validation of skills in the agri-food sector with reference to citizens from third countries (Output 2); the Certification Toolkit for Experts and Operators which provides tools and a step-by-step guide to support migrants with finding a new or better job through identification and validation of their skills (Output 3). The materials produced can be freely accessed and used via the project website (www.embraceproject.eu) which will be online for 5 years after the end of the project. 2 multiplier events were carried out in Germany and Italy with the participation of stakeholders from local, national and European level. Wide dissemination has been performed via the project dissemination channels and via partners’ networks, by organizing campaigns mainly during live events and Social Media activities, creating and constantly updating a Facebook page and using YouTube and LinkedIn where also many promotional videos were shown.