Nowadays, the social entrepreneurship has been acknowledged as an effective means to the end of creating new jobs, improving the standard of living and encouraging the citizens’ participation in the decision making process at all levels. It can also contribute to the integration of marginal and precarious strata of the population, the creation of wealth and re-investment or making new investments in various countries across the globe.In order to enhance the social entrepreneurship in our countries, it would be absolutely necessary to supply the young people who dream of becoming social entrepreneurs with appropriate competences, contacts and the will to launch social entrepreneurs commensurate to their own profile & the needs of their milieu. In this context, we carried a long-term project to favor the experiences’ exchange and develop the competences of 24 youth workers and instructor designers who stem from 8 countries and 4 continents, so that they can come up with innovative educational methods about the social entrepreneurship and act as multipliers who will help this type of entrepreneurship to spread among the young people in their countries and elsewhere.Our project lasted 22 months, during which we set up the following activities:1) A 2-day transnational project meeting at Lefkas (Greece), during which the person in charge of the project of every partner organization met together in order to commonly piece together this project and determine the rules and the methods which will be applied. 2) A “job shadowing mobility” which lasted 15 days and allowed every one of the 16 youth workers including two deaf (one from Spain & one from Poland) to observe the implementation of one social entrepreneurship and the related education.3) Preparation of a research work which determine the needs of the youth of the various partners in terms of training and support opportunities about social entrepreneurship.4) A training course of 11 days in Poland, during which we create a virtual club for young people who are would-be social entrepreneurs, which will include a Moodle platform-based online course about social entrepreneurship for the benefit of the young people with different abilities.5) An experimentation of the above mentioned virtual club by the young people of the partners countries.6) Creating a technical and pedagogical manual for exploiting the above club (youtheclu.eu).7) A training course of 7 days in Vietnam during which we trained the 24 direct beneficiaries into becoming E-mentors in favor of the young people who benefit from the above mentioned club.8) Organization of a “carreer-day” by each partner organization, which we disseminated the results of the project in question and made the virtual club more widely known.9) Implementation and updating of the club through the involvement of the 24 E-mentors & the administrator of the club.10) A 2-day evaluation meeting carried in Benin, where a cooperation strategy was applied for the sake of the virtual club’s sustainability.

What is Train2Sustain?The Erasmus+ project Train2Sustain is a Strategic Partnership in the field of Youth whose main goal is to respond to the effects of Covid-19. The main target group are young people active in the field of cultural and creative industries and artists. On a secondary level, as they are connected with the main target groups, there are youth workers and trainers, as well as CCI and culture and creative professionals. Five partner organisations from Austria, Slovenia, Serbia and Greece collaborate for 24 months in order to develop the skills and include their target groups through creativity and the arts. They do so by evaluating and disseminating innovative digital approaches and supporting participants to develop their skills and key competences in culture, arts, digitalization, networking and innovation. Why do we need it?Covid-19 affects all stakeholders in culture and creativity, both on the production and the distribution side. According to the UNESCO (2020), 60% of activities during regular work days in arts and culture organizations have changed because of Covid-19. Both organisations and creatives are struggling to make ends meet and continue their work under the new regulations. About 95% of the estimated 60,000 museums worldwide were closed due to the pandemic. Artists find it hard to find locations and settings where they can network, exhibit and train. People interested in art and culture find their opportunities limited, as few events are taking place. At the same time, online visits have become more attractive as an answer to lockdowns and social distancing. However, in order to take part in this new world of culture and art, culture and art creators, promoters and consumers need better skills, knowledge and resources. What does it offer?Train2Sustain offers its participants opportunities for upskilling in terms of digital readiness and empowerment for a better handling of digital tools and innovative practices in the cultural sector, as well as opportunities for personal and professional development. Additionally, it creates further opportunities for an active collaboration and digital alternatives to analogue cultural life. For the participating organisations, Train2Sustain improves the competences in distance learning and exchange of know-how, while increasing the digital competences in digitizing arts and creativity. All staff and stakeholders become more responsive and sensitive to the social, emotional, and intellectual needs of the target groups, while youth workers/ cultural managers from CCI sector become more confident in their networking, promotion and e-mentoring skills. How does Train2Sustain achieve its goals? Firstly, for Train2Sustain to meet the needs of its target group more precisely, it creates a survey among 200 young creative and artists, CCI and cultural organisations. Secondly, the project partners analyse current digital practices on digitizing art and creativity, apply them and evaluate their efficiency and dissemination potential. Based on these findings, a manual is created. Thirdly, findings from both these outputs are used to create a webspace which brings together all this information and bundles it into one responsive webspace adapted to the target group. Train2Sustain manages to include marginalized CCI, creative professionals, young artists and youth workers who can participate online irrespective of their location or financial background. In addition, Train2Sustain provides 3 learning mobilities dedicated to 3 different target groups, which support and develop their skills in creativity, digitization and culture creation. In order for these processes to be widely visible and efficient, the project partners have devised management, dissemination, reporting and sustainability tools and measures. Which impact will the results of Train2Sustain have?Train2Sustain helps to create added value and improve the resilience of our target groups, but it also raises awareness of the challenges of preserving diverse cultural offers in times of COVID-19. Train2Sustain illustrates the opportunities that lie in the digital era: increased European awareness, accessibility to cultural offers for a broader audience, common values, diversity and participation. The participants benefit from our learning and exchange offers, while the organisations involved benefit from improved skills, processes and results, which will help them optimise their available resources to create new opportunities/events. We connect relevant stakeholders and create synergies for Digital Skills enhancement, thus building resilience for the cultural/ creative sector. Moreover, the visibility of EU-funding programmes is improved, while on a international level, it improves the understanding of cultural diversity and cultural awareness of the social necessity for necessity for culture and art. Individual learning and further educational/ professional opportunities are promoted.

"The COVID19 pandemic and the upcoming financial crisis make it difficult for young women to find jobs. Initiating an own project is a good option instead of ""waiting for the dream job"". Europe’s economy is depending on SMEs and will be even more so in the future. Entrepreneurship and business are traditionally a men’s domain, but there is a growing interest among women to learn how to establish and run their own business, especially in times of severe unemployment and social difficulties. Woman in entrepreneurship is a great source for growth in Europe; however women need different approaches than men. This is why we need specific entrepreneurial ecosystems, based on their own life experiences and value systems. In this context, the consortium of the project CHEER YOU @P is born, counting with project partners from Austria, Spain, Estonia, Poland and Greece. The objectives of the project are:- to innovate entrepreneurship education including coaching and mentoring skills of youth workers/trainers/teachers by fostering personal and technical resilience in a digital era- to foster educational skills of youth workers/trainers/teachers supporting them to overcome gender stereotypes in their working environments with youth- to identify, design and pilot entrepreneurial ecosystems supporting female entrepreneurs in the different partner countries- to improve digital literacy and entrepreneurial competences of both youth workers and young women with fewer opportunities to overcome additional obstacles in order to develop their professional career and skills- to create a postive impact & spread entrepreneurial spirit during COVID19 crisis through a sustainable (digital) network uniting changemakers all over EU The CHEER YOU @P addresses two main different target groups, the local and the European. At local and regional level, the target group are young women (between 18 and 30 years of age) who are searching for new professional perspectives in the entrepreneurial sector, or already in the phase of creation/ start-up situation (0-3 years) and in need of support measures (personal and digital) including local and virtual eco-systems; teachers in business schools/universities and youth workers, who are inspiring and guiding young talents towards the realization of their business ideas giving input on both personal and professional skills as well as bridging the gap from theory to practical useful guidance; and local eco-systems of support in the partner communities, including entrepreneurial drivers and enablers in the community. At European level, the target groups are female entrepreneurs and/or similar start-up groups of young women across EU; European audience of trainers and youth workers interested in entrepreneurial learning; and European policy-makers and funding programmers in the fields of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial learning.The project will results in concret outputs and activities aimed to reach the objectives of the project and address the needs of young female entrepreneurs. 1) ONLINE SURVEY on female entrepreneurship and supporting mechanisms in each country (500 participants)2) COLLECTION of PEDAGOGIC BEST PRACTICE MATERIALS (non-formal) for training entrepreneurial skills and basic BUSINESS KNOW-HOW for young entrepreneurs/ start-ups (at least 25 good practices in at least 6 languages) 3) MAPPING ENTREPRENEURIAL ECO-SYSTEMS with focus on support for female entrepreneurs in 5 countries 4) CREATION of interactive training modules @ our ONLINE-GUIDANCE-PLATFORM to support peer-to-peer transnational learning experiences and fostering of entrepreneurial skills and digital literacy (5 modules and at least 500 users)5) Transnational video compilation ""Best of CHEER YOU @P"" (at least 15 short videos) 6) Training course for 20 youth workers/teachers in Greece on DIGITAL LEARNING METHODS and INNOVATIVE ICT-TOOLS including ONLINE FACILITATION TECHNIQUES7) Training Course in Austria for 20 youth workers/teachers on innovative approaches to LEADERSHIP, MENTORING and COACHING SKILLS to support young women with fewer opportunities on their career path (from ""un-employed to self-employed"")8) 10 Multiplier events at local level with at least 200 external participants in total (Changemakers' events)CHEER YOU @P will create added value and raise awareness on the challenges of female entrepreneurship. It will increase awareness on European values for diversity, connect relevant stakeholders at local and regional level while offering innovative training solutions and it will improve the knowledge and visibility of EU priorities while enhancing a discussion on how entrepreneurship can help young women with fewer opportunities. The project will improve understanding of cultural diversity and social inclusion, developing of new collaborations, increase the range of individual learning and further education opportunities through the publication of our intellectual outputs."

Over the past decades, social entrepreneurship has emerged globally as an innovative economic actor combining positive social impact with entrepreneurial spirit at the service of common good. While adressing social, environmental or societal issues, social enterprises also enable the improvement of the inclusiveness of the labour market by creating new job opportunities and encourage participation of different stakeholders in decision making process.The success and impact of various social enterprises and the increasing interest in such initiatives worldwide encourage institutions such as the European Commission to promote and support social entrepreneurship development.However, despite its growing policy attractiveness, the lack of knowledge and awareness about social entrepreneurship and its benefits among youth, and the lack of existing support for developing specific competences, are the first obstacles in the development of social entrepreneurship among youth in the world. Due to this situation, we have previously developed an e-learning platform on Youth E-club.eu by involving 8 partners from different continents, which aims at spreading this type of entrepreneurship among youth in their countries. As a continuation, we are planning to implement a second phase named « E-stream » (Entrepreneurship stream) for:- improving the content and services of the club to respond to the progressive needs of the beneficiaries- extending to new partners and countries- and sustaining the impact of this platform, which will strengthen the capacity for implementing social entrepreneurship initiatives among youth. Our project consists of the following activities:- 2days kick-off meeting in Nepal during which representatives from each partner organization will gather for defining the details of the following activities and meeting youth and experts of the club - 2 surveys for identifying the evolutive needs in terms of training and support of: current beneficiaries of the platform, and future beneficiaries of new partners involved- 10-days training in Greece for previous e-mentors, educators experimented in the education of young people in entrepreneurship, and young leaders, selected among the active beneficiaries of the platform, where additional online training courses will be created for E-stream phase- Improvement of the content with countries' specificities by a group of partner countries' experts- Creation of pedagogical videos by professionals to enrich the content of the platform- 8-days training in Vietnam for educating future e-mentors of the virtual club- Creation of 2 user guides for E-stream youth and e-mentors- An online Social Initiatives Fair, organized by each partner for supporting local social initiatives among successful participants of E-seed programme- A Social Fair Event in each partner country for disseminating the results of the project and promoting the virtual club- 2-days evaluation meeting in Argentina.

E-learning is an efficient mean for ensuring the volunteers to develop their competences all along their ESC project. It is also a good way to commit them into a continuous and easy-to-achieve learning process in order to enhance their skills, optimize their role within the host community, and find their career way. Moreover, the e-learning, can be an efficient tool to support mentors, trainers and supervisors of the volunteers. For these reasons, in 2017, we created an online platform (https://euromed.e-evs.eu/) which includes online trainings to support European volunteers.In this context, we wish to improve this platform and continue to meet the needs of the future volunteers and the priorities of Solidarity corps program. We will cooperate with our partners engaged in the ESC programme, coming from 5 EuroMed countries: Tunisia, Turkey, Jordan, Greece and Italy. Together we will launch a project based on our experience and made up of diverse & complementary activities for 23 months, centered on the topic of on-line educational support for the ESC volunteers.The main objective of our project is to enhance the adoption of innovative practices from youth workers related to Euro Med volunteers, by developing personalized, collaborative and accessible learning approaches for all young beneficiaries of European Solidarity Corps projects.Our project consists of the following activities:1- A 2-days transnational project meeting in Turkey to determine the methods of the implementation of the project and the role to be assigned by each one.2- 2 research surveys which aim to detect the needs and feedback from the beneficiaries of our platform and from the new future beneficiaries: Euro Med ESC volunteers in terms of online trainings.3- A 10-days Training course in Greece, which will involve 30 participants to improve the existing online trainings accessible on our platform & create new ones to be updated to the ESC program and to the needs of the current volunteers.4- Creating educational videos for the E-courses that request additional visual support.5- Testing the E-courses with the target group: ESC volunteers, gathering and analyzing their feedback.6- Updating & publishing the user's guide of the platform for the beneficiaries.7- A 9 days Training course in Tunisia to develop the profile and skills of the participants in the motilities to become E-mentors of the platform. 8- A 9 months experimentation of our Platform, by the volunteers with the support of e-mentors. 9- Creating a user's guide for the E-mentors of the platform.10- A 7 days Training course in Greece to improve the evaluation instruments of the platform & to create instruments for the validation of the skills acquired by the beneficiaries.11- Creating a promo video of the platform and caring an event for 2 days to promote the platform and to disseminate the project's results among young people, NGOs and e decision makers. 12- A 2 days evaluation meeting in Jordan