Ethnic diversity management and migrants’ integration in the labour force constitutes a major challenge for the EU. The increasing flow of TCNs (immigrants and refugees), which is rising due the recent refugee crisis, together with internal migration of EU citizens continues at a rapid pace. The resulting ethnic inequalities among a diverse workforce in the EU implies an immediate action. Considering that ethnic diversity is a complex issue to deal with, the role of social partners is deemed critical. Both trade unionists and employers’ organisations need to acquire specific skills and knowledge and be aware on inequalities, discrimination and inclusion process in order to meet their organizational needs and contribution towards handling ethnic diversity and promoting migrants’ integration at workplace level. Social partners need also to acquire conflict resolution skills, knowledge of the relevant legislation, and of good practices and policies. Against the above background, the principle objective of the project is to improve the skills, knowledge and competences of social partners in addressing ethnic diversity in EU SMEs. To this direction, other objectives of the project refer to the enhancement of the quality and relevance of learning, the strengthening of migrants' key competences to integrate into the labour market and society and the exchange of best practices.To achieve these goals, the project brings together a partnership network consisting of eight organisations from five EU countries: Cyprus, Denmark, France, Greece and Italy. Despite the different realities of migrants’ integration in each country and the complexity of social dialogue in regards to SMEs, a closer look reveals that the participant countries are found - if not in the same - in very similar situation to the reception of migrants. Considering the synthesis of the network, built based on their field of expertise, the project allows the interdisciplinary approach to the problem. Specifically, the partnership involves research and academic institutions (INEK-PEO, the University of Milan), migrants organisations (KISA, IRIV), social partners (INE/GSEE, IME/GSEVEE) and VET centres (ENAIP, VIFIN) that have long experience in national and community action, research activities, tripartite social dialogue and policy interventions. In the above context, the project partners have been selected by their experience and capacity but also due to their position in relation to the inflow of immigrants. Cyprus, Greece and Italy, are traditionally immigrants' reception countries currently encountered huge inflow of immigrants due to the recent refugee crisis. The capacities of the front-line countries need to be strengthened in terms of diversity and conflict management. Therefore, the knowledge of experienced countries in the field of ethnic diversity and conflict resolution is considered of great importance to the project’s objectives.The nature of the main activities of the project are research base and training activities. The ultimate purpose of the research activities was the provision of contextual framework directed to an improved understanding of ethnic diversity in SMEs of the participant countries; this framework was a source for the designing of the training and educative materials of the project. In this way, the findings of the research activities had an essential role to the formation of the core outputs the project. In relation to the training activities developed in the frame of the project, they contextually correspond to the different - and sometimes conflicting - interests and needs of the various target groups including: training for social partners, development of training material and other educational tools for both social partners and migrants. The main results/outputs emerged from the activities of MigrAID are: a) A comparative research report on migrants’ integration and ethnic diversity in SMEs in the respective countries, b) a training manual directed to migrant populations, c) a VET programme for social partners, d) a training curriculum for social partners, e) an ethnic diversity guide for SMEs, f) an Educational on-line Platform and g) a Conflict Resolution Simulator.

<< Background >>Mentoring describes various formal or informal programs and relationships aimed to build a helping relationship between a younger person and an unrelated more experienced person who can increase the capacity of the young person to connect with positive social and economic networks to improve their life chances. Mentors provide ongoing guidance, instruction and encouragement aimed at developing the competence and character of the protégé.Unemployed young people face serious economic obstacles and are less motivated to actively participate in civic or social processes in communities they live in. In this regard, MENTORING plays an important role to promote active participation of unemployed young people in their communities, helping them: (i) to become more employable, (ii) to realize potential benefits for overcoming of personal economic difficulties, and (i) bringing them practical benefits for personal development and strengthening of ties with various actors in their communities.“E-mentoring” is a useful approach to move the work of mentors into the virtual world, and supplement and augment face-to-face interactions by means of blended approaches. E-mentoring uses synchronous and asynchronous computer-mediated communication to establish mentor protégé relationships by creating virtual support. According to recent researches addressing the efficacy of structured e-mentoring programs, e-mentoring increases motivation and provides psychosocial benefits such as self-esteem enhancement, confidence building, and support for risk-taking that protégés gain from successful mentoring relationships.The COVID-19 crisis had a substantial impact on the youth mentoring programs and practitioners who provide such critical human connections for young people striving to achieve goals and overcome challenges. The mentoring field has responded with increased support to youth and volunteers and with quickly-developed technology solutions that have allowed many mentoring relationships to keep in contact. Many programs have shifted to virtual mentoring environments and technology solutions but for many of them, safety considerations and limited technology capacities have made this shifting a challenge.E-MENTORING project has gathered a multi-stakeholder partnership of 7 organizations experts in mentoring and e-mentoring programs, Youth work and development of digital solutions for education, from Norway, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Ireland. The preliminary analysis carried out by this partnership has identified the following common needs of the consortium and the project target groups: mentors and youth-serving organizations (target users) and unemployed young people (target beneficiaries). - There is a need for a clear identification and systematic definition of the competencies that mentors require to set up and carry out effective e-mentoring programmes. Training and youth-serving organizations in Europe will largely benefit from a document of reference to adequately organize training courses in digital competencies for e-mentoring, aligned with EU frameworks on digital competences.- E-mentoring programs could be particularly useful for youngsters with fewer opportunities, including those facing socio-economic difficulties, as unemployed young people, those living in rural and remote areas or due to physical disabilities. Involving youngsters with fewer opportunities in e-mentoring programs could significantly increase their engagement, collaboration and retention, and the inclusiveness of youth-serving organizations.- To get full advantage of the possibilities of the digital transformation is necessary not only to train mentors on digital pedagogical competences and to apply ICT-based solutions to mentoring programmes; but also to assess, evaluate and measure its effectiveness. Training and youth-serving organizations require tailor made methods and tools, adapted to the specific field of e-mentoring.<< Objectives >>The AIM of E-MENTORING project is to develop the digital competencies of mentors from youth-serving organizations and equip them with innovative solutions to support e-mentoring programmes for unemployed young people. The consortium has gathered seven organizations experts in mentoring and e-mentoring programs, Youth work and development of digital solutions for education, from Norway, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Ireland. During the project implementation they will work together, with the active support of key associated partners and stakeholders, to address similar needs and provide common solutions to develop the digital competencies of mentors from youth-serving organizations and equip them with innovative solutions to support e-mentoring programmes for unemployed young people. To do so, the project will apply EU frameworks (DigComp and DigCompEdu) and instruments (EQF, ECVET, SALTO-YOUTH and Youthpass) to promote and boost transparency, recognition, transnational mobility and transferability to other mentors, youth-serving organizations and intermediary bodies in Europe.E-MENTORING project will face these challenges and opportunities by means of addressing the following project OBJETIVES:- Support the adaptation of mentors to the new digital environment, by means of increasing the capacity and readiness of youth-serving organizations to manage an effective shift towards digital education and training.- Upskill digital competences of mentors and youth-serving organizations and their expertise in the use of digital tools to support unemployed young people.- Design, test, adapt and apply new methodologies and ICT-based tools to train mentors and youth-serving organizations in the use of innovative solutions to support e-mentoring.To this purpose, the consortium will co-design, develop, test and mainstream the following innovative and OER freely accessible PROJECT RESULTS:PR1. Training Curriculum on digital competencies and solutions to support e-mentoring.PR2. E-MENTORING Online Platform of Open Educational Resources.PR3. Guidelines and recommendations on supporting e-mentoring for unemployed young people.Mentors and youth-serving organizations are the main target users of the project results and final beneficiaries are unemployed young people. During the life time of E-MENTORING project, the partnership will directly involve 78 mentors and youth-serving organizations (28 partners staff / 30 experts involved / 20 target users in pilots), 100 unemployed young people (in pilots) and 475 stakeholders. A wider audience, of a minimum of 1000 recipients, will be reached at local, regional, national and European level through the planned sharing and promotion activities.E-MENTORING project will have a positive impact in: (i) partners and other youth-serving organizations in Europe, developing the digital competencies of mentors to support e-mentoring programmes; (ii) mentors, extending and developing their digital competencies and accessing to innovative solutions to support e-mentoring, (iii) unemployed young people, increasing their engagement, collaboration and retention to actively participate in civic or social processes in communities they live in; and (iv) stakeholders, accessing to innovative solutions to support e-mentoring.<< Implementation >>E-MENTORING project relies on the following key methodological approaches to ensure an efficient project implementation:- Participatory MethodologyShared responsibilities per Project Result (PR) and decision-making mechanisms: each PR will be leaded by one partner, and all partners will participate in the development of all activities- Capacity Building SessionStaff from partner organizations will participate in a capacity building session during the third meeting, focused on how to carry out the B-Learning course with the target groups.- Development of Innovative Educational Project Results (PR)The main objective of the project is the generation of innovation in the field of Youth Work Promotion. The project results are aimed at producing new learning/teaching opportunities enhancing skills development and the recognition of learning outcomes.- Development of innovative ICT-Based Educational ToolsOther fundamental aim of the project is the design and generation of innovative ICT-based educational tools: Online Platform of Open Educational Resources, Digital Database and B-Learning courses-5. Piloting of project results in educational contextsImplementation and assessment of pilot trials Norway, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus. Final assessment of the PR aimed at the integration of feedback acquired during the pilots6. National and international Multiplier Conferences Aimed at the sharing, promotion and exploitation of the PR; as well as to promote networking and further collaboration with relevant stakeholders and potential users of the PR at national and European levelThe project process can be summarized as follows:- The Training Curriculum will start after the first meeting, defining the theoretical and competence frameworks. Then partners will design and develop the Curriculum itself.- The Online Platform of Open Educational Resources (PR.2) is the main PR, involving almost the whole project lifecycle to achieve the foreseen final result. Partners will start by designing and developing the Online Digital Database, to be included in the Online Platform. Compilation of resources for this Database will stretch along most of the project. Partners will continue by elaborating theoretical and pedagogical bases, developing training contents and practical activities, as well as assessment methodologies and tools. All these results will be adapted to constitute the basis for the next main element of this PR: the B-Learning course (blended learning). Partners will design the course structure and management system, and generate interactive contents. B-Learning course will be operative just after the third meeting. A capacity building session is foreseen during this meeting, to train partners on how apply the course with target users. Partners will carry out the B-Learning course between third and fourth meetings. After that, piloting phase will start. This phase will help partners to evaluate and gather feedback for the finalization of the Online Platform and its main elements. By month 21, piloting phase will be ending and partners will finalise the PR, just before the last meeting, - Development of the Guidelines and recommendations (PR.3) will start after the third meeting, by carrying out a comparative reference analysis on development of digital competencies and solutions to support e-mentoring. Partners will then design the methodology for the piloting phase before the fourth meeting. Piloting phase will allow partners to assess PR results in real context with target groups of users and beneficiaries. An evaluation report will be carried out at the end of the pilots, in order to identify and develop the guidelines and recommendations to be included in this final PR. Feedback acquired during the pilots will be analysed and integrated the in the final version of the PR. Fifth meeting will meet consensus on the final version of the PR and agreements on further sharing, promotion and exploitation activities.<< Results >>E-MENTORING will achieve the following results during the project implementation:Project results:- A structured set of competencies based on EU standards and methods in development of digital competencies and solutions to support e-mentoring (PR1 ECVET Curriculum).- An ICT-based educative instrument to upskill mentors and youth-serving organizations in development of digital competencies and solutions to support e-mentoring, including an Online Digital Database, Theoretical and Pedagogical Basis and a Blended learning course (PR2 Online Platform)- A Policy set of recommendations to facilitate transferability and replicability of project results in intermediaries and organizations working to develop digital competencies and support e-mentoring in youth-serving organizations (PR3 Guidelines and recommendations).- Develop, adapt and test innovative practices and digital technologies to train mentors and youth-serving organizations in development of digital competencies and solutions to support e-mentoring through pilot activities.- A defined strategy for the MANAGEMENT and QUALITY assurance of the project with established protocols, tools and methodologies for monitoring and evaluation, budget and time control, agreements and templates.- A SHARING, PROMOTION and EXPLOITATION strategy with a correspondent set of tools, resources and activities, involving partner organizations, stakeholders, networks and policy makers to share and promote the project activities, mainstreaming the project results and enhance the exploitation of its results.Other outcomes:- For the partner ORGANIZATIONS: an improvement of their capacity to innovate and cooperate with other organizations at national and European level.- For the STAFF of the partner organizations: improvement of skills in connection with the implementation of EU funded programmes, including teamwork, project management, leadership, communication and second language skills.- For mentors and youth-serving organizations: develop their digital competencies of mentors from youth-serving organizations and equip them with innovative solutions to support e-mentoring programmes for unemployed young people.- For unemployed young people: access to education opportunities tailor made to their needs to actively participate in civic or social processes in communities they live in. - For the STAKEHOLDERS: collaboration with the partner organizations and with other stakeholders to establish a network in development of digital competencies and solutions to support e-mentoring at local, regional or European level.E-MENTORING is also expected to produce the following outcomes after the completion of the project:- Exchange of experiences and good practices among countries with diverging experience in development of digital competencies and solutions to support e-mentoring.- Adopt and implement a curricula, courses and parts of courses in training programs of the partner organizations and other training providers, on development of digital competencies and solutions to support e-mentoring.- Setting the basis for future and long-term international cooperation, in particular by strengthening a pan-European team of experts.- Raised awareness about the relevance of digital competencies to support e-mentoring - Increased participation of mentors and youth-serving organizations in e-mentoring programs- Knowledge and experience gained by partner organization’s staff about the implementation of multi-stakeholder approaches.- Better understanding and increased recognition of the digital competencies and solutions needed to support e-mentoring and further professionalisation of this practice.- Increased motivation to learn and improve digital competencies to support e-mentoring among mentors and youth-serving organizations.