The SPP Regions project is aimed at promoting strong networking and collaboration at both the European and sub-national regional level on sustainable and innovative procurement (SPP/PPI), to help promote and embed capacity building and knowledge transfer. At the regional level networking will be promoted to build capacities and transfer skills in sustainable and innovative procurement implementation, and to collaborate directly on tendering for eco-innovative solutions. New networks will be established, or existing networks strengthened in 7 European regions (Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Torino, Bristol, Barcelona, West France and Gabrovo). Networking activities will include an intensive capacity building programme and collaboration on at least 6 tenders per region - 42 in total. At the European level a Sustainable Procurement and Innovation Network will be launched, expanding on the existing Procura+ Campaign. In-depth research will be conducted into European best practice relating to a series of key SPP/PPI topics (market engagement, life cycle costing, output/performance-based specifications, circular procurement) by a series of experts in consultation with network participants. A series of European seminars and expert workshops will be organised, together with an ongoing webinar series, and the annual presentation of a PPI award for European best practice.

Due to persistently high youth unemployment, increased skills mismatches and school drop-out in many EU Member States, career guidance to secondary and vocational school students aged 16-18 has in the past years been the subject of much attention. However, effective orientation needs to start earlier to permit equal opportunities and informed decisions concerning educational and professional paths, helping all young people to find employment that suits them.In many countries, students as young as 13-14 have to choose whether they will continue in “general” studies, focus on “maths/science” or go into vocational training. So already from this young age, they have to make an important choice that will affect the career options that will be available to them as they grow older.How can they make informed decisions? And who is there to help young people make these very important, life-determining choices? Mainly parents, career guidance counsellors and teachers. Yet educational staff are often ill-equipped to provide career orientation to this age group, who at this stage in their lives would not benefit from specific career guidance services. What they require most is what we call “Life Design Skills”, i.e. the knowledge, mindset and skills they will need to make informed choices concerning their education, and thereafter to develop their professional lives in a labour market that will primarily be characterised by change.Our specific objective is thus to empower teachers, youth workers, career guidance providers (‘Educators’) to teach Life Design Skills to young people.We will work towards this objective primarily by developing a ‘Skills for Life Toolbox’ for Educators. This Toolbox will be developed cooperatively by all project partners who will pilot it with approximately 500 Educators and 10,000 students in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Romania. It will be composed of:-An on-line self-evaluation tool to help students discover their strengths, weaknesses, priorities, interests and personality types and to start considering how these may relate to different professional profiles;-A board game to help students make the link between their own personal characteristics and those of different job profiles and economic sectors;-A series of modules that Educators can implement as a function of their teaching environment, to dig deeper into the subject with their students;-A half-day training to teach Educators to deliver these activities, also available as on-line training modules;-A user-friendly Impact Assessment Methodology that will enable Educators to measure the impact and efficacy of their intervention.All of the results will be freely accessible online in five languages: Dutch, English, German, Italian and Romanian, and will be designed in such a way as to easily cross language and cultural barriers.We will also use our experience of piloting the Toolbox to develop Policy Recommendations that will highlight actions and policies that support effective early-stage career orientation and Life Design Skills for young people.The Toolbox will be mainstreamed (1) by project partners who will use the Toolbox as part of their regular activities and promote its use by local stakeholders; (2) through dissemination activities aimed at school directors, educators, counsellors, local authorities, Chambers of Commerce and other stakeholders concerned with youth employment; (3) through engagement with policy-makers especially using the Policy Recommendations.Expected impactsThe Skills for Life Toolbox will:-empower teachers, youth workers, career counsellors and other career guidance and orientation providers to deliver effective pre-career guidance to young people aged 13-14,-empower young people to choose an educational pathway that will lead them into employment that suits them,-provide young people with the skills they will need as they grow older and make their way through an employment environment characterised by change.We will also raise awareness – among local, regional, national and European stakeholders – of the need to introduce career orientation to students at a younger age than is currently the case, and will promote our results as an efficient and effective means of meeting this need.In the longer term, this project will help bridge the gap between a labour market in constant evolution and an education system that struggles to remain up-to-date. As a result, young people will be better prepared to envisage their future, to seize new opportunities and be more resilient to constant change and continuous transitions.Skills for Life will contribute not only to more fulfilling careers for young people, but also to a more innovative and competitive European economy.This project has been created by Goethe-Institut (DE), Aliseo Liguria (IT), Scoala de Valori (RO), Tracé Brussel (BE) and the City of Mannheim (DE).

"Today we live in a globalized world and are processing information from a wider variety of sources than ever before. Many are confronted with a flood of information with which they are sometimes overwhelmed or unable to handle or classify. This project under the theme #IMMUNE TO OPINION MANIPULATION shall help to discover fake news and political manipulation. Educators and young people need the skills to navigate potential pitfalls. Especially in the age of social media, manipulation is increasingly present. Misleading narratives become the basis for political opinion formation and debate. To curb this development and the threat it poses to democratic deliberation, political self-determination and freedom, it is crucial that educators have the knowledge and media literacy skills needed to counteract these threats through their teaching and in order to appropriately guide and train the young people they work with.Filter bubbles, nudging, social bots and algorithms are some of the aspects that play a role in manipulation. Ultimately, idea is to make the veil behind social media visible by posing the threats that come along with it. For example, the political significance of algorithmic models lies in the fact that they can influence social behavior to a significant degree without the user being aware. Companies such as GAFAN (as in Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix), which possess widespread and potent algorithmic models, can be ""governmental"" enterprises that at the same time are not subject to democratic control. Hence, manipulative technologies need to be viewed critically as they can lead to the targeted incapacitation of citizens and may even influence the results of elections. Being unchecked they can erode democracy and therefore the fundament of the EU.The general objective of this project is to address this challenge among educators through an innovative train-the-trainer format. The specific objectives are: -Providing youth educators(direct target group)with useful skills and action-oriented methods on how to develop the digital competence of young people (indirect target group/ end user beneficiaries)-Increasing understanding of how and why emotional manipulation works in social media communication, providing effective strategies and resources to help them counteract this -Increasing the media literacy of young people in an age of fake news and political manipulation on the Internet (and particularly in social media)The proposed project is meant as a kick-starter of a more extended endeavor across the EU. The train-the-trainer format will have an impact on different levels.For educators involved in the training as facilitators the impact will be:-Greater understanding on the importance of the power of fake news and political manipulation on the Internet (and particularly in social media) as well as its impact on active democratic participation-Concrete knowledge, skills and competences for identifying manipulative techniques (e.g. filter bubbles, nudging, social bots, and algorithms)-Access to innovative training contents, resources and materials-Increased network with an international group of trainersFor young people who are involved in testing the program during the pilot phase the impact will be:-Increased awareness of the power of manipulating emotionally and politically on the Internet (particularly on social media)-Improved knowledge to read between the lines-Increased competences to manage a media-saturated environment(particularly online/social media)-Increased skills to read critically and write in a wide range of message forms-Improved learning achievements and personal growth-Increased interest in being more active in society-Increased self-confidence to engage in social media activities-New contacts and network for further support and developmentFor the involved project partners the impact will be:-Increased level of cooperation with the project partners-Improved knowledge, skills and competences on media manipulation, tools to detect it, media literacy, critical thinking, and their connection to active (digital)citizenship-Increased knowledge on game-based educational methods-Increased knowledge, skills and competences with IT-based learning-Enriched experience with creative and innovative methods-Increased capacity to operate at EU/international level-Innovative and improved way of operating towards their target groupsFor other relevant stakeholders, such as educational non-formal institutions, training associations, etc. the impact will be:-Access to innovative and learner-centered learning methods and contents-Access to good practice examples on how to embed media literacy education into existing educational and training offersOnly by being informed of the structural conditions fueling its circulation, one can shape resilience against fake news and political manipulation for both the educators and young people."