Projects

Cultural Diversity: creating inclusive environments in small communities across Europe

The Cultural Diversity project intends to promote cultural diversity and inclusion in small and rural societies in two main contexts - the workplace and the community, by involving migrants as much as natives to support a positive, bi-directional, integration process involving employees, employers and common citizens.

The project aims to contribute to the creation of inclusive working and living environments for people with diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, by developing and testing transformative educational activities using digital storytelling as a key-methodology. Storytelling, is pivotal in facilitating new understandings by connecting diverse lived experiences in order to build a universal culture of solidarity and empathy and affect concrete change to existing systems.

The European Commission support for the production of this project does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Stay Safe: preventing and responding to sexual violence against women with disabilities

The project intends to support the behavioural change on the target group by making use of an educational technique which is considered particularly suitable for the target group. This will be based on a training model (both online and offline) addressed to women and professionals.

In detail the project aims at:

Developing and testing a training model based on creative drama technique targeting women with mental disabilities and professionals to recognize, react and report to sexual harassment episodes.

Raising awareness among professionals (psychologists, social workers, medical staff, carers, etc.), working in the disability field of the risk of sexual harassment to which mentally disabled women are exposed and to provide them with instruments to replicate the training programme.

Newsletter No 1


The European Commission support for the production of this project does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

MEGA

For different reasons – Brexit, economic crisis, Europe, right-wing populist governments - Europe is confronted with a wave of europhobism. A large-scale Europe-wide study from 2017 about the young generation (18-34) in Europe reveal they feel clearly part of their own city/region and their own country, and the identification with Europe was clearly the weakest (11 percent). MEGA is taking up these findings and aims to dealing with them in the context of youth work, where a lot of young people from different social backgrounds can be reached in informal settings.

The project seeks to strengthen young people as potential ambassadors of the European idea by helping them to unmask Europhobic, populist distortions of the image of the European Union. An informal, playful learning offer making use of the motivation power of gamification will foster critical thinking capacities and equip them with the knowledge and skills to counter Europhobic myths with undistorted European realities.

The main project objectives are:

To foster critical thinking in young people so they can better unmask europhobic myths and misconceptions about the European Union;

To develop positive attitudes towards the European Union and its underlying values.

Brochure

Newsletter


The European Commission support for the production of this project does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

ParentBank: Enhancing the social inclusion of low income single parents

The project aims at facilitating the labor market integration of low-income single-parents by promoting their access to childcare and other service that they may be unable to afford through the time-banking (providing services to one another) and by developing their skills and entrepreneurial spirit, which can improve their employment status.

OBJECTIVES

To support single parents who are low-skilled/qualified in order to foster their employability

To extend the competences of professionals, who support single parents, in the teaching of numeracy, entrepreneurial and digital skills

To encourage low-skilled/low-qualified single parents to develop and upgrade their literacy, numeracy, digital, entrepreneurship competences

To promote access of low-income single parents to childcare and other services through time-banking, that can support their entry into the labor market or further training

The European Commission support for the production of this project does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

JOB EMOTIONS CLUB: Training of Emotional Intelligence in Job Clubs to improve the employability of unemployed adults.

The JOB EMOTIONS CLUB project aims that unemployed people who are seeking to rejoin the labor market could benefit, on the one hand, from the participation that comes with being a member of a Job Club on the other hand, learn and train skills related to Emotional Intelligence that will boost their reintegration into the labor market.

To achieve its objective, the project aims to develop materials that support professionals in the field of employment guidance for adults in search of employment. These materials will be based on a methodology that combines the already proven efficiency of the Job Clubs (spaces where unemployed people can share the necessary tools to carry out an active job search) together with tools based on the development of Emotional Intelligence. This will allow Adult Educators and Employment advisors to offer this service, being trainers of a Job Club in which they work, as well as techniques of active job search, Emotional Intelligence training.

The European Commission support for the production of this project does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Know Your Rights (KYR)

KYR aims to train migrant workers to improve their knowledge on their rights in the workforce, both within specific countries and according to EU employment laws. KYR will develop approaches to reach out to migrant workers using online tools and peer mentoring, presenting information in 3-5 languages in each country in cooperation with trained peers. The project will provide skills on labor legislation to migrants and the overall objective is to create processes and good practices that can then be developed further to reach new migrants groups.

Results: Acquisition of new skills and competences in the field of labour laws and support mechanism for migrant workers as well as increasing their active involvement in an European-wide migrant support network. Raising awareness on migrant workers' situations and challenges; empowering the workers and creating a safe working environment.

The KYR project aims to improve public initiatives such as inspections in the workplace by promoting and raising awareness about national and European legislation and regulations on workers' rights. In addition, it seeks to train migrant workers in order to improve their knowledge about their labour rights.

The European Commission support for the production of this project does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

ICT4TCN: Facilitating access to the ICT labour market of third country nationals by further developing their existing skillset

The project aims to use the existing IT skills and competences of third country nationals to meet some of the actual needs of the ICT industry in terms of specialised human resources. It aims to support the social inclusion and empowerment of vulnerable groups (third country nationals) through equal access to employment (as third country nationals enjoy less opportunities for employment compared with EU nationals).

Project results will foster the social inclusion of third country nationals in the participating countries, promoting sustainable inclusive growth and future prosperity in these countries by empowering the employability of this vulnerable group. Moreover, this solution will be expanded to other national contexts, while recommendations will be made for reaching also other sectors, besides ICT.

The project aims to achieve the objective through a customized capacity building programme (different courses will be offered based on the existing level of skills and competences), including training courses (following a blended methodology, combining classroom and e-learning) and IT boot camps.

The European Commission support for the production of this project does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

LLCC: Language Learning through Culture & Cooking

The overall is to create new innovative, creative and attractive tool for adults learning providers to use in the context of teaching language to migrants and engaging this group and the wider community in intercultural exchange and cookery. The adult trainers are the prime project beneficiaries, with through course material delivery migrant communities being the ultimate beneficiaries, though the wider population also benefits through participation in cookery and cultural exchange.

Newsletters

• Newsletter No. 1
• Newsletter No. 2
• Newsletter No. 3

The European Commission support for the production of this project does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

4.0 didactic approaches in duty of developing ANDragog’s COMpetences - 4.0 ANDCOM

The 4.0 ANDCOM project aims to increase visibility, awareness and the ability to use Industry 4.0 solutions in education of low-skilled adults in Poland, Lithuania, Austria, Greece, Spain, Romania and Portugal.

4.0 ANDCOM focuses on the role of andragogs - adult educators who plan, organize and conduct educational activities in a variety of adult educational centers and institutions. They are the direct target group of 4.0 ANDCOM, especially those teaching low-skilled adults, the indirect target group. Moreover, the project aims to introduce a new approach to the education of low-skilled and lowqualified adults, developing competences in andragogs for them to extend their curricula and provide effective, as well as innovative teaching tailored to the needs of their classroom. The project will deal with digital skills, ICT competences and Industry 4.0, bringing innovation to the classroom, as well as using these as instruments for boosting motivation among learners.

According to the European commission: “Many observers believe that Europe is at the beginning of a new industrial revolution, considered to be the fourth such leap forward and hence labelled Industry 4.0. The ubiquitous use of sensors, the expansion of wireless communication and networks, the deployment of increasingly intelligent robots and machines – as well as increased computing power at lower cost and the development of 'big data' analytics – has the potential to transform the way goods are manufactured in Europe. This new, digital industrial revolution holds the promise of increased flexibility in manufacturing, mass customization, increased speed, better quality and improved productivity.”

Thus, the results of the project will be developed so as to effectively provide knowledge, skills and competence on the topic, present the possibilities to andragogs and promote the most efficient scenarios applied in adult education of the low-skilled.

Leaflet

Newsletter No 1
Newsletter No 2
Newsletter No 3


The European Commission support for the production of this project does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Stimulating And Validating digital Entrepreneurship as the best way to increasing the quality of start-ups

Industry 4.0 is expected to boost the productivity and value added of European industries and stimulate economic growth. As part of its new Digital Single Market Strategy, the European Commission wants to help all industrial sectors exploit new technologies and manage a transition to a smart, Industry 4.0 industrial system.

Most of the currently available VET programs do not foresee the development of the mentioned skills. Therefore, the project Consortium has identified the need to build on the content and resources within, for VET learners to acquire adequate competences to participate on the labour market in the Industry 4.0 sector. An additional challenge is that start uppers are very busy persons, expecting training on practical and time-saving solutions, which they could immediately apply in their professional environments. The project results to be delivered will be tailored to meet these requirements.

The project aim is to strengthen the quality of start-uppers, young entrepreneurs and VET providers, and enhance their professional development through improving digital entrepreneurship competences, as well as give them the opportunity to validate these competences and adapt to VET environment.

Start-uppers’ experience is commonly analysed across countries, because they operate in specific, mostly high-tech sectors, and their scope of activity is often transitional. That is the first reason, why this project is under implementation within transnational partnership. The second one is the experience and background of entities involved in the project (related with start-ups, collaborating with or supporting them), which have to be joined to create synergies.

Leaflet (pdf)
Newsletter #1 (pdf)
Newsletter #2 (pdf)
Annual Review (pdf)


The European Commission support for the production of this project does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

BeAware – Strengthening competences to face sexual harassment on the workplace

BE AWARE aims to develop distance and FTF courses for workers representatives/trainers/mentors and employees. This it is a special measure tailored to the workplace in order to reduce existing problems of non-ability to deal with the subject of sexual harassment on the workplace and providing support to those who need and ask for it. Therefore BE AWARE focuses on the acquirement of additional soft skills and competences in dealing with sexual harassment in training and in the workplace. This training shall help to overcome behaviours of shame and accusations and lead to a solution orientated common approach on how working situations can be safer and more equal.

BE AWARE suggests a systematic approach by providing different tools and methods to improve the professional development of HR Managers / VET trainers/teachers/mentors/worker representatives.

The Project outcomes will improve their capability of the before mentioned target group to deal with the matter of sexual harassment in the workplace more effectively and to fulfill their role protecting the rights of the employees.

Our investigations have shown that this is an important issue in enterprises as people often react to accusations of sexual harassment only with bewilderment, resistance or ignorance. Victims do not feel supported and thus they do not even dare call out the misconduct, but either change the workplace or remain quietly in an unbearable situation for far too long.

A leaflet (pdf)

Newsletter #1 (pdf)
Newsletter #2 (pdf)
Newsletter #3 (html)


The European Commission support for the production of this project does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Access Enterprise

The overall aims of the Access Enterprise project is to increase entrepreneurship within people from marginalised groups, supporting people with barriers to the labour to not only explore the concept of entrepreneurship but also develop sustainable business plans that empower and enable them to start sustainable businesses and/or gain core employability skills. By developing an inclusive business programme, which supports the professional development of new and existing Business Coaches and trainers working with people from marginalised groups, the project will directly address issues of disadvantage and social exclusion, in terms of the lack of relevant, appropriate and accessible training and support to enable individuals to access employment opportunities through self-employment and entrepreneurship.

PRISMA - Participation Rather than Integration of Migrant Communities in Adult Learning

The aim of the PRISMA project is to discuss and exchange promising practices about active strategic inclusion of migrant communities in the decision processes as regards programme planning in adult learning organisations. This will be done between the partner organisations and other institutions and networks in the field - particularly migrant and refugee self organisations and networks - that are incorporated on regional/national level. The identified good practices will be shared between the partners in order to be mainstreamed in the participating organisations and beyond.

The project consortium will develop a catalogue of criteria to identify good practices in the strategic involvement of migrant communities in adult learning. These criteria will be guiding the project partners throughout the project lifetime, when it comes to implement good practices within their own organisations, and to select and disseminate them to the public.

The project outcomes will be disseminated throughout the partner organisations' networks and beyond. Additionally, a multilingual project website will enable the full access to the project results. Furthermore, a community of practice will be established on the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE) as a tool to exchange and communicate between adult learning experts and decision makers.

My HandScraft – Migrant Hands and Skills to Create a Future Track

My HandScraft project aims to develop and test an innovative education & training programme addressed to low-skilled adults with migrant background (especially newly arrived migrants, asylum seekers and refugees) to support their social and economic integration into society and labour market. The project will develop an art-based education programme that, under the framework of handcraft, will provide high quality learning opportunities to migrants, with close exchange and cooperation with local handcrafters. Handmade products are unique expressions of culture, traditions & heritage of a country & therefore will allow to create a learning environment between migrants and locals, by developing social & transversal skills and enhancing entrepreneurial spirit, social & economic integration. Local handcrafters will also be equipped with increased intercultural competences, knowledge of new handcrafts techniques so to improve their competitiveness.

While applying creative approach based in handicraft, through upskilling and reskilling adult migrant and local learners, it will also directly/indirectly support new participatory and intercultural approaches to heritage, contributing to objectives of European Year of Cultural Heritage & related EU Agenda for Culture. Pedagogical techniques adopted by the project will encourage approaches to cultural heritage that are people centred, inclusive and integrated.

O1. Field Study Research State of the Art Report (pdf)

"Say YES for voluntary work!”

European Union operational programme’s 8th priority „Increasing the social inclusion and combating the poverty“ and its measure No. 08.3.2-ESFA-K-415 „54+“ for the 2014–2020 period

Project No: 08.3.2-ESFA-K-415-01-0124.

The main aim of the project is to create the optimum conditions for working age seniors to become active volunteers thus improving their chances for participation in the labour market. This will be done in five municipalities of Kaunas region (Kaisiadoriu, Kedainiu, Raseiniu, Kaunas district and Kaunas city) through offering the seniors the complex of activities: 1) volunteering; 2) motivation; 3) development of key competences and 4) education and dissemination.

It is planned that all 60 participants of the project will do voluntary work not less than 80 hours and it is expected 15 participants to continue voluntary work after the official end of the project.

"JOB – the quality of life!”

European Union operational programme’s 8th priority „Increasing the social inclusion and combating the poverty“ and its measure No. 08.3.1-ESFA-K-413 „Integrating disadvantaged people into employment“ for the 2014–2020 period

Project No: 08.3.1-ESFA-K-413-01-0020.

The main aim of the project is to re-integrate the socially disadvantaged people of Marijampole district into labour market through offering them social integration services.

It is expected 40% out of total 260 participants to start searching for a job, start the studies or find a job. The participants of the project will be promoted to implement actions leading them out of social exclusion thus improving their life situation.

"Work – guarantee to the success!”

Project No: 08.3.1-ESFA-K-413-01-0039.

The main aim of the project is to help socially disadvantaged people to overcome social exclusion and re-integrate into labour market. This will be done in five municipalities of Kaunas region through offering the disadvantaged people the complex of social integration services.

It is expected 40% out of total 260 participants to start searching for a job, start the studies or find a job. The participants of the project will be promoted to implement actions leading them out of social exclusion thus improving their life situation.

Women PRO- Young Women as Social Entrepreneurs - path to better life

Young Women as Social Entrepreneurs, path to better life - WomenPRO project aims to motivate young girls and women leaving in rural areas and remote areas to find employment in their regions by providing them with an integral and holistic training course, tailored to their specific needs. The project focuses on empowering them in order to realize that they can start their own business.

The project general objective is to enhance and promote social entrepreneurship spirit among young women by raising awareness and supporting them in evolving their skills in entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation.

The main objectives of the project are:

Enhance the development of competencies for entrepreneurship of young girls in the project countries,

Foster and widen the competencies of EU teaching staff, sharing the possibility to use innovative approach,

Develop the innovative approach to competency development in digital age,

Contribute to unification of the educational and training standards to recognize the learning outcomes, and also

To track the competency development of young people to prepare them to successful entering the labour market

Improving the Integration of low-Skilled Adults Through Developing Mathematical Skills and Community Support

OECD PISA study (2012) shows that 22% of the citizens of the EU countries are low-achievers in maths and this number varies significantly across different countries: 15% in Poland, 19% in Austria, 23% in Italy, 26% in Lithuania and 42% in Cyprus. Furthermore, in 2015, around 60% of young adults (early school-leavers, low-skilled) were either unemployed or inactive. The EU acknowledges that the growth of economics and the level of employment depend on adults’ participation in learning and the quality of adult educators' work. However, the adults’ involvement in lifelong learning is rather low and in 2015 it was only 10.7%.

There is a great need over the European Union to increase engagement of the local communities in motivating low-skilled adults including refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, to learn in order to foster their inclusion and integration. Thus, the project M-EASY has two aims:

To supply high quality ICT-based learning opportunities for improving basic mathematical skills of low-skilled adults including refugees, asylum seekers and migrants;

To raise awareness of the local communities about the importance of educational help for low-skilled adults including refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.

Newsletters

• Newsletter No 1, December, 2017
• Newsletter No 2, April, 2018
• Newsletter No 3, July, 2018
• Newsletter No 4, March, 2019

New pathways of youth to labour market through lifestyle self-employment (SELF-E)

The project aims to promote quality youth work in Europe in order to foster the inclusion and employability of young people with fewer opportunities (including NEETs).

The main aim of the project is to promote quality youth work in order to foster self-employment of young people with fewer opportunities including NEETs.

The objectives of the project are the following:

To strengthen the capacity of youth workers to organize innovative non-formal learning about youth self-employment via mentoring.

To support youth workers in applying new methods for motivating young people with fewer opportunities including NEETs; to learn and to become self-employed (with special emphasis on Lifestyle Entrepreneurship).

To foster young people’s transition from youth to adulthood through the integration in the labour market by self-employment.

To develop youth competence “Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship”.

To create opportunities to validate the obtained competence “Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship”.

The expected impact is to increase the capacity of youth work in providing self-employment training for youth with fewer opportunities in order to increase the level of their competence at least 40%.

3D-HELP-Enhancing EU Employability by Adult Training in 3D Printing

The EU 3D printing market is growing rapidly: new workplaces for new jobs which require new skills and qualifications are created. As the development of these skills is not commonly supported by Adult Education (AE) programs, there is an urgent need to strengthen the AE curricula content in order to provide the students, youth and adults with the key competencies needed for the future jobs.

The main objectives of the 3DP project are to produce innovative curricula, course content and e-learning platform which focus on the revolutionary 3D printing technology. These resources will equip adults with the specific skills related to ICT, engineering and technology. They are free and open for everyone. 3D printing transforms digital files into physical objects. The EU has acknowledged it as one of the most important emerging digitization technologies.

Newsletters

• Newsletter, Issue 1
• Newsletter, Issue 2

Non-formal training development for mentors to boost women’s creativity spirit to start social entrepreneurship (WOMCA)

WOMCA´s objectives are:

To develop a training program based on the present and future market requirements for Social Entrepreneur teachers focused on entrepreneurship, creativity, innovation and SOFT SKILLS.

To test and validate the training of 15 Youth Women Mentors (YWM) from 5 countries in a 30 hours Interactive Programme.

To develop a MOOC for Youth Women Mentors to help them to find resources and inspiration for their entrepreneur students.

To start, establish and consolidate a partnership between YWM, Youth and Entrepreneur Associations, SMEs, Women Associations and Public Entities to support future common activities.

To motivate the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, especially those of Social Innovation to use innovative methodologies for their training and coaching activities.

BYMBE – Bringing Young Mothers Back to Learning

The project BYMBE has risen from the project Job Navi managed by the Vienna Employment Service and implemented in Vienna which was aimed to support young women in re-entering education through special courses. The project BYMBE will transfer the experience acquired through the project Job Navi to produce training tools to support social workers, teachers and trainers’ work for the purpose of sustaining young NEET mothers between 15 and 25 years old in re-entering education or training and the labour world while adding innovative elements: an analysis of educational framework and supporting facilities of the involved countries in order to develop knowledge about the differences in circumstances and needs of the target group in each country, activities having an European dimension to face the problem on a bigger scale and a commitment to provide services for young mothers outside the capitals, in rural areas and small cities.

The aims of the project are:

To create an innovative communication strategy and a motivational awareness raising campaign on the issue of early school leaving of young mothers and a support package for young mothers who need to finish their education;

To provide effective orientation and career guidance for young mothers through holistic support instruments including counselling, training and peer-group activities;

To improve the knowhow and awareness of social workers, teachers and trainers working with young mothers by providing additional tools, knowledge and skills needed for their work;

To raise awareness of stakeholders and general public about the importance of professional education for girls in order to assure their own economic safety.

The European Commission support for the production of this project does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

BRAVE – BRicking Adults’ Future via Empowerment

BRAVE target group includes: unemployed residents in urban & rural areas in 7 countries, long-term & short-term unemployed and unemployed adults looking for a job.

To meet the Lisbon objectives, BRAVE aims to harness an effective human potential by promoting & implementing a concrete program of measures & solutions to raise disadvantaged adults’ awareness about the importance & role of education & training for active employment measures to ensure social & economic long-term competitiveness.

BRAVE offers concrete, specific & feasible solutions to facilitate the access to training & employment for integration/reintegration of unemployed adults into the labor market.

ICARO

The ICARO project aims to improve the employability and social inclusion of unemployed adult learners through the design and development of a holistic methodology including an innovative recognized online curriculum of soft skills for adult learners.

The ICARO project will prepare a transnational report on the existing good practices of soft skills education in the partner countries; will define a transnational Soft Skills Assessment Toolkit focused on adult unemployed learners; finally, the training curriculum of soft skills for unemployed adult learners will be created.

The participants will be able to follow the training course entirely or just partially; they will be able to work directly with the trainers (coachers) or to do some practical experience of soft skills in some concrete “professional environments” like NGOs. ICARO will improve adult educators’ competences through the design of a Handbook and specific training for them including transnational mobility.

SHANARANI

The Shanarani project aims to develop innovative tools to combat gender stereotypes; to train youth organizations to apply new approaches in order to support and strengthen their work with young people; to improve their skills in the area of gender equality and to increase the quality of interventions with young people. Shanarani provides an innovative approach, gamification, which integrates different activities of play, dynamics and participation which make learning of youth more efficient.

The project’s methodology consists of the areas which are attractive for young people such as film/acting and music: two resources which have a powerful influence on the youth sector. During the project, best practices of work with youth regarding the questions about gender equality will be adopted and promoted; innovative and motivational educational methodologies based on film and music as well as the platform to support youth workers and young people working on gender equality will be developed.

FAIR - Fighting Against Inmates‘ Radicalization

www.fair-project.eu

Project No: 763538-FAIR-JUST-AG-2016/JUST-AG-2016-03.

Project “FAIR” addresses the problem of violent radicalization with a special focus on the prison system. It attempts to elaborate an alternative model to traditional detention, one that includes disengagement and rehabilitation programmes for extremist detainees. 

About the FAIR project:

• prevent violent radicalization of inmates.
• promote disengagement.
• facilitate reintegration into society.

FAIR main objectives are: 

• to prevent and deter the process of violent extremisms and recruitment of European citizens and foreign citizens residing in the countries involved in the project by terrorist groups.
• to promote disengagement behaviours in violent radicalized individuals in prisons.

https://www.facebook.com/FAIRprojectCommunity/

https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/fair-project-community/

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsi­ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

STRONG COMMUNITIES – PROSPEROUS KAUNAS!

The project “Strong Communities – Prosperous Kaunas!" is aimed to strengthen non-governmental organizations and community centers, to encourage more active interpersonal communication, to share experiences and to encourage common activities in the future. Moreover, several years of experience has shown that NGO staff members are in great need of knowledge management, finance and a need of how to write and implement European projects. Social Innovation Fund has accumulated considerable experience in the implementation of projects. Therore, it can provide not only theoretical but also practical knowledge to the NGO organization members in preparing and implementing project applications.

Strengthening capacity of the Lithuanian NGO’s working in the sphere of implementation of gender equality

Project, designed to implement the National Programme on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men for the period 2015-2021 dedicated to develop a gender equality.

Project aims to strengthen capacity of Lithuanian NGO’s working in the sphere of implementation of gender equality. It seeks to ensure the effective implementation of the provision of Republic of Lithuania Law on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men: Duty of state and municipal institutions and agencies to implement equal rights for women and men is in the manner prescribed by laws, support the programmes of public establishments, associations and charitable foundations which assist in implementing equal opportunities for women and men.

Measures for the implementation gender equality

Project, designed to implement the National Programme on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men for the period 2015-2021 dedicated to develop a gender equality.

Project aims to implement the National Programme on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men for the period 2015-2021: to organize trainings, consultations, events as well the information materials.

Mentoring for Social Entrepreneurship

The goal is to promote social business in Kaunas city through the process of social entrepreneurship mentoring, developing social business leaders, increasing the awareness of social business in society and providing opportunities for starting and implementation of social business ideas.

The main activities of the project are special trainings for mentoring in order to develop competences required for social business and raising qualifications of participants.

DiSoCi: Digital, Social and Civic Competences Development for Adult Educators Working with Migrants and Refugees

DiSoCi will encourage competences development for adult's educators working with migrants, refugees and etc. diversified groups in the Europe. The is no special programs for adult's educators working with migrants, refugees and diversified groups. Education at all levels is a key part of the integration process for migrants. According to the Strategic framework – Education & Training 2020 Adult learning is crucial for migrants as they may require different skills from those that they used in their countries of origin for their new careers. It can also help equip people working with migrants with digital, social and civic competences, easing the integration process for everyone involved.

According to the data of the need analysis in EU and partner countries national context, the following needs are addressed within the project, i.e. to develop assessment model and to develop the training program for competences development of adult educators’ working with migrants, refugees and etc. diversified groups and to suggest the program to learners (refugees, migrants) to gain new necessary skills. 

The objectives are:

To evaluate the level of adult's educators competences to work with migrants and refugees;

To encourage the continuing and professional development of adult educator's by using the innovative education models and Open education recourses (OER) for their digital, social and civic competences development;

To increase the motivation and reduce disparities in learning outcomes of migrants, refugees and etc. diversified by suggesting digital program for their competences development.

Target groups: adult educators; educators working with migrants, refugees and diversified groups.

EMPROVE!

EMPROVE seeks to support and empower domestic violence (DV) survivors through the improvement of:

SUPPORT: the level of the counselling services and training offered to DV survivors through increased capacity of counsellors.

PREVENTION of DV with special series of events for the key stakeholders and front-line staff, medical staff etc. who should be able to recognise the first signs of abuse or violence even if the potential victim hasn’t spoken about it openly.

NETWORKING MECHANISM of all important stakeholders in the fight against DV.

POLICY MAKING at the regional, national and transnational level in regard of DV prevention and intervention.

EMPROVE directly addresses the following target groups:

Counsellors, tutors and mentors working with DV survivors.

Supporting functions-volunteers, NGO Staff, social workers in hospitals, police, employers.

Quality Learning Experience = Quality Active Ageing

The project will take into account how educational opportunities have a positive impact on elderly and their active aging, personal health and prosperity. It is very important for older people to stay active as long as possible: to exercise, to learn, to eat healthy and participate in social activities. This project unites seven partners from European Union member countries: Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain and Great Britain. The project aims to cooperate in the exchange of best practice.

The project objective is to demonstrate, through current practice and the development of new joint ideas, the role learning providers in ensuring older people remain active members of their community. This has as a result individual health benefits, feeds into active communities and is a positive contributor to health prevention. Highlighting these links will be an innovative contributor to the delivery and planning and will feed into future policy developments at a Local/Regional/National and European level.

Social Activation of Seniors through Media Education – innovative program for senior organizations (Acronym - SASME)

The EU population is ageing, but age is still associated with infirmity, frailty or the need for care. The society, however, can profit greatly from the competence, creativity and innovative capacity of older people so there is a need to bring them back to the society.

The project proposes the comprehensive Programme for Social Activation of Seniors through Media Education to organizations and institutions working in favour of seniors.

SASME Programme is a set of complementary activities and tools strengthening traditional approach to teaching and learning. It is a combination of on-site trainings for seniors, learning by doing approach and edutainment – learning by entertaining. Seniors will be able to gain some new or deepen their knowledge and develop skills in such areas as social and economic security, health, mathematical, language, presentation, negotiation skills, financial, marketing knowledge, journalism and specific law aspects.

By making the SASME Programme available to organizations working for seniors, the project consortium is going to create conditions for engaging seniors in lifelong learning and active participation in social life.

The project aims to promote and implement creative initiatives and youth-led projects that promote employment and self-employment through a number of laboratories where young people have the opportunity to generate ideas, projects could contribute to improving their environment, improve their life project and future prospects from social commitment.

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The aims of the project are to promote equality between men and women in employment and occupation, to achieve balanced participation of women and men in decision-making and performance of the highest positions, increasing gender equality institutional mechanisms for efficiency.

The methodology of the project is based on the blended learning approach using the reversed/ flipped training method, ICT tools, Open Educational Resources.

The project will adapt the good practices from UK on Lifestyle Entrepreneurship as a useful alternative to self-employment for adults with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The objectives are:

1. to strengthen the competencies of adult educators supplying them with innovative and attractive training material and ICT tools based on Lifestyle entrepreneurship (LSE) approach;
2. to enhance the professional development of adult educators by introducing the innovative education methods: blended learning, reversed/flipped training, Open education recourses (OER);
3. to develop OERs tailored to needs of adult educators in order to support digital integration in learning to reach the learners from disadvantaged backgrounds;
4. to increase the motivation and reduce disparities in learning outcomes of adults learners with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds using LSE approach and ICT tools with the long perspective of getting self-employed.

To meet the above mentioned needs and implement the objectives, the partnership will prepare three intellectual outputs: curriculum (01), training material and ICT tools (02) and guidelines (03).

The project "Proposals and Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs" is aimed at a particular target group- unemployed women with children who seek their own professional fulfillment and would be interested in creation of a microbusiness to carry on from home but find themselves faced with a double difficulty to find a job and balance the work and family life. Pro Women’s project also seeks to empower women with less opportunity too (single-mothers, mothers with disability, mothers belonging to any minority groups, etc.). The project aims to provide valuable assistance to women-mothers, addressing the twin problems of unemployment and the need to balance work and family, through a targeted training program that gives them the skills necessary to promote entrepreneurship.

Project aims to support vulnerable women back into employment, education or self-employment by offering them as well as Support Workers working with them via the EMPOWER Training Programme (training knowledge, skills and abilities in tools and methods for increasing confidence and awareness of strengths for employability) and EMPOWER Circles Programmes (action learning and increased self-reflection for success).

• Newsletter, April, 2016
• Newsletter, December, 2016
• Newsletter, November, 2017
• Newsletter, April, 2018

Outputs

• Female Empowerment for Employability. A Guide for Policymakers

Millions of users around the world are gaming regularly. Even though online gaming was primarily designed for entertainment and profit, quite recently it moved beyond private industry and turned into a research field in educational, training and learning disciplines. However, the majority of literature on the field, reports that existing online games in the field remain too “formal” and informative, rather than interactive and motivational, focusing of skills and attitudes empowerment. Therefore, the field of gaming and seek to propose alternatives ways design, development and provision of such games.

More than 5 million people under 25 are unemployed in EU today. Entrepreneurship is included in national curricula to VET of many EU countries but despite that is still a gap to be filled because: teaching methods are ineffective, the practical element of entrepreneurship is missing, teachers are not fully competent. The main aim of the Gamify Your Teaching project is to support professional development of vocational competences of teachers and trainers of entrepreneurship and to enhance ICT teaching through an innovative pedagogy and approach to teaching with the use of gamification.

Project aim - to empower youth at the threshold of work and newly employed people with entrepreneurial skills and spirit by developing innovative method of ForProve theatre.

Developing of completely new and innovative method for entrepreneurship stimulation called ForProve theatre, avoiding the weaknesses of the methods mentioned above and combining their strengths. The ForProve theatre method is addressed to the business world: support young people in gaining transversal skills that will help them find a job and improve and sharpen their work skills.

The project aims to increase political efficacy in local communities by providing training to decision makers on how to foster participation and dealing with the risks of open online discussion, and to young people - with special focus on young people in risk of exclusion - on how to participate in the democratic life of their cities. Thus the project would achieve its second goal - to stimulate active participation of young people in democratic life.

The aim of the project is to promote gender equality and women's decision-making and implementation of equal opportunities for men mechanisms and methods development.

The project has been carried out for women and men in all areas of change expanded comparative impact assessment and a report prepared. Impact Assessment Report (language: Lithuanian).

The project aims to enable the enhanced deployment of digital and ICT tools by VET enterprise trainers and educators and improve their digital competencies in order to address the key needs of SME learners to become digitally competent and to be able utilise the knowledge within business processes.

Research Summary

This project focuses on adult educational information and guidance services in Europe. It aims to stimulate the lifelong learning of people in order to ensure they stay/become competent in their job as well to give the second chance in adult education for those who didn’t get the chances or took wrong choices at their compulsory education earlier in their lives. The project also aims to assist immigrants to integrate into the society through recognition of their qualification and education offered to them.

The Project offers innovative solutions to foster integration of people with disadvantaged background and fewer opportunities into the labour market by upgrading their low soft skills coherent with the employment-related key competences: sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, social and civic competences, digital competences and learning to learn; as well as improving the quality of training provided by adult education (AE) organisations active in employment-related training in order to attract and motivate low-skilled people to learn.

The project aims to create training resources to increase motivation of low skilled adults from the target group of young migrants, ethnic minorities & unemployed people 40+ (with a focus on men & mental health) through non-formal & informal learning. This is done by developing a training methodology which enables adult learners to discover motivation to become active citizens in their own community and to learn new skills and competencies through informal and non-formal learning thus encouraging adult learners to move onto further education or employment.

The project aims to improve gender equality mechanism through strengthening advocacy and lobbying skills of LWLO members.

Project aims at fostering gender equality between men and women in decision making and development of mechanisms and methods of implementation of equal opportunities for women and men.

Aim of the project “Mentoring Opens Doors” is transfer of innovative, well-proven, functioning, and efficient tools for enhancing employability of women in pre-retirement age in the framework of transnational collaboration.

To adapt these tools - various forms of mentoring in junction with further training – to local conditions, pilot them with active participation of women 50+, make necessary adjustments, and implement them in practice on regional level.

Partners from abroad are organisations having extensive experience in this field.  Their know-how is transferred and combined with existing methods of work with women 50+ used by the Czech partners - ATHENA and Centre of Mentoring. By combining of the methods and their adaptation a unique innovative methodology of the work with women 50+ is created as a main project outcome.

• Newsletter
• Proceedings of the Final Conference (Compendium)
• Complex Mentoring Program Methodology

The overall aim of BADGE is to empower entrepreneurial women facing double disadvantage to start up their own business. More specifically, this will be done in the following steps:

• Support soft skills development to empower women experiencing double disadvantage for employability and self-employment,
• Supporting development of self-efficacy, regaining confidence and motivation for work,
• Equip VET trainers working with this group – the business advisors - with innovative, engaging, tailored support methodologies informed by European best practice,
• Decrease isolation felt by women experiencing double disadvantage through contact with peers both nationally and at European level, improving confidence, and language and communication skills,
• Make VET practices more attractive to under-represented groups.

Project aims to reduce inequalities between women and men prevalent in employment at personal and institutional levels by facilitating the practical application of their acquired knowledge in modelling the equal work in the enterprise/organization. The main activities include: wide public campaign for information and education, events promoting deeper understanding of the main causes and outcomes of gender inequality in employment, as well the measures promoting gender equality, enhancing trainings for employers and social partners with focus on the importance of ensuring gender equality at workplaces, organizing and conducting trainings on gender equality and equal opportunities in the labour market for the groups, formed within the local government, from representatives of the public and private sector, including the representatives of social partners (employers and trade unions) aimed at building their capacity to influence the policy on gender equality in employment at local level. The main target group in this project – public and private sector, public at large, academics, media, politicians and others.

The project aims to improve the quality of VET of adult women, mainly women in the age 50+, by:

1. enhancing VET t/ts' professional competences for training of women by using innovative and creative methods with application of emotional literacy,
2. improving efficiency of the work of VET organisations towards enhancing employability of women 50+ by identification and application of innovative and complex approaches (joining measures).

Project aims at empowering women executives from the corporate sector and women from outside the corporate sector mainstream with skills necessary for developing their leadership competence and thus open the door for women to top management positions. Based on a participative methodology, the project will involve men with a powerful role in institutions aiming to make them understand and value the gender differences and to contribute to the change of management processes and men’s attitude towards women. Project will develop collaborative learning practices and tools that will contribute to the change of an organization’s learning culture, creating an innovative working environment based on knowledge sharing between women and men.

Project refers to the priority needs of Georgia to adopt the experience of Lithuanian reform experience and good practices of the EU in strengthening administrative capacities of institutions, local government and NGOs to implement equal opportunities for men and women.

Project also contributes to the development of democracy in East countries.

Project aims at strengthening and developing the capacities of target Uzbek CSOs and selected mahallas as alternative service providers assisting women, youth and low-income households to create their own businesses, and reinforcing the social partnership civil network at local level to better respond to the needs of the vulnerable groups through entrepreneurial expertise and service development.

The project seeks to decrease the dependency of foreigners who has been granted asylum in Lithuania, on the support from the State by trying to solve the main obstacles that foreigners with granted asylum face during their integration into the labour market, increasing their integration possibilities from cultural and social side, implementing the lacking measures for active integration, improving information system of foreigners with granted asylum and informing the society.

Project aims to develop the mechanisms and methods for implementing equal opportunities for men and women in a coherent, complex and systematic way.

Project aims to develop an effective and sustainable model of dissemination and exploitation of LLP results via libraries.

The aim of the project is to help long term unemployed people, women, after longer period returning to the labour market, unemployed members of big families, single mothers and single fathers to overcome social exclusion, deprivation and poverty in order to become active in economic-social life of the society.

The Social Incubators will operate in Kaunas and Marijampole providing the complex of social and professional rehabilitation services which will help the participants to become more motivated, develop their skills and competences, be able to plan their carrier and prepare for the active integration into the labour market.

Operational programme’s “Development of Human Resources” 1st priority “Quality employment and social inclusion” and its measure “Integrating disadvantaged people into employment” for the 2007-2013 period.

The aim of the project - to enable the delivery of a social entrepreneurship programme.

The project aims to increase the capacities of students in High Education and Vocational Education and Training institutions and adult learners re-/entering the labour market by collecting good practise experiences and transferring the best solutions into a common e-Mentoring Model. The e-Mentoring process is enhanced by integrating Open Educational Resources (OERs) for self-directed learning on employability and entrepreneurship into the e-Mentoring Model. The self-directed e-learning courses for 3M-Actors are published openly with Web 2.0 tools to make the common knowledge on e-Mentoring process accessible to 3M-Actors (Managers, Mentors, Mentees) prior to starting mentoring process itself.

The Project E-MARIA intends to improve the intervention in domestic violence by developing innovative approachesand instruments for risk assessment in order to increase the prediction of re/-assault and to promote the safety and security of victims of violence. Safety and security shall help victims to recover from their abusive relationship and to re/-build their life without violence.

Project aims: to promote independent and informal language learning, to promote on-line learning and on-line learning resources; to encourage language teachers towards the role of informal facilitators/advisors in language learning; to strengthen the role of social networks and media in supporting lifelong learning.

Project aims to increase the consideration and application of informal learning within communities.

Innovative training modules for practitioners in the field of adult learning are produced in order to develop and validate informal learning opportunities within communities.

Project aims to develop an innovative methodology that integrates art/dance movement therapies and craft techniques through which beneficiaries (socially disadvantaged people) will develop transversal, expressive, relationship and communication skills as well as professional skills.

PACT addresses professionals in education and vocational training as multipliers as well as those target groups that deliver informal learning to the victims in the so called supply chain - which is in fact the whole chain of services offered to victims from medical to psychological care, shelter, legal consultancy and empowerment. During the project the design and tool kit for training aiming at promoting the improvement of intervention models and the collaboration and networking among stakeholders will be created.

During the project a European toolbox with practical examples of gender equality measures that aims to support organisations in developing such programs was developed.

The toolbox describes concrete measures and change processes in detail, which have been implemented successfully across Europe. The intent of the toolbox is to inspire and motivate decision makers to improve gender-equality in their own organisation.

This project is implemented on national level in six cities of Lithuania (Kaunas, Taurage, Alytus, Jurbarkas, Marijampole and Utena).

The main aim of the project is to create, describe and test the complex model (MSMS model) for promotion of social mobility of women at risk of social exclusion. With the help of this model rise women’s motivation to seek for a job adequate to their competences and expectations as well as help them to become active members of society.

The project was designed to increase the level of social inclusion of senior citizens, unemployed and migrants with special emphasis on women. It was achieved by introducing new learning pathways for increasing their social mobility, which is associated with an individual’s opportunities and capacities for progression to overcome the social exclusion. Therefore, the Social Mobility Model was developed within the project and comprises of three educational pathways: Group Social Mentoring, Role Model and Visual Workshop “Equal opportunities and non-discrimination”.

Project aimed to develop an innovative approach to family learning on work-life balance, thus increasing capacity of employees to contribute themselves to implementation of family-friendly initiatives at workplaces and as a result, to remain active on the labour market.

The aim of the project was to develop Fish in a Box by sharing experiences amongst partners who are supporting different groups at risk of exclusion, by adding material appropriate to that group and by ensuring that the curriculum, learning materials and DVD are adapted by each partner to reflect the situation for their own group at risk of exclusion within their own country.

The project addressed the learning needs of professional caregivers working in residential and home care services (nursing homes, assisted living centers, adult care centers, home services, and the like) and of relatives caring for frail older people living at home or in residential care. The main aim of ELSA project was to create videos, slides, texts which can give support and information to those (professionals and relatives) caring for frail elderly people.

Project aim was to develop an innovative solution within Vocational Education and Training (VET) system by introducing new institutional settings and practices ensuring implementation of gender equality and diversity planning at workplaces.

Learning Partnership project aimed to present the most successful and efficient methods using the features of informal learning, which motivate people to learn about European culture and culture of various, already for a longer time settled ethnic minorities.

The aim of the project was to produce a product that will confront fears, celebrate diversity and promote social integration and cohesion amongst adult learners. The project developed and adapted an innovative DVD produced by Expanding Horizons, for use in other target countries.

The main aim of this project was to promote respect for diversity and to increase the ability of those in vocational education and training, HRD and the labour market to manage diversity.

The EU-project M.E.I.N. developed a new education concept of learning facilities to be applied at adult education institutions working with immigrants throughout Europe. This concept empowered intercultural trainers and educators with a systematic means to steer and coach the individual learning process of their immigrant clients. The process of integrating immigrants was optimized through continuous education that guarantees long-lasting effect and through assisting immigrants to initiate and maintain self-directed networks.

Gender Mainstreaming implementation strategies for education and training in the area of early childhood care work and for day care centres

It was a project, implemented at national level in ten municipalities of Lithuania. During the project the model of effective implementation of women and men equal rights on the level of municipalities was created and tested. It was done by establishing the commissions in ten municipalities which will formulate the policies on men and women equal rights in the labour market and will ensure its practical implementation. The active employment strategies and self-employment opportunities were discussed to ensure the economic independence of women.

This project had his roots on a previous Grundtvig 1 project (Climbing Up - For a Supported and Shared Life “Climbing Up” of Women Victims of Violence) which main aim was to strength women survivors of violence living in Europe by the support and sharing of common experiences through a European non-formal learning approach.

The general objective of the project was the dissemination and exploitation of the results of three Socrates projects (“MOSAIC (Models of Synergetic Activities in Immigrant Counselling)”, “Who Speaks. The voices of immigrants on adult education”, “Participation of Migrants in Further Education”) related to migration processes and, more particularly, to the promotion of equal opportunities of migrated people.

The specific aims of the project were to create concrete innovative user friendly and handy tools, methods, methodology and approaches in VET of social workers that will improve the skills and employability of beneficiaries and target groups, as well as of ultimate users of the project’s results.

The project aimed to exchange good practices on the prevention of hidden violence perpetrated by women caregivers against Alzheimer elderly women. The expected results were the setting up of agreed guidelines of good practices, the adaptation and translation into three languages of the Italian "Caregiver Manual" and their diffusion at European level which will raise awareness and prevent this problem.

It was a project, implemented at national level in three cities of Lithuania (Kaunas, Vilnius and Anyksciai).

The main goal of the project was to develop a Social Mentoring Network (model) in the area of employment and provide an opportunity for the women who have been out of work for an extensive period of time to reintegrate into the labour market by taking over the experience of women, who have successfully overcome the employment problems simultaneously overcoming the discrimination. The entrepreneurship opportunities were stressed by the project too.

The main aim of the project was to develop and test a curriculum for training “managing diversity and gender competences” for key persons in adult education and qualification. Already existing training concepts and modules as well as new ones shall be combined in a comprehensive curriculum, using each organisation’s expertise in the different diversity-fields (like ethnicity, age, gender, religion…) and their experiences with a wide range of target groups. Also building up a pool/network of diversity and gender-experts Europe-wide, disseminate results and provide a setting for the further improvement of the concept. Exchange of experience with projects also dealing with similar and related topics in Europe.

The project aimed to favour the exchange of info and experiences of support to the victims of family conflicts, especially during separation and divorce.

Promoting of the European value of gender equality and monitor the implementation of the gender sensitive policies. Target group- decision makers, leader of adult education organisations and NGOs.

The project aimed to provide diverse learning opportunities, enabling people to understand and apply environmental sustainability in their everyday life. Target group -disadvantage groups in lower income.

The project’s goal - to contribute to the empowerment of women and to strengthen the competitiveness of female entrepreneurs in Kaliningrad region, Russia.

Project covered all ten counties in Lithuanian and aimed on realising the real situation with gender equality in Lithuanian counties.

Creating a new methodology of women’s vocational training in the aspect of European labour market. Emphasis is on information technology and e-learning.