Recently, the real face of Domestic Violence in Europe became clearly captured for a first time, in a survey, that involves participants from all 28 European states and reflects the experiences of 42 000 women across EU. The data from the survey dreadfully shows that one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15. This project aims at addressing this crucial topic by building on the successful idea and results of a previous LLP project PACT, which (as its full name clearly reveals) was aimed at Promoting Awareness and Cooperation and Training in the Field of Domestic Violence (DV). Building on major and crucial European developments like the Istanbul Convention and the EU Victims’ Directive (Directive 2012/29/EU) and being strongly aligned with the main priorities and values entangled in strategic documents like the Paris Declaration and Europe 2020, EMPROVE! Aims at: EMPowering DV survivors by IMPROVing the DV intervention and prevention. More concretely, the EMPROVE! Project will train counsellors and trainers, as well as NGO staff, that works with DV survivors, enriching their training repertoire with the EMPROVE! Intellectual products. In other words, the main target groups of the project will be counsellors, tutors, mentors, trainers, working with DV survivors and final beneficiaries of the project will be the DV survivors, whereby EMPROVE! focuses on women, because they are disproportionally affected by this major problem.The overarching goals of EMPROVE! are going to be achieved through the following activities: - comprehensive good practice research and qualitative needs analysis of the challenges both counsellors and DV survivors face;- international and national train-the-trainer events, that will educate the first wave of EMPROVE! Counsellors- introduction of an innovative element in the training and counselling of the DV survivors – an EMPROVE! Social Platform, developed based on the theory of Gamification. This methodology is known to increase the intrinsic motivation, the empowerment and the feeling of community of the learners, keeping them involved throughout all phases of their training and counselling process. - Network Guidelines for successful prevention and intervention of DV- EMPROVE! Competence models and validation reference systems- Policy Paper with recommendations for amendments in local and international policies and practices on DV prevention and intervention- Assessment and validation activities of informally acquired skills and competences - Dissemination & Sustainability- Quality AssuranceIn the piloting of this unique EMPROVE! Approach, the project will train directly between 40 and 50 counsellors, piloting the EMPROVE! Training programme with ca. 60 DV survivors around Europe and disseminating the project products to further 250+ DV survivors. More than 70 professionals and key stakeholders will participate in the EMPROVE! Foundation Seminars and further 1000 will learn about the project through the dissemination activities of the consortium.The EMPROVE! Methodology, that will be applied in the current project, has the following key values in its core:• Holistic approach • Distribution of tasks according to the areas of expertise of each partner• Focus on Competence Oriented Learning in the development and implementation of all educational materials• Promotion of Validation of Formal and Informal Learning for all target groups and final beneficiaries • Impact on EU level: Project management and training/research experts in each partner countryAs a result from all these activities, Good practice brochure, Training products, Policy recommendations, Gamified EMPROVE! Social platform and EMPROVE! Network Guidelines will be developed.With these activities and products, the project makes important steps towards the response of education and training to the main challenges of today's world and to the need to improve the intervention and prevention of such huge social problem as DV. Potential long-term benefits from the EMPROVE! Activities and products are expected for counsellors, trainers, DV Survivors, but also for employers, local and national public bodies, Moreover, the impact and the benefits from the EMPROVE! Project are increased by the fact that the project products are designed to live after the project lifecycle has ended. This will be further ensured by the readiness and motivation of all partners (representing seven of the EU member states) to include the EMPROVE! Training programme in their core activities.To sum up, the project is expected to make a significant contribution to enhance knowledge on the matter of domestic violence, to enhance skills and competences for DV prevention and intervention and to promote social and civic competences, democratic values and fundamental rights, social inclusion, non-discrimination, active citizenship and first and foremost – empowerment of DV survivors.

Staying in good health, adopting healthy life styles and being informed about the health system of the host country as well as having confidence to make use of it are pre-requisites of successful integration of refugees and migrants into their European host societies. But clearly, there is a lack of consideration in the existing integration programmes of the specific challenges migrants face with regard to health issues. Well-being, poverty, employment and legal status are factors that have crucial impact on the health of refugees and migrants as well as on the exertion of their right to access quality healthcare. Although migrant women share many integration challenges with migrant men, their exclusion risks are even more pronounced, because of simultaneous gender, racial and class discrimination.In the initial research phase this was further investigated. The VIM research delivered important details to understand the range of difficulties migrants face when they seek to access health services. The Research Report contains, among others, the results of 60 expert interviews about health, learning needs of migrant adults, most relevant health education topics and suitable methodological approaches likely to succeed with hard-to-reach target groups. In this context adult education has an important role to play. While it is very difficult to get those migrants who would need it most involved in health information classes, adult education should try to work with these target groups where they can be found, i.e. in integration, education and training programmes on other subjects.VIM addresses adult educators and training providers working with migrants and refugees in various contexts. The project substantially seeks to extend the professional competence of these educators to address health issues in their teaching, without being health education experts themselves with the ultimate aim to promote and improve the health literacy among migrants.For this purpose, the VIM consortium has developed a collection of small learning activities on relevant health issues. These can be used by trainers and educators in various courses to address specific health issues in six relevant topic areas. For each of these areas information and concrete training instructions are provided. These enable educators to apply the activities with little preparation and to respond to spontaneous needs in the group, as well as to consciously address specific topics.The training activities are supplemented by educational guidelines that serve as a source of inspiration for trainers to include health-related topics in their courses, without losing sight of different cultural conceptions of body and health and sensitive factors in migrant health education such as religion and gender. The training materials together with background information, educational resources, contacts and links to stakeholders and national health initiatives for migrants are presented on the VIM online Hub. Another feature of the Hub is a forum for trainers to exchange experiences. The VIM approach and training materials were piloted in national pilots to verify whether they are practice-fit and feasible. The 6-month piloting phase involved 55 educators and almost 500 migrants and refugees. Their experience and feedback are presented in the Experience Report. The report provides an overview of the learning outcomes gained through the national pilots, and describes the main points of feedback. It also highlights the achievements, successes, challenges met, solutions found, and recommendations for future users. Although the actual impact cannot be measured within the timeframe of a two-year Erasmus plus project, the feedback from the pilot trials has given the consortium confirmation that they have developed a valuable source of health literacy activities for migrants. VIM activities can be used by various organisations and individuals to facilitate the integration of migrants/refugees in Europe and improve their lifestyles.As an incentive the VIM consortium has developed the VIM Quality Badge – a tangible label designed for trainers and training providers who have integrated elements of health prevention and health education into training courses with migrants according to the VIM approach and want to show their commitment to others. The badge aims to add to the sustainability of the project at European level and shall attract adult educators and training providers to adopt the VIM approach in their contexts. During the project lifetime it was awarded to all organisations that participated in the pilots.The project was implemented by a partnership consisting of education, health, migration and gender experts from five major migration entry and host countries (DE, AT, DK, IT, GR). The partners have made a joint effort to spread the information about the VIM offer, trying to reach as many potential users and beneficiaries as possible through their networks.

The idea of “doing theatre” as a means to support different disadvantaged groups at risk of social exclusion is quite ancient. Good practices are spread all over Europe, showing the potentials, effectiveness and transversal applicability of this methodology, which can be successfully applied to any age groups and adapted to several targets affected by different kinds of social disease. In a few words, this educational approach is based upon the idea of developing key competences and skills, increasing sense of initiative, self-confidence and self-esteem by practising theatre, thus facilitating social inclusion.Plenty of examples and success stories demonstrate the usefulness of this approach. Within the Italian context, one of the most relevant best practices belongs to the Community of San Patrignano, one of the partners of this project, using theatre for the rehabilitation of former drug addicts and eventually performing in prestigious theatres such as “Piccolo di Milano”, “Olimpico di Vicenza” and within the “Festival Pirandelliano”. Other Italian good practices have gained visibility and recognition at international level such as the Taviani’s docu-drama “Cesare deve morire”, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2012 and interpreted by a group of detainees of the Roman Rebibbia prison. Similarly, the “Compagnia della Fortezza” by Armando Punzo is another fortunate and well known example of theatre in prison, whereas disabled people were involved by the director Pippo del Bono both in cinema and theatre performances.A peculiar form, born in Brazil during the 80s and then become quite popular in Europe for its transversal applicability, is the “Theatre of the Oppressed”, based on the idea that while practicing theatre the “spect-actors” can transform the relation between themselves and their surroundings. However, this is just a possible declination of the extensive and powerful methodology of Social and Community Theatre.According to these premises, this project aims to promote cooperation and the exchange of good practices at European level and take advantage of the EU transparency and recognition tools to increase the training opportunities and employability of professionals working in the field of Social Theatre.In particular, the Specific objectives of the project are:• To promote the diffusion of Social and Community Theatre as an effective means for social inclusion of disadvantaged adult learners• To strengthen cooperation and facilitate the exchange of good practices in the field of non-formal education among partner organisations• To jointly develop and validate a training course addressed to STO• To boost a process for the recognition and standardization at EU level of the SOCIAL THEATRE OPERATOR (STO), a new professional figure defined in terms of knowledge, competences and skillsThe main target groups addressed by the project can be identified at three levels:• Non-profit organisations supporting different groups of disadvantaged adult learners working • Professional adult educators and volunteers working in the field of Social and Community Theatre• Groups at high risk of social exclusion and segregation such as migrants, disabled, prisoners, ethnic minorities, former drug addicts, NEETs, etc.The most important tangible results of the project are three Intellectual Outputs, namely:- Description of the EU standard professional profile of the Social Theatre Operator;- Training course for the Social Theatre Operator;- Methodological guidelines for validation, accreditation and certification at national level.These three outputs, which are strictly connected among them, will be promoted and disseminated through four Multipliers Events including a huge final event in San Patrignano (Italy) supported by Regione Emilia Romagna.4 Joint Staff Training Events will be organised in partner countries to promote capacity building and the exchange of good practices:- 1 training course in Spain on EU transparency and recognition tools;- 3 Peer Learning Workshops (in Italy, Portugal and Poland) to share good practices in training and working with different disadvantaged groups of adult learners.Pilot courses to test and validate the training will be organised in 4 countries (Italy, Poland, Ireland, Portugal), followed by a work-based learning experience, so that each student will run a theatrical workshop addressing different categories of disadvantaged adult learners. A total of around 80 students trained and 600-800 disadvantaged adult learners belonging to different categories will then benefit from the activities of this project.Four Multiplier Events will be organized in Portugal, Spain, Poland and Italy to disseminate the project outputs and the wider public so as to maximise the impact of the project. A huge final event will take place by the end of the project in San Patrignano Community, one of the places symbol of the whole project.

"BYMBE Project is building up on a national Austrian Project called ""Job Navi"" http://www.zig-training.at/kurs/job-navi-junge-muetter/ , which was developped within a set of measures targeting NEETs in Vienna and accomaning studies how to face ESL and lifelong consequences of it. ""Job Navi"" was designed by Doris Landauer due to the specific problems faced by young girls getting pregnant and who do not finish their professional education. This concern is a problem throughout Europe, not yet adressed by comparable measures. BYMBE partnership a consortium of expert partners with supplementary competences in counseling, motivaitonal training, women and youth work and dissemination activities from 6 european countries: Austria, Italy, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Irland and Spain - now aims to develop a transfer of parts of this best practice to a) other countries and b) to include outreach services outside big national centers. Thus the project will focus on the adaption to national contexts regarding education and accreditation systems and to local service provision in the partner countries. All partners will implement the project in smaller centers. Palermo and Dublin are of about over 500.000 inhabitants, Kaunas, Gijon and Innsbruck are at about 400.000, 275.000 and 122.000 and the Bulgarian partner, is going to implement the activities with target groups in Haskovo region (250.000 inhabitants). Identified TARGET GROUPS of the project: • Direct Targets: Young mothers aged 15-25 who have not finished their professional education (IO2,4,5,6) and Social Workers (IO1 and 3) • Indirect Targets: Social workers, teachers, trainers, other stakeholders in the field and general public for dissemination; Based on the above information the overall objective of the project is to improve social inclusion of young mothers, which are not in employment, education or training (NEETs) by bringing them back to school (education or training). The specific project objectives reflect the holistic and innovative nature of the approach chosen by the partners. BYMBE OBJECTIVES: • Adapt & promote good practices of support for young mothers for going back to school or in employment in Europe • Develop innovative outreach strategy & motivational campaign for awareness raising on the issue • Support social workers and trainers by provision of additional tools, knowledge and skills for their work with YM • Develop holistic support instruments for YM, including counseling, training, peer-groups s.o. • Disseminate project results and raise awareness about the problem and how to address it The overall longterm IMPACT of the BYMBE project will be to raise the general awareness of the risk to be exposed to poverty of young mothers dropping out education and to motivate young mothers to re-enter education. Most important on shortterm during the lifetime of the BYMBE project is the development of a successful support package for young mothers which will be implemented in a pilot with min. 12 young mothers from 6 countries (all together 72) are expected to re-enter education. They will be the pioneers for promotion of the project tools after the project end. In the last period of the project the results will be mainstreamed to key players in the field by direct interviews and multiplier events in every country with totally 200 participants in order to mainstream the project on national and european level."

Roma communities are considered as one of the most socially vulnerable groups at EU wide level, suffering from multiple marginalization risks and being discriminated against by the general public. Roma women usually suffer from what in academic bibliography is called double discrimination: because of their cultural heritage and because they are women.The situation of Roma women at all levels affecting social integration (education, employment, economic situation, living conditions) is far worse compared with men. Indicatively, based on FRA more women than men are unable to read or write, with the differences in the rates of illiterates between men and women above 16 years of age to the whole population being 12% in Romania, 8% in Spain and 12% in Greece. Regarding employment, based on FRA the share of Roma men whose main activity is ‘in employment’ is consistently higher than that of Roma women. Across all surveyed countries, more than twice as many Roma men were in employment than Roma women. The situation is similar also for Northern Macedonia. According to the Strategy for Roma in Republic of Macedonia 2014-2020, unemployment among Roma is almost twice as high as the national average and even higher among Roma women. The same for education; although the completion of primary and secondary education is a legal requirement, noticeable deviations are existent towards Roma girls.The proposed project (PROMA) focuses on the adult education stream by aiming to foster the integration of Roma women in their local communities through education in the form of practical local programmes, which is the main objective of the project. Specific objectives include: a) utilizing the competitive advantages and social promoting vehicles of the local context in all 4 implementing countries; b) building the capacities of formal & non formal educators of Roma women; c) design & implementation of local pilot programmes aiming at social inclusion of Roma women through education jointly by educators and Roma women. PROMA is going to be implemented in 4 countries with dense Roma populations (Romania, Spain, Greece, North Macedonia) and involves 2 groups of participants: formal & non formal educators of Roma women and Roma women. 40 formal & non formal educators of Roma women and 100 Roma women will be involved in the implementation of PROMA, which includes the following activities:-Identifying pathways to integration (needs’ assessment)-Development of the capacity building programme for formal and non-formal educators working with Roma women-Pilot delivery of the capacity building programme for formal and non-formal educators supporting Roma women-Design and implementation of pilot programmes aiming at the integration of Roma women at local levelMoreover, 3 open days will be implemented (in Spain, Greece & North Macedonia), along with an international conference (in Romania) for introducing the project to a wide audience.The methodological approach of PROMA follows the logic model, with the implementation unfolding in 3 phases: a) study of the background and relevant good practices; b) design of the capacity building programme and the supporting tools; c) pilot delivery of the capacity building programme and implementation of the local pilot programmes promoting the inclusion of Roma women through education.Main outcomes of PROMA-An innovative methodology fostering the social inclusion of Roma women will be introduced, utilizing adult education as vehicle, following a locally-based context and promoting local pilot programmes jointly designed and implemented by Roma women and formal & non formal educators of Roma women-The capacities of 40 formal & non formal educators of Roma women in the 4 implementing countries will be developed in terms of implementing the developed methodology for the social inclusion of Roma women-At least 100 Roma women in the 4 implementing countries will have their skills and competences built by participating to the local pilot programmes-Local pilot programmes aiming at social inclusion of Roma women through education will be implemented jointly by educators and Roma women in the 4 implementing countriesExpected project results & envisaged impact:-Formal & non formal educators of Roma women are equipped with a new methodology and trained in order to better respond to the special and particular educational challenges that Roma women face preventing their integration in local communities-Roma women are more engaged in following educational initiatives at local level aiming at their social inclusion, as well as have their skills and competences increased-The level of acceptance of Roma women where the pilots have taken place has improved and cases of racist or phobic phenomena against Roma have dropped-Social cohesion levels in the local communities where the local pilot programmes have taken place have elevated and the level of integration of Roma women in those communities has increased