The WomenPRO project develops an integral and holistic training approach to motivate & support young women especially from remote and rural areas to start and manage their own social business in the local community. The training course provides the women with the relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes required of a female entrepreneur to succeed. It allows them to turn their vision for a successful new business into a reality (from idea to business plan). It empowers young women with employment, skills and hope.The project general objective was to enhance & promote social entrepreneurship spirit among young women by raising awareness about & supporting them in evolving their skills in entrepreneurship, creativity & innovation. The primary target group of the project included:- young girls and women from rural and remote areas who have difficulties to find employment in their region and are forced to move away to bigger cities (unemployed/ disadvantaged/ minority/ migrant women under 29 years)- coaches, trainers, professionals working with aspiring female entrepreneurs in the partners’ regions. The secondary target group of the project included:- unemployment offices &labour directorates - consultancy companies, NGOs, professional associations, career orientation centres- different local educational institutions e.g. VET providers - organisations which working with start-ups or social entrepreneurs - associations & professional unions of (social) entrepreneurial consultants, start-ups supporting structures, professional trainers- local administration structures - agencies for development of entrepreneurship - public & governmental structures- universities, colleges, high education providers, nation-wide VET centres, etc.The project delivery consisted of 5 phases:1. Learning Model (SIF)2. WomenPRO pack development (OIC, SIF & AVA)3. WomenPRO Platform (EuroSC)4. Piloting of the outcomes (AVA)5. Refining WomenPRO pack (OIC, SIF & AVA) The WomenPRO project developed the following Intellectual Outputs:1. Learning Model (IO2): provides didactic methodology (reversed training methodology) for WomenPRO training course and the Manual for coaches as well as increases the capacity of trainers to facilitate training program for young women. The instructional design for the Learning Model is explored with reflection to the Need Analysis undertaken in partnership countries by interviewing 18 women-entrepreneurs from Poland, Lithuania, Cyprus and Bulgaria.2. Training Course (IO3): modular training course which consists of 5 main modules (Be motivated, Be creative, Be skilled, Be informed, Be successful). It combines traditional training with self-paced learning on the e-learning platform. The course consists of 186 academic hours (2 hours of introductory session, 178 hours of the training course both face-to-face and online learning, 6 hours of the final assessment – business plan presentation and pitch).3. Manual for Coaches (IO4): It is the ultimate guide to WomenPRO blended learning, combining online learning on the WomenPRO platform with face-to-face instructions. It guides the coaches/trainers through the process of delivery of the Introductory session and five modules of the WomenPRO Training Course.4. Interactive exercises and tests (IO5): tests for pre-assessment and post-assessment of the obtained soft skills - it forms integral part of the learning process as it guides trainers/coaches in the approach taken to reach the learning objectives of the WomenPRO training course and perform evaluation of learning outcomes regularly and systematically (pre-assessment, end of the module evaluation and post assessment). It includes 175 self-assessment questions (35 per module) and the Business Plan template.5. E-learning platform: online environment for both trainees and trainers with theoretical and practical content (Open Educational Resources) on the modules of the course. It brings coaches/trainers and trainees together with open source. All the results are freeely accessible as open source material in all partner languages: PL, GR, LT, BG and EN on the WomenPRO website and e-learning platform. The partners secured wide coverage of the project at local, national and European level and impact on the target groups and stakholders. In the piloting phase, 21 aspiring female entrepeneurs and 7 trainers were involved to test the resuts and provide their first-hand feedback on their usability and applicability. Multiplier events were organized in all project countries and attended by 117 people. The partners estabilshed a network of 14 associated partners, strongly supporting the project. The project has its dedicated website: https://www.womenpro.eu/ and social media account.

EMPOWER (Educational Materials for Practitioners providing Opportunities for vulnerable Women’s Employability and Resilience) was developed by a consortium of 4 skilled and experienced organisations:1.Inova (UK), SME specialised in gender and skills-building projects2.KMOP (EL), NGO in social care3.SIF (LT), NGO in social care4.VMST (IS), Directorate of Labour It found its origin in research demonstrating that in times of economic difficulty, such as the recent recession, Support Services for vulnerable adults and particularly for women are often cut. 2015, the year that EMPOWER started its development, formed no exception. Statistics painted a bleak picture of the issues vulnerable women face, within and outside of the EU, preventing them from becoming economically or educationally active:- 1 in 4 women across Europe experience domestic violence throughout their lifetimes and between 6-10% of women suffer domestic violence in a given year (CoE, 2002)- 68% of human trafficking victims are women (Eurostat, 2013) and- A significant proportion of refugee women living in the UK have experienced violence prior to arrival and remain vulnerable to violence in the UK, their country of asylum (Refugee Council, 2012). There continues to be a need for high quality support and training to vulnerable women at risk of exclusion from the labour market and their Support Workers. The sector strongly relies on volunteers to provide much needed support in the fields of personal empowerment, confidence and employability or entrepreneurship skills. Support Workers have however been overlooked in terms of the type and variety of training they are provided with. Whilst issue-specific training is provided, Support Workers report that they feel less able to support and provide information and guidance on issues relating to employability and entrepreneurship to their female clients. EMPOWER was initiated to bridge this gap and set itself two main objectives:1.Equip Support Workers working with vulnerable women with the soft skills training necessary to pass these skills onto women in order to increase their employability and entrepreneurship opportunities. 2.Equip vulnerable women with greater confidence, belief & resilience to succeed economically. The main activities undertaken to achieve these objectives have been the following:- A preliminary Needs Analysis to further define the training needs of Support Workers working with vulnerable women and of the vulnerable women themselves to increase employability and entrepreneurship skills and opportunities.- Development of 3 high-quality Training Programmes (EMPOWER Others – EMPOWER Yourself – EMPOWER Circles) that have ensured to train the project’s target groups in building the necessary soft skills to better support vulnerable women (in the case of Support Workers and volunteers), and to better support themselves (in the case of vulnerable women).- Development of a set of Facilitator Guidelines to support the delivery of EMPOWER Training Programmes.- Development of the EMPOWER Learning Hub, an online eLearning platform that contains all training materials developed, extra reading materials and other interesting resources. This platform will remain available as an open access OER.- Development of the Policymakers Guide – ‘Female Empowerment for Employability – a Guide for Policymakers’ covering lessons learned in EMPOWER and recommendations to improve policy and practice in the field of employability and entrepreneurship training for vulnerable women and Support Workers.- Multiplier Events to promote EMPOWER project results and to further spread the word about its activities.- A Final Conference to celebrate the project's success.With these activities EMPOWER achieved positive impact among the partners, its participants and beyond, leading to around 23,000 Support Workers, volunteers, vulnerable women, stakeholders and other interested parties directly and indirectly benefiting from the project. Not only did most of our quantitative targets exceed in numbers, qualitative feedback received from everyone involved has been incredibly positive throughout. Our direct target groups enjoy increased skills, competences and knowledge about employability and entrepreneurship skills together with added soft skills and strengths-based training in resilience and positive psychology.The project funding may have come to an end, but EMPOWER will continue. The partnership has received broad interest from a number of organisations to continue delivering the programme with their clients and/or employees. The project has hereby grown its capacity for support, which is in turn expected to lead to helping an increasingly large number of vulnerable women back into employment, education or self-employment.“The EMPOWER Course has been such a big help to me. I learnt that with perseverance you can do anything you put your mind to. There is never a problem, it’s a challenge.'

<< Objectives >>Project PEACE enhances didactical effectiveness of Adult educators by empowering them with an ONLINE DIGITAL DATABASE FOR TRAUMA AWARENESS AND PARASYMPATHETIC ACTIVITIES FOR ADULT LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS that also supports development of their digital capacity.We aspire an accelerated learning and Re-Skilling of adult trainees suffering PTSD through Parasympathetic state inducing activities – thus fast tracking their job-integration.Support green practices in training via use of a digital tool.<< Implementation >>Project PEACE is scheduled for 12 months with the following activities:- Research, compilation, design and creation of an Online Digital Database of Trauma informed Parasympathetic tools and activities (ODD) of immense didactical utility for Adult Learning Environments- peer-review of 120+ didactical resources- Translation of ODD from English to Estonian, German, Greek and Lithuanian.- Transnational partner meetings in Month 1 and 10- Dissemination conference- Project management reports<< Results >>PEACE project results:1. an Online Digital Database of Trauma informed Parasympathetic tools and activities. These 120+ peer-reviewed didactical resources - suitable for Adult Learning Environments - will be available in English, Estonian, German, Greek and Lithuanian.2. Project management reportsMeta4 (AT) plus 3 partners VESTIFEX (EE), SIF (LT), and IASIS (GR) - Adult Education Institutes and Network NGOs - will improve their project management skills and intercultural competence.

MyHandScraft was implemented over 31 months in Italy, Greece, UK, Cyprus and Lithuania, all countries where migrants’ talents and culture are still not enough recognised and where the project implemented a complex set of activities aimed at releasing the potential of migrants in the EU.In spite of the challenges related to the COVID19 pandemic which hindered the delivery of face-to-face activities in all the involved countries, MyHandScraft has encouraged the sharing of valuable knowledge between migrant and local handcrafters, fostering intercultural dialogue, cross-cultural collaboration and mutual-learning, highlighting the value of handicraft to address integration obstacles.MyHandScraft has managed to achieve its overall aim to offer high quality learning opportunities tailored to the needs of low-skilled adults in the handicraft sector, and to reach its specific objectives, i.e.: •developing an attractive e-educational programme (IO3) able to improve migrants’ basic skills, increasing their opportunities for social & economic integration;•up-skilling / re-skilling migrants & local handcrafters through handicraft to unleash their talents, boosting inter-cultural dialogue and cross-cultural collaboration;•increasing the competencies of adult educators offering an innovative approach to education based on valorising participants’ cultural heritage;•triggering and reinforcing cooperation among local handcrafters and migrants through handicraft;•supporting the contribution that migrant and local handcrafters make to the creative economy & European society.The project methodology was focused on valorising migrants’ and locals’ traditional handicrafts, to trigger their social & transversal skills. The action started with a Field study research (IO1), whose outcomes were used during the 6-day staff training event (C1) and provided the basis for the creation and implementation of an E-educational Programme (IO3). A Handbook for Adult Educators (IO4) & a Digital Guide for Handcrafters (IO5) collecting video-testimonies of workshops’ migrant participants were developed, and all project outputs were made available on the E-Learning platform (IO2). 10 multiplier events (5 Forums, 4 local Festivals, and 1 International Festival) were delivered.The project has involved adult migrants experienced in handcrafts, local adult handcrafters and adult educators as direct target groups. More specifically:-250 respondents (25 migrant handcrafters + 25 local handcrafters / country) involved in the field study research across 5 countries to develop the state-of-the-art report (IO1)-23 participants across 5 countries, having designed their personal portfolios (IO2)-67 among migrant and local participants involved in the local workshops (IO3) across 5 partner countries-22 video-interviews with migrants, 2 with locals and 10 tutorials included in the digital guide (IO5)-10 adult educators (2/partner) attending the training event in Palermo (C1)-85 people reached through the MyHandScraft Forums (E1-5): 17 per country-155 people reached through the MyHandScraft Festivals (E7-12): 40 (IT) + 27 (CY) + 23 (GR) + 25 (UK) + 40 (LT) RESULTS & IMPACT:•Developed educational offer targeted to migrants, to improve their Key Competences and creative skills.•Supported development of social, entrepreneurial & intercultural competences of migrants & local handcrafters and enhanced socio-economic integration;•Unleashed potential of migrants skills, and valorised knowledge & expertise;•Unleashed innovative and creative capacities of local handcrafters/artists;•Enhanced competences of adult educators, equipped with an innovative educational methodology based on valorising cultural heritage; •Reinforced cooperation among educational and cultural fields;•Elaborated ICT resources to promote inclusive education by approaching social, entrepreneurial, and handicraft skills;•Enhanced inter-cultural dialogue and cross-cultural collaboration; •Promoted knowledge of cultural heritage.In the LONG TERM, the project will contribute to innovate educational and training offer for migrants at EU level by providing flexible and tested resources able to promote their social and economic integration, their employability and the interaction with the hosting societies, while encouraging them discover their own talents. The resources developed by the project will remain available in the long term, thus supporting cross-fertilisation between cultural and educational sectors, local and migrant artists, and participants will continue to act as role models for other people through their stories told through the digital guide. The project’s outputs will represent a precious resource for adult educators too, especially those working with migrants. Finally, the success of the action will inspire new initiatives building on the lessons learnt during the implementation.

Research has shown that suicide and self-harm activities among teenagers is a very complicated phenomenon and difficult to prevent or seriously decrease. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has labelled it a word health problem. I fact, suicide is among the fifth most common causes of primature death in the age group 15-19 years in the world. A recent report showed that Iceland was one of four countries within OECD where suicide rates among 15-19 year old were the highest (17.5 suicides per 100.000 people) and Lithuania has had one of the steepest rates of increase since the 1990s. While rates were on the decline in Iceland they started rising in recent years. A 2015 European Social Survey further revealed that in self-reporting Icelandic teenagers were more depressed and anxious than their peers in the Nordic Countries. These statistics are alarming and too little is being done to tackle this health problem. While the family and the schools should be at the forefront of preventive measures against mental health problems there is still a need for a strategy and actions from the public authorities. Suicide rates among teenagers in Ireland have also been on the rise in recent years with UNICEF reporting them as the 4th highest within OECD with 10.3 suicides among 15-19 year olds per 100.000 people and a rise in self-reporting ofmental health issues among teenagers in Ireland (data from Iceland was missing but OECD 2013 data is reported above). The project Building Resilience and Brighter Futures School Programme, or BUILD, aims at equipping 13-14 year old teenagers (8th graders) in Hafnarfjordur municipality and Kaunas city, some of whom might already be experiencing suicidal ideation and engaging in self-harm, with emotional and resilience techniques and strategies. This will be done through their participation in a six week resilience course which is run through once-weekly sessions. In this course they will develop the coping skills and inner resilience to help them overcome the challenges that life presents. The learning will be integrated in the agenda of youth centers located within each compulsory school in Hafnarfjordur and in two compulsory schools in Kaunas and will be facilitated jointly by a 8th grade teacher and a youth worker with support from a therapist from Píeta Ísland and The Social Innovation Fund in Lithuania. Sessions will take place during school hours to ensure participation of most pupils in the cohort, including those who are vulnerable and marginalized from their peers. Prior to launching the Building Resilience and Brighter Futures Programme in 2017 on which BUILD is based on, the experts at Athena in Ireland reviewed all educational programmes available in Ireland and consulted with own clinical staff to find out the age that they thought would be most beneficial to receiving the training. Focus groups were conducted with teachers and pupils to ensure that the programme responded to the specific needs of pupils and that pupil and teachers voices and opinions were captured and responded too. All agreed that early adolescence was a time of huge change physically, emotionally and socially, and thus an optimal age to focus on. Icelandic and Lithuanian teens enter lower secondary school at the age of 13. For many this is a big change. Targeting pupils in the 8th grade is thus optimal. The BUILD learning course will be transferred and adapted to Icelandic and Lithuanian contexts with guidance from Athena experts. In addition three new learning modules will be added to the course. Athena experts will guide the Icelandic and Lithuania partners in the adaptation process and in the training of teachers and youth workers.The organisation developed the course to meet a rising need for their services among teenagers under 18 years (rose by 163% 2011-2016). The course was launched in eight schools in Ireland in April 2017 but has since reached thousands of students in 57 schools across the country. Given the success of the implementation in Ireland, we can easily assume that there is great need for preventive measures in regards to mental health among teenagers in Iceland and Lithuania as well. While BUILD will be piloted in Hafnarfjordur and Kaunasthe long term aim of Píeta Ísland, s to implement the course in all municipalities across Iceland and in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The expected impact of the BUILD course on the participants (pupils) is a positive and statistically significant change in their emotional well-being and outlook for the future. The ultimate impact would be the lowering of suicide rates in Iceland and Lithuania but that can only be measured if the course reaches in the future a higher proportion of the 8th graders annually. Another expected impact is an increased awareness of the importance of engaging in preventive mental health measures among youth to lower future health care and counselling costs, but more importantly to save lives.