<< Objectives >>The goal of this project is to develop non-formal training program and creative workshops for Ukrainian refugees living in the EU aimed at developing their coping skills, cultural competences, knowledge of host society, increasing psychological resilience, agency and self-esteem and ensuring their successful integration in the local communities. We aim at connecting Ukrainian refugees to local communities, stimulating intercultural dialogue and promoting inclusivity and diversity of the EU.<< Implementation >>1. Creative workshops for Ukrainian refugees living in the Netherlands and Lithuania focused on coping strategies, resilience and adaptation 2. Non-formal training program for refugees to improve their wellbeing, mental health and integration in the EU society3. Establishing self-support groups for refugees to ensure their continuous support after the end of the project4. Sharing the training program with adult educators involved in the integration of migrants and refugees<< Results >>- Three participatory workshops for 30-45 refugees each in two EU countries to develop their integration skills- Non-formal training program for refugees focused on resilience and coping strategies- Increased resilience, agency, self-esteem and wellbeing of refugees - Effective non-formal training methodology empowering adult educators involved in integration of refugees - Increased integration of refugees in the EU- Increased inclusivity and diversity of the EU

Adult education creates social change through enhancing social, economical, ecological prospects, improving sustainable attitude for environment in adult education and acquire the tools. Adult educators is key for achieving social change in the world. Within the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, the Commission called for a renewed European Agenda for Adult Learning where quality education and training, equity, and social cohesion become a widespread reality. This project is innovative and offers concrete suggestions on how to work and focuss adult educators to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) implementation. This project is innovative because it focusses on systemical approach for adult educators competencies which are based on sustainability in a broad of sense. Innovation of the project lies in development of practical material relevant for promoting sustainable attitude towards environment. Adult educators identify lack of systemical approach for SDG's development in Europe working in non-formal adult education field. There are mentioned policy mechanisms and different declarative documents but systemical implementation guidance and daily working manuals to reach local, national, European and worldwide context for adult educators (AE) are missing. Existing lack of concretesystemical manuals for AE to work in SD goals topic with adults in daily lifes shows relevance and innovation aspect of this project.Project aims to extend and develop competencies for adults educators (AE) and staff who support adults in sustainability in a broad sense of challenges of environment and climate changes with a focus on less consumption, zerowaste movement, healthy lifestyle, influence of physicalactivity on the physical and mental health and quality of life, active citizenship.More specific objectives of this project are:1. To prepare manual for adult educators based on SDGs which includes, among others, skills to lead a healthier life, knowledge about equitable and sustainable consumption, the promotion of gender equality, awareness about environmentally friendly transport and energy efficiency, as well as the promotion of sustainable, inclusive economic growth.2. To provide material for adults learners.aimed to raise their awaraness on sustainable development ideas.Intellectual Outputs relevant and it provides opportunities for adults educators to improve, strengthen their competencies in sustainability topic. Adult educators daily work with adults in this topic will ensure development of our common quality of life and thus give social, economic and ecological benefits to the participating countries. It is expected that the program participants will begin a deeper interest in one of the sustainable issues and in the future it will encourage them to active citizenship.There will be three main results – intellectual outputs of the project:1. S.A.F.E (Sustainable Atittude For Environment) case study in adult education 2. S.A.F.E manual for adult educators 3. S.A.F.E material for adultsDevelopment of the intellectual outputs is based on andragogy principles and Malcolm Knowles concept. Also on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) competencies, Life Skills, sustainable consumption, Adult education in the SDG framework.Target group members (adults, adults education specialist, teachers, leaders, andragogy specialists) will be selected by using via social media forms and directly sending invitations to adult education centers, adults education associations, NGOs which are actively working withadults. Approx. 40 target group members from each project partner country will be included into project activities. In total - 200 participants.Tthe project will have an impact on non-formal, informal adult education providers (adults educators, staff working with adults, family members, communities), adult education experts from formal and non-formal educational sector, businesses and industry, NGOs and civic society organisations, also universities (researchers, students, especially adult educators, andragogy scientists and practitians), policy makers on local, national and European levels. The desired long term impact is that the relevant authorities take leadership and involve all levels of society to help adult educators to spread ideas of S.A.F.E. On the European level, the discussion about how support the quality working together policy makers and adult educators to reach SDG's goal. Manual for adult educators will reach at European, national and local levels adult educators and will be available for further development of adult education communities and society.The project will contribute to strengthening international cooperation and experience on promoting sutainable development ideas. Project outputs are expected to bring a step further in the process of strenghening sustainability approach in partner countries as well as in all Europe.

According to reports, circular economy could help boost EU GDP by EUR 1.8 trillion by 2030, result in over 1 million new jobs across the EU by 2030, and be central to cutting greenhouse gas emissions (Ellen MacArthur et al. 2015) and the chemical industry could be at the forefront of this transition by offering innovative solution for a better use of the materials and energy sources. (CEFIC; 2019) However a few challenges are preventing a smooth shift to circular economy, in particular:•Lack of awareness about circular economy benefits at social, environmental and business level.•Lack of specialized training and education promoting skills necessary to fit in the circular economy model•Lack of national policies promoting ESD principles through a multi-sectorial approach•Lack of interest in Science and Technology subjects and related career among European students and young peopleCIRCLE-LAB, in line with the European lifelong learning approach, is aimed at supporting the initial and continuous professional development of teachers’ profiles through the application of practical and innovative tools in order to promote circular chemistry in secondary schools. The project will consider identified needs & gaps related to circular chemistry education and in particular:-need for a practice-based approach that provides innovative resources and tools-lack of a promotion of circular economy principles and ESD core competencies within chemistry education.-necessity of promoting and developing digital learning environment.The main Project results will be:OUTPUT 1. CIRCLE-LAB Modules This output aims at defining a specific educational framework for the teaching of circular chemistry for secondary school students.OUTPUT 2. CIRCLE-LAB training programmeThis output consists in the development of a training curriculum designed for secondary school teachers, aimed at consolidating teaching professions from Initial Teacher Education (ITE) to Continuing Professional Development (CPD). OUTPUT 3. CIRCLE-LAB ToolkitThe objective of this output is the design and development of the Toolkit for educating secondary school students on circular chemistryOUTPUT 4. CIRCLE-LAB online environmentThe CIRCLE-LAB online environment will consist of two key components:1. The MOOC: the online course for teachers (IO2) offered as a MOOC in order to allow large number of users and to facilitate its transferability and further exploitation.2. The Structured Toolkit: It will contain the Toolkit and related guidelines developed in IO3, organized online in a way that it promotes the tools’ association with the CIRCLE-LAB training programme and their interdependence.Project impact:The desired impact at local and regional level is that the CIRCLE-LAB may become a reference in developing skills for circular chemistry and achieve the highest adhesion and participation by the individuals and organisations involved in each partner's network, in order to offer services and support to learning activities about circular chemistry.At national level, the desired impact is to involve potential schools and teachers in the field of circular chemistry that can be multiplier actors and contribute to the use of Project results.At European level, the project will enforce the promotion of circular chemistry and ESD principles and its added value on the environment as well as on the social and economic level.

"<< Background >>This project is initiated by the partner organisations from four EU countries affected by the global Covid-19 crisis. According to the recent Eurofund survey, all EU countries were negatively affected by the pandemic. In spring 2021, there was an overall increase in negative feelings, anxiety, loneliness, and depression, across most social groups. An increase in depressive feelings was recorded particularly among younger groups; 64% of young adults (18–34 years) are at risk of depression, while the highest increase in loneliness was recorded for senior citizens. All project partners have experience in adult education. We all share the common goal to improve health and wellbeing of the most vulnerable social groups suffering from the long-term consequences of Covid-19, including young adults and senior citizens. All members of our organisations are also suffering from the negative consequences of pandemic. We need to respond to this ongoing crisis as soon as possible, in order to prevent more negative consequences in the future. It is well-known from the previous social crises that dealing with immediate consequences, saving lifes and restoring infrastructure is not enough. Healing process has to include sharing experiences of loss and grief and building resilience and positive thinking. This process starts with acknowledgement of negative experiences. Trying to forget the past without analysing it is a recipe for post-traumatic stress disorder and more negative health and social consequences in the future. The project aims to reduce negative consequences of the pandemic for health and wellbeing. We plan to achieve this goal by developing an educational program and a non-formal learning methodology focused on improving physical health and psychological well-being of people suffering from long-term negative consequences of the Corona crisis. The adult education program will be focused on developing lifestyle skills that will help learners to cope with the psychological stress, to build resilience in the face of loss and grief, to share negative experiences with their peers and to gain psychological support. The innovative non-formal learning methodology for adult educators will be based on storytelling and will help to improve the competences of educators in dealing with vulnerable groups suffering from negative physical and mental consequences of the global health crisis. Storytelling is a powerful tool that helps people to make sense of stressful events and traumatic experience. By telling their stories, people from vulnerable groups, including young adults and elderly citizens will gain agency and the sense of control of their life. Storytelling as a non-formal learning methodology will help in building resilience, positive thinking, coping with loss and grief and getting support from peers and healthcare professionals. This methodology will be used to develop a webinar for adult educators working with vulnerable groups (young adults and senior citizens). Participants will be able to improve their competences of giving support to vulnerable groups by encouraging storytelling, active listening and empathy. We also plan to develop an online course for people suffering from the negative consequences of Covid-19 crisis, focusing on two groups: young adults and senior citizens. Both young adults and senior citizens suffered from the limitation on their physical and social activities that negatively affected their physical and psychological health. However, their challenges are different. While young adults could compensate the lack of social contacts by using digital networks, senior people often lack digital skills. On the other hand, senior citizens have more resilience, simply because they experiences more negative events in their life. By sharing their experiences and co-creating solutions these two groups can help each other to get back to normal life.<< Objectives >>The project aims to achieve the following objectives:1. Develop an educational program and an online course for building resilience and stress resistance, improving physical health and psychological wellbeing for young adults and senior citizens suffering from the negative consequences of Covid-19 crisis. This project is initiated by partner organisations from four EU countries affected by the global Covid-19 crisis. All members of our organisations are themselves suffering from the negative consequences of pandemic. We strongly believe in the power of collaboration and the synergy effect of combining different expertise areas, such as storytelling, behavioural change techniques for health and well being, digital skills for social communication, and non-formal learning methodology, in developing efficient educational tools to build resilience and stress resistance. We approach our goal by focusing on sharing experiences through storytelling, developing empathy and mutual support between different individuals, social groups and different countries, and creating positive impact on society in general, both locally than internationally. 2. Reduce negative consequences of global health crisis for health and wellbeing. We need to respond to this ongoing crisis as soon as possible, in order to prevent even more negative consequences in the future. It is well-known from the previous social crises that dealing with immediate consequences is not enough. Healing process has to include sharing experiences of loss and grief and building resilience and positive thinking. This process starts with acknowledgement of negative experiences. Trying to forget the past without analysing it is a recipe for post-traumatic stress disorder and future crisis. 3. Address the needs of the two the most vulnerable social groups suffering from the long-term consequences of Covid-19: young adults and senior citizens.These two groups suffered from the restrictions on physical and social activities imposed by the lockdown, but they had different challenges: senior citizens lack digital skills to use social media and telecommunication devices for social communication, while young adults lack resilience and stress resistance. These two groups can help each other in developing coping strategies and resilience skills. 4. Develop an innovative non-formal learning methodology based on storytelling for adult educators that will increase their competences and give them educational tools to help learners to cope with stress and grief and to improve their physical health and psychological wellbeing. Storytelling is a tool used in psychotherapy, but not in adult learning. We will use storytelling techniques to share traumatic experiences, to create an opportunity for psychological peer support, to start the healing process and to build self-efficacy in adult learners. It will also encourage participants to take an active part in improving their health and wellbeing, helping others and making positive social impact.5. Develop non-formal adult learning material.The project will develop an educational program, online course, non-formal learning methodology and a webinar for adult educators. All results will aim at one goal: to help improve health and wellbeing of people who suffered from Covid-19 crisis. 6. Make positive social impact by providing useful educational tools for many stakeholders at the local and international level, including health organisations, youth centres, local governments, research centres, and home-care providers.<< Implementation >>The main project activities include: 1. Developing adult educational program focused on building behavioural skills and competences that will help learners to deal with everyday stress and long-term negative health consequences of the Covid-19 crisis. The program will be focused on building the following skills and competences: building resilience to prevent negative consequences of stress, grief and life changing events; stress-coping strategies and skills (e.g., meditation, mindfulness, positive thinking); digital skills to increase communication via social media and teleconference tools; gaining more control of physical health by developing healthy eating habits and physical exercise routine; storytelling skills to share negative experiences, frustrations and grief without aggression and self-destruction; empathy and active listening skills to provide psychological support to peers. The target groups of this activity will include: 1) elderly citizens suffering from the restrictions on social activity and lack of contact with their friends and family; 2) young people with special needs suffering from disruption of their daily physical and social activity; 3) all people suffering from physical and psychological consequences of Covid-19. 2. Developing online course ""Back to normal: Building resilience after Corona"" for elderly citizens suffering from the restrictions on social activity and lack of contact with their friends and family and young people with special needs suffering from disruption of their daily physical and social activity. The course will be focused on the following topics: how to go thorough loss and grief; coping with stress through meditation, mindfulness, and positive thinking; social communication via digital tools; how to take control over your health: eating habits and exercise routine; getting agency and self-efficacy by telling your Corona story; and gaining empathy by listening and giving support to peers.3. Developing non-formal learning methodology based on storytelling for adult educators to improve their competences of developing resilience in vulnerable groups suffering from negative physical and mental consequences of Covid-19 health crisis. The non-formal learning methodology will be based on the development of the following skills: storytelling skills to share feelings and experiences in the safe environment; empathy and active listening; providing understanding and support to people suffering from similar problems; co-creating solutions together and sharing them within the peer group; empowering learning group members with positive feedback and mutual support; increased self-efficacy and social participation of adult learners. The non-formal learning methodology will include educational tools that will help adult educators to organise and lead storytelling process and develop necessary skills of their learners, including young adults, and elderly citizens, in building resilience, positive thinking, coping with loss and grief, healthy eating habits, physical exercise routine, mindfulness and other skills that can help them to gain control of their physical health and psychological well being after the Covid-19 crisis. 4. Creating a Webinar: ""Stories about Corona: how to use storytelling in building resilience of young adults and senior citizens"" for adult educators working with senior citizens, young adults, mental health patients and residents of healthcare facilities.<< Results >>The outcomes of the project will include: 1. Adult educational program aimed at developing behavioural skills and competences that help learners to deal with everyday stress and long-term negative health consequences of the Covid-19 crisis, including resilience in the face of loss, grief and life changing events; skills of coping with psychological stress (e.g., meditation, mindfulness, positive thinking); digital skills to increase social communication via social media and teleconference tools; gaining more control of physical health by developing healthy eating habits and physical exercise routine; storytelling skills to share negative experiences, frustrations and grief without aggression and self-destruction; empathy and active listening skills to provide psychological support to peers. The program will be targeted at two main groups: elderly citizens suffering from the restrictions on social activity and lack of contact with their friends and family and young adults with special needs suffering from disruption of their daily physical and social activity. The program can be used for all people suffering from physical and psychological consequences of Covid-19. 2. Online course ""Back to normal: Building resilience after Corona"" for elderly citizens suffering from the restrictions on social activity and lack of contact with their friends and family and for young people with special needs suffering from disruption of their daily physical and social activity. The course will include the following topics: How to go thorough loss and grief; Coping with stress through meditation, mindfulness, and positive thinking; Social communication via digital tools; How to take control over your health: eating habits and exercise routine; Tell your Corona story; Listen and give support. 3. Non-formal learning methodology based on storytelling for adult educators to improve their competences of developing resilience in vulnerable groups suffering from negative physical and mental consequences of Covid-19 health crisis. The non-formal learning methodology will be based on the development of the following skills: - storytelling skills to share feelings and experiences in the safe environment; - empathy and active listening; - providing understanding and support to people suffering from similar problems; - co-creating solutions together and sharing them within the peer group; - empowering learning group members with positive feedback and mutual support; - Increased self-efficiency and social participation of adult learners. The non-formal learning methodology will include educational tools that will help adult educators to organise and lead storytelling process and develop necessary skills of their learners, including young adults, and elderly citizens, in building resilience, positive thinking, coping with loss and grief, healthy eating habits, physical exercise routine, mindfulness and other skills that can help them to gain control of their physical health and psychological well-being after the Covid-19 crisis. Target groups: - adult educators working with senior citizens, young adults, mental health patients and residents of healthcare facilities 4. Webinar: ""Stories about Corona: how to use storytelling in building resilience of young adults and senior citizens"" for adult educators working with senior citizens, young adults, mental health patients and residents of healthcare facilities.The expected results of the project are:- innovative educational tools to increase resilience and stress resistance of young adults and senior citizens; - adult educators gain innovative non-formal learning methodology for building resilience through storytelling; - improved physical health and psychological wellbeing of participants;- increased self-efficacy and responsibility of vulnerable social groups for their health and wellbeing; - increased social participation and mutual support of vulnerable groups."

The Covid-19 crisis is leading to a global economic depression with a pronounced negative effect on the lives of young people in terms of employment, education and mental wellbeing. Even before that, they were already facing a challenging transition into the labour market and were 2 to 3 times more likely than adults to be un- or underemployed. Now, with the tremendously challenging socio-economic situation created by Covid-19 and the changing world of work, young people’s career chances become insecure and vague. Research shows several factors beneficial for young people’s employability and empowerment in such situations and an essential one is development of skills for work. A significant part of the latter is formed by entrepreneurial attributes, leadership skills, creativity and readiness to innovate, resilience and cultural intelligence – all at the focus of this project not only due to the research evidence of their positive impact on youth employability but also due to their importance at times of crisis and economic recession. Therefore, our main objectives include: (1) to nurture young people’s creativity, resilience and entrepreneurialism, (2) to support their communication and leadership skills, (3) to develop their cultural intelligence and understanding of diversity issues; all of these aiming at increasing youth’s adaptability in highly unpredictable situations, improving their employability and encouraging their entrepreneurial behaviour in a post-Covid world.Our main target group is generation Z (young people, born from late 90s to 2010, who are starting to enter the workplace) and we aim at designing and delivering a training intervention to up to 100 such individuals from all over Europe since research shows that this population is more likely to suffer from low self-esteem, depression and anxiety, which can prevent them from success at work; they also lack optimism, which leads to poorer chances of achievement, and are impatient, so not keen to continuously focus on certain projects, have a hard time hearing negative feedback and, therefore, lack resilience. To support young people to overcome these barriers to career success, we will design an evidence-based training model and deliver an innovative, stimulating and engaging course (comprising four 8-hour long online sessions), incorporating expertise from the realm of business psychology, career coaching, social work, cultural awareness and creative industries. This will help us foster an inclusive and empowering learning environment for young people, where they can acquire and develop the core skills needed for employability in the post-Covid labour market.We will achieve the above goals by using sound pedagogical methods and innovative approaches, engaging participants’ body and mind. We will apply pedagogical techniques with proven effectiveness in the context of generation Z education such as use of ICT, practical activities, experiential learning and tapping into learners’ previous experience, acknowledging their wisdom and turning them into co-creators of knowledge. A special role in this process will be ascribed to the creative aspect of our training, where acting out emotions, role playing, use of poetry, dancing and expressive arts will serve as effective tools to address the psychosocial problems of our young participants and help them acquire skills and knowledge to overcome them in a psychologically safe environment. Not only is this approach appealing to generation Z and pedagogically effective, but it is also a way to foster creativity and teach the skill of resilient and imaginative responding to rapidly changing external stimuli.As a result, we expect to help our young audience to understand the many ways they can thrive in labile and stressful situations such as the one created by Covid-19. This is expected to be beneficial to their mental wellbeing and have a significant positive impact on their employability and entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions. As for our stakeholders, we will raise their awareness of the characteristics and psychosocial needs of generation Z, especially in a post-Covid world. We will provide them with free access to detailed instructional material that they can apply in their work and youth training to support today’s young people’s career development, job hunting and entrepreneurship. A special emphasis will be put on cultural intelligence and awareness of discrimination issues based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability and other reasons and these will also be linked to the matter of youngsters’ psychosocial adaptation under highly unpredictable and rapidly changing circumstances such as those imposed by the pandemic. We expect all these activities to contribute to the sustainable development of local communities and have a positive impact on the local employment rates (incentivizing the local creative industry too) and improve social inclusion of generation Z.