<< Background >>According to the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030, people with disabilities constitute 25% of the total European population. Despite of progress achieved in the last years, they still face considerable barriers in access to education, employment, recreation activities, and have a higher risk of social exclusion. The Covid-19 pandemic has amplified the obstacles an inequalities. In order to promote their participation as citizens, it is vital to highlight the potential of people with disabilities and special needs, promote an open and welcoming environment and help them find their place in the various fields of life. The emphasis must be on developing their autonomy and reinforcing their self-confidence and self-esteem through cultural, sports and recreational activities.In line with the trends to be more socially responsible and generate a social impact, more and more providers of sports and leisure activities are starting to design inclusive offers. In fact, in a society where consumers are increasingly aware about social causes, a significant part of them expects that brands and companies meet these expectations.More socially aware consumers, in combination with an ageing population creates opportunities for the sports and (active) leisure sector to design products and services with a positive impact on society. However, there is a considerable lack of knowledge regarding how to design and organize them appropriately for this particular target group.SPORTS INC. connects the needs of the “end-users” with the opportunities the current tendencies offer to those active in the sports and leisure sector, i.e. the direct target groups:- (Prospective) entrepreneurs wanting to set up a business in the fields of inclusive sports and leisure;- Existing entrepreneurs in the field of sports and leisure who want to make a turn-around and make a social impact through changing their current activities towards inclusiveness;- Civil society organisations working with and for people with disabilities, who want to set up their social enterprise as a means of giving their beneficiaries work experience and diversifying income, or train their beneficiaries to become (prospective) entrepreneurs.Existing and prospective entrepreneurs need encouragement and support in order to start new businesses or adjust the existing ones. They need to understand the customer needs and market trends, learn from best practices, network with fellow social entrepreneurs. They need to be able to fully understand the implications of such a service and/or product offer, i.e. the concept of what it means to be disabled or have special needs, and how this affects participation in these type of activities. They should also be aware of environmental factors such as accessibility (e.g. information, mobility and products). It is not about merely offering the service or product, the business strategy, internal processes and communication and marketing also need to align, to generate the necessary confidence among (potential) clients (“practice what you preach”). Civil society organisations that work with and for people with disabilities and special needs, need to extend their competences in the area of (social) entrepreneurship in order to fully support their members in their efforts to start own business, or to provide employment opportunities. The aforementioned trends, needs and challenges apply to the participating countries and organisations. The project partners either directly represent the target sector or support the target groups, and want to bring about a change in their own organisations and/or supporters. SPORTS INC addresses the aforementioned needs by raising awareness on the opportunities inclusive sports and leisure products and services offer, providing accessible learning opportunities and supporting the creation of social enterprises in the field.<< Objectives >>SPORTS INC. aims to develop a learning programme that gives (prospective) entrepreneurs, business owners and managers from the sports and leisure sector, as well as the civil society organisations, the knowledge, skills and competences to ideate, design, develop, implement and market a service (or product offer) adapted to the specific needs and circumstances of people with disabilities or special needs, either by turning around their existing business or create a new (social) enterprise.SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES1) Set the scene and identify the challenges, context and case studies, through a mapping exercise and survey, defining skills and competences that will drive the learning programme.2) Develop an accessible and validated learning programme, with its content, assessment method and e-learning space, fit to the needs of the 3 main target groups.4) Enhance a systemic and strategic approach to seizing the opportunities of inclusive sports and leisure, either through the transformation of existing businesses from the sports and leisure sector, or by creating new (social) enterprises, by using (validated) action plan templates (1 for each target group).5) Ensure wider use, take-up and sustainability of results through comprehensive and wide reaching sharing and promotion activities and a robust exploitation plan.SPORTS INC. will create accessible learning opportunities for existing and prospective (social) entrepreneurs, including people with disabilities and special needs that will be reached through civil society organisations participating in the SPORTS INC. programme. The learning needs analysis and learning opportunities offered by the project will enhance and support the entrepreneurial drive, and at the same time help develop knowledge allowing to set up successful social businesses in the areas of inclusive sports and leisure.The existing and prospective entrepreneurs will acquire or improve knowledge and skills needed to understand the needs of their disabled & special needs clients, design and market inclusive and innovative products and services. Furthermore, they will learn how to align the internal processes, position and market their products/ services and analyse the social impact which is being generated. SPORTS INC. will also help extend and develop the adult educators’ competences of (social) entrepreneurship in civil society organisations, enhancing their abilities to support their members. These organisations will also be able to use the acquired knowledge in order to start their own (social) enterprises in the field and provide work-based learning experience to their beneficiaries, contributing to an increased employment of this vulnerable group.Persons with disabilities and special needs are considered the final beneficiaries of the project, as they will be the end-users of the inclusive sports and leisure activities offered. Moreover, whenever a civil society organisation sets up a (social) enterprise in the field, they are not only the end-users of the services, but can also be employed and gain work-based learning and job opportunities.Due to the inclusive nature of the project, special attention will be paid to involve participants with disabilities or special needs. The equal treatment and inclusion strategy will ensure health, wellbeing and equal treatment of all participants, and will explicitly pay attention to the involvement of those with disabilities or special needs. The accessibility of the learning programme will be ensured through its development (e.g. by using specific fonts, writing style, inclusion of international sign language translation for key parts) bearing in mind different abilities.Through sharing and promotion activities, SPORTS INC. will also help achieve improved communication and cooperation among education centres, organisations supporting people with special needs and those supporting social entrepreneurship, including the project partner organisations.<< Implementation >>The work of SPORTS INC. is structured around 3 Project Results (PRs). The methodology is based upon the SMART philosophy, meaning that every result and every activity has been defined on the basis of the following criteria: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. The 3 PRs are centred around a logical work-flow approach, which starts off with the design of a mapping exercise and the definition of the skills and competences needed, to result in the definition of the learning approach and the SPORTS INC. Curriculum and Syllabus (PR1). Based upon this result the SPORTS INC. Programme (PR2) is developed, consisting of the learning content, assessment method, and the digital training platform. To increase the impact of the learning process and facilitate its practical application, specific Action Plan templates with complementary tools and guidelines is developed for each of the main target groups of the project (PR3). SPORTS INC. Programme and Action Plans will be validated by representatives of the target groups. Their recommendations for improvements will be applied and lead to the final version of PR2 and PR3, which is used to increase the uptake of project results and its impact. The development of the Results will start from the beginning of the project and will end in Month 24, with the last 2 months dedicated to improving PR2 and PR3 based upon the results from the validation by the target groups. The Validation Methodology will provide guidance for testing and evaluation of the developed SPORTS INC Programme and Action Plans. The importance of the validation is acknowledged by including it as a separate activity in the PRs (PR2/A4 and PR3/A4). SPORTS INC. will organise 2 types of multiplier events:The partners in 5 participating regions will facilitate the development of (social) enterprise business plans and roadmaps by the participants in the pilot validation activities. The participants will go through the proposed learning path and apply the acquired knowledge to develop their plans and roadmaps. This set of events introduces them to the program and platform and motivates them to participate and create their own business plan. Regional/National closing multiplier events are planned in each partner country. During the events, the SPORTS INC. final outputs will be presented to the target group and stakeholders. The events will provide an opportunity to extend project dissemination, and encourage a wider set of the target group and stakeholders and use the outputs. PROJECT MANAGEMENT activities will support the achievement of the results through a participative management structure, well-designed management processes and the 6-monthly activity and financial reports provided by the partners. Quality evaluation with yearly quality reports and risk management provide further support. Within the management structure, a combination of different levels and means of communication will be used. A constant flux of internal communication will be maintained thanks to meetings, phone communication and email, and complemented with the project management tools. 5 transnational project meetings (3 face-to-face and 2 online) and bi-monthly online meetings will support project management, monitoring and quality control. SHARING and PROMOTION will start with the development of Dissemination plan (DP), to ensure each partner understands what is expected and how the partnership will share and promote the project over the lifespan of the project at local, national and European level. A number of sharing and promotion activities are foreseen, including the development of project website, social media presence, newsletters and leaflets, press releases and events.Exploitation Plan will be developed by the end of the project. It will define the strategy for exploitation in medium and long term, and will provide details on how the results of the project will remain available and updated.<< Results >>The materials and content developed in SPORTS INC. will give the prospective entrepreneurs in the field of inclusive sports and (active) leisure, as well as the existing entrepreneurs, business owners and managers in the sector, the knowledge, skills and competences to reap the benefits from the opportunities inclusive sports and leisure offer, i.e. to ideate, design and develop such an offer based upon a good understanding of the concepts and issues, and ensure alignment of their strategy, internal processes and communication.The usefulness and adequateness of the programme can only be ensured when it has solid foundations and roots in reality, i.e. based upon the needs and demands of the persons with disabilities and special needs (end-users of the offering) and closes the skills gap for the entrepreneurs and business owners. The PR1 Curriculum & Syllabus will analyse the context, needs and skills gap, and define the learning approach and objectives for the programme (PR2).PR2 SPORTS INC. programme will provide the target groups with the skills and competences to start a venture in inclusive sports and leisure or to turn around an existing business, and understand both the implications of offering services for persons with disabilities and special needs, as well as the business related aspects to be taken into account. Accessible learning space will be created with people with different abilities in mind (international sign language for core parts of the space) and ensuring that it is accessible for all.Achieving a real impact and ensuring that the learning actually results in concrete offers for inclusive sports and leisure, requires to go further then merely providing training. Action Plan templates (PR3) will support the prospective and existing entrepreneurs and businesses (including the civil society organisations as prospective ones) in this effort, and smoothen the path from ideation to actual product or service offer.Due to the attention that is paid to ensuring relevance for the targeted civil society organisations, a cascade effect is generated, as the creation of a (social) enterprise by them creates employment and learning opportunities for their beneficiaries, and gives them experience-based insights when supporting their beneficiaries in setting up their own enterprise.