FA-ST provides opportunities of empowerment and development to young women (18 to 30 years of age) affected by socioeconomic barriers (migrants background, weak family support, early school leavers), and inspire them to start a business in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education) sector. The high-quality practical resources produced by the 4 partners in the FA-ST consortium are used to increase a wide set of competences, necessary to compete in the actual labour market (STEM literacy, soft and entrepreneur skills) while offering a substantial and comprehensive support to those willing to start a business in the STEM sector (fast prototyping, business planning). The main innovation that will result from the present collaboration, is a new way to fostering girls’ interest in STEM and inspiring them in choosing a career within STEM fields. The Consortium was assembled based on the need of ensuring a new representation of the different national contexts facing the challenge of young disadvantaged female integration as well as the interconnections it enjoys with the entrepreneurial empowerment in Europe. Considering the increasing importance of STEM in the global market, and the employment opportunities connected to it, increasing STEM literacy and entrepreneurial mind-sets widespread opportunities in the EU28, thus the root-based initiative like this one will offer a good starting point for a positive change in STEM situation. The project can be used as a baseline practice for STEM literacy and STEM skills development for other similar initiatives, expanding as an example to youth work and civil society initiative as a mean to validate non-formal or informal skills. The practice can be easily transferred to other institutions or countries as the skills for sustainability and responsible behaviours are relevant and applicable in all the EU (and beyond) Nations. For this reason, a version of the contents will be created in English to facilitate a wider diffusion.The project has 3 strategic objectives: *To promote a more engaging and more equal environment where all students, girls and young women in particular, can increase their STEM literacy levels *To foster equal access to better careers and job opportunities in the STEM sector for young women *To enhance the employability, and entrepreneurial skills of young women with a business idea in the STEM sector The production of the project’s results will start with gathering evidence and best practices on successful ways partners and other organizations prepared and delivered, to increase girls’ and young women’s STEM competences. During the production of the different IOs, partners will also work to form a Pan-European network involving all sort of stakeholders (youth/women/business associations, cultural associations, non-formal education providers, VET/HEI institutions, business associations…) with the aim of promoting entrepreneurial education, collaborative support to weaker groups and multi-mentoring programs. Experts from these organizations are the ones engaged as mentors. The learning environment is shaped around the 3 steps the program and can be easily adapted or modulated based on participants’ needs or local condition. Separately they can be used to (1) increase STEM literacy, (2) increase entrepreneurial skills and motivation for personal improvement and (3) create a business and connect experts and mentors. If participants will go through the whole process, it offers a complete learning experience to create a start-up in the STEM sector for young women with an entrepreneurial idea.The provision of a customized support enhancing their transition to concrete forms of self-employment (either entrepreneurial projects or joint/groups’ efforts) would provide a strong contribution to their social inclusion and employability, while maximizing the output in terms of contribution to the sustainable development of their local context.

<< Objectives >>- to provide a young person with knowledge about social business, to acquaint him/her with the possibilities and principles of establishing one;- motivate to take the initiative and try to create future jobs for themselves;- inspiring young people to pursue not only personal but also societal benefits in their careers;- to provide information about career opportunities, it is important to be socially responsible;- to delve into the peculiarities of management and business administration.<< Implementation >>Planned project activities:- presentation of the concept of social business;- identify social problems around us through tasks, interactive activities (production of board game), discussions, role-plays, and look for ways to solve them using the knowledge gained during the project;- getting acquainted with various stages of business establishment and implementation;- introduction to career opportunities by creating a job for oneself and others, bringing personal and social benefits.<< Results >>During the project, young people will learn to look boldly and creatively at the societal challenges around them. Participants will learn a variety of techniques that will be useful in their career path in the future. The activities will also develop young people's leadership, cooperation, logical and creative thinking skills. We hope that youth groups will gain more self-confidence and teamwork, learn from the knowledge they have gained in implementing ideas and projects.

DIG IN strategic partnership will offer new tools for NEETs outreach and engagement (via ICT & digital mentoring) and personal development (using collaborative learning and networking) to increase their possibility for employment and social inclusion. Our project proposes a programme that addresses the personal development of NEET, focusing especially on building their motivation for participating in society and contributing to the labour market, increasing their confidence as citizens, while enhancing employability skills using entrepreneurship as an activator for interest and using new ICT based strategies to get in touch with others. With the dynamically changing world of the working environment driven by technological advancement and global connectivity, youth remain confronted with a multifaceted employment challenge which includes unemployment, under-employment, and low job quality, as well as working poverty, job insecurity and long transitions to stable and satisfactory employment. These challenges are also connected with the issues related with engaging NEET youth and the one disconnected by society and the offering more outreach strategies more suited with the so-called “digital natives”. The project’s scope is two folded *offer a new OUTREACH strategy that make use of ICT and new media to increase NGOs and youth associations’ ability to reach, engage and motivate NEETs *Prepare a COLLABORATIVE LEARNING space where NEETs can create new opportunities for themselves and connecting with peers, while enhancing their employability and entrepreneurial skills The online/off-line individual and group activities will enable to build up life skills and basic knowledge to perform informed choices regarding further education, their training, employment and most of all civic participation, and enabling them to overcome barriers to participation in different spheres of their lives. The project will start with equipping EDUCATORS with more sophisticated ICT skills and tools, to allow them to define the best blends among on/off-line, individual or group activities, and allowing participants to control their own timing and schedule. As there is no single method that works best to reach, engage and motivate young NEETs, different channels should be used depending on the specific group targeted using also different types of media including social media. The consortium will capitalize on the capacity and skills offered by the 6 partners to create tools and products that can be easily used by a variety of actors. Considering the increasing importance of ICT in the global market and the employment opportunities connected to it, increasing ICT literacy and entrepreneurial mind-sets are widespread objectives in the EU28, thus the root-based initiative like this one can offer a good starting point for the improvement of the learning provision. The project can be used as baseline practice for digital skills development for other similar initiatives, expanding as an example to youth work and civil society initiative as a mean to validate skills acquired through a non-formal or informal education. For this reason, a version of the contents will be created in English to facilitate a wider diffusion.

As stated by the Europe 2020 Strategy, highly skilled individuals with critical mind-sets are needed to create the businesses of the future and more generally, to help business and the public sector to innovate their processes and systems to accomplish with the high standard set by European and National Governments. In order to facilitate students’ transition from full-time education to the labour market, contents and learning approach have to accompany individuals in challenging their thinking, practices and routines, so to evoke mindful thoughts about new sustainable ways of improving organizations / networks / society from within.For example, ICT professionals have to develop skills in marketing or management; services workers have to develop customer-oriented skills and digital literacy or tourism services professionals have to look for new ways to attract interest by potential clients. In many knowledge-intensive sectors, skills as managerial and scientific knowledge are in fact more and more frequently needed. The aim is offering participants a solid knowledge on how organizations operate and what employers expect from employees. The thematic workshops, based on collaborative learning methods, accompany students in acquiring skills requested by the 21st century workplace while learning the most common (and implicit) rules within a working organization, to meet employers’ expectations. The SUSTAIN program will accompany participants in analysing different aspects and situations related to sustainable and socially responsible organization, ethical behaviours, social equity and sustainable management of resources thus building up the necessary skills and competences to be a suitable and reasonable employee. The process is aimed at offering students a better prospective on how sustainable and ethical organizations operate, to learn how to behave in a work environment and be better prepared for their internship or work insertion.One aspect concerning innovation is the provision of easy to understand information on organizational awareness (allowing students to understanding different aspects of the organisation including workings, structure, and culture of the organization) and organization competences (basics attitudes and competences necessary to be an active part of an organization) contained in the eLearning of the project. All those contents are usually absent in technical vocational carriers, but information as social responsibility and quality management or environment management (ISO 9001 and ISO 14000) are utterly relevant for companies of all type and shape – especially the small ones, that require staff to cover different position within the organization. Class activities structured in workshops, structured around company’s departments, will help them experimenting and practicing what real life situation, to get a better prospective on how organizations operate and have a hands-on experience. The inclusive education implies a vision different from the common education based on the heterogeneity and not on the homogeneity. Any inclusive training methodology is a fundamental element in students and trainers' curriculum. The use of diverse strategies will allow trainers to generate tasks and activities in which all learners have possibilities of participation, simultaneously which will encourage the cohesion of the group as well as foster collaborative learning paths.The content is developed jointly by 6 partners from different countries which ensure transferability of the learning content. Blended solutions are more likely to achieve success with ‘millennials’ or ‘digital natives’, for this reason some learning and evaluation activities will be conducted online. This will also facilitate data collection and reporting, sparing time to the educators while monitoring the learning outcomes level along the process.

The generation of municipal waste has risen steadily in the Western Balkans in recent years and is currently estimated to be at levels similar to those in the new EU member states (although data on solid waste are poor). The generation of municipal waste per capita in the region is estimated to have increased sharply between 2014 and 2018, from 234 to 330 kg (40 percent). This increase is linked to the steady increase in GDP in the same period, although the growth in waste outstripped the growth in GDP. Municipal waste collection is insufficient in most countries in the region, especially in rural areas. Large numbers of waste facilities are outdated. On 2 December 2015, the European Commission establish a package to support the EU's transition to a circular economy.. The Western Balkan and as candidate region to join EU family must adhere the circular economy principles and integrate the community in the process. The project “Circular Economy into Art through Eco-Design” – CEED has the foundation to the European Union directives and Western Balkan needs on green growth and sustainability. “Circular Economy into Art through Eco-Design” – CEED aims to increase competences of youth workers in circular economy principles translated in eco-design, crafting skill and foster their entrepreneurial attitude, know-how to initiate their own start-up business. The total duration of the project is 24 months, composed of two main trainings. The first activity titled “The Circular City we Want” will focus on providing participants with knowledge, methodologies and Non Formal Education tools to locally spread skills and attitudes necessary to eco-design/crafting methods mainly for bulky and electronic waste (furniture, electronic waste, etc). The participants will get information on the life cycle of the products and which are the best methods for re-using and how to deal with. The second activity “Turn Waste into Profit” will involve the same youth workers and leaders who participated in the first project TC, with a focus on exploring the environmental sustainability dimension of Circular Economy business models as well as the instruments and strategy to be adopted in order to employ sustainability instruments/approaches to lower the environmental impact of rural and urban business and communities as well as to open innovative market niches in the recycling industry. Other activities will take place as local events/workshops where young people will realize artistic products and promote sustainability principles through circular economy components.At the end the young workers will gain competences on creating new green business opportunities through recycling and eco-design.