<< Objectives >>TOAST (Tourism and Sustainability) wants to support micro and small enterprises in the Alto Monferrato area to develop competencies in sustainable tourism and raise awareness on this topic in the EU areas interested by the project. The project will involve farmers who have developed hospitality enterprises for rural and experiencial tourism and other companies in the hospitality sector as well as local authorities developing tourism and sustainability policies.<< Implementation >>The goals of the project will be reached by developing a experimental training path that, in developing its materials, will benefit from experiences at European level already implemented by the Dutch and Irish partners. The training will unfold by means of 3 residential weekends and 3 study visit, one in each country of the partnership. The sharing of the concept of sustainable tourism will be done by means of a communication targeted at the tourism sector in the areas interested by the project.<< Results >>The expected results are a deeper knowledge of the tools and features of sustainable tourism and how to implement it in a tourism company, the creation of a network including small and micro enterprises as well as local authorities interested in developing a sustainable tourism for the benefit of the local economy and its territory. The partners will build a bigger scale project starting from the results of TOAST.

StagePassImagine Molly (15 years and 4 months old) who is strumming her guitar in her bedroom in Inishowen or Daan (16 years of age) who is beating a drum to a different beat in Friesland. They are tuned out from their peer group - the people in their classroom, those walking outside in the school yard, those on the school bus. They are watching their peers on snapchat, glancing at their feeds on Instagram or locating them on SnapMaps - but they are not connecting. They feel they have little in common with the InstaQueens, the team shots from the football club, the birthday gatherings or the nights out at local disco.StagePass is all about tapping into their creativity and growing and polishing their skill set so they can connect, record, play together and perform together for us all to enjoy. Using digital connections, for now because of COVID-19, and building capacity and the ‘virtual’ infrastructure as a digital readiness element, StagePass will be a space where they will participate, grow their confidence and share in intercultural learning. StagePass is targeting – teens who are in education - they are predominantly tuned out from their peers but tuned into the sound of music. At risk from isolation and being disconnected and engaging only with a virtual world of too many unknowns – too many disconnects - too many broken promises. StagePass offers a chance to put a spotlight onto promoting their positive mental health and well-being and taking it forward as they connect and reconnect.In line with the Erasmus+ goals StagePass will be about improving a core set of key competences and skills in tandem with promoting European values - respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights. The partners involved will engage with the young people (aged 14-17yrs old x 12+ students per partner = 60+), educators (primarily schools through Transition Year (TY) but also VET - Leaving Cert Applied or YouthReach x #8), industry and employers to develop a pathway through school to employment be that in performance arts or otherwise. These are young people who have a passion for music or a glimmering interest at the very least. StagePass will reinforce creativity in education and take this opportunity to develop learning tools, resources, or training that foster creativity, culture and multiculturalism through the sound of music. Young people will be engaged as active citizens in their own destiny and future through the arts. They will learn the skills delivered by their creative educators (Music, Art, Design, Technology, Woodwork, Technical drawing, fabrication) alongside the music industry performance and production experts. There will be curriculum, training and education packs developed in core hands on arenas such as:- 1.Social Media and young influencers2.Digital skills and production3.Communications and PR4.Performance skillset 5.Commercialisation - user experience6.Entrepreneurship mindset (‘gig’ economy synergies with session musicianship)Their music will be developed, practiced, performed, produced and aired. This will be supported by a series of Masterclasses delivered by industry experts in areas such as music production, sound and songwriting as examples. There will be five mini events to showcase their work in development - 5Tunes5Countries. They will work towards a pan European performance at a festival/concerts – #TuneIn #StagePass. There will be outputs such as StagePass lanyards, wellies, Ponchos, branded hoodies, beanie hats, etc, all the things young people would need for a festival. StagePass will establish virtual networks and collaboration models to stimulate intercultural engagement and encourage creative mind-sets. COVID-19 permitting a team of educators and learners will travel to partner countries to promote learning opportunities in creative spaces and cultural heritage sites. This will include creative residencies for musicians, producers and influencers. StagePass will be using digital ways of creating, managing, and delivering creative products, cultural goods and events.The project will be approached as a pilot test/proof of concept and will have a radical difference approach to previous ErasmusPlus projects by delivering outputs to the students at each stage of their development to be implemented using a UX (user experience approach). StagePass will be a test bed from which StagePass can be replicated and scaled and further projects can develop to a wider target audience of school children. Work Packages with Intellectual Outputs (IO)IO1 Proof of Concept Parameters and Regional Engagement IO2 Teachers Programmes and Student Digital Learning Packs IO3 Totaliser Platform IO4 Curriculum DevelopmentIO5 Community and Performances PlatformStagePass values are intercultural learning, participation and confidence. We will grow these in the students participating in this innovative project.

"<< Background >>The tourism sector had grown steadily over the past decade and in 2019 , prior to COVID, Europe confirmed its position as the world’s main tourist destination, with 710 million international arrivals (UNWTOA). Despite this growth , prior to COVID the EC was already pushing the immediate need for digital skills training in the Tourism sector stating ‘The most prominent difficulty for tourism is the need for training following the introduction of new digital technologies… and the skills needed to digitalise, as well as resources required for training.' (EC DIGITALISATION IN TOURISM)Large companies in the tourism sector highly benefit from economies of scale, offering more attractive services at very competitive prices and developing new products, to reduce operating costs. Small enterprises find this hard to achieve, and yet, due their smaller size, they can greatly differentiate their product by offering personalisation. (TOURISM IN OECD COUNTRIES: TRENDS AND POLICIES) . This differentiation is also highly dependent on digital tools greatly helping the smaller type of tourism-dependent companies to increase productivity .Combatting digital divide has assumed even greater importance due to the COVID scenario in Europe wide economies with the use of internet being one of the most utilised infrastructures. Supporting SMEs in the tourism sector is vital for economic recovery. Tourism was one of the most negatively struck sectors by Covid-19 .In laying down the conditions for COVID Crisis recovery, the EC communication ‘TRANSPORT AND TOURISM IN 2020 AND BEYOND’ pointed to digital solutions as the required tools underlining their long-term structural role in ensuring well-balanced development of Tourism . The July 2020‘EUROPEAN SKILLS AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVENESS, SOCIAL FAIRNESS AND RESILIENCE followed by the EUROPEAN TOURISM CONVENTION in October 2020, greatly make clear reference to Tourism sector digital tools ‘.Optimising travellers’ experience will be based on a combination of digital data and human service. Staff will need to use various tools and applications.’‘A constraining factor for businesses is the shortage of digitally skilled labour is the limited supply of qualified personnel capable of using various technologies can be a major issue.’ For ‘small enterprises, lack of skills reduces the likelihood of adopting both basic and advanced digital technology’. EC ‘ Digitalisation of SMEs Review 2021’Hence an all-important question for the future of tourism-dependent SMEs is how to make the best possible use of information technology systems to reinforce their presence on the market ,increase productivity, concentrate on the core duties of customer care , ensure the quality of services and improving the value of the experiences provided. Therefore, reducing the mismatch between the skills available and those demanded for the digital transformation of the tourism economy is one of the key objectives of this project. The project main target groups, and direct beneficiaries are • SMEs in the tourism sector - to engage in conversion to online but lacking comprehensive and integrated training offering them detailed information for each step of the process. • tourism employees that are seeking to improve their skills • the unemployed who pre COVID worked in the tourism and are considering reemployment in tourism • Trainers from EU VET institutions active in the field of tourism DIGITOUR seeks to sums up the needs outlined by Thierry Breton ,European Commissioner, Internal Market at the event ""A MARSHALL PLAN FOR EUROPEAN TOURISM"" (April 2020)“Together we will have to reinvent and rethink a sustainable, digital and resilient European tourism sector…In the face of this unprecedented crisis, there is no time to lose, especially for tourism'<< Objectives >>DIGITOUR will support the development of a high-performing digital education ecosystem, by exploiting the opportunities for both learners and VET teachers from the tourism SMEs through digital to: - Adapt their individual offering to the new environment and up-skill and re-skill those dependent on the tourism sector by closing the digital skills gap -Design, create, work to develop, adapt, and combine new products, services and experiences. - Respond to challenges, threats and opportunities related to the tourism digitally dependent economy by reducing the mismatch between the skills available and those demanded for the digital transformation of the tourism sector economy. – provide response to the demands of the digital-native end consumer and compete through differentiation offering a different and unique experience . DIGITOUR underpins a learning programme in the field of non-formal continuous education g so that the SME tourism sector can face the ever-growing challenges. It highlights the upskilling and specialisation of the workforce leading to improved retention and points to continuous professional development, sustained industry collaboration and a conclusive tourism- based toolkit. Accessible at any time it aims at providing a more flexible tourism sector workforce with a broadened skill set and support agile upskilling of the workforce.In order to build the eLearning toolkit DIGITOUR will •Acquire extensive knowledge and better measurement of digital skills in the tourism sector so as to evaluate the digital skills required •Develop a course dedicated to tourism SME sectors, complementing training offered by tourism and hospitality educators. •Work on capacity building of VET teachers and trainers, and encourage the provision of programmes to enhance digital competences of this sector•Develop specific knowledge and competences to address digital competence to support the tourism sector to benefit from digital transformation in the sector•Create awareness of the risks of being left behind and the opportunities ahead•Create awareness on the growing impact of online marketing and how it can bridge and appease small enterprise factors in competing with large enterprises Among others the impact of the delivery of DIGITOUR in the Partner countries in particular, and in Europe will be ;--Placate the need for innovative, multidisciplinary and user-friendly approaches to improve competences of those working in the SME tourism sector -Offer the option of quality training and develop a digital skilled workforce , -Transfer of know-how and experience in tourism through the easily accessible learning content -A more digitized tourism sector leading to more efficiency and cost-effectiveness in operation and final product offered to the consumer -Induce a change in the overall mentality within the Tourism SME sector for a life-long learning approach that seeks improvement innovation-Adapt vocational education and training to labour market needs addressing innovative topics specific to the tourism sector -Enhance the quality of tourism sector teaching/learning creativity and critical thinking leading to product differentiation<< Implementation >>The consortium intends to involve participants in all stages of the project. The overall results of the project will be achieved through the project activities through the development of the two project results (in 4 languages)an eLearning tool complimented with 8 animated videos the organisation of six multiplier events , the dissemination, exploitation , impact and sustainability activities , project quality and risk management and proper implementation and feedback . In all steps the coordinator will communicate the objectives to the partners to liaise with all the project goals. All partners already understand the role they play in the implementation effort and how they will contribute to the project success. Furthermore, each PR leader will build on a detailed project timeline. As part of the regular monitoring effort, partners will meet regularly to go over the progress. This will assure that all understand how the project is developing and what needs to be done to fulfil project goals .DIGITOUR will kick off with in-depth assessment activity to analyse the existing situation, training needs, as well as the potential effectiveness of e-learning and online tools used for the training path. Once the content in finalised partners will ensure that these are effectively translated for pilot testing that will be organized at a latter project stage, i.e., after the development of the training contents. They will test the developed outcomes ,assessing through evaluation questionnaires to earmark potential problems detected, and outline positive points of the material created. The project will undertake dissemination and exploitation actions to answer tourism sector needs. At project end, each partner will be responsible to communicate results and create momentum for Digitour thus ensuringthe target sector will benefit from a recognized and open training contents with the objective of - Improvement of VET offer, benefiting from a recognized curriculum needed in the tourism sector - public and private VET systems will be able to integrate/expand their offer, train their employees to improve their services The community will benefit from people who will be more integrated in the labour market and are more active and empowered. We expect to reach the target groups through professionally planned dissemination activities,multiplier events addressed at institutional organizations in this sector, VET promoting organizations and incubators .Several additional results are expected to be developed during the lifespan of the project. to enhance project progress, ,secure quality and external purposes A1: Develop Management Plan A2 - Define Bilateral Collaboration Agreements with Partners A3 - Organize Virtual Partners' Meetings ,Meeting minutes, minutes of the transnational meetings including agreements, to-do-list and deadlines and short minutes from the on-line meetings. A4 - Conduct operational, administrative and financial management A5- Design the Dissemination material (dissemination plan, project logo, brochure, website, press releases, newsletter) A6 - Exploitation and Impact Strategy Plan A7 Sustainability Strategy Plan & IPR Agreement A8 - Development of Quality Plan and quality controls A9 - Daily management ,financial reporting Collection and provision of documents ,contractual report for interim and final report to the NA A10 Consortium workspace and repository A11 -Multiplier event evaluation template which includes the agenda, short report on the event, signature lists and participant satisfaction questionnaire. A12-Impact evaluation report, analysing the impact on impact on the target group, stakeholders and partner organisations A13- Dissemination reports A14 -Exploitation report<< Results >>The project is organized in two project results The training course will be achieved through 2 main steps characterized by research aimed at improving the analysis already carried out by the partners and focused on defining competence and training units necessary to develop the profile. The animated training units and related modules translated will be based on the Step 1 results and will be described as unit of learning outcomes and objectives, as well as provision of ECVET tools. The realisation of the training course is based on the results of preliminary studies carried out by partners at the proposal stage. Therefore, during the first project steps, partners will conduct an in-depth assessment that will establish a first contact with the target group and re-organize the results of needs analysis already collected. The course will containmaterials for e-learning training and educational games and supporting tools for the e-learning part which will be developed during the second output. PR2 will start with the construction of the Smart Learning Environment space This task will include learning objectives, subject matter analysis and content and will address assessment instruments, exercises, lesson planning and multimedia resources selection. Once the materials will be ready all the information will be transcribed on the platform. The platform will host two main learning features- A quiz and a training path PPiloting of the Project -. Participating to the piloting, the targeted audience and VET teachers will acquire new educational, pedagogical and technological competences, learning how to plan an e-learning course for their students. The expected results for theDIGITOUR project are - An understanding of the digital skills required in the tourism sectors to improve Digital Education Readiness in the tourism sector in methodologies, techniques, practices and tools - A learning outcome-based approach with particular reference to ongoing competence assessment processes– ECVET in order to ensure transfer of competences and transparency. - To implement ready to use remote learning contexts now a need in the situation of COVID through (I) a training model targeted to VET addressing to boost capacity of the tourism sector online in 4 languages free to use (ii) training contents available online translated in all consortium languages, free to use. - Up-skilling and re-skilling of those dependent on the tourism sector - Dissemination and Exploitation strategy and events to raise awareness of how attaining skills in the tourism sector can improve business and reach stakeholders across Europe. These will be achieved by the joint efforts of all partners, third parties and stakeholders, through the development of specific tools addressing the specific needs of the tourism sector to create: 1. In depth assessment to highlight difficulties of the target group 2. A training path covering all the main and common aspects of digital tools specific to the tourism sector as well as tools for the recognition and transparency of the learning outcomes achieved 3. Guidelines for teachers towards the implementation of the skills learnt and exploitation of products, toward a more sustainable economic growth in the tourism sector 4. e learning quality digital content using infographics, presentations and animated videos developed under the SCORM loaded into a Moodle Learning Management System available in Greek, Dutch, English and Spanish.These results will directly lead to new approaches to working within the SME tourism industry, further impetus and confidence to work on ideas to develop new products and services, differentiated products, identification of synergies between the SME Tourism sector and VET , and direct upskilling of workers in the sector."

The underpinning context for the MEDLIT project is that Media can facilitate the integration of refugees and migrants by providing access to information about available education, health or other services, about political and administrative information on the host country, and support systems/organizations available. They can also support the learning of the host country language, looking for a job, getting qualifications recognized. The project’s objectives were to contribute to the integration of refugee, asylum seeking and migrant women, who face a greater risk of social exclusion (double discrimination), in 6 EU Member States (Austria, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta and the UK) with large numbers of refugees/asylum seekers and migrants, by building their competences, knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to access, interpret, use and/or produce information and other media content, in the context of the internet and social media, and in a safe and responsible manner. Project aims included: enhancing the media and digital competences of low-skilled/low-qualified refugee, asylum seeking & migrant women through innovative learning tools, and encouraging low-skilled/low-qualified refugee, asylum seeking and migrant women to develop and upgrade their media and digital literacy skills through effective outreach-awareness raising. This was achieved through the implementation of the following activities: 1. Methodological approach & framework for media and digital literacy skills building 1.1. Identification of current media and digital literacy skills and the associated needs/gaps of low-skilled/low-qualified refugee, asylum seeking and migrant women 1.2. Development of skills building framework for developing refugee, asylum seeking and migrant women’s media and digital literacy skills 2. Online training tool for building media and digital literacy skills 2.1. Development of online training tool 2.2. Pilot implementation of online training 3. Peer-to-peer awareness raising methodology and campaigns 3.1. Development of peer-to-peer awareness raising methodology 3.2. Provision of training to refugee, asylum seeking and migrant women 3.3. Implementation of peer-to-peer awareness raisingAt local level the project built on the competences of low-skilled/low-qualified refugee/asylum seeking and migrant women enabling them to access, interpret, use and/or produce information and other media content, in the context of the internet and social media, thus enhancing the use of media by the women for more advanced purposes such as looking for a job, learning the language of the host country, accessing information about available services or political/administrative information, and promoting their integration into the relevant networks, socio-economic activities and institutions of the host countries. In this way, poverty (of access to employment routes) and social exclusion was reduced.Migrants/refugees associations and organizations working for the integration of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants (especially women), were equipped with new methodologies and tools so that they could provide improved and more targeted services to their target groups.Relevant local, regional or national authorities had access to improved methodologies and tools which were mainstreamed in the local, regional or national integration and social inclusion practices and/or education systems to ensure that refugees and migrants can actively participate and contribute in EU societies.By developing the skills of low-skilled/low-qualified refugee/asylum seeking and migrant women, the project contributed to the Erasmus+ Programme objectives, the objectives of the Action Plan on the integration of third country nationals and of the New Skills Agenda for Europe. It achieved further impact whereby women who had taken the course gained employment (in Malta) and women in Palermo produced and published a recipe book with their new-found digital skills. The availability of the developed methodologies and online training tool in several languages, as well as their wide dissemination across authorities and stakeholders at local/regional/national and European level promoted the impact of the project on EU Member States integration and education policies and the tool is being considered for use in other educational and NGO environments.

At EU level, the number of women with digital skills and those in ICT sector is much lower than the number of men. This causes social disparities and discrimination. Moreover, there is a lack of an open source online learning hub directed specifically at women and girls.In the EU more than 90% of girls and boys (16-24) are skilled enough to use digital technologies in their daily lives. However, boys feel more confident about their digital skills than girls. In countries where young people have a lower level of confidence in their digital skills (e.g. Latvia & Finland), the confidence gap between women and men is notably wider (EIGE, 2018, bit.ly/2VThkcU). Low self-confidence among girls goes hand in hand with lower aspirations of engaging in digital jobs. Later down the line, this leads to certain study and work fields being persistently dominated either by women or men. Women working in ICT earn almost 20% less than men and only 19% of European ICT entrepreneurs are women (EC, 2016, bit.ly/2VsSO3f). The objectives of the project coincide with good practice guidelines as recommended by the EU:•Increase social inclusion of women in modern society by giving them the required digital skills to both operate in and out of work-related contexts.•Increasing the learning demand and take-up through effective outreach as a service to ensure that women have access to relevant learning throughout life. •The taking up of digital technologies and of innovative and open pedagogies in education and training with specific regards to promoting gender equality.•Support the use of the European Frameworks on digital competencies of citizens using open educational resources.•Development of innovative methods and tools of teaching through the online platform that will be developed.The project targets primary women and girls, to enable them to easily find support when they would like to work on the development of their digital skills and to be supported when they are interested in making a move to the IT-world. Furthermore, stakeholders of this issue are targeted, such as IT companies, teachers in IT, employers in general, foundations promoting digital literacy etc. We believe in a cooperative approach, where we include as many as possible likeminded organisations to work towards the same goal: more gender equality in IT and more women mastering higher levels of digital skills. We will work together in the project with 7 partners from the Netherlands, Spain, Romania, Ireland and Sweden. The main legacy of the project will be a close collaboration between stakeholders and a platform where specifically girls and women can find useful tools, workshops, webinars, courses, events and many more, facilitating the development of their digital literacy skills. This will be supported by the results from the activities in this project. The key results include: 1.DLL Recommendations - Mapping Ladies in IT. Report on existing research on the gender gap in IT and how to decrease this gap, female role models in IT, good practices etc. as background for recommendations on how to promote IT amongst women2.DLL Programme – Ladies & IT-skills. Programme to reach more women and how to inspire and motivate women to work on their digital skills move towards the IT world. This will also include the development of the online platform where all initiatives are gathered. 3.DLL Partnership Guide – How to set up a regional partnership to promote IT amongst women?By developing these outputs, we want to increase awareness of the gender inequality in IT and more in general the importance of digital skills for women. We want to do this by:-Create close, cross-sectoral collaboration by relevant stakeholders to enable them to provide better support for women on their development of digital skills and/or move to the IT-world-Offer very easy access to support for women who are interested in developing their digital skills/making a move to the IT-world by gathering all existing initiatives on this issue in one platform. In the long run, it has been proven that more gender diversity in IT boosts performance. When more women are involving in IT education etc., this will contribute to closing the gap in demand and availability of IT professionals. In the end it will result in better employment and education opportunities for women and contribute to more prosperous, cohesive and inclusive European society.