DIG IN
Summary of the project
DIG IN: “Promoting youth entrepreneurship to foster NEETs social & work inclusion, using digital youth work and collaborative techniques” 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/offline, 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.
DIG IN Outputs
The e-guidebook contains the information youth workers and educators need know to support digital natives using innovative DIGITAL YOUTH
SOLUTIONS with a particular reference to mentoring and engagement using ICT and new media.
The topics will be (but not limited to)
-NEETs specific challenges in society and to foster their skills and competences
-deeper understanding of the so called “digital natives”, what are their challenges in being exposed to technology since birth but not really being able to use it in a smart way.
-what is the role and skills of a digital mentor
-techniques for engaging and communicating via social media and ICT
-how to mentor and motivate participants, how to maximise the participants experiences, ….
-Encourage learning, develop a growth mind-set, guide discovery of topics, provide appropriate challenges and provide clear learning objectives
targeting selected skills;
-Define coaching and mentoring and explain how to understand what the needs
-Provide suggestions for educators on how to establish a permanent network to ensure the exploitation and follow-up to the project’s results;
-Explain how to get in contact with local stakeholders, what the aim of their involvement is, how to support local activities, how to engage local actors
and how to let them be more aware of their responsibilities in the community, etc
-self-assessment tools
-tips and learned lesson during the pilot test in the different countries
The program manual consist in theoretical information and practical instructions on how to organize the DIG IN program. The program will use different techniques (non-formal learning activities, collaborative learning, on line and off line activities , individual and group
initiatives and exercises ordered according the 5 values in LICET, which are connected to specifics skills and competences, related to entrepreneurship and enterprise organization. Such as:
–LINK WITH TERRITORY, CULTURE AND LOCAL COMMUNITY how to be proactive in the economic and social development of the local
community
–INNOVATION & IMPROVEMENT how to promote creativity and co-creation of value by diffusing knowledge and information, while motivating for collaboration
–COMPETITIVENESS, CORRECTNESS, ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY how to support efficient management, share objectives, and foresee benefit for the whole network
–ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY how diminish the impact on the environment and using resources efficiently
–TAKING CARE OF PEOPLE’S HEALTH & SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY how to make ethic, safe, healthy choices to respond to people needs
Digital catalogue offering an inventory of exercise, reading materials tools and resources prepared by the partners or available at EU / National / Local level.
Over the past years, many projects have been preparing materials freely distributed. The partner will select, edit and adapt the ones that are more
compatible with the present project.
Most of the collected resources will be re-edited and adapted (in the partners’ languages) to offer an organized inventory of ready to use lessons,
activities, exercise, assessment. Categorized and ordered based on the 5 values as in IO2, to make it easier for educators to pick them.
The Partnership
Fundacja imienia Braci Solunskich – Cyryla i Metodego-applicant Jarosław, Poland
The Brothers’ Name of the Soil – Cyril and Methodius Foundation was established on the initiative of Małgorzata Pankiewicz, among others, to:
– support the comprehensive development of Polish society, in particular social, information, cultural, scientific and educational activities for the development of the market and democracy in Poland and bringing nations closer and Central and Eastern European countries;
– promote the idea of unity of the Slavs, initiate, support and develop cooperation at all levels of government and local government;
– expand mutual knowledge about the culture and relationships of Slavic peoples and Cyrillomethodic traditions;
– continue the work of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius.
Their aim:
– promote the unity of Slavic peoples and seek and build the strength of the Polish nation among this unity;
– emphasize our similarities as well as get to know what differentiates us and transform differences into social capital;
– perform together internationally to promote Slavic values as being equivalent to other values.
MINE VAGANTI NGO-partner- Sassari, Italy
Mine Vaganti NGO is a no-profit organisation born in Sardinia in 2009, whose services encompass Education and Training, Project Design, Research, International Mobility and Consultancy.MVNGO promotes intercultural dialogue, social and green entrepreneurship, social inclusion through Sport, Formal and Non Formal Education. MVNGO is part of 3 international networks such as YEE, ISCA and MV International.MVNGO has a consultant role for public and private bodies in order to promote and develop European and trans-continental projects in Youth/Adults/VET/HEI/Sport Sectors. MVNGO works on Erasmus+, Horizon 2020, Cosme, Europe for Citizens, Creative Europe,EuropeAid, EaSi, Life+, IEE, the United Nations programmes (UNDEF) and with foundations such as EYF, Fondazione con il Sud, Anna Lindh and Open Society.
Ke.Di.Vi.M2 KAINOTOMIA – partner, Larissa, Greece
KAINOTOMIA provide business consultancy to companies & supporting services and consulting support services to trainees to facilitate their (re) entrance into the labour market. KAINOTOMIA has participated in several national projects, offering a high degree of expertise regarding training in contemporary fields, matching them with those that have a high demand in job’s market, in order to develop trainees’ knowledge, skills and attitudes towards their integration in the labour market.KAINOTOMIA has been participating in co funded national projects under the name of “local development plans and entrepreneurship for unemployed based on specific local needs and growth potential”.
INSTITUTE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT-partner-, Larissa, Greece
The Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (iED) is a Greek organisation committed to the promotion of innovation and the enhancing of the entrepreneurial spirit. By recognizing entrepreneurship as a crucial factor for the development and cohesion of societies, we conduct research and we are in position to provide innovative solutions that facilitate the growth of healthy entrepreneurship and promote employment. In order to achieve our goal, we adopt an anthropocentric approach and cooperate with social, academic and business partners from Greece and abroad, aiming at producing and transferring know how, promoting entrepreneurial culture and
enhancing the effectiveness and viability of enterprises. In our fourteen-year long activation, we have participated among others in the planning,
implementation and evaluation of more than 100 National and European projects, something which gave us a unique insight in the practical aspects
of implementing large scale co-funded projects and also provided us with an extremely wide network of collaborating organizations both from Greece
and abroad.
AREGAI Terre di benessere Associazione Culturale-partner, Torino, Italy
Founded in 2007, AREGAI is an Italian no profit association promoting activities and projects to help members of the association to improve and innovate without waste resources, making good use of all talents and knowledge in the value chain. Its members are people, professionals, entrepreneurs, public and private organizations willing to use more participatory approach to their work and pursue sustainability through concrete actions and behaviours, for the benefit of the whole community. Aregai helps its members in planning and co-creating sustainable products, projects and services, using a system called LICET®. The system is tool to help organizations in creating sustainable activity plan, assess clearly results and guide in the planning tasks and responsibility so to accomplish with the common goals while respecting for economic, social and environmental parameters of the project, specifically, of society in general.
Cooperation supported by the LICET® model and tools can respond better to all recognized needs and valorising members’ efforts.
CENTAR ZA EDUKATIVEN I KULTUREN RAZVOJ RACIO-partner, The Republic of North Macedonia, Skopje
C.E.C.D. “RACIO” is a youth association established on 18th May 2009, located in Skopje, since than they have tried to organize different activities in the field of Education and Culture. We have also trained a lot of people in different topics such as communication, leadership, economy, sociology etc. Their main target for local activities is High school students and also they are working with different age range for international projects, mostly of them are coming from minority groups who are living in North Macedonia. Most of their target group is facing social and economical obstacles and some of them even geographical obstacles as they are coming from rural areas.
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Co-funded by the «Erasmus+» Programme of the European Union
