INSERT project consists in extending and developing the social entrepreneurship competences of educators/ professionals working in organisations, providing support to migrant populations, in order to assist them in the long-run in promoting social entrepreneurship to low-skilled and low-qualified adults with a migrant background, as an alternative pathway for their self-sustainability. The development of these social entrepreneurship competences will be achieved through an extensive ToT programme, provided though both the means of an e-learning tool and complementary classroom training. The ultimate goal of the project would be to develop an informal network of “social learning e-centres” for educators/ trainers/ professionals working with migrant adults, through which the trained educators will be involved in engaging new peers to follow the training programme using the same capacity building mechanism. Thus, future educators will be equipped with social entrepreneurships skills, to be used as a basis for further training low-skilled adult migrants on entrepreneurship in the context of social growth. The need to implement this project emerged from the fact that there is a growing recognition of the role that it can play in tackling societal and environmental challenges and fostering inclusive social growth. The EU social economy, according to the EC, has employed more than 11 million people, about 6% of the active workforce: out of these, 26% are employed in social enterprises. Meanwhile, employment in social enterprises increased by 8%, which is also a promising start to tackle unemployment and poor working conditions currently faced by migrants in EU member states. Social enterprises represent an excellent opportunity for creating new job opportunities for migrants, fostering their empowerment and enabling them to work in a fair and equal environment, including as entrepreneurs. One of the challenges encountered for the further development of social enterprises, nevertheless, is the lack/inadequacy of entrepreneurial skills. Although social entrepreneurship increasingly gains interest among entrepreneurs, there is a significant lack of awareness around social enterprise principles and on social enterprise creation. Entrepreneurial education is not yet sufficiently integrated into the education system and most people lack the skills necessary for entering the modern business landscape. To respond to the above needs, the project will build on the competitive advantages that arise from social entrepreneurship particularly in the new economic context that calls for inherently flexible approaches to create social impact through self-sustainability. The objectives of the project are the following: • To enhance the background and knowledge of educators / professionals in social entrepreneurship fields, which will facilitate them in the long run to develop social entrepreneurial skills to learners with migrant background, • Improve the supply of high quality learning opportunities in the field of social entrepreneurship tailored to the needs of both educators with no prior relevant knowledge in the field, as well as of low-skilled adults with migrant background. • Increase the capacity of educators / professionals as trainers of trainers in social entrepreneurship • Promote the social entrepreneurship spirit and raise awareness on the alternative pathways to pursue self-sustainability • Increase labour market relevance of learning provision and qualifications and reinforce links among the world of social entrepreneurship with adult trainers and, ultimately, with migrant learners. The primary target group of the project is educators/trainers and professionals working with adult migrants in organisations providing social and educational support to migrants. The project will also target Municipal Authorities, NGOs, Adult learning Centres, diaspora associations, and other relevant stakeholders. The project’s innovation and added value lies in the very fact that it does not merely seek to train trainers on social entrepreneurship teaching methods and practical thematic knowledge, through the means of an e-tool. The project goes beyond the mere e-learning and training of trainers scheme as it incorporates the innovative set up and activation of the network of informal social learning e-centres for educators/ trainers/ professionals working with migrant adults, through which the trained educators will be involved in engaging new peers to follow the capacity building programme using the same capacity building mechanism. The validation and certification of the acquired skills of educators through the project´s non-formal learning activities will also equip them in offering high-quality teaching on social entrepreneurship both to new peers and potentially to migrants.
The INSERT project was a collaboration of 6 European Organisations highly motivated in exploiting the future INSERT outputs and results. The partnership developed innovative tools in order to extend and develop the social entrepreneurship competences of educators/ professionals working in organisations who provide support to migrant populations. Thus assisting them in the long-run, by promoting social entrepreneurship to low-skilled and low-qualified adults with a migrant background, as an alternative pathway for their self-sustainability. The development of these social entrepreneurship competences have been achieved through an extensive ToT programme, provided through both the means of an e-learning tool and complementary classroom training. The ultimate goal of the project has been to develop an informal network of “social learning e-centres” for educators/ trainers/ professionals working with migrant adults, through which the trained educators have been involved in engaging new peers to follow the training programme using the same capacity building mechanism. Future educators are now equipped with social entrepreneurship skills, to be used as a basis for further training low-skilled adult migrants on entrepreneurship in the context of social growth. One of the challenges encountered for the further development of social enterprises, is the lack/inadequacy of entrepreneurial skills. Although social entrepreneurship increasingly gains interest among entrepreneurs, there is a significant lack of awareness around social enterprise principles and on social enterprise creation. Entrepreneurial education is not yet sufficiently integrated into the education system and most people lack the skills necessary for entering the modern business landscape. To respond to the above needs, the project built on the competitive advantages that arise from social entrepreneurship particularly in the new economic context that calls for inherently flexible approaches to create social impact through self-sustainability. The objectives of the project were the following: • To enhance the background and knowledge of educators / professionals in social entrepreneurship fields, which will facilitate them in the long run to develop social entrepreneurial skills to learners with migrant background, • Improve the supply of high quality learning opportunities in the field of social entrepreneurship tailored to the needs of both educators with no prior relevant knowledge in the field, as well as of low-skilled adults with migrant background. • Increase the capacity of educators / professionals as trainers of trainers in social entrepreneurship • Promote the social entrepreneurship spirit and raise awareness on the alternative pathways to pursue self-sustainability • Increase labour market relevance of learning provision and qualifications and reinforce links among the world of social entrepreneurship with adult trainers and, ultimately, with migrant learners. The primary target group of the project were educators/trainers and professionals working with adult migrants in organisations providing social and educational support to migrants. The project also targeted Municipal Authorities, NGOs, Adult learning Centres, diaspora associations, and other relevant stakeholders. The project’s innovation and added value lies in the very fact that it did not merely seek to train trainers on social entrepreneurship teaching methods and practical thematic knowledge, through the means of an e-tool. The project went beyond the mere e-learning and training of trainers scheme as it incorporated the innovative set up and activation of the network of informal social learning e-centres for educators/ trainers/ professionals working with migrant adults, through which the trained educators are now involved in engaging new peers to follow the capacity building programme using the same capacity building mechanism. The validation and certification of the acquired skills of educators through the project´s non-formal learning activities has also equipped them in offering high-quality teaching on social entrepreneurship both to new peers and potentially to migrants. Through the INSERT Project: *over 25 participants tested the capacity building course and social learning e-centres digital tools. *over 700 participants have benefited from project activities i.e pilot testing etc. *50 participants have successfully completed the capacity building and social learning e-centres programme *Over 50 new peers have been engaged and trained by selected educators during the social learning e-centres programme *Over 200 participants took part in the awareness raising events *Over 19,555 national and EU Stakeholders have received information about the e-tool *Over 50,000 persons have been reached via newsletters,leaflets, posters, web platform of project. * Over 32,599 stakeholders and beneficiaries have been reached through dissemination and exploitation activities.