The ‘European Pillar of social rights’ (2017) supports ‘the right to quality and inclusive education, training and lifelong learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable [everyone] to participate fully in society and manage successfully transitions in the labour market’, as well as the right of people with disabilities to have access to ‘… services that enable them to participate in the labour market and in society, and a work environment adapted to their needs’. Disability impacts a large number of people – approximately 16 % of the working age population in the EU is afflicted with a long-standing health problem or disability (EC, 2007). The project aims to contribute to the efforts of Member States to create attract adult learning opportunities in order to reach the benchmark set of 15% while safeguarding the inclusion, access and participation of adults with disabilities in the digitalised economy and labour market. The project aim to equip a rather neglected group of adults with digital and social entrepreneurship skills that will open new routes, prospects for them and the community they live in. The setting up of the DIGITAL SOCIAL ENTREPENEURSHIP COMMUNITY SUPPORT CENTRES (DIS-ENPRENEURS) based on synergies at the local level is a grass root initiative envisioned to be up scaled to the national and EU level. As a result the project addresses the following priorities: HORIZONTAL: Social inclusion The project targets directly adults with disabilities. Access, social inclusion, gender equality and non-discrimination are among the priorities addressed here in relation to supporting their upgrade of their key competences – digital and entrepreneurial. Through the project the consortium aims to reach out: adults with disabilities. Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Disability is not just a health problem. It is a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives. Overcoming the difficulties faced by people with disabilities requires interventions to remove environmental and social barriers. Throughout the project’s activities the social inclusion of this particular group of adults will be safeguarded in all aspects of life, such as digital inclusion through the up skilling pathway programme to acquire essential digital skills needed to be combined with the social entrepreneurial skills, social-soft skills to empower them to participate actively in the community and the economy. HORIZONTAL: Supporting individuals in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences HORIZONTAL: Open education and innovative practices in a digital era These are related to targeted entrepreneurial and digital skills as per the 2016 Council Resolution on a 'New Skills Agenda for an inclusive Europe' which reflect the role of skills for jobs, growth and competitiveness. Skills are the key to social cohesion and can help to secure jobs and enable people to fulfil their potential. The COM/2015 and ET 2020 have highlighted the need to develop entrepreneurial skills, to not only contribute to new business creation but also to the employability of people. One of the four key reforms in ET2020 is to promote entrepreneurial skills by inspiring entrepreneurial potential through addressing the need, the attitude and the skills to generate creative ideas, and the entrepreneurial initiative to turn those ideas into action. The 2018 Digital Action Plan reinforced the need of citizens to acquire digital competences to meet the emerging needs of the digitalized market and the complexity of economic business and consumer matters. ADULT EDUCATION: Supporting the setting up of, and access to, upskilling pathways HORIZONTAL: Transparency of skills and qualifications The project aims to provide young adults with a 3 stage upskilling pathway programme to acquire, develop, assess and validate a set of essential competences (digital and entrepreneurial) to be able to meet the needs of setting up and running a social enterprise. The development of the project is based on: audit skills screening of current skills acquisition, intervention through on/off line upskilling opportunities for LLL (e.g F2F training, e-learning, workshops) and external assessment-validation of the newly acquired competences in a non-formal learning setting. These will be achieved through the on-line assessment tool to be designed based on the ecosystem of the OPEN BADGES and the Competence Framework with inbuilt benchmarks and indicators for measuring adults’ knowledge and skills (skills identification on-going process.
Entrepreneurs with disabilities are likely to face specific barriers to entering and sustaining entrepreneurship activities. Some of these barriers, arguably, are very deep-rooted social-structural constraints that impose severe limits on life chances for certain groups of disabled people. These barriers include: - Lack of confidence and limited aspirations - Lack of relevant business knowledge and skills - Access to start-up capital - Consumer discrimination - Increased labour costs - Lack of appropriate business support services Within the project, we wanted to provide young adults with disabilities with an upskilling pathway programme to acquire, develop, assess and validate a set of essential competences(digital and entrepreneurial) to be able to meet the needs of setting up and running a social enterprise. The development of the project is based on: audit skills screening of current skills acquisition, intervention through upskilling opportunities for LLL (F2F training, e-learning, workshops) and external assessment-validation of the newly acquired competencies in a non-formal learning setting. We wanted to pilot test the of setting up the social entrepreneurship community centres and its impact in participating EU countries.
EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions shows that across the EU, people with disabilities are more likely to be inactive in the labour market. Disability impacts a large number of people which is expected to grow as the population ages in industrialised countries. Approximately 16 % of the working-age population in the EU is afflicted with a long-standing health problem or disability (EC2007). Disability affects a wide range of socioeconomic outcomes, including labour market participation. People with disabilities face many barriers in the labour market and entrepreneurship. Disability is consistently found to have a negative effect on labour market outcomes, including employment rates, earnings, and employer discrimination. Entre4all targeted directly adults with disabilities. Access, social inclusion, gender equality and nondiscrimination are among the priorities addressed here in relation to supporting the upgrade of their key competencies – digital and entrepreneurial. With the active involvement in project we equiped a rather neglected group of adults with digital and social entrepreneurship skills that will open new routes, prospects for them and the community they live in.
The ‘European Pillar of social rights’ (2017) supports ‘the right to quality and inclusive education, training and lifelong learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable [everyone] to participate fully in society and manage successfully transitions in the labour market’, as well as the right of people with disabilities to have access to ‘… services that enable them to participate in the labour market and in society, and a work environment adapted to their needs’. Disability impacts a large number of people – approximately 16 % of the working age population in the EU is afflicted with a long-standing health problem or disability (EC, 2007). The project aims to contribute to the efforts of Member States to create attract adult learning opportunities in order to reach the benchmark set of 15% while safeguarding the inclusion, access and participation of adults with disabilities in the digitalised economy and labour market. The project aim to equip a rather neglected group of adults with digital and social entrepreneurship skills that will open new routes, prospects for them and the community they live in. The setting up of the DIGITAL SOCIAL ENTREPENEURSHIP COMMUNITY SUPPORT CENTRES (DIS-ENPRENEURS) based on synergies at the local level is a grass root initiative envisioned to be up scaled to the national and EU level. As a result the project addresses the following priorities: HORIZONTAL: Social inclusion The project targets directly adults with disabilities. Access, social inclusion, gender equality and non-discrimination are among the priorities addressed here in relation to supporting their upgrade of their key competences – digital and entrepreneurial. Through the project the consortium aims to reach out: adults with disabilities. Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Disability is not just a health problem. It is a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives. Overcoming the difficulties faced by people with disabilities requires interventions to remove environmental and social barriers. Throughout the project’s activities the social inclusion of this particular group of adults will be safeguarded in all aspects of life, such as digital inclusion through the up skilling pathway programme to acquire essential digital skills needed to be combined with the social entrepreneurial skills, social-soft skills to empower them to participate actively in the community and the economy. HORIZONTAL: Supporting individuals in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences HORIZONTAL: Open education and innovative practices in a digital era These are related to targeted entrepreneurial and digital skills as per the 2016 Council Resolution on a 'New Skills Agenda for an inclusive Europe' which reflect the role of skills for jobs, growth and competitiveness. Skills are the key to social cohesion and can help to secure jobs and enable people to fulfil their potential. The COM/2015 and ET 2020 have highlighted the need to develop entrepreneurial skills, to not only contribute to new business creation but also to the employability of people. One of the four key reforms in ET2020 is to promote entrepreneurial skills by inspiring entrepreneurial potential through addressing the need, the attitude and the skills to generate creative ideas, and the entrepreneurial initiative to turn those ideas into action. The 2018 Digital Action Plan reinforced the need of citizens to acquire digital competences to meet the emerging needs of the digitalized market and the complexity of economic business and consumer matters. ADULT EDUCATION: Supporting the setting up of, and access to, upskilling pathways HORIZONTAL: Transparency of skills and qualifications The project aims to provide young adults with a 3 stage upskilling pathway programme to acquire, develop, assess and validate a set of essential competences (digital and entrepreneurial) to be able to meet the needs of setting up and running a social enterprise. The development of the project is based on: audit skills screening of current skills acquisition, intervention through on/off line upskilling opportunities for LLL (e.g F2F training, e-learning, workshops) and external assessment-validation of the newly acquired competences in a non-formal learning setting. These will be achieved through the on-line assessment tool to be designed based on the ecosystem of the OPEN BADGES and the Competence Framework with inbuilt benchmarks and indicators for measuring adults’ knowledge and skills (skills identification on-going process.