CONTEXT ADVANTAGE addresses critical EU-wide issues: innovative approaches to entrepreneurship learning, ageing population, gender/age discrimination, social exclusion. It proposes an EU-wide approach using a collaborative, inclusive digital e-community to match older women who are disadvantaged in the labour-market to business mentoring and other resources. Entrepreneurship is a growing option for many women aged 50+ in the EU although still fewer than men. ‘Policy Brief on Women’s Entrepreneurship,’ OECD/European Union, 2017, reports a cohesive approach is needed to encourage more women to be entrepreneurs and gain them more representation Europe-wide, that includes training, coaching and mentoring as well as support in building networks and facilitating access to finance. The number of older people in Europe is expected to grow - those aged 65 years or over will account for 29.1 % of the EU-28’s population by 2080, compared with 19.4 % in 2017(https://ec.europa.eu/Population_structure_and_ageing). An EU policy priority is to encourage Europeans to remain in work longer, to ensure the sustainability of pension s OBJECTIVES AND TARGET GROUP ADVANTAGE will create an inclusive, collaborative peer-to-peer (P2P) ‘e-community’ for women aged 50+ offering online e-mentoring and coaching in entrepreneurship plus other related resources. ADVANTAGE will also provide education and careers orientation practitioners with resources to support their practice. It will include: 1. P2P e-community (IO1) featuring: * Online P2P matching to mentoring/coaching. * Live-event streaming * Directory and downloadable coaching/training and other EU and local resources (IO2) * Pop-up screen tips for members * Networking * Online skills/personal development audit * Evaluation tools to measure quantity/quality of the digital tools and mentoring and other connections made. 2. Peer-to-peer e-mentoring training programme (6-10 hours), blending online and face-to-face delivery with optional social media focus (IO3) 3. 10 educators will be trained to deliver the mentoring training to participants and colleagues(C1) 4. 40 participant women will be trained as peer mentors 5. ADVANTAGE’s e-community framework and resources, P2P mentoring matching, peer mentoring training will be PILOTED with 200 women and 20 educators ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS IO1 – Develop e-community platform and interface based on partners’ feedback and results of needs analysis RESULTS - prototype for partners to pilot populated with content from IO2 and IO3 IO2 – Create directory and identify resources to populate the platfomr, including publications, websites, links, organisations, discrete activities, required for the Directory. RESULTS: up to date, reliable content to support older women in developing entrepreneurship and supporting skills resulting in improved resources for older women to support their access to entrepreneurship mentoring, peer support and other resources IO3 E-mentoring training programme developed b based on results of needs analysis, with optional social media focused element. RESULTS: materials and methodology for 20 educators to train 40 women participants as e-mentors who in turn will be able to undertake training as e-mentors resulting in wider enterprise and support networks for women in partner countries and potentially beyond. PILOT – all products developed in IO1/2/3 will be tested by partners with 200 women aged 50+ and 20 educators. RESULTS: careful evaluation will assess effectiveness of products with indications of areas that need adjusting and validate quality to enable products to be made publicly available resulting in improved resources for older women to support their access to entrepreneurship mentoring, peer support and other resources C1. Joint staff training for practitioners: 2 practitioners per partner will attend e-mentoring training programme for 5 days in Perugia (most cost effective venue LONGER TERM IMPACTS • Enterprise and employment education staff and providers, local authorities regional business development centres and other agencies who are responsible for developing entrepreneurial opportunities and education will be offered new resources to support women aged 50+ and facilitate their ability to contribute to their personal incomes and local economies. • Policy makers at local, national and transnational level will gain insights and resources that address the needs and activities of this growing and currently under-utilised target group that could make a significant contribution to the EU economy.
Our project's objectives were: To create a replicable, transferable model and methodology for peer mentoring and mentor training for older women to support them in developing their enterprise & careers skills using primarily a digital platform. To promote mentoring and its associated transferable skills as a means to fostering older women's career and business potential and enhancing their incomes and contributions to local economies. To widen the participation of older women in the economy To provide policy insights on the needs of this growing and under-utilised target group with potential to make a significant contribution to the EU economy. To disseminate project results widely to encourage take-up of the ADVANTAGE model.
We applied for this project to improve opportunities for older women - who are disadvantaged and under-represented as entrepreneurs and at the work - through online peer mentoring and mentor training. Older women can experience many barriers to inclusion: for example, unconscious or even deliberate age/gender discrimination. Many told us how unseen and unheard they felt, perhaps they were caring for family members at home and had lost confidence in their ability to find work or realise a long-held dream of setting up their own business. Others may have missed out on education the first time round or their skills and qualifications needed an update. A lot simply weren’t aware of the networks and advice they could turn to. In an ageing Europe, older women need to prepare for their futures and acquire the resources and skills to take their place in the labour market and business world or become at real risk of economic and social isolation. ADVANTAGE addressed these critical EU-wide issues through its innovative, targeted approach to on and offline peer mentoring and enterprise learning.