FA-ST provides opportunities of empowerment and development to young women (18 to 30 years of age) affected by socioeconomic barriers (migrants background, weak family support, early school leavers), and inspire them to start a business in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education) sector. The high-quality practical resources produced by the 4 partners in the FA-ST consortium are used to increase a wide set of competences, necessary to compete in the actual labour market (STEM literacy, soft and entrepreneur skills) while offering a substantial and comprehensive support to those willing to start a business in the STEM sector (fast prototyping, business planning). The main innovation that will result from the present collaboration, is a new way to fostering girls’ interest in STEM and inspiring them in choosing a career within STEM fields. The Consortium was assembled based on the need of ensuring a new representation of the different national contexts facing the challenge of young disadvantaged female integration as well as the interconnections it enjoys with the entrepreneurial empowerment in Europe. Considering the increasing importance of STEM in the global market, and the employment opportunities connected to it, increasing STEM literacy and entrepreneurial mind-sets widespread opportunities in the EU28, thus the root-based initiative like this one will offer a good starting point for a positive change in STEM situation. The project can be used as a baseline practice for STEM literacy and STEM skills development for other similar initiatives, expanding as an example to youth work and civil society initiative as a mean to validate non-formal or informal skills. The practice can be easily transferred to other institutions or countries as the skills for sustainability and responsible behaviours are relevant and applicable in all the EU (and beyond) Nations. For this reason, a version of the contents will be created in English to facilitate a wider diffusion. The project has 3 strategic objectives: *To promote a more engaging and more equal environment where all students, girls and young women in particular, can increase their STEM literacy levels *To foster equal access to better careers and job opportunities in the STEM sector for young women *To enhance the employability, and entrepreneurial skills of young women with a business idea in the STEM sector The production of the project’s results will start with gathering evidence and best practices on successful ways partners and other organizations prepared and delivered, to increase girls’ and young women’s STEM competences. During the production of the different IOs, partners will also work to form a Pan-European network involving all sort of stakeholders (youth/women/business associations, cultural associations, non-formal education providers, VET/HEI institutions, business associations…) with the aim of promoting entrepreneurial education, collaborative support to weaker groups and multi-mentoring programs. Experts from these organizations are the ones engaged as mentors. The learning environment is shaped around the 3 steps the program and can be easily adapted or modulated based on participants’ needs or local condition. Separately they can be used to (1) increase STEM literacy, (2) increase entrepreneurial skills and motivation for personal improvement and (3) create a business and connect experts and mentors. If participants will go through the whole process, it offers a complete learning experience to create a start-up in the STEM sector for young women with an entrepreneurial idea. The provision of a customized support enhancing their transition to concrete forms of self-employment (either entrepreneurial projects or joint/groups’ efforts) would provide a strong contribution to their social inclusion and employability, while maximizing the output in terms of contribution to the sustainable development of their local context.
The project FA-ST had the following main strategic objectives: *To promote an engaging and equal-opportunities environment where girls and young women in particular, can increase their STEM literacy levels. *To foster equal access to better careers and job opportunities in the STEM sector for young women. *To enhance the employability, and entrepreneurial skills of young women with a business idea in the STEM sector. The specific objectives of the project were: 1) Identify and outline new ways to present STEM to the project's target group. 2) Prepare and test a non-formal learning program to support young women in creating their STEM start-ups. 3) Develop and test a FA-ST prototyping process to ensure sustainability and visibility of newly created start-ups. 4) Elaborate an effective FA-ST guidance manual for trainers and youth workers. 5) Create a strong support network composed of companies, public institutions, social services, youth organization, universities and other relevant stakeholders. 6) Equip a platform that the girls and young women would use to display their talent and/or business ideas. 7) Disseminate the partial and complete outcomes of the Project to a wider audience in the EU.
The inspiration of this project is the ongoing challenge of enhancing the entrepreneurial spirit of young women in Europe. It has been recognized that entrepreneurial skills not only contribute to new business development but also to the employability of young people. At the same time, Europe is facing a shortage of millions of skilled ICT workers, with half of its population not properly integrated into the transformations underway. Without more women embracing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education), the necessary critical skills to succeed in an innovation-based economy will be missing. It is therefore crucial to remove barriers and to encourage young women to study and work in STEM-related fields. The FA-ST project provides opportunities of empowerment and development to young women (18 to 30 years of age) affected by socioeconomic barriers and inspires them to start a business in the STEM sector. The resources produced by the FA-ST consortium are used to increase a wide set of competences, which are necessary to compete in the labour market (STEM literacy, soft and entrepreneur skills), while offering a substantial and comprehensive support to those willing to start a business in the STEM sector.