There is a need to confront the actual crisis as an opportunity to democratize technological change, which will bring many benefits such as jobs creation, better working conditions, increased productivity, etc. The challenge is to provide fair access to digital tools and skills to everyone (including creative workers) as a bridge for quality employment. The project Digital Push intends to promote digital skills of vulnerable people in order to foster their creative skills and use them as a means for promoting themselves, their craft and ultimately improve their working conditions, legal contracts and environments. The goals are: To raise awareness in people with low digital skills for the digital transition and technological updating, especially in the cultural and creative sector; To empower unemployed people with low digital literacy in digital skills, increase their employability potential and promote their work and craft; To use design thinking methodology to train unemployed people and help trainers in their role of supporting low digitally skilled people. It will target some of the most vulnerable and low skilled individuals such as: unemployed people & low education workers, informal market workers (and other precarious employment contracts), cultural and creative sector workers and low-skilled entrepreneurs educators, trainers and social support technicians The final aim of this project will be to achieve a greater balance in the labour market thus investing in education in a time of digital and ecological transition. To achieve this goals, partners will develop 2 Intellectual Outputs: IO1 - Guide for Digital Inclusion - with 3 main sections: The needs of under or unemployed people for digital competences; Strategies, methods, and tools to provide and implement digital competences; Specific digital competences in the cultural sector. IO2 - Mentoring Programme for Digital Readiness and Creativity Fostering - to support and empower unemployed/inactive people with low digital literacy (mainly, workers from the cultural sector performing creativity activities) to increase their employability. The mentors will be the train-the-trainers participants (IO1) and other digital literate people. Digital Push expected results are: _20 best practices on digital skills upskilling and technology in fostering creativity; _1 Change theory developed in a co-production methodology, which serves has guideline on unemployed people and creative sector workers digital upskilling; _1 pack of techniques (i.e. tools, methods, practices) developed based on design thinking approach to support digital upskilling and for creative sector support; _1 Guide for digital inclusion with overall practices & tools for digital inclusion and specific chapter of digital upskilling adaptation for the creative sector; _1 Guidebook with remarks to implement the mentoring model with resources for mentors within 1 mentoring programme created to support directly creative sector, covering group mentoring (goal-oriented model/structure) and packed into 1 instruction manual for mentors; _40 trainers/educators and social practitioners involved in the research and training phase (IO1); _20 volunteer mentors involved (IO2); _60 mentees, creative sector workers, involved in mentoring (IO2); _120 stakeholders, low digital skilled people, unemployed people, creative sector workers, employment and training institutions and technicians, social support & public institutions and technicians, cultural departments and institutions, trainers, educators, policy-makers, among others, as participants in multiplier events; _4 Train the trainers workshops - 1 per country; _48 hours of train the trainers sessions - 12 hours per country; _3 Transnational project meetings; _4 Pilot events on mentoring programme - 1 per country; _48 group mentoring sessions - 12 mentoring sessions per country; _4 country reports on research phase and 1 EU pilot reports; _4 multiplier events; At the end, of the project it is expected to: _to raise awareness about the importance of digital literacy through 1 guide for digital inclusion; _to increase the employability of 60 workers from the cultural sector (15 mentees per country) through digital skills; _to disseminate the methods, strategies, and tools developed to 40 trainers/mentors/educators (10 per country) through the Train the Trainers workshop.
We implemented this project in line with many goals, needs and objectives previously visible in a European context. The goals we aimed to achieve are as follows. -To raise awareness of individuals with low digital skills for digital transition and technological exposure and advancement, especially in the cultural and creative sector; -To empower unemployed individuals with low digital literacy and digital skills, increase their employability potential, and promote their work and craft; -To use design thinking methodology to train unemployed people and help trainers in their role of supporting low digitally skilled people. The project targeted some of the most vulnerable and low-skilled individuals such as unemployed individuals, employed individuals with low education and skills, informal market workers (and other precarious employment contracts), cultural and creative sector workers, and low-skilled entrepreneurs educators, trainers, and social support technicians. Additionally, the ultimate aim of this project was to achieve more equality and equity within the labor market by contributing to the education of digital and ecological competences.
In the modern world we live in, we encounter daily many digital tools and approaches. However, there are groups of people and individuals that have little digital competencies and skills that renders them unemployable. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that people within this group were often overlooked in the labour market due to having little to no digital skills and competences. The implementation of this project was to provide technological changes that will provide many benefits such as creating more or better employment opportunities, creating better working conditions, enhancing individuals skills, competences and creativity and finally by increasing productivity within the workforce. The challenge was to ensure equitable access to digital tools and skills for everyone (including creative workers) as a bridge in access to the labour market. Our project aimed to develop the digital skills of vulnerable or disadvantaged individuals by enhancing their creativity and digital skills. The project therefore meets the needs and objectives by providing digital competences and support to those individuals' needs by providing a guide to trainers working in this field and those within the creative sector.