The objectives of FORWARD were as follows: Inclusion and diversity: to promote social inclusion and support women with fewer opportunities, from a migrant background, disadvantaged situations, remote and rural areas; Design and experiment pathways of retraining, improving accessibility and increasing the uptake of adult education, in this case women in disadvantaged situations; Improving high quality learning opportunities in adult education, realising a flexible and women-centred learning offer, in order to provide them new opportunities for acquiring skills, for empowering their education, for facilitating their access to the labour market, in an individualised way, able to balance work and personal life.
The FORWARD: Fashion, Crafts and Design for Women Empowerment project was a small-scale cooperation partnership for Adult Education lasting 15 months (April 2022 - June 2023). Its objective was the social inclusion of women from disadvantaged backgrounds by promoting a pathway in the textile, design and arts and crafts sectors for supporting women’s employment in the labour market. The partnership involved 4 organisations from 3 European countries: Flo Società Cooperativa Sociale (Flo Concept) from Florence (Italy) as project coordinator, FISM Formazione Firenze training agency accredited by the Region of Tuscany, TON - The Open Network for Community Development, from Iasi, Romania and D4C - Associação Design For Crafts, from Lisbon Portugal. The project aimed to improve the quality of learning opportunities available to women living in disadvantaged situations by generating a flexible educational offer focused on female trainees: thanks to innovative pathways implemented in the individual partner countries, it contributed to empower their competences, improve their entrepreneurship and their possible access to the labour market.