We aimed to achieve two objectives: 1. To enhance the capacity of our organisations to work with vulnerable women through close and continuous collaboration throughout the project, targeting both organisational management and trainer teams. 2. To improve the socio-economic inclusion and personal motivation of the target group through several approaches: centralising and disseminating information on social entrepreneurship best practices in Belgium, overcoming barriers and limitations through group and individual counselling/coaching programs, and providing social entrepreneurship skills training. Additionally, we focused on raising women's awareness of the applicability of social entrepreneurship in the rural economy, creating an intercultural exchange thanks to the consortium and the study visit, and training new skills—both entrepreneurial and digital—to ensure a problem-solving mindset. These objectives were aligned with identified needs, Erasmus+ priorities, and our organizations' experience, considering development opportunities for both entities and their teams. We sought to address the target group's needs with an educational approach that would also help our organizations grow, establish partnerships, & engage communities.
Our organizational development plan included capacity building to work with diverse groups, including vulnerable groups. Based on the need to increase income and improve employment in the labor market, identified by the Coordinator among rural women, we identified an opportunity at consortium level to develop a project that would address the following concrete needs: - on the one hand, the personal and professional development of this target group by overcoming their own barriers and limitations and initiating them into social entrepreneurship. - on the other hand, the development of our professional skills, the increase of our capacity to create new development programs and to increase our understanding of the concept of inclusion and diversity within our organizations. Thus, we have designed an educational approach based on previous experience and best practices on social entrepreneurship in Belgium. The chosen target group was geographically located in Arges county, based on the development perspectives of the Coordinator in the area. The funding request was based on the need for upskilling in managing Erasmus+ projects, internationalization, and capacity building within the consortium.