The main objectives of the GEMS project can be summarized as follows: Developing adults' digital communication skills: The project aims to enable adult individuals to engage more effectively in the digital world by improving their skills in accessing information, online communication, and digital security. Promoting learning through intergenerational relationships: A model is being developed to support mutual learning between older individuals and young adults. This way, both groups will benefit from each other's knowledge and experiences, enhancing their digital skills as well as their social connections. Enhancing the capacity of adult education providers: The project aims to help adult education institutions and trainers develop new methods, tools, and strategies to address the digital skills of adults. As a result, these institutions will have a broader impact in the field of digital literacy and will be able to reach a larger number of individuals. These objectives have been set to prevent information exclusion caused by a lack of digital skills, increase social participation, and ensure that individuals can exist more safely and effectively in the digital world.
GEMS project was motivated when partners, working together in previous activities where they were targeting adults, realized the need to promote the digital literacy of adults. The needs’ scenario has been prior to the pandemic crisis emergency, but was soon emphasized by it in dramatic terms: suddenly, digital knowledge and tools turn to be the only mean of contact with the outside world in many countries and contexts. This was affecting, for instance, children at schools, but while those were a priority for public and private providers, adults, on contrary, were easily left aside. However, the Erasmus+ Programme established the Digital Transition as one of its main priorities, regardless of the target-groups, but mainly focusing all the Education sectors of the Programme, which includes the Adult Education sector. For this two reasons, absolute need and priority focus, the GEMS project should be funded, making evidence of its effective proposal, which has been improved since its initial equation, and results now in the current proposal to this new stage of the Programme (2021-2027).