ADVANTAGE – ENTERPRISING OLDER WOMEN Erasmus Project

Project Title

ADVANTAGE – ENTERPRISING OLDER WOMEN

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Access for disadvantaged; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

CONTEXT
ADVANTAGE addresses critical EU-wide issues: innovative approaches to entrepreneurship learning, ageing population, gender/age discrimination, social exclusion. It proposes an EU-wide approach using a collaborative, inclusive digital e-community to match older women who are disadvantaged in the labour-market to business mentoring and other resources. Entrepreneurship is a growing option for many women aged 50+ in the EU although still fewer than men. ‘Policy Brief on Women’s Entrepreneurship,’ OECD/European Union, 2017, reports a cohesive approach is needed to encourage more women to be entrepreneurs and gain them more representation Europe-wide, that includes training, coaching and mentoring as well as support in building networks and facilitating access to finance. The number of older people in Europe is expected to grow – those aged 65 years or over will account for 29.1 % of the EU-28’s population by 2080, compared with 19.4 % in 2017(https://ec.europa.eu/Population_structure_and_ageing). An EU policy priority is to encourage Europeans to remain in work longer, to ensure the sustainability of pension s

OBJECTIVES AND TARGET GROUP
ADVANTAGE will create an inclusive, collaborative peer-to-peer (P2P) ‘e-community’ for women aged 50+ offering online e-mentoring and coaching in entrepreneurship plus other related resources. ADVANTAGE will also provide education and careers orientation practitioners with resources to support their practice. It will include:
1. P2P e-community (IO1) featuring:
* Online P2P matching to mentoring/coaching.
* Live-event streaming
* Directory and downloadable coaching/training and other EU and local resources (IO2)
* Pop-up screen tips for members
* Networking
* Online skills/personal development audit
* Evaluation tools to measure quantity/quality of the digital tools and mentoring and other connections made.
2. Peer-to-peer e-mentoring training programme (6-10 hours), blending online and face-to-face delivery with optional social media focus (IO3)
3. 10 educators will be trained to deliver the mentoring training to participants and colleagues(C1)
4. 40 participant women will be trained as peer mentors
5. ADVANTAGE’s e-community framework and resources, P2P mentoring matching, peer mentoring training will be PILOTED with 200 women and 20 educators

ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS
IO1 – Develop e-community platform and interface based on partners’ feedback and results of needs analysis RESULTS – prototype for partners to pilot populated with content from IO2 and IO3
IO2 – Create directory and identify resources to populate the platfomr, including publications, websites, links, organisations, discrete activities, required for the Directory.
RESULTS: up to date, reliable content to support older women in developing entrepreneurship and supporting skills resulting in improved resources for older women to support their access to entrepreneurship mentoring, peer support and other resources
IO3 E-mentoring training programme developed b based on results of needs analysis, with optional social media focused element. RESULTS: materials and methodology for 20 educators to train 40 women participants as e-mentors who in turn will be able to undertake training as e-mentors resulting in wider enterprise and support networks for women in partner countries and potentially beyond.
PILOT – all products developed in IO1/2/3 will be tested by partners with 200 women aged 50+ and 20 educators. RESULTS: careful evaluation will assess effectiveness of products with indications of areas that need adjusting and validate quality to enable products to be made publicly available resulting in improved resources for older women to support their access to entrepreneurship mentoring, peer support and other resources
C1. Joint staff training for practitioners: 2 practitioners per partner will attend e-mentoring training programme for 5 days in Perugia (most cost effective venue

LONGER TERM IMPACTS
• Enterprise and employment education staff and providers, local authorities regional business development centres and other agencies who are responsible for developing entrepreneurial opportunities and education will be offered new resources to support women aged 50+ and facilitate their ability to contribute to their personal incomes and local economies.
• Policy makers at local, national and transnational level will gain insights and resources that address the needs and activities of this growing and currently under-utilised target group that could make a significant contribution to the EU economy.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 310995 Eur

Project Coordinator

COUNCIL OF THE LONDON BOROUGH OF WANDSWORTH & Country: UK

Project Partners

• EDUCA – vzdelavaci centrum, s.r.o.
• Asociación Empresarial L’alqueria Projectes Educatius
• CONSORZIO ABN A&B NETWORK SOCIALE SOCIETA COOPERATIVA SOCIALE
• West Creative Ltd
• Fundatia Centrul Educational Spektrum