Social Digital Mentors Erasmus Project

Project Title

Social Digital Mentors

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 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

CONTEXT
The Europe 2020 Strategy has defined among others, one key priority that is to raise “Europe’s employment rate – more and better jobs, especially for women, young people and older workers” so to achieve a benchmarkl of ” 75% employment rate for women and men aged 20-64 by 2020– achieved by getting more people into work.
The achievement of this important goal, that has important implication for the more general objectives of at least 4 of the five headline targets that have been set for the EU to achieve by the end of 2020 as employment; research and development; education; social inclusion and poverty reduction, is threatened by the economic crisis and the consequent loss of job opportunities that in many countries lead the unemployment rates to achieve “record” percentages.
Older workers are more exposed to unemployment and exclusion from good careers opportunities, with rates that often reach 35% and more in European Countries and due to the economical crisis and low qualification.
Within this context the partners of this project have explored these issues and have identified solutions to help older people to be inserted in the labor market establishing effective links between adult schools and the world of work.
NEEDS
Adult learners, Adult teachers and enterprises need to break the barriers caused by the digital divide which separate them from the net. For helping adult learners to join the labour market using social media, we have trained mentors on how to write an European CV, how to find a job using social employment portals and how to create, maintain and preserve the digital identity for the world of work. Social online Mentors are 10 adult learners in each country. Mentors are offering support, advice an information related on the project issues to the other adult learners using the “social mentor office”.
The project is using Mentoring interpairs like a methodology of shared learning and growth citizens (Internet, first-class citizens), and the rest of people who, due to their lack of knowledge or domain in relation to the use of web social media tools, are considered as the new digital illiterates of the 21st century.
The use of Social media and ICT is not widespread among adults, they have learned how to use social media to socialize, communicate and searching job opportunities.
Social Media and Internet are now very often used by the companies for selecting in an effective way their future employees.
Adult learners have learned how to create and preserve their digital identity where they keep on their competences, language knowledge, etc. to become an optimal candidate to be reincorporated in labour market in the most rapid an efficient way.
AIM
The aim of the project has been to promote employment for long term unemployed adult people, through an effective use of social media , ICT and through the training of 10 adult learners in each participant country that are called “ social digital mentors”
ACTIVITIES
-Learning community
-Social mentors training package
-Workshops with adult teachers
-Training the “Social digital mentors”
-Barcamps with personal recruitment managers of companies.
-Social Online Mentors office
-Conference about “social digital mentors”
CONSORTIUM
The project has involved 7 institutions of 5 different European countries.
The partnership is composed by institutions with experience in training adult teachers and learners and in the development of innovative projects for adult education.
OUTCOMES
-Online social digital mentoring training package, The training package contains a guide and a collection of useful training materials with at least the following chapters:how to create your European curriculum,the most demanded profesional profiles, how to look for work in an effective way in Europe using European employment portals,how to create personal professional profile, how to monitor and improve personal and professional profile, how to organize personal development plan, tools for creating, controlling, maintaining and improving your own reputation. For creating (select your name, social networks (pages on Facebook, twitter, Linkedin,foursquare, etc), blogs, youtube, flikr, slideshare etc., for controlling (google alerts, google analytics, Tweetreach, google inside, facebookinside, howsocialble, etc), for improve and maintain (tweetdeck, hootsuite ,etc.) The training package contains too a collection of training materials (videos, online games, images, documents, links, interview, etc)
-Social digital mentors website and social media pages
-Social mentors office. A mailbox on the website has been created, where all interested adult learners may consult their questions.
IMPACT
People involved in the project.
– 140 adult teachers
– 2000 adult learners in 14 adult institutions
– 43 professionals in the field of the recruitment of employees
– 3 local authorities
– 1 Regional authority
– 20 inspectors of education
– 3 European networks
– 1 Trade Union.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 109936,88 Eur

Project Coordinator

Sistema Practices s.l. & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Agrupamento de Escolas de Vilela
• Kairos Europe Limited
• K POULOPOULOS PC
• Comune di Anzola dell’Emilia
• Xano Channel asociación para el desarrollo comunitario
• Marketing Research Team Marco Panuccio