The main target audience are people from the vulnerable groups, including unemployed people from the aging population, with a view to facilitating their access to the labour market.
The project Е-skills for E-inclusion main objectives are to develop a training program on computer literacy and pilot trainings for vulnerable groups to facilitate their access to the labor market.
This project is an Erasmus + Key Action 2 Strategic Partnership between Northern Ireland, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, and Italy. The partners are experienced transnational project promoters, using their skills of working with disadvantaged communities to improve lives through developing innovative programmes which can be implemented internationally. E-Skills for E-Inclusion project developed an online and face to face training programme, with multiple modules, to improve the accessibility of the internet and digital platforms for people who are considered socially excluded. The bespoke programme linked learners across the partnership and developed the organisations, which are led by Kilcooley Women’s Centre in Bangor (Northern Ireland).
In Bulgaria, the Е-skills for E-inclusion project was implemented by the Global Libraries – Bulgaria Foundation (GLBF) with the active participation of four regional libraries:
The project duration was 3 years, from September 2016 to August 2019. For this period, the IT specialists from the four regional libraries in Bulgaria were part of an international team involved in developing the online training programme as a structure and content (in the first year), developing an evaluation methodology for measuring the results of the trainings and pilot testing of the programme within the 4 libraries with representatives of vulnerable groups.
Led by the Kilcooley Women’s Centre in Bangor (North Ireland), the members of the Е-skills for E-inclusion project partnership are ACDC Suceava (Romania), Global Libraries Sofia (Bulgaria), Association Libraries, Bucharest (Romania), Esplai Barcelona (Spain) and Florence/Rome (Italy).
Approaches and methods used during the project implementation in Bulgaria refer to:
In the final part of the three-year project, the ICT specialists participating in the project performed additional modeling based on the data obtained from the pilot trainings.
As a result of the pilot trainings, an evaluation methodology was developed to measure the results and manuals, to further support the creation of a new, common platform to help people from vulnerable groups to better realize themselves in the labor market.
The impact of the project relates to increase the computer literacy of vulnerable groups, incl. the group of aging population, in order to facilitate their adequacy and retention in the labor market. In this way they have the chance their livelihoods to be financially, and / or economically improved.
The Global Libraries – Bulgaria Foundation mission is to support the inclusion of Bulgarian citizens in the global information society, to improve their quality of life and to promote civic participation. The innovation and success factors refer to the match of the Е-skills for E-inclusion project’s goals with the foundation’s overall goals for establishment of conditions for a free and equal access to information, internet, and electronic services for the citizens, including the one at age 65+, to promote information literacy and lifelong learning, to support the social integration of disadvantaged groups, etc.
The project success is defined by the cooperation and good work relationships, established between the Global Libraries – Bulgaria Foundation and the regional libraries in the country, which build the territorial library network. It provides a wider range of specific cultural and information services in the outermost regions, through the network of municipal and community centers’ libraries.
The project focuses on challenges related to overcoming the mismatch between the needs of the labor market and the digital skills possessed by the workforce.
One of the measures to extend the employment opportunities for people aged 65+ is to increase their skills in digitalization and the use of ICT, to facilitate their adequacy and retention in the labor market.
The lessons learned are related to the need of:
The sustainability of the project refers to the possibility to adapt, update and use the developed training materials and methodologies after the end of the project both by the regional libraries – participants in the pilot activities, and in the whole network of libraries in the country, incl. in the libraries at the community centers in the remote and rural areas.
The replicability of the good practice more widely is visible, based on collaboration with the existing libraries and educational facilities in given country.
This practice is a good example of retaining of the aging population on the labor market by increasing its computer literacy to work in a digital environment.
Phones: (+359 2) 465 10 76, (+359 89) 221 93 61
E-mail: foundation (at) glbulgaria.net
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