COVID-19, or the so-called Coronavirus, became an enemy for all of us, for our families and for social relationship. As such, we are adapting our work to these preventive measures.
How are projects addressing this situation?
“The Global Village is still alive, stay active and online during when faced by the Corona Virus” – Einurd Ltd., expertise partner of NEETs’ Empowerment for Sustainable Employment in the Tourism sector (NESET).
PROJECT NESET 2017-1-285
“It has been a long time since we received such direct sign in Europe to truly socially innovate in order to build our collective resilience while acting in solidarity, together.”
PROJECT SOCIAL INNOVATORS 2017-1-218
“Our project SEPAL is linked directly with the job offers and learning on the job, and in case of unemployment measures our beneficiaries will be first put off! We are aware about this phenomenon and we can see the cancellations of working with NEETs around here in Suceava until the end of this month. But, we invest good part on the online SEPAL platform (https://www.projectsepal.com/) which offers possibility for online mentoring and counselling for NEETs within My SEPAL functions (we have registered on the platform about 600 NEETs already and 20% of them has ICT competencies in using this function), than we have SEPAL HUB for interaction of WISE specialists and LSC representatives and it is going well, of course we continue our online training for WISERs using e-learning Moodle platform. It is perfect time to explore these options. I hope all our specialists will not be directly infected and will be able to adapt the program to the work environment. We have participated with a short presentation of our project to the Annual Social Firms Europe CEFEC Conference, that was cancelled from Dortmund/Germany and moved on virtual way using zoom and we go on to be part of this movement. Very happy that the organizers appreciate our SEPAL model and invite us to present online!
I’m afraid that difficulties will appear after the period when the pandemie will calm down and all the companies that we are in cooperation now will cancel our apprenticeship Programm trying to reduce the costs and recover the lose! Here we have to be creative and innovative on empowering our beneficiaries within reorientation, counseling and motivation. We already start to discuss to enlarge the services for our recruited NEETs on delivering ICT basic competencies.
I think we should keep going and adapt our activities and use the technologies as much as possible. We are able to be innovative and we should explore our potential now with this unpredictable situation. We will monitor closely our people involved so far within SEPAL project and we announced them about the measures necessary for their health and their families too.
PROJECT SEPAL 2017-1-058
Our target group is among the most vulnerable: marginalised youth whose families live close to the poverty threshold. The strategy we adopted is to postpone the face-to-face training until the pandemic is under control. The message which WCIF is communicating to all of our partners and grantees is to prioritise personal safety, to stay home, to avoid unnecessary contacts, and to support their elderly relatives in need.
All partners meetings within Direction Employment are online and we try to stick to our schedule taking into account that the situation is different in the different countries and delays of some activities will inevitably occur.
“We will go through this together”
“Together we will make it!”
PROJECT DIRECTION EMPLOYMENT 2017-1-294
We believe that we will go through this hard situation together. Let us preserve and transmit the world we love and know! Tomorrow we will love again, forgive, laugh and think together how to make our day and life better for everyone, especially for the most vulnerable people with mental health problems
PROJECT L.I.K.E 2017-1-086
The time has come to face another challenge and cope with it together – as one strong international community. Let’s continue making meaningful changes – we can grow together and become even closer when working apart.
PROJECT MOMMYPRENEURS 2017-1-277
Although situation and planned circumstances drastically changed from what we initially planned, we are trying to reorganize ourselves and to focus on the activities that we can still organize. All our face to face meetings, trainings and events have been cancelled as situation in all 4 project countries is similar. In Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Spain the life as we know is currently on hold; we are in isolation and all public and outdoor group activities are forbidden. In these strange times we are trying to focus on what we can do at home and in digital space and we are making project strategies for the following period if this situation continues during the upcoming months. We are considering organizing online trainings for our selected NEETS and to carry our NEET motivation via phone calls and via social media campaigns. As much as we are worried because of delays and negative impacts Corona virus has on our RAISE Youth project plans, one of the aspects of our project is to use digital tools and innovation to find new solutions thus we have to use our energy and creativity to adapt to the current circumstances and to find new solutions!In our thoughts we are with those who are really having it much worse i.e. with those who are sick and completely isolated and those who lost their beloved ones. These are the times when solidarity is crucial for the well being of our societies and survival and we believe that we can grow stronger if we learn from this experience. Our planet needs us to create a new and more sustainable reality – maybe we can use this as a wakeup call to do better and be more responsible. We owe that to our only home, our Earth and to all upcoming generations.
PROJECT RAISE YOUTH 2017-1-053
In Estonia all lessons are carried out Online until further notice. Our graphic design teacher invited all CODE students to the Discord platform. It’s a sound and text-based environment where the teachers can upload new assignments while students are expected to attend check-in and check-out discussions daily. Discord can be used via a laptop or mobile phone.
PROJECT CODE 2017-1-414
This is the year that made us realize the importance of being healthy. The year the world stooped for a little while and everyday life collapsed. But the world did not despair. It is reinventing itself. And is now welcoming the unity of the population by teaching us the wisdom of life.
PROJECT Individual Placement and Support for NEETs through Education Youth Technology Platform (EYTP) 2017-1-152
We are living challenging times. Suddenly we found ourselves in a point where our life is changing every day and we work hard to adapt to new and difficult routines. However we are just as dedicated as before and we do everything is in our power to take care of each other; we come together to take care of our main beneficiaries – young adults with disabilities.
Yes, we are not able to work with them face to face as usually, but we work hard to keep in touch with them as much as possible (via phone or email), to teach them to respect the preventive measures and to assist them in order to keep them as calm as possible. Nonetheless, we work with their employers, in order to ensure that their rights are respected; we continue to discuss with our partners and collaborators in order to improve our work in these tumultuous times.
We hope your activity keeps on going and we pray everything will fall back into place in no time.
PROJECT LEAD 2017-1-455
Our communities struggle against social disengagement, isolation and fear induced by unemployment, with awareness, responsibility and innovation. Through the toughest times of the pandemic we witness the importance of the same values. In solidarity with the most affected members of our societies we respond to the new challenge with optimism, looking forward to the new Spring, literally and metaphorically.
PROJECT YOUTHSHARE 2017-1-345
We wish calmness and strength to all human beings and organizations in Europe. We try to find innovative solutions how to develop online educational tools and mentoring for the young people who are involved in our initiative so they don’t stay isolated and keep on developing even in this hard situation.
PROJECT Find your way to the world of work 2017-1-027
While lockdowns occur throughout Europe, this is still the time most needed to work closely together, and adjust our lives and planning to the circumstances.
As you already know, our project was having its conference in Sicily when the IT government applied strict restrictions due to the spread of the virus. The initial shock and concern about our colleagues and friends’ health and safety was followed by positive thinking and our host partner’s creative reflexes, which allowed for speakers and participants to participate and stay tuned online. All colleagues were safely back home after the conference and we are all fine 😊
We are currently working to switch to e-trainings and webinars with our NEETs on topics that can be delivered online and making sure that e-access is not an additional burden on participants. Our implementation partners are working on different approaches, platforms and plans and I am confident that soon after the first rounds we will be ready to share our learnings both within our consortium and among all projects (if and when needed).
This last thought is what our project would like to share with you and all other teams. The virus may have brought social distancing as the new normal, but perhaps it’s better to see it as a good opportunity to break our work in isolation and start sharing more of our tools, approaches and ideas, and invest on peer-exchange and learning. After all the main objective of all our projects is to help build stronger local communities (and communities of practice) that will last longer and deliver better when the current challenges will be addressed. It’s going to be a different world out there when this global alarm will be over…so let us make sure that we will be ready to deliver and improve our impact potential!
Stay safe, think positive, be creative and ..” andrà tutto bene!”
PROJECT YES! Young Entrepreneurs Succeed 2017-1-314
The Covid-19 emergency has completely changed in a very short time our lives and consequently our way of working. It is not exaggerated to state that after this period we will not be the same, in our way of thinking about the present and above all about the future.
We weren’t ready to face this kind of event maybe because we are a different generation from that of our ancestors, always on the move and not accustomed to give up to our freedom. Anyway we have to accept the actual situation, realize that this is a beginning for a new era, a sort of Zero Year, and to take this tragedy as an opportunity to do more, to do better.
We are a Science and Technology Park, we daily deal with new businesses and startups and inspiring entrepreneurs in search of the winning idea ready to gain the market. So the Coronavirus emergency has revealed above all in Italy some gaps that we can try to solve with European funds and Cooperation projects. In our base course for support to entrepreneurship we start our first lesson always with this sentence “at each need corresponds an idea”. So just think in positive way turning on the problems into future business opportunities to experiment in some cases and to reinforce in other ones. To quote some examples:the absence of hospital equipment, the mismanagement of distance learning, the low usage of di-gital tools, the few diffusion of smartworking, the lack of ecommerce for many businesses. So a common challenge could be to think about what now is not working,to learn the lesson and to be prepared in the future with some new jobs maybe,some new businesses just to underline that the economy probably will change but will not die.
Tecnopolis Project Area Staff
PROJECT Active Youth Entrepreneurship Network – Short Contribution by Tecnopolis Science and Technology Park (Italy) 2017-1-041
These are very unsettling and unprecedented times for all of us! As we bear witness to this on-going crisis unfolding in front of us, we must remain calm and follow the guidelines issued by our respective government and the World Health Organisation! We are resilient and we will get out of this situation stronger than before!
As YENESIS we have postponed all upcoming face-to-face YENESIS Activities (Apprenticeships, Showcasing Trips, Local Placements, Partner Meetings) and rescheduled them for a later date! We are now focusing more on online activities such as the creation of an e-course and online mentoring. The health and safety of our partners and participants is our first and foremost priority!
Until we meet again! Stay Home and Stay Safe!
PROJECT YENESIS 2017-1-203
