Run, Engage & Adopt Circular Tools!

"<< Background >>The REACT! initiative is poised to take advantage of the current shift towards sustainability in Europe. The European Skills Agenda recognizes the need to equip young people with the innovative and green skills required to address environmental and societal challenges. Despite their awareness of these challenges, youth workers in Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain lack the necessary resources to support young people in this regard. These countries have identified sustainability and circular economy as priorities in their long-term strategies, yet there remains much to be done. To address this, the partnership developed an innovative curriculum that focused on social entrepreneurship, circular economy, and personal development for youth workers in the five countries. The curriculum consisted of online learning resources, trainer guidelines, and inspirational materials produced in collaboration with young entrepreneurs, enabling youth workers to empower young Europeans and equip them with the skills needed to make their society more sustainable.<< Objectives >>The objectives of REACT! were threefold. Firstly, the initiative seeked to create innovative learning tools on circular economy, social entrepreneurship, and personal development for youth workers in Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain. These tools will enhance the capacity of youth workers to equip young people with the necessary skills demanded by the current labour market and overall societal context. Secondly, REACT! aimed to provide online learning opportunities on circular economy, social entrepreneurship, and personal development to a group of more than 100 youth workers from the five target countries. Finally, the initiative built the capacity of a group of 15 youth workers to train and transfer skills on circular economy, social entrepreneurship, and personal development to young people. Through these objectives, REACT! seeked to empower youth workers and young Europeans to create a more sustainable society.<< Implementation >>The partnership has outlined a series of activities that it would undertake as part of the REACT! initiative. To promote synchronicity and flow and strengthen institutional ties among consortium members; we hosted 4 transnational project meetings. These meetings were in November 2021, in june 2022, in January 2023 and in March 2023. The first activity of the consortium was to produce a state-of-the-art needs assessment report on non-formal education offerings related to circular economy, social entrepreneurship, and personal development for young people in the five target countries (R1). Based on this report; created an online learning curriculum covering the basics of circular economy, social entrepreneurship, and personal development (R2). The online course organized was in September 2022 and also consisted of 4 interactive zoom sessions with all participants (more than 100). Next to the online course the consortium produced a resource guide to train youth in these areas (R3). The resource guide was tested during the bootcamp in Ireland in January with the 15 best participants. The 5 day bootcamp was held in Ireland in January 2023; with a programme full of learning activities and workshops. Furthermore the partnership produced a set of inspirational videos featuring young entrepreneurs from the target countries. Lastly the partnership organized five multiplier events, reaching a total of 250 people. Finally, the partnership conducted an online wrap-up festival at the end of the project to showcase the initiative's outcomes inviting all participants again to re-connect.<< Results >>The project produced four concrete Results, as follows: R1 - State of the Art & Needs Assessment; R2 - Online Course on CE, social entrepreneurship and personal development; R3 - Resource Toolkit; training guide for youth workers on CE, social entrepreneurship and personal development; and R4 - Inspirational videos made ""for and by young people"" as complementary and inspirational content with testimonials from young entrepreneurs.In addition, the project developed a transnational community of youth workers and young entrepreneurs across 5 countries and provide a space for them to share experiences, good practices on CE non-formal education, and strengthen ties for future collaborations; allowed youth workers to put into practice the skills acquired by the project by conducting an activity with young people at the local level; created a space for consortium partners to exchange non-formal education methodologies and practices on CE for young people, and strengthened ties for future collaborations; and enabled project partners to strengthen their connections with stakeholders working with young people in their and other countries in view of future potential collaborations."