Learning together was an important transversal aim of this project. Four “Learning Activities” took place in total. Apart from those organised with a function of learning from the Mapping Process and, later, from the Pilot Actions, 2 others took the form of experimental 5-day Training Modules in Belgium and Italy in spring 2017. 

 

These were developed by pairs of Country Coordinators to support professionals from different sectors working in the field of (un)employment. They involved around 20 participants each time and were experimental European-level responses to the training needs identified during the Pilot Actions.

 

But the role of Country Coordinators in their own areas was also very important in terms of ensuring that the networks established locally kept learning together throughout the Pilot Actions. This learning-together attitude was a contributory factor, in at least two of the networks, to the desire to continue meeting beyond the end of the She Empowers project. Members came to see these meetings as a means of promoting their own professional development – as well as an opportunity to develop further some of the pilots tested.

 

The role of the Action Research Coordinator (ARC) in France was important also in terms of keeping track of developments in each country through individual skype support talks with Country Coordinators. This way, ideas could be spread by word of mouth rather than frequent written reporting or collective skypes which were very difficult to organise time-wise. These individual talks were both a support framework for the Country Coordinators but also a means of helping them monitor the developments in their own countries – and learn about what was happening elsewhere.

 

Country Visits by the ARC took place 6 months into the action phase during which she updated the local networks about developments in other countries and brought in a “European dimension” to local discussions.

 

Peer Learning Moments were hosted periodically by the ARC with pairs of country coordinators to discuss issues such as needs analysis, empowerment v. employability, sustainability, strategy and multiplying processes.