Losing a job is never easy, but it can be particularly challenging for individuals over the age of 50. Many of them have dedicated over two decades to their careers and may have been out of the job market for an equally long time.

The project aims to enhance the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and tools of "silver workers," those aged 50 and above who have left the job market, so that they can start a new business, utilizing their creativity, ideas, and hobbies.

The project seeks to:

• Improve the delivery of more appropriate and effective educational offerings that promote a more comprehensive adult education for those over 50, especially for "low-skilled" individuals, in line with the priority of VET for including at-risk groups in continuous education pathways.
• Enhance the relevance of IFP offerings in response to labor market needs.
• Align with the horizontal priority of "developing basic and transversal skills, such as entrepreneurship, digital skills, and multilingualism, using innovative learner-centered pedagogical approaches and developing suitable assessment and certification methods.

You can find more information about the project at http://www.silverworkers.net/.

The first phase of the project involves a preliminary study to develop recommendations for policymakers and guide the second phase's content and tool development. The training will utilize both "traditional" teaching methods and a web platform that allows participants to use the training material through e-learning, lay the foundation for their own start-up with the guidance of experts/managers, and develop a network of contacts with potential experienced entrepreneurs. The target groups involved will potentially be able, as the final result, to develop entrepreneurial skills and competencies necessary to start their own start-up, thanks to the coaching, mentoring, and training they receive.

At least 30 participants per country will be directly involved (in training and assessment), selected through an open call for individuals over 50 interested in reinventing their careers and creating a start-up. The project aims to reach a total of approximately 100 representatives of the target group per country through visibility, communication, and distance learning activities. A stakeholder mapping will also be conducted at the national level in the five countries involved and at the European level through partner networks to identify organizations potentially interested in utilizing the project's products and to define a targeted strategy for promoting the training system within them, including demonstrative activities. These indirect targets include representatives from the education, employment, business, and policymaking sectors and will be collected in five national databases and one European database.