BLOSSOM - Basic competences as literacy, numeracy & digital skills focused on business development.

In all Member States, women's employment rates remain lower than men's, especially in Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Poland and Spain, where there is a large gap between female and male employment rates. In Europe as a whole, the average hours of paid and unpaid work for women and men show the large gap. While men spend 76% of their total working time on paid work, women spend only 53%. The main reason for applying for BLOSSOM project was that promoting female employment is not only important for gender equality, but also for boosting the economy and improving business performance. The partners identified business skills such as literacy to understand the business context, numeracy to have an analytical vision and be more accurate in a rapidly changing market, and digital skills as key to boost female employment and achieve business success. The partners also followed the EC's Europe 2020 headline targets, one of which is to increase labour participation and improve women's employment.

The main objective of the BLOSSOM project was to improve the learning opportunities of low-skilled adult women by strengthening their basic skills such as literacy, numeracy and digital skills with a focus on enterprise development. *The specific objectives of BLOSSOM were: - Identify the needs of adult women in business development skills such as business literacy, numeracy and digital skills. - To support the integration of low-skilled adult women into the labour market and social inclusion. - Encourage low-skilled women to develop entrepreneurial projects through effective and innovative learning outcomes. - To increase female entrepreneurship and improve women's professional skills. - To develop the entrepreneurial capacity of adult women and support organisations. - To develop core and transversal competences. - Support ICT-based teaching and ICT-based assessment practices. - Conduct a validation analysis of the needs and capacity gaps of low-skilled women and their needs.

(1) Results development activities: a model of basic skills and key competences needed to improve the competences of adult women, with reference to women's motivation for career development and entrepreneurial literacy, numeracy and digital skills (R1); an innovative and environmentally friendly online training course on entrepreneurial literacy and numeracy (R2);online platform under R3 and under R4 an online diagnostic tool. (2) Activities in the framework of project management and implementation: daily communication, online meetings, budget control, constant dissemination, quality monitoring that measures indicators and monitor whether the project meets the specified requirements and objectives, exploitation planning, risk management, report preparation, contact with the NA and use of management system AdminProject. (3) Dissemination and promotion activities through different channels following the indications of the established communication plan, with about 280 actions, reaching 48062 people of the target public. Five promotional events have been organised in each country and three online with 224 participants. (4) 4 transnational project meetings were held in Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Romania.

1. Development of Basic Skills and Competencies Model (R1): This involves creating a model of basic skills and key competences necessary for career development and entrepreneurship among adult women. The approach started with primary and secondary research to determine appropriate competence profiles, leading to the development of a draft proposal for these skills and competences, which was refined and validated with input from end-users and experts. 2. Training Program Design (R2): A comprehensive toolkit for professional growth and entrepreneurship training has been developed. This toolkit, structured as a modular training program, will encompass classroom activities, lesson plans, teaching guides, and online resources to support literacy, numeracy, and digital skills. 3. E-Learning Platform (R3): An innovative online platform was created to provide a creative and supportive learning environment for the target group. It includes educational content, networking opportunities, and a self-assessment module to evaluate the user's competences in business, numeracy, and digital skills. 4. Self-Assessment Tool (R4): A diagnostic tool, created to help women assess their skills in business literacy, numeracy, and digital capabilities.