Training and Awareness Raising for Reusable Hygiene Products - FEMECO

We applied for this project because we wanted to design and implement an innovative high-performing digital education ecosystem that capitalizes and enhances adult education and higher education resources for delivering quality online learning experiences and make them accessible to learners around the EU. The needs that we addressed through this project were to cultivate green and entrepreneurship skills for women of any age and motivate them to deploy these skills for their small-scale green and social enterprises. The EU ranks sanitary products as the 5th most common single-use waste in its marine environment. In a similar vein, researchers from the University of Manchester (2020) recorded the highest ever accumulation of microplastics discovered on the seafloor (it was found 1.9 mill plastic pieces/square metre). Another need was to tackle the fact was to serve as an example for adult education providers to deliver high-quality training programmes that align people and their needs with the needs of the green economy and labour market. FEMECO aimed to show that this can better be achieved through the pooling of resources and the employment of Open Educational Resources and Pedagogies.

The FEMECO project is a high-performing digital education ecosystem based on Open Education Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices aiming to develop and deliver quality online learning experiences and make them easily and freely accessible to learners across the EU. The specific project objectives were the following: - To develop a unique, state-of-the-art, technology-enhanced online training program on how to make reusable hygiene products & baby diapers - To cultivate green skills and provide social entrepreneurship opportunities and education for women - To raise awareness to the wider public and promote a more sustainable way of lifestyle and consumption behaviour about hygiene products. - To promote high quality, learner-centred adult learning programmes that allows for learner autonomy, flexible and engaging. The project addressed and tackled the damaging consequences that our daily consumption habits have on the environment and offer eco-friendly and sustainable solutions in order to respond the problem.

FEMECO activities: PROJECT MANAGEMENT & COORDINATION A1: Project Management and coordination A2: QUALITY ASSURANCE & EVALUATION A3: DISSEMINATION A4: EXPLOITATION IO1. BEST PRACTICES ON SUSTAINABLE HYGIENE PRODUCTS - A GUIDE O1/A1 Primary research design and delivery Questionnaire design, collection of data and analysis Policy brief and recommendations O2/A2 Evidence-based practices in green & social entrepreneurship Desktop research Good practices compilation report IO2. FEMECO TRAINING MODULES O2/A1: Curriculum design Training module in Reusable Hygiene Products Training module in Social and Green Entrepreneurship Manual on homemade and recyclable diapers for seniors O2/A2: Curriculum development O2/A3 Digital tool on waste management and hygiene products IO3. FEMECO VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (VLE)

FEMECO concrete outputs and results are: IO1. GOOD PRACTICES ON SUSTAINABLE HYGIENE PRODUCTS - A GUIDE addressing: policy implications from the waste of hygiene products on the environment; Recommendations; Compilation og good practices from the green sector/industry IO2. 3 FEMECO TRAINING MODULES addressing: Production of handmade and reusable hygiene products; Education in Social and Green Entrepreneurship; Manual on homemade and recyclable diapers for seniors; Digital tool on waste management and hygiene products; Access and participation; Programme specifications; Data Protection management. IO3. FEMECO VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (VLE) FEMECO VLE; Virtual library; GDPR compliance. Increased availability and use of OER will lead to better access, thereby contributing to more equity and to higher quality and improved efficiency of adult education sector. Additional materials are Project Management Handbook and Documents, Consortium agreements, Quality Assurance Plan , Monitoring & Evaluation Plan, Stakeholder Analysis, Dissemination Plan, Portfolio of Dissemination material, Project website & social media, Newsletters, Press releases, Exploitation Plan, Promotional video, Memorandum of understanding and reports.