GIFT(ED)

Our aim is to tackle urgent needs highlighted by the EU's Circular Economy Action Plan of March 2020. This plan emphasizes promoting sustainable textiles and improving access to reuse and recyclin...

Our project is purpose-driven with clear objectives: 1) Skill Development: Empower vocational students and skilled crafters by providing new skills in upcycling and sustainable design. 2) Platform Creation: Develop, test, and launch an online educational and networking platform, serving as a hub for learning and collaboration, especially easy to use for vocational schools. 3) New Course: Innovate and trial a certification course catering to vocational students and interested crafters, specifically focusing on upcycling and sustainable business management, circle economy. 4) Quality Assurance: Establish and register a trademark that ensures quality and reliability, promoting credibility within the field. 5) Awareness and Promotion: Increase awareness about upcycling and sustainable crafting while advocating for a green mindset. These objectives collectively aim to equip individuals in vocational education and skilled crafters with essential upcycling skills, facilitate learning through an online platform, ensure quality through certification, and advocate for sustainability within crafting communities.

The project entailed a series of core activities: 1) Learning Course Development: We created the 'Sustainability in Crafts and Design' course, focusing on imparting crucial knowledge in this field. 2) Platform Creation: The development of the virtual learning and networking platform, named Gift(ed), served as a central hub for education and collaboration. 3) Round Table Discussions: Engaged decision-makers through round table discussions, held in each partner country, to drive impactful conversations. 4) Information Dissemination Events: Hosted informative events in each partner country, targeting specific groups to spread awareness about the project's objectives. 5) Final Conferences: Conducted final conferences in each partner country, providing a platform to showcase achievements and insights garnered from the project. 6) Pilot Group Learning Implementation: Executed pilot group learning sessions to test and refine the course material and platform functionality with vocational schools studens, teachers and volunteers. These activities were integral in developing educational content, fostering networking, engaging decision-makers, disseminating project information, hosting impactful conferences, and piloting the learning experience to ensure efficacy and relevance within each partner country.

The project yielded several concrete outputs and impactful results: Intellectual Outputs: Online Learning Course: Developed an extensive 'Sustainability in Crafts and Design' course, aimed at imparting comprehensive knowledge. Course contains 5 topics: Materials and technologies, Principles of circular economy, Principles of sustainable design, Project Management and Entrepreneurship, Why turning recycling into a business is important? Online Platform Deployment: Successfully created and launched the 'Gift(ed)' online platform, providing a digital space for education and collaboration. Trademark Registration: Registered the 'Gift(ed)' trademark to ensure and guarantee quality and reliability standards. EUIPO number 018884046. Intangible Results: Enhanced Skills: The pilot group exhibited improved competency and qualifications in upcycling and sustainable design as well as more positive thoughts about upcycled goods. Promoting Sustainability: Partner and associated schools embraced improved practices in sustainable crafts and design, fostering a positive shift. Kolping university of aplied science, inspired by this project, created the full course 'Sustainable Business Management' for their students. Advocacy and Awareness: Facilitated a positive attitude towards sustainable crafts, design, circular economy, and green thinking among vocational education schools, professional crafters, and artists via meetings and dissemination events. Increased Awareness: Raised awareness regarding upcycling, sustainable crafting, design, circular economy, and environmentally conscious practices. Support for Initiatives: Enhanced support for sustainable crafters, artists, and small business ventures, promoting their initiatives. Improved Cooperation: Strengthened the quality of international cooperation among the four participating organizations, fostering collaborative endeavors and mutual understanding. These outputs and results collectively signify the project's success in creating tangible educational materials, technological platforms, and legal protections, along with intangible yet influential outcomes in promoting sustainable practices, awareness, and collaborative efforts within the crafting and educational communities. To see if our platform is viable and attractive we organized testing groups in all 3 countries. The results after testing our platform and free learning course are promising. They can be seen in Annex PlatformGiftedSurveyAnalysis2024.pdf. The highlights: It is evident that over 80% of individuals acquired new knowledge about upcycling from our platformgifted.eu, which is a remarkable outcome (answers I learned a lot 30% and I learned something new 52%) Nearly 80% of respondents who completed the second questionnaire following platform testing indicated that they acquired a significant amount of new information or learned something new about upcycling. (answers I learned a lot 20% and I learned something new 59%). We are pleased to note that the majority of testers expressed satisfaction with the content of the course material. (Yes, the material was very interesting 33% and Yes, interesting 46%) Over 60% of respondents reported involvement in various upcycling-related endeavours, such as personal projects, discussions, or developing a newfound interest in the field. This finding suggests that the platform has had a tangible and positive impact on encouraging environmentally sustainable practices and fostering a greener future among its users. Prior to testing, the percentage of very positive assessments about upcycled goods (rated 8-10) stood at 67%, whereas after testing, it increased to 74%. Testing our platform changed buying behaviour, We asked Do people buy/support sustainable crafters, artists and small business initiatives? Following testing, we observed a notable positive change: Those who indicated they supported such initiatives 'very often' increased from 10.96% to 27.78%, reflecting a growth of 16.82%. Participants who stated they supported these initiatives 'sometimes' saw a slight growth from 61.64% to 62.96%, representing a 1.32% increase. Conversely, the proportion of respondents who answered 'No' decreased significantly from 27.40% to 9.26%, indicating an 18.14% decline in this category of response. Based on the data provided, it is evident that the platform has made significant strides towards achieving its goals of promoting sustainable practices, upcycling, and environmental awareness. The platform has been successful in engaging users and providing valuable educational content, as indicated by the positive feedback received across various metrics. Firstly, the platform has effectively conveyed information about sustainable practices and upcycling, with over 80% of users reporting that they learned something new from the platform. This demonstrates the platform's efficacy in delivering educational content and raising awareness about important environmental issues. Moreover, the courses offered on the platform have been well-received, with users expressing satisfaction and confidence in their newfound knowledge across different subject areas. Practical courses, such as those focused on sustainable design and project management, have particularly resonated with users, likely due to their hands-on approach and real-world applicability. Additionally, the platform has succeeded in fostering a sense of community among users, with features such as social media walls and community forums receiving positive feedback. While there is room for improvement in enhancing the user interface and expanding content offerings, the overall sentiment towards the platform remains largely positive. Furthermore, the platform has not only imparted knowledge but also inspired action, with more than 60% of users reporting engagement in upcycling-related activities following their experience with the platform. This indicates the platform's influence in driving real-world behavioural change and contributing to a greener future. Overall, the data underscores the platform's effectiveness in fulfilling its objectives of educating, inspiring, and empowering users to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. By continuing to refine its content, enhance user experience, and expand its community outreach efforts, the platform has the potential to further amplify its impact and contribute towards a more sustainable world.