Branding4U

This project was inspired and born from the challenges COVID-19 pandemic brought to educators and youth workers as well as nowadays importance of personal brand online for employability and recog...

Objectives: -to learn about the opportunities of personal branding and its effect on employability and recruitment -to reevaluate the limiting beliefs among educators which suppress the professional development of educators and get to know how to create your personal branding strategy -To learn about and practise in using various digital communication channels for the development of personal branding (FaceBook, Youtube, Instagram, LinkedIn etc) -To exchange best practices in relation to personal branding in the field of youth -To provide participants with practical tools helpful in developing marketing and visibility skills of diverse groups of learners -to contribute to the development of the entrepreneurial mindset of educators, NGOs and their target groups -To support design communication and dissemination activities adjusted to projects, target groups, scope of activities -To facilitate the building of long-lasting partnerships among participants’ and NGOs for future collaboration During the first stage of the project, we expected participants to get into their “personal laboratory” and get familiar with their own personal meta programmes, fears, limiting beliefs, they re-evaluate their value base and define their mission

3 Short-term joint staff training events: “Looking In" (02-10 November 2022, Murzasichel, Poland). It gathered 24 participants from Italy, Poland,Spain, Portugal. The objectives of the project were achieved. The activities of the training course were implemented as planned. The programme of activities was slightly adjusted based on the actual needs of the participants. For this training, we had 2 trainers. “Looking Out” ( 13-21 May 2023, Tarragona, Spain) It gathered 24 participants from Italy, Poland,Spain, Portugal. The objectives of the project were achieved. The activities of the training course were implemented as planned. The programme of activities was slightly adjusted based on the actual needs of the participants. For this training, we had 2 trainers (Vera Goriunova, Jorge Ruiz Conde) and we invited 1 expert in content marketing and PR (Adam T. Iungman) to give expert workshops related to content marketing and PR. “The Yield” ( 02-10 September 2023, Bosca Ciesanuova, Italy).It gathered 24 participants from Italy, Poland,Spain, Portugal. The objectives of the project were achieved. The activities of the training course were implemented as planned. The programme of activities was slightly adjusted based on the actual needs of the participants. Online meetings: In order to monitor ongoing implementation of the project, our project consortium organised online partner meetings where we had the chance to discuss ongoing issues and plan next steps. During online meetings at the beginning of the project, we implemented a brand-sprint aimed at reviewing our project as a brand . The brand sprint activity was organised and facilitated by Oriel and Globers. Based on the results of the meeting, FMDE prepared the detailed dissemination plan of the project which was later put into action as well as brand identity of the project which was used in all the promotional and dissemination materials of the project. It was important for us to use the project branding as a good example for participants and partner organisations. Online activities: One of the important parts of “Branding 4U” project is online content creation and sharing: the project’s instagram and FB page were regularly updated with a content related to the project objectives: there was content related to project implementation, highlights from residential activities as well as content related to personal branding an digital marketing. The content was shared based on the visual identification and logo of the project which were also developed during the project. Main platforms: https://www.instagram.com/brand_ing4u/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087451750610 http://branding4u.eu/ The news about the implementation of the project and its progress were shared on partner organisations communication platforms as well as dissemination platform on social media. The educational brochures, infographics and a publication were also shared on the above mentioned channels. Offline activities: Local workshops as a part of the dissemination and follow up strategy of partner organisations were implemented by each partner involved in the project. Most of the workshops took place offline. The focus of workshops was to multiply the effect of the training courses. Each partner organisation implemented at least 6 local workshops, so we managed to conduct 24 local workshops in total as a part of PMI activities ( documentation: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12jp2fwd4aUNO8XRc-ALaG58BBn6y4Xe7?usp=sharing) 3 transnational project meetings: 1st TPM meeting was organised in Poland on 27/02-01/03 2022 and gathered all the project partners where the following activities were performed as planned at the application stage. Partners had the chance to get to know each other better, review agreements, project structure and activities and other relevant documentation of the project, agree on the tools and rules, re-evaluate the roles and responsibilities and create a concrete action plan. 2nd TPM meeting was organised in Spain on 08-10 May 2023 and gathered all project partners where the following activities were performed: - evaluation of the 1st training by team members – ( from content, organizational, logistical, communication perspectives) - Assessment of learning outcomes of participants and evaluation done by participants as well as local activities evaluation, -midterm evaluation of the project, -detailed preparation reports of the TC2, adjusting it to the needs of participants, ongoing issues. 3d TPM was organised on 11-13 September in Portugal and gathered all project partners where the following activities were performed: - Evaluation of the whole project from the point of view of learning outcomes, general management, communication, quality of partnership,- Summarising the results of dissemination activities, - Reflection and discussion on future steps.

Training activities: As a result of the 1st training: participants working in education and/ or youth work re-evaluated their work, educational practice and defined their vision and mission in order to create the foundation of their personal brand which could be in demand in the market: they became aware of their strong and weak sides, they learnt how to put the focus on the strengths, they learnt to mark and “own” their professional achievements and identify the limiting beliefs which hamper their professional development. This was the most intense training course from the perspective of internal work, as a lot of efforts were done on the level of attitudes. Besides that, they learnt about efficient tools in working with these issues with their youth groups. Also, they were provided with the space exchange good practices in working with young people in their local communities. By the end of this training, participants prepared their video-CVs and revisited all their written presentation documents ( CVs, reference lists,expert lists, press-portraits). Some of the visual presentation posts were created by participants to practice their brand statements and intros online: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12jp2fwd4aUNO8XRc-ALaG58BBn6y4Xe7?usp=sharing As a result of the 2nd training: educators got to know concrete strategies for personal branding online and learnt how to use them for self-promotion and marketing in the current situation in the market. By the end of the training educators analysed and re-evaluated the target groups they work with and analysed the target groups which they could potentially involve in their work and offer their services to, they learnt about different communication channels which can be used for promotion and marketing purposes ( Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram etc) and acquired skills in using them for personal branding purposes, they developed their educational product line(s) which they could offer and developed the strategy for the development of their personal brand online using the most effective channels and instruments. This was the longest and the most intensive mobility of the project as a lot of work was done on conceptualising the strategy and acquiring the digital skills for its execution. Participants created concrete content for their social media platforms as well as practiced in visualising their brand in colours, style, palette etc.Besides that, participants developed their content strategy for a few months during this training ( see some results: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Te4rWtf3HV2HV3E-O-s7CiCL92hHxz3c?usp=sharing) As a result of the 3d seminar: participants had the chance to recap the knowledge which was acquired in the previous stages, evaluate the strategy they use online as well as plan future steps for personal development in branding and content marketing. Besides that, participants worked a lot on transfer of knowledge: they prepared and implemented workshop sessions for young people tackling one or another issue related to personal branding and online marketing.( see some workshop descriptions: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Nk8WYltt6fM9lICH9044Y2vYviK8CUaL?usp=sharing) Among the concrete results of the whole project we can state the following: The project allowed us to train 72 practitioners in competencies of personal branding, content marketing and self-promotion online for higher employability.These practitioners became multipliers of knowledge and skills of including people with fewer opportunities Promotion of non-formal education principles and non-formal ways of organising a learning process among 72 educators as well as an increased toolbox of educators working with diverse groups of young people. Awareness on the importance of personal branding nowadays in the field of youth. More quantitative indicators can be found in impact section. Partners: developed detailed guidelines to strengthen personal branding for educators in the Veneto region, expanded our reach, we've embraced digital platforms, creating online resources like reels, brochures, and articles to share insights gathered over two years, to build a community, we've facilitated networking opportunities among educators, encouraging the exchange of experiences and collaborative initiatives to seamlessly integrate branding strategies into our region's education fabric. -exchanged good practices in the framework of the project -professionalized the management of the institutions and increased their capacity to implement various initiatives -improved their own branding strategies in organisations and their visibility online -increased cooperation within partnership as well as with associated partners -new follow-up activities -increased capacities of organisations Among other results: - project website http://branding4u.eu/, where, together with partners, we prepare articles, tools, methods that were systematically published as part of the blog -Funpage of the project and instagram account of the project:https://www.instagram.com/brand_ing4u/ and https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087451750610 with joint 200 organic followers -Dissemination of results, both on-line and off-line (materials and links in attachments) done by partners of the project, participants of the mobilities as well as partners outside the project consortium 3 brochures, 1 publication and 5 infographics which were developed by the partners as a part of DEOR strategy of the project supporting educators’ journey with personal branding (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GVW01H-xHpz1bTlJgOX38Z3_EoK9FKqe?usp=sharing) All the graphic/ video / self-presentation results developed by the participants of the projects ( see our social media pages) Branding identity of the project itself which we plan to use for follow-up actions of the project