ESF-SI-2023-SKILLS-01-0035

Bees are essential to life; they pollinate, contribute to regeneration and help each other. This is what we want for our young women in rural Europe: to become beautiful bees that contribute to regenerating their environment.  

The project aims to empower young rural women, especially NEETS, in Spain, Italy, and Lithuania. by providing them with training and support to become successful entrepreneurs and enhance their employability. Participants benefit from a training journey in several phases: 

• Inspiration Phase, where they will be exposed to opportunities to venture both into sectors at risk of abandonment and new business models, especially related to Green Economy and Digital Transformation.  
• Coliving Phase, an immersive transformative experience where Bees will live together, fostering peer mentoring, and learning in informal spaces close to nature. -Beautiful Bees Transnational Bootcamp, facilitating networking and mutual learning among Bees, facilitators, and partners.  
• Giving Back phase, encouraging participants to contribute to their host communities with various activities, as a sign of gratitude, under the motto, “What is loved is cared for”.  

The aim is to create a community of women based on sisterhood, a space where they don’t feel judged. Emphasis will be placed on the elimination of stereotypes, self-appreciation, attachment and love for their territory. We aspire to foster dialogue among the dynamic forces within the entrepreneurial and employment landscape, to enlighten participants about the running initiatives that can help them on their employability and entrepreneurial projects, and to foster meaningful exchanges among institutions, galvanizing efforts to address challenges confronting women in rural Europe. Fundación EOI (ES) and ESI (LT) are the co-founders of this project, since they will contribute to the development of the innovative approach after the project funding, thanks to several future funds.  

Expected results:

• 100 vulnerable young women in rural areas equipped with entrepreneurial, green, and digital skills, motivated to become changemakers within their regions.
• Enhanced collaboration among local and regional stakeholders related to employability and entrepreneurship, addressing challenges faced by women in rural areas. 
• Inspired rural communities through the “Bees” initiative. 
• Lessons learned on innovative facilitation methodologies tailored for rural young women.

Funding: 558,134.00 Eur

Social innovation scale-up 

The Break Fellowship represents a scaled social innovation, with its successful learning environment combining formal and informal methods, community values emphasizing self-compassion and sisterhood, and its model of contributing to local development through open innovation workshops. This innovative approach, which previously engaged European urban women, is being adapted and transferred to a more vulnerable target group of young women (18-29), particularly NEETs in rural areas, through the Beautiful Bees project.