Posts Tagged ‘european projects’

Gijon group visit alternative enterprises in Northern Ireland

25 August 2009

A group of staff and learners from Lawton School visited businesses in Northern Ireland as part of a European project meeting last month.

The visits took place in Belfast during a meeting of partners involved in the Panorama project, of which Lawton School in Spain is the lead partner.

The group visited entrepreneurs who have used their natural resources and heritage to generate income, including an allotments business and a rural tourism enterprise.

The meeting was a chance for partners to see best practice from Northern Ireland, as well as exchange ideas and experience.

The objective of the Panorama project is to help people identify heritage and natural resources, and evaluate their potential for enterprise development.

Partners from Spain, Northern Ireland and Lithuania are currently working on a step-by-step guide as part of the project, which is funded by Grundtvig. Lifelong Learning Programme. The aim of the guide is to help people in rural areas to take a fresh look at their surroundings, and seek ways to generate income without damaging natural resources.

As well as stimulating new enterprise, it is hoped the guide will help those such as farmers to consider ways to develop their business in a sustainable way.

To find out more about the Panorama project, please visit our website or contact Maureen Lawton.

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European project to encourage women to consider starting businesses

18 August 2009

Lawton School is participating in an exciting European project aimed at encouraging women to consider self employment as a career option.

While there has been an increase in the number of support schemes for women entrepreneurs over recent years, most of the help available today is aimed at women who have already made the decision to start a business.

The EU Women team at a recent project meeting

The EU Women team at a recent project meeting

The objective of this particular project – called EU Women – is to encourage women who have never previously considered becoming self employed to think about starting a business.

The main output of the project will be a training course, designed to give women an overview of what is involved in running a business.

The course will help women identify the skills and qualities needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and decide if starting a business is right for them.

The course is designed to appeal to women from social groups who are currently the least likely to start a business, for example women who have left the workplace to start a family and the long-term unemployed.

EU Women will be made available online to women all over Europe, ensuring that participants can fit the course around existing commitments and study at their own pace.

Topics such as how to find a business idea, an introduction to marketing, financial planning, and where to find further business start-up support and advice are included in the course.

Lawton School presented at a recent project meeting in Oporto, Portugal

Lawton School presented at a recent project meeting in Oporto, Portugal

Partners from eight European countries are participating in the project, which is co-financed by the European Commission via the Leonardo da Vinci program.

Lawton School in Asturias is responsible for producing the content for the online course, a task which has been underway since January 2009.

Lawton School has extensive experience of producing and delivering online courses, gained through experience in other European projects and proprietary English language courses such as Idiomas Online.

To find out more about the project, please download the EU Women information leaflet or contact Maureen Lawton at Lawton School.

For information on other European projects Lawton School is involved in, please visit our website.

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EU Women Project visit to Belfast

26 February 2009

Staff from Lawton School, as well as partners from Romania, Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy and Lithuania, attended a meeting in Belfast, Northern Ireland, last month as part of an exciting new project – EU Women – which, within the framework of the European Leonardo da Vinci Programme, is aimed at increasing levels of entrepreneurial activity among women throughout the European Community.

While countries such as Spain and Northern Ireland have enjoyed significant increases in the level of female entrepreneurship over recent years, the difference in levels of business start-up between men and women varies greatly from country to country across Europe.

According to recent figures, the gap between levels of male and female business start-up activity is much greater in the new accession countries. The aim of the EU Women project is to address this imbalance by taking best practice in pre-entrepreneurship training from countries such as Spain, and transferring it to countries where levels of female entrepreneurship is currently lower.

The output of the project will be an online course and supporting material, designed to specifically target women who for varying social, economic and cultural reasons might not currently consider entrepreneurship a viable employment option.

Delegates discussed issues such as existing levels of female entrepreneurship in each country and the social, economic and cultural barriers that women face when thinking about opening a business.

The next project meeting for EU Women will be held in Portugal this May.

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Multinational visitors receive warm welcome to Candas

26 January 2009

A group of multinational visitors visited Candás last Tuesday as part of a European project meeting organised by Lawton School.

The group of visitors from Lithuania, Poland, Latvia and Northern Ireland met representatives from the town council and tourism department, as well as a number of local entrepreneurs.

The meeting was organised as part of European project Panorama, which aims to share best practice in rural enterprise.

The visitors were welcomed to Carreño by the mayor Àngel Riego, before begining a tour of Candás. The wet and windy weather did little to dampen their enthusiasm as they explored the town and sampled local specialities such as maranuela biscuits.

El grupo del proyecto Panorama en Candàs

El grupo del proyecto Panorama en Candàs

The group visited a number of local enterprises during the day, and finished with a round table meeting at the Casa de Cultura.

The round table provided the opportunity for entrepreneurs from Carreño to share their experiences of starting a business in Asturias, and learn about the rural enterprise situation in countries such as Northern Ireland and Lithuania.

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