“s-PORTEND” fosters the applicant organizaton capacities in promoting upskilling of disadvantaged targets in the Adult population (low-skilled and low qualified Adults aged 35-55, representing the ultimate target of the project) through upskilling by means of Education Through Sport (ETS) methodologies as well as promotes organizational development and internalization at the European level in the Adult.

The applicant, an organization experienced in grassroots Sports and physical activities at the local level and with a growing European profile, intends to enact a profitable integration of the ETS kethodology within its Sport activities with Adults as a means to be increasingly active and effective in addressing the pressing challenges facing the Adult population in Croatia and in Europe as a whole.

European Commission’s “Europe 2020 Strategy” enshrines the EU committment to acheiveing a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in Europe setting specific quantitative targets of success to be reached by the hyear 2020, among which:

• An employment rate no lower than 75% for the Adult population aged 20-64.

• Overall desrease in the number of persons at risk of poverty to less than 20 million.

A measurment of relevant statistical indicators highlight the significant challenges that remain to be overcome in the key areas of development identified by the Strategy.

Eurostat (2017) quantifies in 18,243 million the number of unemployed in the EU-28 total population as of October 2017, making up the 8,8% of the workforce. At the same time, levels of economic deprivation presents themselves as substantial across the EU-28, with 23,5% of the population at risk of poverty and social exclusion as of 2016, and the corresponding data for Croatia being 27,9%, above the EU average.

Long-term unemployment, as shown by Eurostat data, affects disproportionally the portions of the Adult population with a lower level of educational attainment. In the case of Croatia, unemployment affects 17,3% of Adults 25-64 with less than an higher secondary certification. This is further compounded by high levels of educational dropout and low general attainment in education, with only 29,3% of pupils aged 30-34 achieving a tertiary educational qualification.

Sport, particularly when deployed in synergy with the educationally purposeful fame of Non Formal Education principles and methods (Education Through Sport methodology) is a powerful instrument of empowerment allowing the development of soft skills, transversal skills and positive attitudes (leadership, flexibility, goal-oriented thinking, teamwork, respect of differences, self-confidence and entrepreneurial attitudes) which make up the constituent components of an all-round empowerment of transversal applicability to the fields of individual development, labour market employability and entrepreneurial engagement.

In addition, Sport enjoys a direct relevance for the achievement of the objectives set forth in the EU 2020 strategy since, as highlighted by the European Commission in its “Communication on Developing the European Dimension in Sport”, it provides an important contribution “to growth and jobs, with value added and employment effects exceeding average growth rates”.

The core skills and positive values enshrined in Sport practices are therefore, particularly when inserted in a progressive educational frame, functional to providing an approach to address the specific challenges of Adult targets by means of education.