Project LINK UP

LINK UP: Digital Empowerment and Community Engagement for Third-Country National Women is an Erasmus+ project designed to empower Third-Country National (TCN) women by improving their digital skills, supporting cultural integration and encouraging active participation in their local communities. The project brings together organisations from Germany, Austria, Belgium, Slovenia, Bulgaria and the Netherlands and will run for 26 months, from November 2025 until December 2027.

Many Third-Country National women face barriers such as limited digital skills, language difficulties, social isolation and challenges in accessing public and community services. LINK UP addresses these challenges through accessible and multilingual learning opportunities that combine digital education, practical training, cultural exchange and community engagement. Participants will develop skills that can help them use e-government services, digital health tools, online financial services and other digital resources needed in everyday life.

One of the main project results will be a multilingual MOOC platform providing practical learning modules supported by digital and AI-based tools. The project will also develop a Digital Resource Navigator containing more than 50 categorised local services and community resources, helping women identify and access services such as healthcare, childcare, cultural institutions and community support. Practical workshops in the partner countries will enable participants to test these tools, develop their digital skills and create their own multimedia content.

LINK UP will also use culture and storytelling as tools for inclusion. Participants will have opportunities to share their experiences, traditions and cultural heritage through digital stories and creative activities. One of the project’s key outputs will be the Inclusion Cookbook, a multimedia collection combining traditional recipes with personal and cultural stories contributed by participating women. The project will also organise exhibitions and community activities where participant-created videos, digital posters, stories and other outputs will be presented to a wider audience.

TREND-PRIMA participates in LINK UP as the Slovenian project partner and leads WP3 – Application and Training. Through practical workshops, mentoring, testing and evaluation activities, TREND-PRIMA will contribute to turning the project’s educational resources into practical learning experiences for Third-Country National women. A transnational project meeting will also be organised in Slovenia as part of the implementation of WP3.

Through its combination of digital education, cultural exchange and community participation, LINK UP aims to strengthen participants’ confidence, independence and sense of belonging. The project’s digital resources and methodologies will remain available beyond the project period, allowing partner organisations, educators and other stakeholders to continue using them in their work with migrant women and other vulnerable groups.