Developing Sustainable and Entrepreneurial Villages through Educational Living Labs in Namibia and Zambia

ongoing

Developing Sustainable and Entrepreneurial Villages through Educational Living Labs in Namibia and Zambia: Project aims to reform and develop new innovative approaches and initiatives for 1) entrepreneurship education in target HEIs and 2) for community development by bringing access to informal and formal education and training tools through technological platforms by establishing Smart Village Living Labs in rural villages in Zambia and in Namibia. Consortium consists of three Zambian + two Namibian partner HEIs and four European universities. Project introduces and implements innovative teaching and learning methods by European partners in order to increase better teamwork among students, practical skills of entrepreneurship and to increase better problem-solving skills in target HEIs and rural villages. Secondly, the project co-develops new and/or existing entrepreneurship formal and informal course contents, considering both generic and specific entrepreneurial competencies needed for specific fields of businesses and contexts. Project establishes four innovative learning environments (“Smart Village Living Labs”) in Zambia and in Namibia to increase access to education also among the disadvantaged and the most vulnerable groups (women, youth, people with disabilities or diseases) by offering both formal and informal education through Living Labs. Target HEIs integrate and develop closer collaboration with the local start-ups, which also contributes to sustainable jobs and growth and increases employability. Informal “short courses” of entrepreneurship reach those people via Living labs that have difficulties getting access to formal degree education of target HEIs. Project contributes to the capacity building of target HEIs by introducing innovative and collaborative learning methods, increasing digital inclusion and inclusiveness, increasing practical and problem-solving skills of entrepreneurship and co-developing new, innovative entrepreneurship course cont