Social farming (also known as care farming) is one of the most common forms of green care or nature-based interventions. It is based on concepts of multifunctional agriculture and community-based social and health care (Di Iacovo and O’Connor, 2009). Social farming refers to the therapeutic use of farming landscapes and practices on part or all of a working farm in order to provide health, social, educational and/or vocational supports to a small number of people at risk of social exclusion. Social farming activities can be targeted towards multiple groups within society - disabled, elderly, NEETS; ex-offenders; addicts / substance abusers. All social farming activities are organised within a supervised, facilitated and structured programme of farming-related tasks involving livestock, horticulture, crops, machinery or woodland (Sempik et. al 2010). Social farming is considered an innovative approach to enhancing social inclusion amongst marginalized groups within rural areas, but their exists multiple innovative models of operating the social farming sector both within individual countries and throughout Europe. This transnational project operating across Ireland, Slovenia, Germany, Portugal and Belgium wishes to identify innovative models of social farming and associated case studies, thereby allowing the information to be shared to farmers through a training course offered as an OER, by the use of an training website. The developed courses are planned to be aligned with EQF standards. There is a tendency for social farming to operate around a small number of participants per family farm, in many instances just one or two. This implies that the farmer requires sufficient expertise in working with participants' needs and abilities; and to communicate effectively, especially with participants who are non-verbal. These training requirements can be resolved through this transnational project by creating suitable blended training and learning resources for farmers, thereby bridging critical gaps in their knowledge, skillsets and competencies.The key objectives of the project are:• To ascertain the training needs and requirements for key stakeholders (host farmers / participants / service providers) involved in the various models of social farming.• To develop a training course syllabus and associated course materials. The main training for farmers could potentially focus on: participants needs and abilities; how to communicate effectively with participants; and health and safety (risk assessments).• To engage with policymakers, rural development organizations and health care / social care providers with regard to replicating this innovative training programme on completion of the project.The target groups for this project include all the key stakeholders (social care providers; social workers; rural development organizations; farmer representative bodies; social farming representative organizations; educators) involved in social farming but particular attention will be focused on farmers hosting participants on their farms or farmers who have a desire to adopt this innovative approach to fostering social inclusion and development within a farming environment.The main intellectual outputs to be developed as part of this project include:O1 national and summary reports on the state of the art on innovative models of social farmingO2 training course syllabus and associated course materialsO3 Project and Training websiteO4 Testing and OptimizationAll intellectual outputs will be available free of charge. Awareness of their availability will be made via social and conventional media and tagged as being free on-line resources.At the completion of this project it is anticipated that there would be an increase in the number of social farms with a mission to address social exclusion amongst marginalized groups living in rural areas; and an increased awareness by all stakeholders of the benefits of social farming; and an appreciation of the necessary requirements for its implementation amongst policy-makers. Taking into account the total benefits of social farming for farmers but for the participants as well, the specific project is of an evident European added value since it promotes social inclusion and consists a measure of battling unemployment for people at the risk of social exclusion. Furthermore, through the described learning procedure, farmers will be provided with a new approach of running their businesses and enhancing their competitiveness.Overall, the FARCURA project wishes to equip stakeholders (farmers; social farming representative bodies; social and heath care providers; farming representative bodies) with the necessary knowledge, skill-sets and competencies to develop and enhance social farming, an innovative approach to fostering social inclusion amongst marginalized groups within rural society throughout Europe.

Context/background of the project;The project is based around the LEADER program which is a highly effective and successful model of integrated social and economic development in rural communities. The opportunities for capacity building and knowledge exchange between regions/countries across Europe are significant. Regions with extensive experience in LEADER program implementation can share their approaches and methods with new EU Member States (MS) and options for cooperation identified between regions/countries across Europe. Furthermore the effective management of the LEADER Programme can be enhanced through building the knowledge, skills and capacities of those working within Local Aaction Groups (LAGs) and Local Development Companies (LDCs)Objectives;Th key objectives of the TELI2 Project were toa) Carry out research on the delivery of LEADER in member states and training needs of LEADER staff and Board membersb) Develop a programme in LEADER programme management, which would be accrediated on the European Qualifications Framework (EQF)c) To deliver a best practice-based training course of implementation to LEADER company management and staff recruited by all the LEADER-related partners.Number and profile of participating organisations;The TELI2 project involved 10 partners from Ireland (2), Poland (1), Romania (1), Slovenia (2), Croatia (2) and Portugal (1). The partners represented Academic and Training Organisations (Limerick Institute of Technology (IE) and University of Ljubljana (SL)) and Local Action Groups (Dolina Raby (PL), SECAD (IE), Dobrogea Centrala (RO), Development agency Kozjansko (SL), Zeleni Bregi (HR), Adrimag (PT), ACE (PT), Zrinska Gora-Turopolje (HR). Expert staff from each partner contributed their knowledge and skills across the field of education/training, rural development, sustainable development, LEADER Programme management, project management and dissemination. The participant organisations have extensive experience in the delivery of LEADER programmes, the delivery of high quality Rural Development and Sustainable Development Education and the management and delivery of successful European Projects. In addition, 16 people selected from the LAGs completed the programme.Description of undertaken main activities;The project has been successful in implementing all aspects of the planned work programme.Firstly a detailed analysis of LEADER Programme implementation was completed on the basis of a survey of LAGs and relevant organisations across the EU. Analysis of inputs from 169 respondents to an on-line survey and 45 participants in Focus Groups were compiled into a dedicated report profiling the approaches to LEADER implementation across Europe. In addition, this report also provided conclusions on the Training needs of those working in LEADER organisations across Europe. This input feed directly into the next phase of developing a Certificate in LEADER Programme Management.LIT, in consultation with University of Ljubljana, developed an education programme to meets the needs as outlined in the research. Various methods of programme accrediation were researched and finally the programme was accrediated through LIT as a Special Purpose Award - Level 7 on EQF. The programme has a total of 30 ECTS and designed for delivery as a blended learning programme.The programme was delivered to 18 participants, who were selected by the LAG partners, LIT and UL. The participants completed the programme over a 6 month period including completion of 3 Learning Weeks in IE, PT and PL. Participants completed modules on Communications and Facilitation, LEADER Approach and Neo-Endogenous Rural and LEADER Programme Management and Organisational Skills. 13 of participants successfully received the academic accreditation at the end of the progamme.The outputs and outcomes from the project were widely disseminated through a variety of channels including Website, Social Media, Newsletters and Mutilplier Events.Results and impact attained;The critical result has been the upskilling of 16 representatives from LAGs across Europe on how to implement and manage the LEADER Programme in their regions. All participants engaged actively in the programme and while 3 did not receive the final academic accreditation they have still acquired the relevant knowledge and skills from the programme. The extensive exchanges between the project partners both during project meetings and the Learning/Teaching/Training activities has created a strong community and bond between the partners and discussions are on-going on how to further the work completed in the project into other areas through further collaborations. 236 people attended the Multiplier Events and contributed to engaged discussions on how the LEADER Programme can be utilised to enhance the lives of people in regions across Europe.

"""Partnership for geo-education"" is a project of collaboration between four non-governmental organizations from four different corners of Europe: Poland, Portugal, Iceland and Croatia. Despite different geographical and cultural contexts we have at least one thing in common: we work towards developing knowledge and awareness about natural values of our regions through education. Our regions are renowned for their geological interest, therefore have become subjects of geo-education.Our most important goal wa this project was to equip the adults of non-formal teaching professions (educators, trainers, guides) in knowledge, experience and methods for conducting interesting field-trips, complexly describing natural phenomena. This project focuses on outdoor geo-education, which can be much more satisfying to participants as it allows to see and touch the described phenomena. We want to base this education on local natural values, especially geology, because we believe that pupils (whatever the age) understand natural science best, when it is relevant to their everyday experience.The project activities included four international trainings (consisting of workshops and field trips) for project participants (trainers, educators, guides) and appointing an international team of experts to establish a field-trip geo-education methodology. The Methodology was prepared by a team of university professors, expert trainers and practitionners in education. It consists of a collection of experiences and good practices in leading and promoting geo-education from the four countries and a collection of 16 field trip scenarios that can be freely re-adapted and used by educators all around Europe. The Methodology is available under the Creative Commons License in English and four local languages.The project involved as many as 74 people of different bacgrounds and professions, but all working towards the development of their regions. They participated in the international project meetings and trainings and thanks to the project broadened their knowledge in geo-sciences and ways and means to promote it through geo-education.The project ended with multiplier events - conference and a field-trip in Poland and 3 local conferences in Portugal, Iceland and Croatia."

Research centres as well as counselling and work support institutions agree that there exist some common needs at European level related to entrepreneurship learning opportunities that are not sufficiently addressed. First the lack of a learning approach that is flexible enough to fit to all the different entrepreneurial casuistic existing and at the same time, exhaustive or comprehensive enough to cover all entrepreneurial competencies in an efficient way. Secondly, there is a lack of European standard tools for the diagnosis / recognition and validation of knowledge, skills and competences of potential entrepreneurs.In that sense F3E intends to promote, by means of the active co-operation between 4 educational and entrepreneurship support institutions, the promotion of a new European innovative approach towards adult education entrepreneurship promotion (diagnosis, objectives, trainingmaterials and evaluation) that will help to secure accurate entrepreneurship support for people leading towards their employment and job creation.The main aim of the project is to design and profuselly test a joint methodology within AE providers which will allow, on the one hand, the diagnosis and assessment of the entrepreneurship capabilities of individuals and, on the other hand, to share and develop a comprehensive series of actions (training modules) that respond to the needs identified and, thus, contribute to foster the provision of key competences to entrepreneurs and to improve the links between education and training and the success within the world of work. The working methodology will benefit all involved parts since will become a mechanism for knowledge and research carried out within educational institutions to enhance the quality and relevance of the learning offer with their own staff and trainees and, on the other hand, trainees will have at their disposal a Entrepreneurial Kit for the improvement of their entrepreneurial capabilities.For these objectives to be achieved, the following activities will be carried out:- Development of a (auto)diagnosis tool for the analysis of the entrepreneurship capabilities of trainees An online platform will be produced to facilitate interaction, improve ICT skills and disseminate and attract potential entrepreneurs to this first step of diagnosis.- Test the diagnosis tool. Each partner institution will select a sample of 10 members of staff or trainees that will be the target for the testing. - Individual identification of main shortcomings and weaknesses that need to be addressed.- Share and design a whole set of methodologies and training contents to map all the diagnosis areas. It will be composed of a core curriculum that will contain training objectives, contents and methods.- Test of a personalized learning path made up of different modular training contents to address the particular shortcomings identified by the diagnosis tool. - Release of the Entrepreneurial KIT encompassing the diagnosis tool and the modular training programme as an Open Educational Resource (OER) on the online workspace for everyone to access it.

<< Background >>The notion of ‘resilience’ is very much to the fore in public and policy discourse. The European Union has put resilience and innovation at the core of its climate adaptation and zero carbon strategies. The European Green Deal envisages resilient rural communities and farms that contribute to biodiversity and wellbeing. Regional policy, at the EU and member state levels, increasingly emphasises the sustainable development of regional and territorial resilience. Indeed, the current global pandemic has propelled a renewed focus on individual and community-level resilience, which is associated with quality of life and social capital. Citizen and social movements are also advocating resilience, and are embracing initiatives such as Smart Villages as part of multi-pronged and integrated approaches to place-making. Thus, our project seeks to respond to macro- and micro-level imperatives and impetuses towards the promotion of resilience. Specifically, we propose to identify and capture innovative practices in respect of resilience and to disseminate and promote conducive knowledge capital.The concept of ‘resilience’ while laudable and much vaunted, can be vague or nebulous. Indeed, the very notion can be open to variable understanding and interpretation, and in some contexts, it has been either mis-used or understood. Therefore, among stakeholders, there is a need for greater clarity and a shared understanding in respect of what resilience means. By working collaboratively with stakeholders (including VET institutions and rural development organisations), we envisage promoting consensus in deriving a shared understanding of, and commitment to, resilience.Resilience is a multi-dimensional concept; it relates to economic, environmental and socio-cultural factors. Its promotion implies that stakeholders anticipate future needs, trends and opportunities and engage in vision-planning and future-proofing exercises. As project leaders and facilitators, we have the capacity to draw on our strengths in vocational training, research and on-the-ground practice in nurturing an integrated (multi-sectoral) approach to understanding and promoting resilience that embeds it within local / territorial development processes and good governance. Our prior expertise in strategic planning and place-making should enable us to work with stakeholders in devising learning formats and didactic tools that are closely related to practice and the development needs and trajectories of rural communities.The sectoral and geographical composition of our partnership lends itself to responding effectively to stakeholder needs. Some of us have worked together on inter-territorial projects in the past, and we can bring our prior learnings to bear on this project. In addition, we comprise education-based and practitioner partners, and among us we have extensive access to living laboratories in which our programme can be piloted and refined. We have the in-house capacity to design digital platforms and infrastructure that respond effectively to identified needs, over the project’s lifecycle, and which will be a legacy for communities.The project's overall impact contributes to the ; fulfilment of specific ERASMUS+ priorities. These include: increased level of digital competence; more active participation in society; improved levels of skills for employability; increased opportunities for professional development; and better understanding of interconnections between formal, non-formal education, vocational training, other forms of learning and labour market respectively.<< Objectives >>The project’s primary aim is:· To devise a practitioner-oriented, workable, robust, reliable and solution-focused capacity-building training programme that captures the merits of resilient communities and enables stakeholders, in a vocational learning environment, to assess, promote, review, tweak and evaluate approaches to resilience promotion across a range of rural area types in Europe.The associated objectives are:· To collate best practice experiences and models (drawing on our pre-development work and networks) in respect of place-based resilience-building;· To devise a resilience measuring, signposting and strategic planning tool that practitioners can utilise in a diverse range of geographical settings;· To engage with practitioners (in vocational education, rural development and civil society settings, among others) in collaboratively co-designing an innovative training and capacity-building training programme that effectively enables them to promote resilience in tandem with place-making;· To refine a digital assessment and learning repository with a series of dimensions and indicators to measure rural community resilience/vibrancy, including citizens’ perceptions and experiences thereof – that can be transferred to diverse contexts and tweaked in line with territorial features and potential; and· To engage with multiple actors (as recommended in the OECD’s Rural 3.0) in transferring project learnings in to practices in planning, land-use, climate adaptation, food production, ecology, economic diversification, service provision, well-being and other dimensions of liveability.These objectives will be realised by the development of a practitioner-led vocational education programme that will promote an understanding of the concept of resilience and its applicability in the territorial development strategies in line with EU policy objectives and local assets and potential.<< Implementation >>The main project results of REBOUND include: RO1 National and summary reports on the state of the art on rural resilience and community well-beingRO2 Development of a training programme syllabus and associated course materials on rural resilience, capacity building and community well-beingRO3 Piloting of training programme and compilation of a trainers guide. Other activities include:Learning, teaching and training activities will take place during the developmental phases of the project (LTT1 - LTT2), when the course materials will be developed and tested by the REBOUND trainers prior to the delivery of the 4 training courses. Local Conferences (E1-E3) – LIT, UL and ADRIMAG will organize and deliver a local conference to audiences (50) drawn from the target groups for the project in which R01, R02 and R03 will be showcased and opportunities provided for hands-on trial and testing of the educational resources. Similarly LDNET will organize and host an online international conference (E4) and provide similar opportunities to at least 80 delegates. Experiential learning is critically important as rural development practitioners / workers need to take the time to get to know individual communities, being open to local specifics and allowing things to develop naturally. Furthermore, VET learners and professionals in the community sector value learning by doing. Therefore, the LTT activities and where possible the local conferences (E1 - E3) will incorporate site visits.<< Results >>The envisaged outcomes will be manifest in respect of the following:· Clarity and consensus – a (more widespread) shared understanding of the concept of resilience and the dimensions thereof. This will include stakeholder acknowledgments of the role of current / present capacity-building (in knowledge and institutional forms) and vocational training, in underpinning future resilience and the ability to withstand shocks;· Promotion of synergies between resilience-building and the promotion of complementary concepts, such as vibrancy, vitality and liveability – informing and feeding into best practices in community development and place-making;· Clearer recognition of the importance of shared responsibilities and co-ownership of resilience-building processes among endogenous and exogenous actors – thus avoiding any downward displacement of responsibilities onto civil society, as has occurred, in some contexts (in the past);· Enhanced and more reflective praxis, as stakeholders (especially practitioners) apply methodological tools that are informed and underpinned by cutting-edge research, knowledge transfers and inter-territorial collaboration – to include the development and refinement of sets of indicators that capture qualitative, qualitative, tangible and intangible dimensions and features of resilience;· Enhanced collaboration between VET providers, practitioners, rural development organisations, civil society and the citizenry – on an inter-territorial scale - in promoting place-making base on the principles and vision of resilient communities, territories and regions;· Policy and practice alignment and fit with EU and UN objectives, including decarbonisation, green growth and smart regions / villages;· Increased knowledge capital in the participating communities and institutions, including the capacity to utilise and adapt our generated digital platform to a diverse range of contexts and the capacity to generate a multiplier effect in respect of the dissemination of best practice;· Increased social capital, including stronger inter-community networking and information sharing; and· Sets of signposts to inform and support best practices in related fields.