"<< Objectives >>The Italian research group InCreaSe and the Bulgarian National Business Development Network cooperate in the project FLA.M.Eu to select and train 10 FLAnk Motivators to endow them with competences, knowledge and skills aimed at preventing the NEET phenomenon, identifying these young individuals aged 18-24 “Not in Education, Employment not Training”, and accompanying them in a path of professionalisation and self-empowerment.<< Implementation >>The flank motivators will be actively involved in the co-design of a training course that will alternate between transnational exchange and classroom and online training. They will be both creators and users, activating a set of transversal competences, mainly acquired in a ""learning by doing"" mode, which will lead them to test on the field how they can become a ""human group"" able to care for the NEETs, young persons who are afraid of the future or do not believe in it.<< Results >>In addition to the 10 trained flank motivators and the 6 young NEETs supported in the experimentation phase, the FLA.M.Eu project acts as a bridge between this first experimental experience and the creation of a complete professional profile. The project, through the creation of a simplified profile and an innovative training course able to enhance cognitive, professional, social and emotional skills, will train the trainers of tomorrow, ambassadors of this form of social innovation."

In case of natural disasters/humanitarian crisis experts/teams able to assess what worked well and mistakes in the crisis management unit and act with public authorities are needed and their role is crucial in post-emergency, when new strategies can be defined to improve the ability to be prepared, respond and react to a crisis learning from past mistakes. Evaluation is thus a key concept and evaluators a key profile, able to assess crisis management approaches and identify strategies to prevent future disasters or limit their impacts, making this process part of the civil protection planning. Another key element is facilitation, i.e. the ability to apply participatory approaches aiming at building a constructive relationship among citizens, enterprises and local/regional authorities.In this context, PERCEPTION will create a new profile, the Evaluator and Facilitator on Emergency Planning (EFEP) to catch this opportunity in terms of employability and innovative VET. The EFEP operates in local and entrepreneurial contexts acting as a link between enterprises and public bodies, fully knowing civil protection plans application and safety measures in enterprises/factories located in risk areas. He can transversally read and see complementarities and synergies among the 2 levels (internal and external emergency planning/management) and to ease their assessment and understanding using a participatory approach, which can support recovery and reduce future disaster impacts.PERCEPTION aims at providing learning opportunities to young people (18-35 years, to match the minimum age to be a volunteer in civil protection/humanitarian area and difficulties experienced by youths to access the labour market), unemployed/underemployed, university and/or high-school graduates, with at least one volunteering experience - preferably in Civil Protection/Humanitarian Aid domain - to help them to transform this experience into a career opportunity, by providing them with:-knowledge, skills and competences to improve their volunteering experience with organizational and managerial abilities-specific social/interactive skills, following their passion and attitude to work in emergency conditions-entrepreneurial skills to make them able to build their own career.60 participants will be selected at EU level to experience a blended mobility, made of local class lessons, transnational virtual exchanges, a webinar (piloting course) and a final intensive programme (Summer School) in Italy.To reach its objectives, PERCEPTION will implement:-a Curriculum for the Evaluator and Facilitator for Emergency Planning, defining the transnational professional profile (competences, skills, knowledge and job positioning)-a Training scheme focused on 6 competences areas: emergency management planning, facilitation, social/environmental impacts, strategic evaluation assessment, communication and entrepreneurship, applying work-based (role/simulation games, mentors/learner approach, cases study, etc.) learning tools -a Summer School (an intensive 10-days-programme in Italy) involving the 60 participants to the piloting course. Trainees will test in a real environment competences and skills acquired and further investigate: disruptive events, impacts identification and evaluation, from evaluation to recovery/emergency management strategies, building your own career. The project will be developed with a three steps methodology:1)Analysis, dealing with: EU/national contexts, mentors qualification, volunteer services functions, training courses, specialization, innovative training methodologies/tools/approaches to support the training scheme and the professional profile development2)Implementation, based on the analysis results and mainly dealing with: competences sharing and profile definition, training scheme definition and implementation, course piloting3)Evaluation: efficacy and coherence between training, targeted learning outcomes, competence needed by the labour market and target group needs will be constantly monitored/evaluated.According to previously identified objectives, PERCEPTION expected results refer to: -mutual recognition of the Evaluator and Facilitator for Emergency Planning qualification among all partners’ countries through the certification within the EQF (level 5)-provision of a work-based training for at least 60 young people with at least one volunteering experience through a multilevel, multidisciplinary and immersive training methodology-employability enhancement for young people through the creation of a new curriculum, fostering job opportunities within NGOs, local authorities, private companies or as self-employed-the creation of dialogue formats to reduce the gap between regional and local public authorities and entrepreneurs, specifically in the field of safety when an emergency occurs and in the planning phase-higher sensibilisation on safety, risk prevention, climate change.

<< Background >>STARLIGHT intends to focus mainly on three aspects.The first refers to tourism sector condition. Despite Europe remains the n°1 tourism destination in the world, European tourism is confronted with many challenges, starting with the need to constantly innovate and improve quality. The sector must quickly adapt to the digital revolution and develop new attractive products in a sustainable manner for local communities and the environment. The challenge is today even more relevant, as the COVID19 emergency outbreaks in the world: the impact on the tourism sector is going to be severe and 2020 will remain a year the marks a change in how tourism is perceived and experienced. This situation implies that new skills, competences and knowledge will be needed, both for young professionals and for experienced operators.The second aspect refers to a lack of competences registered by tourism employers. In fact, they tend to report a shortage in applications from individuals with the necessary skills, particularly in relation to higher skilled and professional roles, in terms of a lack of “work-ready” graduates, often having undertaken courses that employers consider too theoretical or lacking practical work experience. There are skill shortages –and a lack of provision– in emerging areas, notably accessible tourism, that need to be addressed. The third aspect refers to light pollution, an environmental problem affecting ecosystems, biodiversity and natural life behaviour. In fact, light causes problems both to plants and animals (from birds, to reptiles, night predators, insects), living on cycles dictated by the sun and accustomed to the day and night rhythm and/or vulnerable to artificial light. The arrival of the powerful artificial light has negatively affected animal behaviour in mating, migration, sleeping, and hunting, with impacts also in reproduction and foraging for food. STARLIGHT would like to increase knowledge on this topic and increase awareness, contributing at the creation of public debate. In this aspect stands the innovation of this project: up to the partnership knowledge, there are no specific courses dedicated to dark sky observation as tourism asset, merging scientific popularisation on light pollution impacts and astronomy with skills and competence on tourist offers (experiential purchase and territorial/digital marketing).The project has an evident transnational added value: tourism is transnational and persons willing to operate in this sector need European (when not international) perspectives and mobility opportunities. Even if they work locally, they need to be able to understand tourists’ expectations and culture. Thus, undertaking a transnational training experience provides this possibility.<< Objectives >>STARLIGHT project aims at increasing job opportunities for young Europeans (18-30) with an education/training background in tourism and upskilling for already active operators in the tourism sector, identifying innovative sectors, in line with market trends and specifically the promotion of dark skies observation as a competitive asset for sustainable and experiential tourism. Despite the relevance of Europe as tourism destination, the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism sector has been severe and still in 2021 tourism will pay the consequences in terms of how it will be perceived and experiences. New elements will enter the scene and tourism offers will need to be re-thought, to improve the perception of “safe tourism” and respond to a decrease of “mass tourism”.Thus, new skills, competences and knowledge will be needed, both for young professionals and for experienced operators.STARLIGHT and its partnership covering 6 European countries (Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Austria and Germany) will involve 60 participants to learn scientific notions on astronomy, biodiversity and light pollution, then they will be asked to attend Webinars, participate to a hackathon to produce an innovative business, build an experience boxes to be sold to tourists and, finally learn how to tell the story of our skies and transform this into a job opportunity.STARLIGHT also intends to reply to main challenges in the recruitment system, ensuring that VET courses remain relevant to rapidly changing employer’s needs, among which there is a need for innovative and flexible forms of training to meet the skill needs of SMEs and family-run businesses, representing a high % of tourism sector. This is an attempt to reply to the lack of practical and “work-ready” skills for many applicants to higher skilled and professional roles.STARLIGHT will respond to these challenges, providing a training methodology based on a work-based experience, focusing on topics such as accessible/sustainable tourism, digital marketing, business planning, etc.Finally, STARLIGHT intends to support a positive transformation of tourism, creating greener and more sustainable holidays through the conception of Astrotourism. The project will provide a small contribution for a possible scenario for the short-medium period: a mostly proximity tourism centered on some fixed points, such as security (with particular attention to hygiene rules); nature, space and no crowding. Someone has defined this transition from overtourism to undertourism.To reach the above-mentioned objectives, the project will address two specific target groups:1.Young Europeans accessing the market with an education/training background in tourism (primary target group). The minimum level is high school graduation or VET qualification in sectors that belong to the tourism value chain (guides, hotel managers, tour operators, tour managers, etc.)2.Tourist operators already active in the sector. They can be entrepreneurs, employees, freelance, etc. The economic sectors include: 1) Accommodation 2) Gastronomy 3) Travel and tours 4) Destination management 5) Guiding and experience making.They will both be involved in all activities of the project, from training to dissemination and sustainability.<< Implementation >>STARLIGHT activities will focus on the production of three project results:- training material toolkit, to set up a comprehensive knowledge base to be used as learning material and inform on three dimensions affected by light pollution (astronomy, biodiversity,health and wellbeing, cultural and historic value of dark skies observation, entrepreneurship and career guidance);- webinars, to transform acquired knowledge into skills to operate on the market and engage the audience. They will be focuses on three main topics: i. scientific popularization on astronomy and biodiversity/nature preservation, with an explanation of the storytelling approach for scientific dissemination and tourist engagement; ii. Experiential Tourism, through case studies presentation/analysis; iii. entrepreneurship, territorial and digital marketing;- a summer school format, defining topics, methodologies, format agenda, etc. to convey competences through a transnational work-based learning experience and inspire participants, target groups, stakeholders, and larger public, passing the heritage of what STARLIGHT has initiated.These results will be applied during three training activities:- a summer school in Bulgaria, focused on entrepreneurship, digital marketing and customer care, experiential purchase, customer care, etc. This experience will provide a working guidance to be used in the future and tested in the following learning activities, supporting participants in building their own career;- a winter school in Italy, focused on territorial marketing, benefiting from economic operators’ direct participation. This experience will lead to the development of a joint tourist experiential package (the Experience Box) using the guidance developed in the previous summer school, the story telling approach and, if possible, the STARLAB tool;- a spring school in Spain, focused on biodiversity preservation and environment protection from light pollution, benefiting of the participation of local guides. This experience will lead to the co-creation (via Living Lab approach) of a joint tourist experiential package using the guidance developed in the previous summer school.four multiplier events will be organized to show and disseminate project results and introduce training activities:- Dark skies and stargazing: new skills for new jobs in the tourism sector, in Slovenia;- STARLIGHT SUMMER SCHOOL: build your own career in Astrotourism, in Bulgaria;- STARLIGHT WINTER SCHOOL: Territorial Marketing Experience Box, in Italy;- STARLIGHT SPRING SCHOOL: Nature and Biodiversity Experience Box, in Spain.<< Results >>STARLIGHT expected impacts are mainly on employability, but it also aims at being one of the (hopefully) many initiative trying to support the tourism sector after the COVID19 emergency, providing new skills, but also a “think tank” to redefine the tourism sector and shape it in a more sustainable way. Thus, STARLIGHT intends to respond to the above-mentioned challenges by providing a training methodology based on a work-based experience, focusing on topics such as accessible/sustainable tourism, digital marketing, business planning, etc., pairing them with what a Lonely Planet study considers a travel trend: across the planet, travelers are now seeking out the world’s last-remaining dark skies where they can get a clear, unpolluted view of the stars. Sadly, visual access to the night sky has, over the past century, become increasingly rare.The approach applied by the project to achieve results, can be described with 3 key-words:INFORM, to make the target groups aware of the importance of the topics addressed and of the opportunities STARLIGHT offers. ENGAGE, meaning to actively involve STARLIGHT target groups in project activities. INSPIRE, that is “passing” the heritage of what STARLIGHT developed to others, so that they acknowledge it and make it their own. The implementation of this approach will ensure the achievement of the following expected results: - Provision of Knowledge, Competences, and Skills at least 50 young Europeans (tourism new graduates or in VET) able to better respond to the tourism market challenges and trends- creation of a stable intergenerational exchange and work-based learning opportunities through the involvement of at least 10 tourism operators (e.g., guides, SMEs, etc.) already active on the market but willing to undertake upskilling pathways.- Integration of “dark skies observation” as a learning outcome within mainstream courses for guides and tour operators- sensitization on light pollution impacts and environmental protections, leading to sustainable tourism approaches.