BACKGROUNDIn a global scale, serious disease issues are wiping out bee populations, and severe concerns arise regarding beehives becoming thorny if an outbreak occurs. Honey Bee Industry Council executive director, Trevor Weatherhead, stresses out that beekeepers should be aware of their obligations, with 'bee havers' (people who have bees, but are not involved in their treatment) actually becoming a biosecurity threat to other beekeepers. Accordingly, European Parliament indicates that there is an exceptional need for appropriate training in beekeeping, on the grounds that beekeepers are often powerless to combat bee diseases, due to lack of information and training in conjunction with the very limited effective means to counteract them. Therefore, measures for providing adequate support to beekeepers are not yet fully successful due to the R&D efforts still remaining deficient regarding treatments for parasitic species, exposure to chemical products and other potential risks that affect bee health.OBJECTIVESDevelopment of an apiculture training game for low-skilled adults supporting the development of beekeeping associations in rural areas by low-skilled adults who have been trained with Plan BEE.The main objective is to provide a serious game serving as a single information point guiding a potential beekeeper on how to start a lucrative business depending on his/her own needs and background by diminishing the risks related to traditional beekeeping (bee diseases, mortality rate, exposure to chemical products, etc.). Also, contribute to the increase of the bee population in the wild by promoting apiculture.PARTICIPANTSThe partnership comprises a software development company researching on personalized training environments, a finance and business development association, an adult training organization targeting rural areas, an educational games developer, a technical consultancy looking into innovative training methodologies and a beekeeping association. Most partners own a proven track record of mainstreaming result of E&T projects.ACTIVITIES-Elaboration of a training methodology especially for low-skilled adults from rural areas-Development of a training curriculum focusing on sustainable beekeeping-Iterative design and development of a serious game-Creation of a dedicated virtual space for direct communication and ideas and experience exchange among the target groups in order to build up a huge network increasing the impact of the project-Validation of the outputs through a series of workshops providing feedback to be adjusted in each subsequent iteration until the completion of the project following a pilot period.METHODOLOGY-Validation of the identified training needs of low-skilled adults-Elaboration of a training methodology using a serious game-Development of training and assessment material covering sustainable apiculture-Creation of a game concept for training on beekeeping, including the design of a gamification schema and the definition of game avatars and their characteristics,the conceptualization of the game screens and a description of the game play-Re-modeling of the training material to knowledge content in order to be successfully delivered through the serious game-Configure and support a community of Plan BEE enthusiasts, beekeeping practitioners, trainers, etc. to serve as the single information point guiding a potential beekeeper on how to start a sustainable business based on his/her own situation-Promotion of the Plan BEE Society and the pilot training activities through multiplier events in order to engage pilot participants-Validation of the educational game through piloting activities-Symposium promoting the project results and how they can be adopted in real-life situationsThis methodology is iterative, while feedback from each iteration leads to improvements for the next iteration.RESULTS-Sustainable beekeeping training content and Trainer's Guide on how to deliver the training and the serious game-Plan BEE Serious Game-Plan BEE SocietyIMPACT-Increase in the number of successful apiculture businesses highly focusing on rural areas-Prevention of the potential risks associated with bee health through the promotion of sustainable beekeeping-Promotion of online sales strategies to boost international trades (mainly exports) of apicultural products in Europe-Improvement of key competences of adults from rural areas in order to combine the worlds of education and workLONG TERM BENEFITSThrough the development of Plan BEE Society, the project recommends a standard-based approach towards the improvement of adult training on issues that are crucial for a functional rural society. This process enables stakeholders to move towards this direction being supported by Plan BEE established tactics.The projects can thus contribute to improve life quality through active social participation and personal growth.