This project entitled « Préparer les métiers de demain en milieu rural » is submitted by the UNMFREO. 4 other partners are implied in this project: the FRMFR of Midi-Pyrénées, in France, PLZMMC, in Lithuania, SCF, in Italy, Salford City College, in the UK and GSATRH, in Greece. The Union Nationale des Maisons Familiales Rurales counts 430 vocational training schools, 71 local and regional associations, and 1 training centre for VET professionnals. They all work for the development of local areas and for the success of the 70 000 learners they train every year. These learners are mainly from rural areas, often isolated whether geographically or socially speaking. The UNMFREO is nationwide and its key actions are in favour of families, youth, rural areas, social economy and VET. Each partner works for training and social integration of young people in rural areas, through VET. The situations might well be different depending on each national characteristic, but we find many common points that lead to the same questioning: which vocational training can we offer in this changing rural world? How can we carry on ensuring complete adequacy between training and job descriptions: what are the new jobs, the news skills needed, do we need to develop new training methods, do we need to adapt the training and social integration courses? This project meets the 2020 Europe strategy and the Bruges declaration as it aims at improving not only the trainings but also the skills that are developed in order to help young people develop skills that are needed on the job markets, by doing so, the recruitment process will be eased as well. If the beneficiaries of this project will be the young learners, the participants will be VET professionals from the different partners: directors, trainers, European project coordinators, tutors as trainers of VET. The activities are as follow: • 1rst meeting in France in September 2014 : Launch of the project and of the 1rst theme : “the way the vocational trainings programs are set up and how they enable the development of new activities within a job” o Intermediary dissemination • Research, data collection by each partner on the following theme. • 2nd meeting in Greece in February 2015: : “the way the vocational trainings programs are set up and how they enable the development of new activities within a job” o Pooling of information and data analysis o Study visits and writing of the report o Preparation of the new theme (3rd meeting) o Intermediary dissemination • 3d meeting, in Lithuania, in September 2015 : : “the identification of the business needs in rural areas” o same organisation than activity 2. • Research, data collection by each partner on the following theme • 4th meeting, in Italy, in February 2016: “how the new trends and practices in rural areas can lead to the creation of new job descriptions” • Analysis of the 3 reports and writing of the final production: how to identify news skills and jobs in rural areas, a guideline • 5th meeting: The conference, in France in June 2016 o Pooling of information and data analysis of the 3 previous meetings o Presentation of the final production: how to identify news skills and jobs in rural areas, a guideline o Meetings with experts : new jobs, new skills, rural youth and careers o Common workshops on new identified strategic lines in order to improve VET o Final dissemination The impact expected is wide. First and foremost, this project is to be considered the first step of a collaboration between partners as other partnerships on other common questioning themes will emerge and will concern even more partners. The results of this first partnership will be able to be transferred to other countries and other institutes, who will become new partners. Each partner will have developed a method regarding the management of a strategic partnership. Regarding the MFR, it will increase the number of schools wanting to get involved in such partnerships. The European dimension of the trainings will be developed and therefore will help young people take more initiative and increase the scope of their job prospect. The quality of the trainings themselves will improve as they will be even more based on the development of the right skills for the local, national and European job markets, thus improving even more the employment rates. Lastly, it is expected the job “trainer” in rural areas will change as well.
6 partners were involved in this partnership : Fédération Régionale des Maisons familiales Rurales (FR MFR) from Midi-Pyrénées (Mipy), Leader Center for Leader Programme and Agricultural Training Methodology (PLZMMC) in Lithuania, Scuola Centrale Formazione (SCF) in Italy, Salford City College in UK, Greek Scientific Association of Therapeutic Riding and Hippotherapy (GSATRH) in Greece and Union Nationale des Maisons Familiales Rurales d'Education et d'Orientation (UNMFREO). This last organisation agreed to be the coordinator of the program. It gathers 430 VET centers, 71 territorial federations and a national pedagogical center. All of them are involved in territorial development and VET training for 70 000 people trained each year. These people have basically a strong link with rural area issues and are mostly geographically or socially isolated (YWLO). The Union deals with issues related to family, youth, rurality, social economy and VET on a national level. Each partner works also for professional integration and VET training for youngsters in rural areas. Beyond each organization and country specificity, the partners confirmed the shared issue and brought some answers. How to adapt VET training offer to changing rural areas ? How can we improve business and training connection in order to offer trainings better business needs ? What are the new trades and skills which are and will be required by the territories ? How to develop new pedagogical approaches and to adapt professional integration and training paths? This base was used to enrich the existing training courses and skills in the 2020 Europe perspective. The project aimed in long term to facilitate youth employment by offering training paths adapted to youth and business needs (Bruges Communiqué). The equine mediation assistant, which was defined during the project is a good example. Final beneficiaries are youngsters, as planned. The equine mediation training delivered in Terrou for French and British trainees with the support of the Greek staff, illustrates that aspect. Participants to the project were stakeholders, territorial dynamics facilitators like VET centers directors or coordinators, European mobility representatives or trainers. The methodological guide on territorial approaches is the final output. A second guide on planification and assessment of social change, and a job description of equine mediation assistant were also produced thanks to the project. It is also important to take in account the new stakeholders’ awareness of what is already done in multi trade activity in the agricultural sector and on the « universal » needs in rural animation. This will be the topic of the next program. Activities implemented are close to the previsions: Kick off meeting in France in Sept 14, including collecting and analyzing methods 3 other trainings sessions in Greece, Lithuania and Italy on the 3 focuses agreed by the partners (path, sectors and territory). 2016 was dedicated to collecting datas analyzing them and writing the guide. the Rural Territories Itinerant University held in Figeac in July 2016 enabled us to present the results of the 2-year partnership together with the guide but also to explore even further the topic with experts interventions and collective work. The expected impact, beyond the effects already seen, is the developpement of a stronger collaboration between partners, supported by new KA2 on common issues. Results are transferable as other organizations have already used them after the UITR (i.e ; Madagascar, Veneto Region). Each partner strengthened its own methodology about KA2 and is now able to integrate new organizations, as expected. Medium range perspective are: - working on the « rural area trainer », rural animation skills and evolutions in order to - Develop the european dimension in trainings by using ECVETS for instance - Facilitate youth initiatives and broaden the employment opportunities with EU programs support - Improve quality in trainings by strengthening the relations between businesses and training centres starting from the practical guide and UITR learnings - Increase territorial synergy on these topics