Social Farming is positively affecting dynamics of socio-economic cohesion and integration across EU,serving many purposes of social inclusion and employability of groups exposed to different types of disadvantage.Yet, the potential of Social Farming is currently undermined by the generalised lack of a framework (legal definitions),sustainable support system(training)and viable platform for cross-border links, exchange of knowledge and praxis. Such potential and challenges are clearly documented at national and EU levels: 1)EU Parliament, 2016, highlights the need to establish and promote training for social farming 2)EU Economic & Social Committee, clearly states the need for “training to ensure a high level of quality and skills in social farming operations” as well as the need to “put in place social farming networks” 3)EU Network for Rural Development identifies in the need for specialized training the key shortcoming limiting Social Farming at pan-EU level. OBJECTIVES Against this background, FASST objective is to advance the effectiveness of Social Farming at systemic and practice levels by developing concrete and relevant training for the sector (both providers of services and social farmers), deliver the training to validate its relevance and accuracy, develop a system of sustainability, mainstreaming and uptake of the training through the OER Platform beyond EC cofinancing PARTICIPANTS FASST brings together 9 partners from 5 countries representing the various dimensions of Social Farming,VET and SMEs. Partners have the technical capacity for the correct implementation of the project and encompass all the competences needs in social inclusion, farming and rural development, VET (both formal and non-formal), ICT. Target groups are identified in Social Farming organisations, social farmers (current and perspective), actors of the Social Farming “ecosystem”.The direct involvement of target groups reinforces the operational relevance of FASST training: -> at least 120 target groups will be involved at capacity gap assessment to be able to tailor the training to the real needs of the sector -> at least 200 target groups will be involved in the delivery of the FASST training to validate its relevance ACTIVITIES 1. Develop the FASST OER Platform for FREE and OPEN access to project results and training 2. Carry out a thourough gap assessment to identify specific capacity and training gaps in Social Farming, involving at least 120 target groups 3. Develop relevant, practical and easy to use training materials for both traditional and online delivery 4. Test and validate the Social Farming training involving at least 200 target groups METHODOLOGY FASST relies on a robust methodology that combines operational relevance, demand-driven approach and pedagogical accuracy. Those factors are ensured by the diversity and complementarity of competences and expertise of partners. FASST methodology is sequenced along the following steps: -> gap assessment -> development of training (demand driven) -> pilot for user-based validation -> finalisation -> full roll-out and deployment through OER RESULTS FASST results will be innovative, practical and relevant training for Social Farming. The training will be available for FREE and without restrictions in multilingual versions through the OER platform. The FASST Platform will also become the platform for the community of practice of Social Farming across Europe. Both training and platform are a timely and concrete answer to the needs recently highlighted at EU and national levels by key policy stakeholders (EU Parliament). IMPACT FASST will produce impact as follows > Participating organisations will enhance their capacity to better serve Social Farming sector > Social Farming at systemic level will benefit from relevant, timely and FREELY accessible training, with an OER Platform available to network and exchange knowledge and praxis > Target groups will gain competences and skills to advance the practice of Social Farming Impact will be tangible at: Local: FASST will involve and engage local stakeholders to produce immediate level in Social Farming as a means for territorial socio-economic development and inclusion National: FASST will inform “evidence based” policy making by providing coherent data, information and feedback EU: FASST will establish a pan-European platform for networking and exchange LONG TERM BENEFIT Partners already committed to maintaining the FASST OER platform for at least 3 years after the end of Erasmus+ cofinancing to sustain project results.FASST includes a thorough Valorisation Plan to scale up the OER Platform that will involve other stakehold. and contrib. (VET providers, Social Farming facilitators, social farmers, etc)to ensure that the tangible results of the FASST Project are sustained well beyond project lifetime. The involvement of Social Farming NGOs, VET and private sector reinforces sustainability of FASST.
Social Farming is positively affecting dynamics of socio-economic cohesion and integration across EU,serving many purposes of social inclusion and employability of groups exposed to different types of disadvantage.Yet, the potential of Social Farming is currently undermined by the generalised lack of a framework (legal definitions),sustainable support system(training)and viable platform for cross-border links, exchange of knowledge and praxis. Such potential and challenges are clearly documented at national and EU levels: 1)EU Parliament, 2016, highlights the need to establish and promote training for social farming 2)EU Economic & Social Committee, clearly states the need for “training to ensure a high level of quality and skills in social farming operations” as well as the need to “put in place social farming networks” 3)EU Network for Rural Development identifies in the need for specialized training the key shortcoming limiting Social Farming at pan-EU level. OBJECTIVES Against this background, FASST objective is to advance the effectiveness of Social Farming at systemic and practice levels by developing concrete and relevant training for the sector (both providers of services and social farmers), deliver the training to validate its relevance and accuracy, develop a system of sustainability, mainstreaming and uptake of the training through the OER Platform beyond EC cofinancing PARTICIPANTS FASST brings together 9 partners from 5 countries representing the various dimensions of Social Farming,VET and SMEs. Partners have the technical capacity for the correct implementation of the project and encompass all the competences needs in social inclusion, farming and rural development, VET (both formal and non-formal), ICT. Target groups are identified in Social Farming organisations, social farmers (current and perspective), actors of the Social Farming “ecosystem”.The direct involvement of target groups reinforces the operational relevance of FASST training: -> 127 target groups involved at capacity gap assessment to be able to tailor the training to the real needs of the sector (+7 participants compared to what expeted in the project) -> 362 target groups involved in the delivery of the FASST training to validate its relevance (+162 participants compared to what expeted in the project) ACTIVITIES 1. Develop the FASST OER Platform for FREE and OPEN access to project results and training 2. Carry out a thourough gap assessment to identify specific capacity and training gaps in Social Farming, involving at least 120 target groups 3. Develop relevant, practical and easy to use training materials for both traditional and online delivery in 5 languages (Bulgarian, English, Italian, Spanish, Macedonian) 4. Test and validate the Social Farming training involving at least 200 target groups in 5 countries (Bulgaria, Belgium, Italy, Macedonia, Spain) RESULTS FASST results are an innovative, practical and relevant training for Social Farming. The training is available for FREE and without restrictions in multilingual versions through the OER platform (Bulgarian, English, Italian, Spanish, Macedonian) The FASST Platform represents also the platform for the community of practice of Social Farming across Europe. Both training and platform are a timely and concrete answer to the needs recently highlighted at EU and national levels by key policy stakeholders (EU Parliament). IMPACT FASST produced impact as follows > Participating organisations enhanced their capacity to better serve Social Farming sector > Social Farming at systemic level has benefited from relevant, timely and FREELY accessible training, with an OER Platform available to network and exchange knowledge and praxis > Target groups gained competences and skills to advance the practice of Social Farming Impact is tangible at: Local: FASST involved and engaged local stakeholders to produce immediate level in Social Farming as a means for territorial socio-economic development and inclusion National: FASST informed “evidence based” policy making by providing coherent data, information and feedback EU: FASST established a pan-European platform for networking and exchange available in 5 languages and benefited from an in-depth assessment carried out in 5 EU countries. LONG TERM BENEFIT Partners have already committed to maintaining the FASST OER platform for at least 3 years after the end of Erasmus+ cofinancing to sustain project results.FASST includes a thorough Valorisation Plan to scale up the OER Platform that will involve other stakehold. and contrib. (VET providers, Social Farming facilitators, social farmers, etc)to ensure that the tangible results of the FASST Project are sustained well beyond project lifetime. The involvement of Social Farming NGOs, VET and private sector reinforces sustainability of FASST.