SoEngage will develop new technologies with easily accessible onlne and digital platforms to upskill farmers with relevant training to develop their competence to engage in social farming. This will benefit farmers through the entrepreneurial opportunity it provides them to provide a more professional service for economic benefit. The rationale for the SoEngage project is that family farms represent an important resource to maintain and improve the social, economic and cultural sustainability of rural areas. The overall objective is to support farmers to engage in Social Farming by developing their knowledge, skills and competences through training to consider, plan and deliver a professional Social Farm service for the economic benefit and sustainability of the farm and the rural community. Social Farming, also known as Care Farming or Farming for Health is an innovative multifunctional activity which offers farmers the opportunity to use their agricultural expertise and resources to promote therapy, rehabilitation, social inclusion, education and social services for entrepreneurial and economic benefit. The farm remains a working farm where people who need care support can benefit from participation in farm activities in a non-clinical environment. The quality of a Social Farming service depends on the expertise and training of the farmers engaged in its delivery. The partners of the SoEngage project represent 6 regions (UK, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Romania, Spain) and provide a range of training and support for farmers and have identified the gap in information and training on social farming which enables farmers to make informed decisions on whether or not this innovative entrepreneurial activity is suitable for them and the farm family. This gap can be addressed by collaborating to harness the competent mix of expertise and materials that exist between the partners to produce training that brings resources together to create a comprehensive set of digital and online resources. The innovative approach is that unlike existing training, which is delivered on-site and restricted by availability of trainers and financial resources, SoEngage training will make training convenient for farmers to complete by using digital and online platforms for accessible self-learning. Such online learning is not currently available in the partner countries. The partners will share each of their expertise on design and implementation of social farm training; identify and use real life best practice case studies of social farms across the partnership to encompass the different methods, practices, procedures and structures to develop the training and professionalism of farmers delivering social farm services. The training will be delivered to over 300 trainees who will be involved in the testing of the training materials from the beginning. The SoEngage training will be available in the 5 languages of the partners (English, German, Polish, Spanish and Romanian) and available as an OER which can be shared across the EU where Social Farming is less developed. As a result of the development of these new technologies with easily accessible onlne and digital platforms the training can be easily shared across Europe to engage and upskill farmers in social farming. This will benefit farmers through the entrepreneurial opportunity it provides them, the people who avail of social farm services by providing more professional services and the wider rural community through the social, economic and cultural sustainability. The partners are grateful to the European Union through Erasmus+ funding for the opportunity to engage farmers with social farming.
SoEngage developed an online learning platform with modules, case studies and resources to develop the skills and competence of farmers to engage in social farming. The platform is available in the 5 languages of the partners (English, German, Polish, Spanish and Romanian) as an OER which can be shared across the EU. The rationale for the SoEngage project is that family farms represent an important resource to maintain and improve the social, economic and cultural sustainability of rural areas. The overall objective is to support farmers engage in Social Farming by developing their knowledge, skills and competences through training to consider, plan and deliver a professional Social Farm service for the economic benefit and sustainability of the farm and the rural community. The quality of a Social Farming service depends on the expertise and training of the farmers engaged in its delivery. The partners of the SoEngage project provide a range of training and support for farmers in their 6 regions. The partners identified a gap in information and training on social farming which enabled farmers to make informed decisions on whether or not this innovative entrepreneurial activity was suitable for their farm. The gap was addressed by collaborating to harness the expertise of the partners to develop an online learning platform that provided information, resources and a comprehensive set training modules and can studies on social farming available in the 5 partner languages. The innovative approach is that: - Social Farming (Care Farming or Farming for Health) is an innovative multifunctional activity which offers farmers the opportunity to use their agricultural expertise and resources to promote therapy, rehabilitation, social inclusion, education and social services for economic benefit. - The farm remains a working farm where people who need care support can benefit from participation in farm activities in a non-clinical environment. - Unlike traditional training, which is delivered on-site, with trainers at specific times, the SoEngage online learning platform makes training accessible for farmers to complete self-learning at a time that is convenient to them. Such online learning was not previously available in the partner countries. Partners prepared a report on the situation of social farming in each region and a summary report in all languages. Each partner designed a module based on their area of expertise to produce six online modules which covered all aspects of social farming including an overview of social farming, the skills required for social farming, the resources necessary to deliver social farming, the types of people who use a social farm and how to develop a social farm business plan. Twenty one best practice case studies were selected across the partner regions with three to five examples from each partner region and provides information on the social farmer, the type of farm, the services offered and the range of participants that use the social farm. The case studies show the diversity that exists within social farming in the activities and the people that use the social farm services. The online learning platform includes a self assessment to test learning and each learner can complete a Course Certificate at the end of the training. PDF versions of the Modules, Case Studies and Certificate are available for trainees on usb. The SoEngage project partners produced a National Report on the status of Social Farming in each of their six regions: Germany, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Spain, and the UK. A Summary Report captures the main points highlighted in the National Reports to give an overview of the situation of social farming across the partner regions. A resources section on the online platform provides a range of additional reading material on social farming including research, handbooks, examples of good practice and polices relating to social farming. The online learning platform was developed and tested with trainees which included existing social farmers over 300 tests. Feedback from the tests was used to improve the online platform to ensure the training met the needs of the target group. The long term benefit of the online learning platform is that: - It can be easily shared across Europe to provide farmers with the skills and knowledge they need to engage in social farming - Farmers benefit through the entrepreneurial and economic opportunity to use their skills and resources in social farming - The farm remains a full working farm - Social farming offers care and health benefits to the people who use the services - The training improves the professional quality of the social farm service - The wider rural community benefits through the social, economic and cultural sustainability The partners are grateful to the European Union through Erasmus+ funding for the opportunity to support farmers engage in social farming.