The GENERAL OBJECTIVE of the TOMAS project was to promote social inclusion and intercultural integration in the agrifood sector, by raising awareness and upskilling agrifood workers of different nationalities on EU common values, civic engagement, and intercultural skills, via adapted vocational education and training resources. The project's SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES were to: -Enable a transnational and cross-sectoral cooperation framework between VET, youth, trade unions, and agrifood stakeholders to foster strategic partnerships and the creation of bridges between social, educational/training, and economic partners; -Promote a better understanding of the needs/gaps related to intercultural relations in the agri-food sector, so as to better adapt VET resources to the needs of agri-food workers of different nationalities, as well as to those of the labor market, towards increased intercultural skills and social inclusion in the agri-food sector; -Develop innovative training resources that combine key approaches from non-formal education, youth work, and VET, in view to train and upskill agri-food workers of different nationalities in a way that boosts their intercultural capacity and awareness of EU values.
The agri-food sector is the largest manufacturing sector in the EU, both in terms of turnover and number of active companies. The sector is characterized by cross-cultural diversity, where different ethnic groups coexist and work together. They have little or nothing in common culturally and face various challenges in integrating into the host country and building bridges for labor integration in their respective communities. A study conducted by the FAI CISL Foundation in 2018 showed that the lives of migrants in Europe have worsened. In 2020, the FAI CISL organized a conference where I laid out its research and tried to reflect on the future role of industrial relations, innovating how to represent and protect workers. The TOMAS project starts from these specific challenges that are arising in the agricultural sector in several EU countries. As a union, the FAI CISL's commitment is to stimulate active participation and consolidate democratic processes, such as European values, rights, and principles of democracy.