MAICh wished to explore NB as a driver of sustainable rural development & the use of VE training to increase key green skills & employability. With NB VET expert partner Cob, they recruited Blatology, a new Serbian NGO with extensive theoretical NB knowledge seeking to develop NB training capacity in the Pčinja district, with >500 villages of ancient earthen houses but no local capacity for their repair & maintenance. NBCaRD would devise a tailor-made blended-learning ToT programme to fast-track Blatology’s ability to train in the NB skills required by Pčinja district inhabitants to repair & maintain their houses & increase their employability. Initially online, the ToT would incorporate two intensive workshops in Greece & Serbia allowing Blatology to observe & implement training practices & augment their organizational and operational capacity while locals are trained in NB skills & theory. The Serbian trainees will then be supported & encouraged to work with Blatology to further develop & disseminate NB skills in a regional skills-building initiative. The ToT would create training resources & provide insights into the use of NB training for sustainable rural development & of training requirements in this & other similar regions.
NBCaRD was conceived to increase all partners’ rural development capacity by creating a VET training initiative to address pressing problems affecting the Pčinja district, the poorest, least developed region of Serbia. There is significant youth unemployment & emigration, exacerbated by most housing stock comprising ancient earthen (adobe brick) buildings in very bad condition. Association with poverty has led to a disdain for these buildings & loss of the skills required for their maintenance & repair. NBCaRD introduced natural building (NB) skills training in the Pčinja district to: provide residents with the skills & knowledge to repair & improve their homes; increase awareness of the benefits of earthen buildings vs conventional constructions & modern interventions to increase their comfort & performance; provide employment opportunities through NB skills, competences & knowledge transfer; & encourage reappraisal of the cultural capital & the local character these buildings represent. The intensive VE Trainings provided applicable NB skills to unemployed people in rural Greece & in the Pčinja district created a community of enthusiasts who, with Blatology, will continue local NB skill development & dissemination.