TRAIN-CE-FOOD

 

 

 

Project: TRAIN-CE-FOOD (SI2.823699)

 

 

Project details

Entrepreneurship is recognized as one of the important factors decreasing youth unemployment. Also, circular economy (CE) contributes to innovation and job creation, where food supply chains are recognized as priorities. In the partner’s countries there are no education sources and possibilities for younger generations to learn about CE, food supply chains, business models, entrepreneurship, cooperatives. Project involves 8 partners from 6 EU countries (3 with higher youth unemployment rate), with numerous professionals (e.g. entrepreneurship, cooperatives, circular economy, new business models, start-ups, food supply chains, teaching/learning, curricula, e-learning, etc.)

Target groups are students (younger generation), teachers/professors/trainers, professional mentors, coaches (>50 directly
involved in implementation, >200 in multiplier events, >3500 indirectly involved in dissemination).

Beneficiaries are students, teachers/professors/trainers, mentors, secondary schools related to food and catering issues, universities (agriculture, food related faculties), entrepreneurship related organizations, youth organizations, NGOs dealing with informal education, HEIs, etc.

TRAIN-CE-FOOD objective is acquiring innovative specialised competences for young people, by empowering them to use entrepreneurship and cooperative skillsets and mindsets, enabling them to create much more efficient cooperative solutions and business models in the field of CE and food supply chains via open online learning, face-to-face workshops, and in-
depth remote coaching.

Project activities will be implemented through 6 work packages, of which 4 are content oriented, followed by dissemination and communication, and project coordination. TRAIN-CE-FOOD produces several outputs: curriculums for secondary and
higher education, OER platform with 3 integrated e-modules, e-textbook, training, workshop, etc. The project has a multifaceted impact on the target groups and socio-economic environment.

TRAIN-CE-FOOD objective is acquiring innovative specialized competences for young people, by empowering them to make use of entrepreneurship and cooperative skillsets and mindsets, which will enable them to create much more efficient cooperative solutions and business models in the field of CE and food supply chains via open online learning, face-to-face workshops, and in-depth remote coaching.
We will establish also a new network providing upskilling opportunities with more personalised learnings to implement CE business models and cooperatives. The goal is also to empower youngsters and make them more informed and aware about opportunities in cooperatives, entrepreneurship and CE business models. An attention will be given to the transferability of competencies – to be applicable not only in
one particular situation, but in many other situations and contexts, as cooperative and entrepreneurship opportunities are infinite.

Specific objectives:

– develop and design curricula for secondary and higher education level (Entrepreneurship Competence Framework will be used as a basis for both levels), raising awareness/knowledge

– develop and design an open OER platform with 3 integrated modules, supported by an e- textbook to ensure that learners will acquire skills, competencies and knowledge – modules will be integrated in learning/teaching at the secondary and university levels

– create training material used at face-to-face workshops, focusing on interaction with peers and business world, and training material for in-depth remote coaching with business mentors

– implement/testing/piloting modules at the short-term trainings with > 50 participants/learners

– implement face-to-face workshop in Brussels countries with > 80

– implement in-depth remote coaching with establishing at least 3 cooperative start-ups, utilizing innovative CE business models in the food supply chain

– dissemination of TRAIN-CE-FOOD outcomes (n>3500)

SELECTION OF PARTNERS was based on:
– Previous experiences and competences in development of online training materials, didactic approaches, learning and training materials, curricula, educational games, OERs, carrying out workshops, non-formal training
– Previous experiences and competences in entrepreneurship, cooperatives, youth, circular economy business models, sustainability, education and training, working with students, universities, secondary schools, decision-makers,
– Previous experiences in curricula development and working with future generations
– Direct involvement and outreach to the relevant target groups (students, professors, HEIs, secondary schools, professionals in circular economy, and food related topics, trainers, mentors, educators, facilitators, etc.).
The project partnership followed several steps already in the project proposal preparation phase, and will continue with the precaution policy when the project commences. The measures were and will be as follows:

SUBMISSION PHASE:
– Selection of partners have been made within the existing network, based on competencies, and previous successful collaboration
– Declaration of honours were signed by all the partners
– Preliminary analysis of the current state has been carried out in partner countries and EU using results of the previous project, experts’ knowledge, target groups’ experiences, existing reports (Erasmus + project database, EU statistics) and based on preliminary evaluation of needs.
– The project activities were planned according to the Plan-Do-Check-Act principle

PREPARATION PHASE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT:
– Partnership Agreements will be signed before the implementation starts
– Internal reporting phases will be established (6-month internal reports) in line with interim reports
– Project management board (PMB), and project management office (PMO) will be established and a PMB agreement signed (defining all members with name, surname, e-mail, mobile and Skype/social media contacts)
– Project Management Rules will be introduced at the Kick-off-meeting
– Project Management Manual will be issued
– Elaboration of internal administrative and financial procedures
– Dropbox or OneDrive archive will be established for document exchange and document keeping
– definition of decision-making process and main tools of internal communication
– definition of project evaluation and quality strategy, assuring the implementation to the highest quality standards
– establishment of internal strategy for risk management and conflict resolution

WORK PACKAGE No.: 1 (Month 1 – 5)

Title: State of the art analyses 

This first work package generates an understanding about youth entrepreneurship and cooperatives in the specialised field of circular economy business models within the food supply chains in the European Union context, with an extensive analysis of the state of the art competencies (Task 1.1) and a benchmark of good practices (Task 1.2). It will finally assess the performance of the current situation, and identify synergies, gaps and duplications (Task 1.3), which will be the basis of the work in WP2, WP3, and WP4.

The state-of-the-art report includes a systemic, theoretical and practical elaboration of present conditions on food related topics and entrepreneurship education in partners countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Austria and Spain).

WORK PACKAGE No.: 2 (Month 2 – 18)

Curriculum and Knowledge Hub

The Knowledge Centre (KH) (Task 2.1) will collect the selected information to enable circular entrepreneurship, cooperative projects and ideas. The experiences showed that the Circular Economy is possible thanks to the inspiration that comes from the best existing success cases (WP1). We will try to organize this collection by food sector, so that participants have easy access to personalized information. Furthermore, the KH architecture will allow all partners to enclose more new published information, which is continually being developed in this area. In addition, the curricula for secondary schools (Task 2.2.) And university level (Task 2.3) will be prepared and integrated into KH.

WORK PACKAGE No.: 3 (Month 1 – 18)

OER platform and e-modules

This work package covers the development of:

  • an online learning platform OER, its testing and a final version.
  • an e-module 1: introduction to the circular economy and innovative business models
  • an e-module 2: entrepreneurships and cooperatives in circular economy
  • an e-module 3: creation of cooperative start-up, using circular economy in food supply chains
  • an e-textbook as a learning tool for the e-modules, that will allow learners to gain the knowledge, skills and results in the platform. The e-textbook will consist of 5 chapters, an introduction and 4 chapters linked to the expertise knowledge (youth entrepreneurship, cooperatives, circular economy, food supply chains, including life cycle assessment, innovative business models, product development, etc.). E-textbook knowledge base elements will be integrated into the platform.

Development of modules include content development, methods, and training materials.

WORK PACKAGE No.: 4 (Month 6 – 18)

Title: Target groups engagement

This WP focuses on the engagement of target groups. All relevant target groups types will be covered: students, professors/teachers/trainers, secondary schools, high education institutions, NGOs, corporate sector, decision-makers, youth, civil society representatives. Tasks are the following:

T.4.1: Defining the objectives per target group type; consolidating a database of target groups.

T.4.2: Organization of training actions (in Croatia):

  • “train the trainers” on the e-modules and the OER platform. This training will be used for discussing and testing with trainers, professors, teachers and experts the draft e-modules, teaching materials, e-textbook.
  • 5-day secondary schools and HEIs training: possible form of a summer school that will be organized in Osijek, Croatia. The training will be organized also to test and validate the platform OER, the e-courses, gamification materials developed, and will be followed by the assessment of skills and competences pre-and post- learning activity.

T.4.3. Workshop in Brussels: This workshop will gather approximately 80 participants of all target groups and stakeholder types. Multiplier organisations such as national/regional youth associations will play a key role.

T.4.4 coaching for establishing CE cooperatives, entrepreneurships; some of the partners will establish with students at least 3 cooperatives/entrepreneur activities in the CE food related topic and guide/mentor students. It is expected by the end of the project that 3 cooperatives will be functioning.

WORK PACKAGE No.: 5 (Month 1 – 18)

Title: Dissemination and Communication

This Work Package addresses pathways to reach the desired impact, and specifically the following individual objectives:

  • Build and disseminate project results
  • Widely promote the project results to relevant stakeholder communities, build and maintain a web-based portal with solutions and best practices

The TRAIN-CE-FOOD Final Conference will be held in Slovenia (target 100 – 150 participants). This conference is the final event of the project, where we will represent project outputs and invite participants to further usage of the outputs developed.

WORK PACKAGE No.: 6 (Month 1 – 18)

Title: Project coordination

The main objective of WP6 is to carry out an effective technical, scientific, legal, financial and administrative co-ordination, establishing the mechanisms and management procedures to that end.

Expected impacts:

– Train and enhance entrepreneurships and cooperatives mind sets, knowledge and skills linked
to CE, starting from secondary level to a university one in view of a higher employability of newly
graduated students and youngsters, as well as of a higher quality and relevance of learning/
training to increase capacities of youngsters.
– Reinforce the interdisciplinary skills of young professionals and young learners, regarding
integrated entrepreneurship and innovative CE business models in food supply chains, through
the development and testing, in cooperation with HEIs, secondary schools, NGOs, businesses
of new approaches and techniques of learning/training;
– Development and enrichment of already existing e-learning OER platforms through the
availability of a wide range of materials on entrepreneurships, cooperatives, CE, that can be
exploited for further training activities far beyond the end of the project;
– Mainstreaming of an innovative teaching approach, OER, ICT, business mentors to foster the
collaborative start-ups as well as, reuse and sharing of learning/teaching resources;
– Reinforcing cooperatives in CE food supply chains, giving them more opportunities for new
innovative business models and added value creation;
– Increase youth employability and relevance of learning provisions by overcoming the lack
integration in the fields of entrepreneurship, CE, cooperatives thus making it easier to respond
to the job market’s requirement of youngsters able to create their fulfilling jobs and businesses

Dissemination strategy will be set up, including main tools and channels for communicating project results and events to the target groups and stakeholders. EPEKA will also gather proposed communication activities from partners, which should be measurable and tailored to specific needs and interests of target audiences. Design of promotional materials: Paragon Europe will be in charge of designing eye-catching, easily recognisable visual elements of the proposed project. Promotional materials will include the following items: project logo, e-leaflets, slide templates and e-newsletters and
project website. EPEKA will be responsible for all the video contents and preparation of project YouTube Channel, Vlogging, etc.to reach as many target audience as possible.

Development of activities