"<< Background >>The ubiquity of digital technologies is transforming agriculture and food production. Specifically, in the agricultural sector, the deployment of mobile technologies, remote sensing services and distributed computing are already improving small holders' access to information, inputs and markets, increasing production and productivity, streamlining supply chains, and reducing operating costs and environmental impact. But it is not just farmers. Consumers, both at home and abroad, are becoming more informed about the products they buy. They require high-quality food and fiber and produce in a sustainable way and want to know more about where the products come from. Digital technologies enable better traceability of agricultural products, providing peace of mind for consumers and greater value for farmers. Therefore, farmers need to develop a new set of skills in different fields of application. In order to address this macro-need, the Digital Farmer project, through European funding and an international multi-stakeholder cooperation between training institutions, research, universities, industrial consulting and territorial promotion companies, intends to develop a project aimed at producing teaching materials and innovative work-based learning methodologies, platforms for awareness raising and exchange of good practices and a general qualification of European VET systems related to agriculture, The ""Digital Education Action Plan"" is based on the assumption that it has become indispensable for the European population to possess digital skills appropriate to our times. The educational system consequently needs a process of adaptation in this direction, which has been made even more urgent by the Covid-19 pandemic. A fundamental aspect is the strengthening of the skills of educators and trainers, starting from the recognition of a common problem in Europe, which is the frequent lack of preparation of educators and trainers in general, not yet accustomed to the use of digital technologies in teaching and the use of forms of distance learning, especially in VET. At the same time, the agriculture sector is one of the most important areas of challenge for the achievement of several of the European Union's development objectives. The sector faces the need for a) Promoting an intelligent, resilient and diversified agricultural sector that ensures food security; b) Strengthening environmental protection and climate action; c) Strengthening the social fabric d) Promoting and sharing knowledge, innovation and digitization in agriculture and rural areas; in summary, through the European Commission's December 18, 2020 recommendation, the solution to many of the aforementioned challenges lies in a ""smarter,"" more precise and sustainable agriculture built on innovation and digital tools in agriculture. To achieve this goal, it is necessary that all stakeholders of the agricultural system are involved in a process of empowerment and awareness to approach the objectives outlined in the CAP, the European Green Deal and the From Farm to Fork strategy. This system action was precisely the logic behind the development of the Digital Farmer project, which is aimed at all European stakeholders in the agricultural sector, with particular focus on educators and trainers through a train-the-trainer approach, aimed at generating a multiplier effect in different European contexts.<< Objectives >>The innovation of the VET System cannot disregard digitalization, and in fact the Digital Education Action Plan starts from the assumption that it has become essential for the European population to possess digital skills appropriate to our times. One of the key points of the DEAP is the strengthening of the skills of educators and trainers, starting from the recognition of a common problem in Europe that is the frequent lack of preparation of a teaching staff and educators and trainers in general not yet accustomed to the use of digital technologies in teaching and the use of forms of distance learning, especially in VET.Innovation cannot ignore the importance of the environment and the fight against climate change, to which Europe has paid close attention with its accession to the Paris Agreement and the recent European Green Deal, which in its strategy aims to invest in environmentally friendly technologies and support industry in innovation. Digital farmers intend to apply these priorities to a sector such as agriculture, one of the most important challenging areas for achieving the different development objectives of the European Union, which in the Recovery Plan focuses on modernizing traditional policies such as cohesion and the common agricultural policy, in order to maximize their contribution to EU priorities. Among the challenges to be faced are the promotion of an intelligent, resilient and diverse agricultural sector that ensures food security by strengthening environmental protection and climate action, the socio-economic fabric of rural areas and responding to social concerns. It is also necessary to promote and share knowledge, innovation and digitalization in agriculture and rural areas. Through the Recommendation of the European Commission of December 18, 2020, the solution to many of the challenges mentioned consists in a more ""intelligent"", precise and sustainable agriculture built on innovation and digital tools in agriculture. With this project we intend to develop teaching materials and innovative methodologies of work-based learning, platforms for raising awareness and exchange of good practices and a general qualification of European VET systems related to agriculture, to achieve a change of system capable of having a concrete impact on the achievement of greater environmental and economic sustainability of the agricultural sector and the renewal , greater attractiveness and effectiveness of the European VET system The project, through a train-the-trainer approach and innovative training activities, aims to contribute to the transformation of VET institutions to better include in their programmes digital innovations in the agricultural sector with a dual action on trainers and students, creating an international and multisectoral network to achieve together a set of objectives:- Standardize and improve digital skills to be used in the pedagogical field of educators , and VET trainers at European level in the field of agriculture - Enhance the use within VET educational paths of recent innovations and new technologies in the agricultural sector - Ensuring continuity, while innovating, work-based learning in an international environment through the Erasmus programme - Promoting the adoption of innovative practices related to digital agriculture in individual local contexts with positive effects in terms of environmental sustainability in the companies and organizations involved - Improving the skills of participating organizations in digital agriculture and teaching skills through transnational cooperation<< Implementation >>The project includes the following tasks: WP1. Coordination and monitoring: Partners will adopt common implementation and monitoring methodologies, so as to work consistently on deadlines, objectives and indicators. During the transnational meetings partners will also organize and develop the dissemination activities of the project and develop further ideas, follow-up strategies and stakeholder involvement. WP2 Local Roundtables (M2-M6): Each partner will activate their network to activate an ""innovative ecosystem"" related to digital tools and recent innovations in the agricultural sector. Through roundtables, individual partners will collect best practices and the latest innovations applied in their local context in relation to the agricultural sector and digital education. The results will be summarized in final reports that will be the basis of the content to be developed. WP3 International Workshop (M7-M12): Before the start of the Workshop, local reports will be forwarded by the different partners to the coordinating body of this activity Cosvitec, which will summarize the material received in two final reports that will be discussed during the WI: the first will be the basis of the drafting of the Manuals Digital VET Trainer in Agriculture (O1, O2). The second will serve for the emergence of good practices and innovative systems at local level, but also to identify potential fields of application of WP4 Training International digital internships (M13-M18): IT will take place in asynchronous and synchronous mode.At least 4 weeks before the start of training, the first version of the manuals (O1, O2) will be forwarded to the participants. The part in presence, lasting 5 days, will be divided into two phases. The first will deal with the topics already addressed in asynchronous mode, while the second will deal with the techniques and methods of implementation of wp5 digital internships Digital internships and elaboration of the Digital VET Trainer in Agriculture (M19-M27): internships abroad in digital form are one of the innovative project actions and their implementation will ensure continuity of work-based learning within the Erasmus+ programme, which has achieved extremely positive results over the years. In addition, the elaboration of the manuals will serve to facilitate the replication of this experience even to bodies that have not directly benefited from the WP6 Project Activities MO6 Production MOOC Digital VET Trainer in Agriculture (O3) (M1-M28) will be built around the first 2 project outputs and aimed at transmitting the basic skills for effective distance learning and increasing skills related to the 6 macro-arguments of innovation in agriculture and on the methodologies and techniques of carrying out digital internships WP7 Network of Digital Farmers (O4) Platform Development (M1-M30): The platform will be a tool of fundamental importance for all project objectives. In fact, the platform will enable empowerment actions of stakeholders active in the field of VET, the exchange of best practices and innovative methodologies, will positively influence the aspects related to dissemination and will offer networking opportunities that can trigger future projects and further developments WP8 Dissemination and Networking Activities Dissemination and networking activities: The promotion of activities and dissemination of results are an element of fundamental importance to ensure the success of the project.fundamental importance to ensure the success of the project and to generate a multiplier effect both in the territorial contexts of the territorial contexts of the project partners and at community level. To this end, a dissemination event will be organized dissemination by country. The materials produced and the results achieved will thus have a further opportunity for dissemination as well as the opportunity to promote further follow-up projects initiated by partners and stakeholders.<< Results >>Digital Farmer is an ambitious project that aims to make a concrete contribution to achieving the following outcomes:- Qualification of digital skills to be used in the pedagogical field of VET educators and trainers at European level in the field of agriculture;- Introduction and greater use within the educational paths of recent innovations and new technologies in the agricultural sector; - Development of a new methodology for the realization of forms of work-based learning through digital tools- A greater awareness, in different local contexts, of innovative practices and digital agriculture with positive effects in terms of environmental sustainability in the companies and organizations involved; - Empowerment of organizations involved in digital agriculture and educational skills through transnational cooperation. To achieve the aforementioned general outcomes through the achievement of the following specific results: - Production of teaching materials related to ICT tools in teaching: within the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators, the partnership will deal with the production of Open Educational Resources in the 6 key areas identified: 1. Professional Engagement, 2. Digital Resources, 3. Teaching and Learning 4. Assessment, 5. Empowering Learners, 6. Facilitating Learners' Digital Competence - Production of teaching materials and information documents in relation to the 6 in-depth areas identified in the design field (Decision Support Systems, Block Chain Technologies, ICT Information and Communication Technologies, NIR and Drones, Farmbot, e-Commerce Software, Marketing and Advertising Platforms) and guidelines related to the conduct of ""digital internships"" for the elaboration of the Digital Traineeship manual in Agriculture. - Empowerment of 21 trainers and educators from 7 Member States and their organizations: progress will be assessed through ex-ante/ex-post evaluation questionnaires, DigCompEdu Check-In for participants and SELFIE for their organizations; - Design and implementation of 84 ""Digital Internships"": through the joint action of the members of the partnership, the participants in the International Training and the host companies/bodies themselves, learning paths based on innovative practices in agriculture will be structured. The route will be characterized by a first week in presence and the next continuation for a further 4 weeks at a distance, through digital tools - Creation of the Network of Digital Farmers: a platform will be developed for: a) dissemination of European policies and recommendations on distance learning and digital skills; b) provide a tool to improve the digital skills of educators, trainers and facilitators through the dissemination of OER related to digital tools in agriculture (produced in the design and non-design field) and European best practices and tools available c) provide a space for comparison for educators, trainers and facilitators with an international section in English and a specification in which stakeholders can compare themselves in their mother tongue; d) matching between companies and trainees/training institutions for subsequent implementation of ""digital internships"""

Know Your Rights (KYR) objectives is to train migrant workers to improve their knowledge on their rights in the workforce, both within specific countries and according to EU employment laws. The KYR project will focus on developing approaches to reach out to migrant workers using online tools and peer mentoring, presenting information in 3-5 languages in each country in cooperation with trained peers. The overall objective is to create processes and good practices that can then be developed further to reach new migrants groups. Context/background; Research has shown that migrant workers are the most vulnerable groups when it comes to exploitation in the workforce. One of the reasons is migrant’s lack of information about their rights, for example minimum wages, work-contracts and more. (https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2018/protecting-migrant-workers-exploitation-eu) In most countries, migrant workers have higher unemployment rates and, when in employment, tend to be segregated in unskilled occupations and exposed to higher risks of over-qualification. Moreover, they experience considerable job insecurity, and the sectors and occupations where they are employed are characterized by less advantageous working conditions.Participants; The Know Your Rights consortium consist of 7 partners, from 5 countries in Europe, with a wide variety of knowledge and experience of supporting migrant through training and initiatives related to social and cultural inclusion of migrants. The leading partner Einurð in Iceland has considerable experience in community development, peer support, mentoring and adult education. Amal the managing director and owner of Jafnréttishús (Equality centre) has been a leading activist concerning migrant issues and support to migrants and refugees, having experienced being migrant worker herself. Center for Social Innovation (CSI) is a Research and Development organization which focuses on fostering social innovation that can bring about a positive change to local, national, regional and global contexts. Verein Multikulurell main objectives are to promote professional, social and cultural inclusion of migrants and it aims to enhance intercultural dialogue and education. Acción Laboral main training activities are complemented by information, motivation, ICT training, vocational training, labor counselling and guidance. Social Innovation Fund in Lithuania aim is to assist people with fewer opportunities and disadvantaged backgrounds to make positive changes in their life through the provision of educational opportunities, social support, information and advice. Caminos main objectives include fostering the exchange and communication, improving individual opportunities of development, supporting the social inclusion of disadvantaged people and developing innovative methodologies in the field of training, education and social development.All partners are in contact with a wide network of stakeholders and will create national/regional reference groups for the KYR project. The consortium also has considerable experience in developing and producing open educational resources and e-learning approaches. Activities, methodologies and results: The KYR project includes 5 intellectual outputs (O 1-5) and 6 multiplier events, 5 INFO days and a final conference. The project uses the methodology of a Competence GAP analysis (O1) to define and gather information on stakeholders, gaps in services/support to migrant workers, support and services to migrant workers. Based upon the GAP analysis 3-5 migrant languages will be selected in each country to be addressed by the project. At least 15 migrant groups will be addressed by the project, or at least 3 in each partner country. National reference groups of 8-10 stakeholders will be formed in each country. Partners will select 8-10 bilingual peers in each country to participate in a peer mentoring workshop (O5) based upon a curriculum and training content (O2) followed up with their involvement in content development and production of the KYR videos as peer mentors or e-confidants (O3) presentations adapted to each selected migrant group. Project results will be accessible on the „Know Your Rights“ platform (O4) that will be a hub for project activities developing from a simple info site for the project in the beginning to a open educational resource in different languages addressing different target groups of migrant workers. All material will be open source for key stakeholders like workers unions to enhance their existing services and support to migrant workers.Sustainability and benefits: The Know Your Rights platform will be open and accessible at least 24 months after the project completion. Each partner will nominate one representative or contact person that can assist other regions/groups/countries/organization in utilizing and adapting project results for new groups or communities.

Although Europe has been recovering from recent high unemployment rates, the general lockdown and consequences of COVID-19, will have a huge impact on local and global economies. The ILO estimates that more than 25 mil jobs will be lost in the coming months due to the outbreak. As a result, thousands of organizations in Europe and the world have shifted to working remotely, where possible. Still, many are struggling to apply good practices and routines to ensure productivity and wellbeing in their workforce during these challenging times. To make the transition as smooth as possible, those who lead remote teams need to have the skills needed to lead them effectively. When employees don’t gather together in the same physical location, a very different dynamic is created. Face-to-face meetings, casual conversations in the hallways, and break-room socializing all bring people together in unique ways. When people no longer work together on location, those shared experiences cease. The overlap caused by physically working at home can cause mental health-related problems including over-work. A study by Mann and Holdsworth (2003) showed that teleworkers experienced increased irritability and negative emotions, such as worry. This was attributed to social isolation and being unable to share problems with colleagues. So, stress among eWorkers can also be on the rise.This does not mean that organizational culture, team dynamics, and employee engagement levels have to suffer, but HR professionals and managers do need to find new ways to recreate these workplace assets through different channels.This project aims to help Leaders in SMEs to acknowledge the importance of digital skills and wellbeing practices in maintaining healthy and productive virtual teams. Its objectives include the development of appropriate competencies in team leaders to better manage virtual team wellbeing and productivity and at the same time enrich their capacity to use the appropriate technological tools. VirutalTeams also aims to equip HR professionals with tools and skills to be in a position to promote positive organisational cultures by adjusting their policies, practices and procedures and support their staff.OBJECTIVES1) Provide SMEs tools and techniques to overcome these challenges, by providing practical tips to help Virtual Team Leaders lead effectively, communicate successfully and so increase the performance of their virtual/remote teams2) Equip HR Professionals to improve their people’s wellbeing by adjusting their policies and procedures, thus maintaining a positive and productive eWork environment for all3) Improve the quality of work in virtual teams20 Managers/Team Leaders, HR professionals from SMEs and VET Trainers (in-company or external) from the 6 participating countries in the project will be chosen to participate in piloting the training modules of the training programme. Leaders will be trained on prioritising team building, fostering close collaboration, setting clear direction and objectives and leveraging technology. HR professionals will be trained to familiarise themselves with the IT infrastructure and available digital tools to set appropriate teleworking policies in place. The aim of these training activities is to assist eWorkers with improving their time management and productivity and bring about wellbeing, resilience and work-life balance. Also, associate participants and stakeholders will be consulted to provide feedback on all project outputs during the development stage.The project will be managed using Project Management tools and practices, including quality assurance, dissemination and sustainability plans.Short description of the results:-IO1: A toolkit for virtual team leaders, HR Professionals and managers-IO2: In-service training course for VET professionals-IO3: MOOC on effective management of virtual teamsWorking remotely is growing faster than ever and shows no sign of slowing down. It’s the future of work with benefits for both employers and employees. The project builds on the existing knowledge developed by partners and aims at supporting organisations thrive by developing positive and productive virtual work environments with longterm sustainability. The expected long-term benefit is creating work-life balance, wellbeing and productivity to teams working remotely with practices that can be easily adopted by any organisation, especially SMEs.

5 adult education and training organisations have joined in the Open Badges for Adult Education project to develop the concept of open badges in their environment and to test it with adults who are far from employment and belong to groups at risk of exclusion. 100 badges were initially created to promote attitudes and behaviours sought by employers and key competences for lifelong learning. As a result of the project, more than 90 trainers from 50 different organizations assigned more than 600 badges to more than 300 adults. Guides have been produced to show the interest of badges: valorising skills acquired through informal learning, maintaining motivation throughout a learning path, building confidence and self-esteem, digital acculturation, empowerment regarding one's abilities, easier presentation during a job interview, etc. Tutorials are available for the practical aspects: How to create a badge? How to manage your badges?... The different experiences of creating and assigning badges with their integration into training systems and the feedback from the various stakeholders are described in a collection of practices. They are available to give ideas to education stakeholders who want to be informed and better understand the various possibilities before engaging. All results are available in the five languages of the partnership, German, Spanish, French, Slovenian, Swedish and English at www.open-badges.eu.

ContextProject EU-OBP: European Open Badges Platform wants to assess, develop and promote the common EU platform for digital badges, targeted at adult education organizations, adult educators and adult learners that also represent the main target groups. Open badge is a file of the shape of an icon or medal issued to prove skills or achievements of people. The file contains metadata: name of the issuer, the criteria it was issued under, evidence verifying the credential and expiry date. Open badges are available as open standard any organization can use to create, issue and verify digital badges. Main advantage of open badges is their availability and representational opportunities. They present innovative tools for recognition of achieved soft skills to employers or educators, and could be included into EU-based Europass CV system.Common EU open badges platform will allow a) adult education organizations to offer digital badges to local and EU-wide public, b) adult educators to gain new IT competence and innovative tool for recognition of soft skills and key competences and c) learners in adult education possibility to be awarded with badges on EU level and use them for future job seeking or further educational needs.Objectivesa) Project EU-OBP wants to upgrade results from 2 Erasmus+ projects (iYOT, www.iyot.eu and OBADE, www.open-badges.eu) with participation of previously included organizations and two new partners.b) Partners will research available projects, platforms or organizations to deliver the complete EU-OBP web platform with » Reader«, “Toolbox”, » Guidelines«, all available as open source. c) Partners want to promote open badges for recognition of “soft skills” and 8 key competences in EU area, and anticipate at least 500 open badges for adult education available on the platform until the end of project.Participants- 5 partner meetings, 16 professional staff from adult education - 7 national multiplier events with 185 participants (adult teachers, mentors, stakeholders, adult education organizations)- 1 international conference in Slovenia with up to 100 participants (partners, adult teachers, mentors, stakeholders, adult education organizations, local municipality, national representatives from policy makers)- 25 initiated networks between partners and the local community (partners, stakeholders)- 500 registered users on web platform (adult learners)Activities P1 will prepare the Project Management Handbook and distribute it to at the Kick-off. It will contain a timetable with short description of every deliverable and name of responsible partner. It will also contain financial and administrative rules, budget monitoring with templates and rules of communication. It will be dash-boarded on the internal website and constantly updated.Management and monitoring activity assures effective and smooth cooperation among partners, prevention and solution of possible problems incurred, monitoring of activities and impact, attainment of the planned goals of the project.Implementation of methodology and IOs will develop all the IOs of the project. Methodology partners are going to use is: online desk research, interviews and telephone discussions, Skype sessions, working groups, individual research, digital and standard peer-testing of digital materials, proof-reading for finalization.O1 Reader will be developed until meeting 2. O2 Toolkit will be developed until meeting 3. O3 (EU-OBP platform) will be developed in Version 1 for testing phase and final administration before meeting 4 and finalized for multiplier events for exploitation. O4 (Guidelines) will be presented final conference in Slovenia.Dissemination and exploitation will be carried out from the start of the project up to 3 years after the end, based on IOs results and delivered through national multipliers, workshops and final conferenceIn summary, EU-OBP project will develop:-1 Reader for theoretical background on advantages of open badges -1 Toolkit for practical presentation of good practices -1 Web Platform offering open source access to 500 validated and already used open badges for adult education for recognition of soft skills and 8 key competences in common digital cloud space-1 Guidelines listing the procedures and activities needed for open badges implementation on 3 levels: organizational, teacher/mentor and participant level-140 new open badges, uploaded onto EU-OBP platform -10 videos to show how to create open badges and share them on social mediaThe project satisfies the needs of adult education organizations and educators to dispose of a easy to use, digital, motivating tool for identifying and documenting results of not formal, informal and formal learning. The project satisfies also the needs of adult learners to reflect on their skills acquired in not formal and informal learning, to have their skills documented and to share easily with peers and educators their accomplishments.