The achievement of the targets set in European policies for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity requires increased efforts for proper integration and consideration into sectoral policies, for only thus be understood and strengthened the positive links between conservation of natural heritage and economic and social development. This demand is particularly required in the tourism sector, one of the most important in terms of its economic impact at European level.Biodiversity is increasingly being one of the motivating factors for travel, as the variety of natural landscapes and well-preserved ecosystem acts as a basic appeal of tourist destinations. These destinations have been reinforced with the creation of the Natura 2000 network (SCI and SPAs).OBJECTIVE: To recognize and validate two new Competition Units at European level that respond to the demand for product creation and promotion of ornithological tourism in relation to biodiversity:1. Interpret the natural heritage associated to avifauna to visitors of the Natura 2000 network.2. Provide escort services to tourists and visitors and design ornithological itineraries.TARGET GROUPS: It is estimated a total of 16.000 direct and indirect beneficiaries involved in the implementation of project activities and its dissemination and transfer:• Ornithologists and ornithology enthusiasts.• Experts in nature tourism.• SPAs and environmental managers (Natural Parks, Biosphere Reserves, SCI and SPA's, nature reserves ...)• Guides and interpreters of nature.• SPAs of Biosphere Reserves and the Natura 2000 network.• Entrepreneurs of rural tourism.• Agents of local development.• Leisure, active and nature tourism companies.• Centers and Entities on education and training (formal and informal).• Qualified college staff (biologists, environmentalists ...).• Rural women with no qualifications looking for their first job.• Young people entering unemployment.• Adults at restructuring and long-term unemployed.• Part-time rural workers.ACTIONS:1) Intellectual Outputs • Training modules • European Guide to Good Ornithological Practice • Manual and tutorial. • Pilot course for the testing of skills. • Computerized database • OER multimedia materials.2) Multiplier events: • 5 Dissemination Seminars. 3) Joint training event for staff: 15 participants4) Others: • Transnational Meetings. • Partnerships with stakeholders. • Job Agency. • Online Content. • Social networks. • Results Dissemination Plan.METHODOLOGY:A) Designing a basic non-formal training plan to stimulate entrepreneurship, competitiveness and employment through the development and acquisition of skills and competencies related to the real needs of the Natura 2000 network.B) Integration of an innovative approach to teaching and learning in the field of ornithological tourism, through an integrated use of ICT and the OER.C) Favouring equal opportunities and employability in the area of influence of SPAs.D) Start of the RVA curriculum process in the System of Qualifications and Vocational Training in each country, integrated into CEDEFOP, meeting the requirements of MEC and the principles of quality assurance EQAVET.E) Establishment of a Dissemination Plan to provide information on the project results to key stakeholders.RESULTS:• Result 1: Training modules: 15• Result 2: European Guide to Good Ornithological Practice : 600 beneficiaries.• Result 3: Pilot course. Impact: 120 students.• Result 4: OER methodological guide. Impact: 500 beneficiaries. • Result 5: Project web page. Impact: 3600 users and downloads.• Result 6: Database. Impact: 50 enterprises.• Result 7: Dissemination seminars. Impact: 10 seminars (250 participants)• Result 8: Transnational meetings. Impact: 4 meetings with 10 participants in each one.• Result 9: 2 Multiplier Events.• Result 10: Staff training course for 15 beneficiaries.• Result 11: 25 stakeholders.LONG-TERM BENEFITS:The beneficiary organizations of the project and the main beneficiaries will benefit from the direct contribution of this project to the objectives of the laws and national and European regulations on tourism and natural heritage:• The inclusion of key competencies on ornithological tourism, tested and validated in terms of qualification (MEC) and job creation.• Increased awareness of European policies on biodiversity and sustainable tourism, facilitating the exchange of experiences between different sectors at local, national and international level, and contributing to labor mobility of educational authorities as workers in the nature tourism sector.

"Jobs increasingly involve analyzing and communicating information. Challenges in VET include strengthening efforts to promote creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, and ensuring professional development opportunities for VET teachers and trainers. ICT skills become more critical in terms of getting and keeping a job. “Qualifications should include foreign languages, and international cooperation between institutions should encourage new approaches to teaching and learning."" (Bruges Communiqué).Social economy is an important pillar of the European economy. More than 4.5% of the active EU population is employed there. The SET2CLIL project results have the potential to contribute to the development of entrepreneurial, language and digital skills in VET, to the enhancement of digital integration in VET and to the promotion of easily accessible continuing VET. 3 intellectual outputs (curriculum, eRepository and trainer’s guide) have been created by partner institutions from 5 EU countries: Infocenter (an accredited VET Center from Bulgaria), Professional Foundation (a non-profit foundation from Romania providing certified continuing education), Vocational and Technical Secondary School for girls in TK, Mary Immaculate Collage from Ireland providing undergraduate degree programmes, postgraduate programmes to doctoral level in Education and in the Liberal Arts, and a Spanish private company dedicated to rural development. The partnership achieved the results by involving in the project activities over 750 would-be and acting social entrepreneurs, VET learners, trainers, teacher training institutes, NGOs and decision-makers, authorities and policy-makers, content and language teachers, bilingual teachers, ICT teachers, teachers in economics, etc. Such activities included: researches and surveys, selection of real-life stories and creation of case studies, resource development and evaluation, dissemination and valorization, multiplier events, etc. The SET2CLIL project has actually merged the expertise of language teachers, social entrepreneurs and ICT trainers to create an innovative and open-access VET solution. It has opened the conversation of social enterprise and developed awareness by providing an accessible curriculum with the additional elements of language and digital skills. The project partners have created a curriculum focused on developing skills in Social Entrepreneurship (SE), English Language and Digital skills by applying the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) method. The curriculum provides the opportunity for both trainers and learners to develop key competency skills that are transversal and can be applied in a variety of different contexts with learners from different backgrounds in the SE sector. The curriculum will allow the learners to develop key skills in SE by studying content through different perspectives using every day English oral language, reading and writing skills and more subject-specific target language terminology through a variety of different digital means and resources. Learners are supported in undertaking the curriculum by eRepository of more than 150 training activities, videos and other resources. Trainers are further supported in delivering the Curriculum by a Trainer’s Guide advising them on how to successfully incorporate the resources in their teaching.The project capacity to use and build on the project results after the end of the funding period is considerable. The outputs have been widely disseminated among the relevant targets and policy-makers and have been created in a way to allow for easy transferability and adaptability to different contexts and targets.Impact evaluation shows that although the outputs have initially been thought for VET they are an invaluable resource for the secondary school classroom too.All project materials are free and accessible at: http://set2clil.tryavna.eu"

The basic objectives of the project are to develop “Continuous Vocational Training Program” on macrofungi, to support “edible mushroom utilization” in food sector and to allow European geography to “more benefit” from this richness of the nature.In European Union countries including Turkey, employment rates are relatively low for 15-65 year age-group. The basic reason for such low rates is lack of professional training. Professional and technical training in broad sense is assessed under life-long learning. In Life Long Learning Strategy Document prepared by Turkish High Planning Institute, the priority issues were identified for professional training and an action plan was prepared for these priorities. Some of these priorities are as follows:• Bringing the physical infrastructure and number and qualification of training personnel into sufficient levels complying with current needs, • Continuous update of training programs along with ever-changing needs, • Improving professional guidance services within the scope of life-long learning,• Activating professional competence system and creation of quality assurance system,• Easing horizontal and vertical transfers among training programs, transfers from school to job or from job to school. With the proposed project, forest management/agriculture and food technology professional training will be considered as a whole. The stakeholders of the issue, consumers, mushroom processors, food agricultural technicians, SMEs and marketing profession will be assessed together. Each year, several serious poisoning cases are experienced in Turkey because of unconscious macrofungi consumptions and some cases are ended up with deaths (Işıloğlu et al., 2009). While the number of people poisoned from mushrooms was 1706 in 2013, the number increased to 5218 people in 2014 (based on the data of The Ministry of Health). Such poisoning and death cases strictly restrict mushroom consumption and cause the people stay away from mushrooms.Insufficient knowledge on macrofungi, lack of vocational training on this issue, lack of inspection in food sector where mushrooms are utilized, loss of confidence because of marketing and limited knowledge and training of local people collecting and marketing mushrooms are all can be counted among the reasons for low mushroom consumption levels of the country.The macrofungi catalog to be developed within the scope of the proposed project, the macrofungi grown in 5 European Union countries and Turkey will be identified. - The “Macrofungi Gatherers’ Training Module” to be developed according to classification catalog and analyses works to improve agricultural/forest management professional training will be served to use of relevant C-VET providers. With the implementation of nature mushroom classification and danger classes training module to be developed for market or market inspectors, the local forest management will be put under control and rural people’s sustainable utilization of forest areas will be improved. A new certified profession will be created under the title of macrofungi gathering expert. - With the training module to be developed for food technology, technicians of SME’s and labaratories will be selected as training group. With this module, they will learn about how to use macrofungi in food sector and processing requirements in a sustainable way without destroying their natural habitats, how to preserve and use macrofungi and how to identify poisonous and non-poisonous ones. The module will diversity production activities in food related sector and will provide high quality learning opportunities. The project will be coordinated by International Agricultural Training Center. The MYRCAS project implemented by partner IRMA Sl from Spain will be taken as the source project for the proposed project. The macrofungi catalog and vocational training modules developed in that project will be transferred to gastronomy and food processing dimension. With regard to training dimension, participation of UTEM and OGM will be taken as the basis. With regard to EU dimension of the module, the rural tourism facilities of Italian partner CIA-TOSCANA will participate in food technology training module. With regard to macrofungi utilization in food sector, METU will participate in activities. Project quality assessment, dissemination and efficient management will be implemented with the coordination of project steering committee.

CONTEXT: 1. Population studies indicate that within the rural areas there are groups socially excluded such as women who emigrate because of lack of professional perspectives and the existence of a large number of people over 40 years old with few or none possibilities of employment. 2. The European Strategy of Employment (ESE) proposes an elaboration of new educational models and tools that allow adult training; this will favor the training and labor insertion of people “less qualified” and “less advantaged groups” of the rural areas. 3. Agriculture and rural areas in general are going through an educational, cultural, social and economical delay leading this sector to be in clear disadvantage when compared to urban areas. In the center you find many necessities that have blocked a population very much in need of help. 4. According to the Eropean Rural Development Fund (ERDF) it is necessary to look for alternative formulas supported by emergent products (organic agriculture - OA) to improve the social and economic conditions as well as the fixation of population in areas of strong depopulation. 5. The necessity to increase the rate of participation in adult training is still one of main European goals especially in the southern countries of Europe and in the new members of the EU.SIGNIFICANT DATA: 1. Rate of unemployment in rural areas: marginalized groups 42%, rural women 28%, physically disabled 23%, young people without vocational qualifications 27%, people over 40 76%. 2. Non existence of specialized curriculum in non vocational training of adults in organic agriculture. 3. Lack of adult training tools capable of responding to the necessities detected. Indicators: 1. 87% of EU citizens consider that guarantying safe foods is an essential role of the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy). 2. 89% believe that it is essential to protect the environment. 3. Organic agriculture in the EU has increased at an average rate of 500.000 hectares per year. Currently in the entire EU there are more than 186.000 organic agriculture farm businesses. 4. In 2011 more than 225.000 organic farmers were registered in the EU. 5. Women represent 24% of the agriculture entrepreneurs of European organic agriculture holdings. In some countries this percentage is higher: Letonia 41 %, Croatia 32 %, Italy 30 %.Political Priorities: 1. At a European level: a. the new institutional framework of the Lisbon Treating redefines the budgetary framework with the new strategy “Europe 2020” of the EU economic growth supported by the potentiating of organic production. b. The CAP in force since 2014 till 2020 supports the organic agricultural sector. c. The training of adults is a vital component of the permanent education policy of the European Commission.2. The proposal reinforces, through training, the postulates of the Maastrich Summit (1991) and the EAFRD legislation regarding agriculture and environment that sustain the national and the EU agriculture politics.3. Experts in rural development and other activities related with the “Europe of Knowledge” have detected through the DAFO reports developed by the Rural Development Programs, Encouragement Plans, local Agenda 21…, that there does not exist itinerary of non vocational training with European dimension in the organic agriculture sector. GOALS: 1. Develop a Competency Unit (CU) in OA for the non vocational teaching of adults. 2. Potentiate the development of permanent learning: teaching, contents, alternant practices and handling ICT (information and Communication Technologies). 3. Involve the most vulnerable social sectors in a process of non vocational training of adults. 4. Incorporate in the adult training activities that can manage new ways of living: active aging, recreation and free time management and therapy activity.Number and Profile of the participants: 1. Adults (over 40) in rural areas, unemployed, in risk of exclusion and disabled. 2. European organizations that work with retired people in rural areas. 3. Instructors and professionals specialized in adult training. 4. Professionals and social agents dedicated to work with adults in rural areas. 5. Universities that investigate the subject of active aging. 6. Authorities in charge of making the decisions in this area.ACTIVITIES 1. Coordination and evaluation of the Project. 2. Development of the work tools. 3. Training, teaching and learning activities with 15 people per partner, belonging to the destined group. 4. Dissemination of the results.METHODS:a) Innovative working techniques: 1. Exchange of experiences within the transnational association. 2. Implication of the partners in the collective activities. 3. Comparison of the results for further corrections. 4. Adaptation of the tools to the concrete necessities of each country. 5. Allow the participation of local social agents, teachers, specialists and destined group. 6. Use of multimedia tools. 7. The destined groups will participate in the Project

"Main objective of the project Rural SKILLS is the development and consolidation of specific competences (knowledge, skills and attitude) in rural development operators, aiming at creating new pathways for employment with non-formal and informal learning activities in the field of rural development and LEADER methodologies and in leading LAG’s strategies. The overall objective of the project is also to promote transnational cooperation between LAGs (Local Action Groups), to enhance the dissemination of their methodology, its different instruments and applications and good European practices. Local Action Group is a broad-based local private-public partnership whose aim is to improve the long-term potential of the local area and who has the ability to define and implement a development strategy for the area. LAG MontagnAppennino leaded the project other six LAGs were involved in the partnership, two from Portugal LAG CoraNE and LAG ADRAT, one from Croatia LAG Valleys and Hills of Medjimurje, one from Hungary LAG Kiskunok Vidékéért Egyesület, one from Latvia LAG ""Zied zeme"" and one from Belgium LAG Vlaamse Ardennen, in addiction to the The Institute of Restoration and Environment (IRMA S.L.) from Spain which will be responsible for the communication and dissemination tasks. The project was addressed and involved LEADER managers and operators, LAG managers and administrators, rural development operators and workers, rural development experts, local authorities staff and office workers, regional authorities staff, Managing Authorities staff, students, young workers and managers in the field of agriculture, crafts, commerce and tourism, citizens of rural areas, trade associations. The activities of Rural SKILLS included the sharing of objectives and strategies of the various local development strategies of the LAGs involved and analysis of local, regional and national legislation for the 2014-2020 EU program among the Consortium. The partners involved visited the area and the organizations involved with a delegation of its staff and other rural development operators selected (youth, public administration, local associations). Rural SKILLS organized 5 joined training activities for the LEADER managers and operators, LAG managers and administrators and LAG’s Managing Authorities staff about regional and national legislation for the 2014-2020 LEADER program, local development strategies, animation methodologies and innovative communication tools for rural development. The project achieved a good impact on the local communities and territories, specially on the target groups this project refers to, which are LEADER managers and operators, LAG managers and administrators, rural development operators and farmers, rural development experts, local authorities staff and office workers, regional authorities staff, LAG’s Managing Authorities staff, students of schools and universities, young workers and managers in the field of agriculture, crafts, commerce and tourism, citizens of rural areas, trade associations. Participation in public project presentation meetings and the involvement of local actors have lived up to expectations so far. This has been reached both through the study and analysis phases, the phase of sharing practices and methodologies analyzed and during the Short-term joint staff training events by transferring them to realities involved in the rural development and LEADER policies. Rural SKILLS provided local projects with a new dimension, since they provide stakeholders with alternative and novel opportunities to look for and solve issues in innovative ways. Exchange of good practices have been capable of producing different types of added-value: are linked to the territory and the respective local development strategies of the partners. These projects help to meet the needs and challenges addressed in the strategies of the LEADER areas. New visions and new dimensions will support and promote new ways of working. The project has been innovative at LEADER European Network level because is one of the first Erasmus+ which involve all LAGs, because the objectives mainly relate to innovation and openness to the outside world of the target groups, openness and mutual cultural enrichment allow LAGs to discover the importance of their diversity, while creating references and a common language which, in turn, promote the establishment of new forms of education and new training paths especially because the next program period 2020-2027 is behind the corner."