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Partnership for Rural Improvement & Development in Europe
Start date: Jan 1, 2016, End date: Dec 31, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The 'Partnership for Rural Improvement and Development in Europe' - PRIDE is led by Grampus Heritage (GHT) from the UK’s Lake District, leading a 15-strong consortium of Adult Education (AE) organisations, from Government agencies to heritage blacksmiths to ancient castles, training at risk adults. Over 280 AE staff are mobilized to 15 EU+ states and most have completed a structured training course for adult educators named 'DELIVERING GREEN VILLAGE' and have received their own ECVET award backed by London based CPD Certification Service. The project 'Green Village' (GV), supported centrally by EACEA, developed ECVET aligned training courses for adults in 4 core areas - Rural Food, Rural Energy, Wood Products, Sustainable Building and 2 Transversal Areas. 'Our Sustainable Ancestors', focuses on culture, tradition and empowering communities, having elements of community art and local sustainable fashion. It currently lacks trainers to deliver it, but PRIDE addresses that. Concentrated versions of the GV units and teaching notes are built into DELIVERING GV and prepare participants to offer ‘GV / Sustainable Rural Development’ to their own staff and clients in the UK. PRIDE follows on from 18 years of international mobility and projects led by GHT, with over 50 international partners and over 100 UK network partners. The other forming factor for the consortium has been a UK HLF supported ‘Landscape Partnership’ which brought GHT into partnership with NGO’s and UK Government Agencies (now in PRIDE). We are interested in 'ECVET for Adult Trainers and Learners' and how AE organisations can use ECVET. The common linkage between the consortium members and the foundation of PRIDE, is local achievement of sustainability in the countryside, which focuses on culture and nature. The placements for AE staff are in two strands - Cultural (art to archaeology) and Environmental (nature conservation to sustainable technologies). The sustainability we seek is not just about environment but must be cultural, social and critically, it must be economic. Europe is in crisis, job losses, business failures, unemployed college diplomates, university graduates and adults; all resulting from and contributing to, economic downturn. It’s ironic that we have the raw materials and the skills to create jobs and stimulate the rural economy without compromising environmental, cultural and social sustainability in the pursuit of financial income. The problem that PRIDE addresses is that the necessary linkages, in order that skills can be passed on and contemporised are missing. Those linkages have been achieved within individual networks and organisations (8 partners were in GV) in many EU+ states but they are not being multiplied. Because of this, the products which incorporate the best of the past, but are suitable for modern life. Whether we talk of utility items, clothing, timber houses or art work, they are not enjoying the market success they deserve. In PRIDE we are concerned with AE and how certificated training for adults can more widely delivered and pick-up success stories, focus on innovative and sustainable products and processes and feed them into downstream ECVET accredited AE training. The consortium is generally not involving Universities and colleges - except a very important few (Oulu in Finland and Pamukkale in Turkey) who are successful in linking to enterprises, SME's and NGO's and can help measure ECVET points for PRIDE and further KA2 ambitions. PRIDE is about AE outside the lecture theatre, about learning by doing and linking to the world of work. AE staff traveling from the UK will see success stories and also transfer some from their own organisations and personal experience; examples in PRIDE are, in Cyprus they have some success at incorporating traditional textiles into fashion, in Germany, they build community bread ovens, in Slovakia they revitalise traditional building skills to create low carbon buildings, in Romania they develop cultural and eco-tourism, in Bulgaria sustainable rural food provides jobs and 'sense of place' for visitors, in Finland farm and forest products are entering multiple markets, including health foods, eco-housing and chemical extractives, in Iceland they lead the world in geothermal and hydro power as well as offer Norse culture and art to visitors. Some of the 16 host EU+ partners are entirely art and culture, others are work with nature, some do both, all are about sustainability. In addition to structured training courses, some of those mobilized will teach UK specialisms in archaeology and the use of landscape for adult training (Iceland and Slovenia), others will teach in teacher training units of Oulu and Pamukkale universities (Finland) to embed ‘sustainable rural development, adult education in a new breed of trainers. There will also be a work shadowing process for 3 participants who will learn long term from Romanian and Cypriot AE-focused organisations. In addition to 'DELIVERING GREEN VILLAGE' certification, placements can be recognised by 3 national UK awarding bodies + elements of Europass.
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