Give new life to environmental and cultural heritage: revitalization of parks, undeveloped urban and rural areas Erasmus Project

Project Title

Give new life to environmental and cultural heritage: revitalization of parks, undeveloped urban and rural areas

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; Rural development and urbanisation

Project Summary

The partnership project, Give New Life to Environmental and Cultural Heritage: revitalisation of parks, undeveloped urban and rural areas, was implemented by six partner organisations from Poland, Italy, Portugal, Estonia and France.

There were three VET schools and three NGOs related to education and training in the field of space planning, management and maintenance. We worked against the pandemic, adapting to new conditions and surprising situations. The project was coordinated by the Association for Agriculture and Forestry Education EUROPEA Poland, and the partnership consisted of highly internationalised organisations with an established track record, who supported those just starting out with their experience.

Our activities met the training needs of the professional staff of the schools and their pupils. After three years of the project, our goal of increasing competence in the field of spatial development, or revitalisation, has been achieved. We’ve seen a delightful and constant growth of similar activities, seeming to acknowledge that the world has noticed a need to live in harmony with the space in which one lives and functions.

Now, with 85% of the population living in cities and metropolitan areas, many residents are increasingly desperate to find places that encourage relaxation, meditation and share responsibility for the planet simultaneously.

The regeneration sector of parks, and undeveloped urban and rural areas, is an important driver of economic and social development. Our consortium has gathered the best practices and made strong efforts to develop innovative training tools to support VET professionals to be better and more effective in what they do in both formal, and especially informal, education with their students or employees.

Note that the informal education element is being increasingly used in a growing employment sector, such as regeneration, which we promote as “giving new life to natural and cultural heritage.” The aim of the project was to collect and transmit information about places in need of regeneration, to share best practices in the project partners’ countries and across Europe, to develop innovative tools for VET professionals and pupils/students, and to stimulate the professional development of VET teachers, trainers and mentors.

In this way, the project contributed to the development of VET in the partner countries and Europe, and it supported the social and educational value of European cultural heritage. Schools from regions with green areas in need of development or revitalisation, e.g. after natural disasters, abandoned areas, were invited to join the project. Around 300 people were directly involved in the project, and the dissemination activities covered a group several times larger.

Special attention was paid to the inclusion of people with fewer opportunities. Partners held four international meetings and two short-term staff training sessions. There were a total of seven online meetings. Each partner organised dissemination and promotional events and carried out local activities.
The main products of the project were an E-book and a set of virtual lessons/tutorials.

These tools can be used by staff, trainers, students, associated partners and other stakeholders. The materials use both formal and informal education methods. This will disseminate informal competences in VET teaching and among people interested in or responsible for the space, who will develop competences for understanding regeneration as a landscape of memory, myth, freedom, expression and cultural embeddedness, embedded in sustainable development.

Participants of the events learned about native and other experiences of natural and cultural heritage. As a VET partnership we developed competencies in teaching techniques, living lab approaches and project work methods. The three-year cooperation sparked creativity, new contacts were made, we worked in an international environment, and we improved our communication and cooperation skills.

The pandemic certainly tested project management skills and improved crisis management competences. The visible effect, at both a local and national level, is to inspire more people of all ages to protect cultural and natural heritage. The project activities involved staff, pupils and local authorities, not only those professionally linked to vocational training. The project motivated people to take action based on the project’s results.

The desired effect at a national, regional and European level is to increase both formal and informal learning, and to support vocational education and training. A potential long-term benefit is that we have created long-term transnational networks of organisations involved in VET. These networks will contribute enormously to the inclusion of cultural and natural heritage in spatial planning.

Project Website

http://www.facebook.com/Give-new-life-2107295546199231

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 154230 Eur

Project Coordinator

Stowarzyszenie Edukacji Rolniczej i Lesnej EUROPEA Polska & Country: PL

Project Partners

• MITRA FRANCE
• I.S.I.S.S. “G.B. CERLETTI”
• EESTI PEOPLE TO PEOPLE
• Escola Profissional de Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural de Marco de Canaveses
• Zespol Szkol Licealnych i Agrotechnicznych im. Leona Janty-Polczynskiego