The e-Dairy Farm project implements various tools for the development of the training packages and to accompany the Farmers, the Local Development Actors, the Institutional Decision Makers, the Students, the Trainers and the Profesionnal Bodies. (Don't forget that the e-Dairy Farm project is implementing the MAC approach: the Multi-Actor Cooperation of all stackeholders of a specific matter/problem to solve.)
- The outputs of the e-Dairy Farm project over its first 2 years are:
- Benchmarking of Practices mixing geographical and sector approaches + Best practices exchanges (including products denomination process)
- Methodology & Process to support Qualitative approach in VET solution for regional development in difficult/restructuring rural areas based on a sectored approach ("filière").
- 12 Pilot courses in national language: 3 per VET Centre, 1 for the Farmers, 1 for the Trainers and 1 for the Regional Developers.
- Implementation of an e-Learning content adapted to: the Dairy Farmers, the Trainers/Teachers; the Regional Development Actors (for remote, face to face and blended use).
- An on-going evaluation process of the project both internally and for impact and policy (training and development) measurement.
- Several Web-sites: for the project; for local and Transnational Community building (Trainers, Farmers, Reg. Developers) and Valorisation of the results.
- A Qualification/Certification approach at local and EU levels:
- To transfer qualification recognition from initial VET to LLL and Continuous VET
- To increase apprenticeship role by innovative combination of young trainees from initial VET to be placed at a retrained dairy farmer's to increase success rate of the transition from milk only producer to dairy AOC-like farmer.
- On top of formal training approach, non-formal training will also take place through the local communities of farmers and field level regional developers, as well as informal training through the development of appellation, AOC-like and tradition-based process for validating farm cheese/dairy products (these processes are strongly participating to a personal development of users which brings strong added value input into the qualification of people. These processes can individually and collectively be valorised through the exchange of Best Practices across regions, regional activities and countries).
- At a global level:
- To develop a training package for the Farmers, to diversify from milk production to:
- Milk and Cheese production at the Farm (eventually cheese maturing as well at the farm of together with local dairy factories)
- Develop agro-business activities (sell on the farm or via networks
- Develop agro-tourism activities eventually.
- To develop a training package for the accompanying actors (local development and intermediary actors) for awareness raising and to implement the training for the Farmers.
- To facilitate the Farmer's diversification by:
- Faciliatating and providing support for the activities on the farm and the development of the new activities via apprenticeship or final year students placement at the farm or at the local development actors. These students will provide complementary and fully adapted work force for the farm activities, the cheese making activities and the agro-business development related activities.
- Developing an approach for the training recognition: formal and informal knowledge acquisition including new capabilities (cheese technology, regulation, agro-business, ...) of the farmer. This approach also aims at including a feasibility "validation/stamp" of the Farmer's project in order to facilitate access to financial support for the implementation of the diversification and the related investments.
- Developing as well a similar recognition/validation approach of the competences and work achieve by the accompanying rural development actors on the e-Dairy Farm process.
- To develop a training package for the Farmers, to diversify from milk production to:
- The development tools can be regrouped in 4 categories:
- The traditional communication tools
- Leaflet + brochures
- House-style (graphical charter + logo + templates)
- Magazine + press articles + Partners’ printed newsletters
- Fairs + events/conferences
- The online e-tools
- Website + Intranet + Partners’ websites
- E-learning modules + specific content to de developed for "action-training" approaches.
- Groupware and on-line collaborative tools (Intranet part + Yahoo group): to work and share on-line documents, presentations in synchronous and asynchronous modes.
- Web conference and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) conferences (euproject.webex.com)
- e-news info and on-line library on topics related to e-Dairy Farm actors' interests.
- e-map of the e-Dairy Farm project (based on Freemind)
- The Software solutions
- RuralEnterprizer© (farm and business plan strategy, simulation and optimisation, including rural development policy support)
- Implement of on-line slideshow for training and presentation purposes.
- Relay and special Human resources
- National Student placements via the Apprenticeship systems.
- European Leonardo da Vinci Student placements (including Cultural and Linguistic preparation + the possibility to combine local and European periods to increase synergies between partner countries).
- The traditional communication tools
- N.B.: The training results and knowledge/capability recognition ("Validation des Acquis") approaches of the project are not included here!