Program Profile

Although natural hazards are increasing all over the world, manmade disasters remain a significant threat that should not be omitted. A variety of risks are associated with manmade disasters, with a diverse range of severity and consequences, which require proper policies and trained responders. Beyond that, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed how vulnerable societies are to risks and dangers. In times of crisis, it is important to ensure the resilience of Civil Protection as well as Safety and Security Personnel since it could make a difference in an evolving emerging world. To this end, although the project will be available to all EU citizens, it will be focused on the implementation phase on the Western Balkan, an area that deals with great challenges. The aim is to give the opportunity to less privileged citizens, safety and security personnel, or Civil Protection Personnel to improve their skills by providing the available tools stemming from the action for capacity building and awareness-raising of the risks and impacts of manmade disasters.

 More specifically, it is commonly accepted that regional stabilization and integration into the European Union include the vital conditions of Western Balkans. Vocational education and training (VET) and life-long learning programmes are crucial to enhancing the region’s workforce skills but the availability and uptake of such programmes in the Western Balkans are still low. In this context, GROWTH aims to provide crucial learning opportunities to help involved parties to develop new skills or adapt existing ones related to manmade disasters. 

Furthermore, Eurostat data over the past years, revealed that cooperation with the private sector seems inadequate. Hence one of the disciplines of the GROWTH project is to provide a training programme that will take into account the necessary skills that the private sector demands in this field, promoting the Union’s values and bilateral cooperation, giving a greater role to civil society and safety. Following this aim, the project focuses on building and strengthening the capacities of third countries not associated with the Programme; involving four partners from three of them, against one associated third country and two member states. In this context, the actions of the project are well-studied in order to promote cooperation, knowledge and experience exchange by creating a training network based on an innovative training curriculum.

To this end, the project has been conceived and designed in such a way that it addresses the VET ecosystem in a way that takes into account two complimentary levels of trainees, always in conjunction with market needs: Civil Protection and private sector Safety and Security Personnel which regardless of their background need to manage situations that require knowledge on a practical and executive level. Thus, the educational resources that will be developed may be applied both by post-secondary education VET providers and by lifelong learning or similar institutes affiliated with HEIs. This dual approach enables the creation of links and collaboration between post-secondary and higher education VET providers as cooperation will be needed for the upwards convergence of VET education in such an important technical field. The innovative character of the designed educational material and training modules will come to fill a gap in the map of available educational opportunities in many European countries, especially in the Western Balkan, offering opportunities on both levels requested by the market. This brings forward the other priority addressed by GROWTH that of adapting to labour market needs. The need for more elaborate safety management design and planning is constantly increasing and in parallel awareness of societies is increased while demand for application of relevant legislation is becoming more and more an important issue not just for authorities, but also for citizens. This change in the way that people are thinking regarding safety, creates an increasing demand for safety professionals training, which may only be offered by versatile VET modules, according to the development of technology, legislation and labour market needs. The importance of the VET modules lies also in the fact that they mostly address people which are already part of the vocational life and need upskilling according to labour market trends. Hence, both objectives of raising awareness in potential trainees and raising up of the VET ecosystem to the increased awareness of the society are met by this project. The other important objective lies in the use of digital media (such as the online platform) and distance learning techniques what will allow for a pan-European impact of the project outcomes.

In this context, the GROWTH project is focused on identifying potential risks of manmade disasters and the challenges related to them; it is envisaged that these risks will be dealt with or overcome by developing an integrated educational framework for mitigation of manmade disasters, primarily focused on the Civil Protection Personnel and the private sector Safety and Security Personnel. The core activities of all project partners are related to targeted national and local scientific and practical training activities. As a result, the envisaged project framework will inherently meet its stated purposes, building high quality experience. The two main target groups, whose needs will be addressed by the project, are: (a) Civil Protection Personnel associated with manmade disasters: Their specific needs will be addressed by the project’s results, by providing them with a fundamental knowledge of the existing general framework, both at the European and at the National level, as well as by introducing them to several important fundamental concepts of the scientific and practical approaches. (b) Private sector Safety and Security Personnel, i.e. low- or mid-level staff: Their needs are planned to be addressed by the project’s results, through the developed training program, aimed at providing them with a fundamental knowledge of the existing framework and practices at the National and local level, as well as potential measures to ensure compliance with the respective needs.

 
In addition, the private sector Safety and Security Personnel and Civil Protection Personnel will be able to have free access to educational material for best practices even when the project ends. As a result, involved or associated partners will be able to undertake or design individual action plans with the knowledge that the program will provide while the private sector will be encouraged to participate and benefit from the provided approaches and training. To this end, GROWTH will encourage and support not only open educational resources but also mobility, even virtual, that will bring together the experienced partners of the project, which already carry out relevant initiatives, with those that need to enrich their capabilities. More specifically, it is a major priority for first responders to be properly trained and experienced in how to react in emergency situations. GROWTH will form a training package on manmade emergency concepts (Hazardous releases/Explosion/Fire/Fuel/pipelines/utility failures etc) formed based on historical data from previous manmade incidents and focusing mostly on the most frequent scenarios. The package will include training on how to act, communicate, use the equipment, and first aid. Moreover, through selective analysis of the previous incidents, extreme incident concepts will be formed to train the first responders through VR (Virtual Reality) Rooms coming from IGE in order to train not only the firefighters as well as the local communities. Thus, through GROWTH, they will get an all-inclusive training package making them capable of facing even the most challenging situations.

Strategic Objectives (SO)

SO.1: Connecting education and vocational training with manmade disasters
SO.2: Support cooperation, capacity building and awareness in public communities of the participating member states on emergency response measures and actions (Workshops / Private Sector-HEI events)
SO.3: Promote scientific and practical approaches to private sector Safety and Security Personnel, Civil Protection Personnel for extreme emergency situations

Operational Objectives (OO)
OO.1: Design and implementation an effective and efficient vocational education and training system
OO.2: Design an innovative approach that each participant will follow its own path