EXTOR

• VET Learners: rural entrepreneurs, including owners of farms, wineries, smaller stores, beekeepers, accommodation facilities.
• VET Providers: Public and private VET providers/trainers in the entrepreneurial and touristic sectors.
• Local/regional/national authorities: representatives of public administration, decisionmakers or policymakers.
• Rural communities: people living in rural/remote areas, including local businesses and CSOs.

• Promoting workforce upgrading in rural areas through customized training on sustainable tourism and increased capacity of rural communities to actively contribute to local development;
• Upgrade the provision of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in rural tourism by designing a common skills framework and a kit on how to use it, while also providing VET students with the opportunity to apply their newly acquired knowledge for better visibility of their products/services;
• Facilitating access to VET provision by designing new channels of access to state-of-the-art blended learning that responds to diverse preferences, overcomes space constraints, and allows learners to complete it at their own pace.

Project activities have as a common goal the promotion of a sustainable approach to rural development through the opportunity of the experiential tourism sector. In this regard, it is planned to:

• collect and map success stories at the European level to gain greater awareness of current trends in rural and experiential tourism, which will contribute to the renewal of VET provision;
• structure and test a customized online training program and kit for VET providers to support the qualification of students and entrepreneurs already involved in this sector;
• create and/or expand communication channels for project beneficiaries by organizing an in-person forum and using an ad hoc platform, where there will be a digital marketing space for promoting the products and services of activity participants.

The EXTOR project will have an impact and can create synergies in the areas of education and training, youth, sports and experiential tourism. For the development of the common framework, the following will be involved:

• 60 rural entrepreneurs, 60 rural tourism professionals and 36 VET providers.

For the pilot phase of the program, the following will be involved:

• 120 VET students and 30 VET providers.

For the implementation of the multi-actor forums, the following will be involved:

• 28 VET learners will be present and interviewed after the multi-actor forums;
• 14 VET providers will be present and interviewed after the multi-actor forums;
• 7 local authority representatives and 21 rural community members will be present at the forum.

For the Local Fairs and the International Festival, it is expected that:

• at least 200 participants;
• 140 people will be registered for the online forum;
• at least 14 agreements will be signed with VET providers.

• Collection of success stories and first-hand testimonies, an interactive map and a common framework for VET renewal in rural tourism will be designed, providing effective recommendations to enhance the adaptability of current and future training offer, and strengthen the workforce employability.
• Development of a training programme for VET learners and a kit for VET providers will offer cutting-edge contents, including sections on experiential tourism, sustainable daily practices and digital solutions to boost rural communities’ ability to exploit new employment and funding opportunities.
• Creation of the EXTOR community, the multi-actor forums and the local Charters of Intents will enable rural communities to raise their voice through new networks and commonly agreed paths for future developments, and to improve the online visibility of their business, through DigInRur.
• Development of the EXTOR e-platform will include several interactive functionalities for e-learning and communication with a broad range of different actors. The Local Fairs and Final International Festival will be another chance for starting new networks.

• LAND Impresa Sociale (coordinator, Italy)
• INFODEF (Spain)
• DieBerater (Austria)
• Einurd (Iceland)
• CSI – Center for Social Innovation (Cyprus)
• OTC – Olypic Training & Consulting (Greece)
• CANDIDE (Belgium)