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PROFARM eBook V.3

The Model for work-based learning of students with special needs in Social Farming

With the third and last volume of the PROFARM eBook we resent the evaluation results of the model or work-based learning of students with special needs in Social Farming. The volume has been realized in collaboration with Dr. Maco Ruffino, external evaluator, and it includes a very detailed assessment of the implemented experimentations, as well as the evaluation framework and the tools’ templates. 

 

PROFARM eBook V.2

The ‘PROFARM’ Social Network: strategic planning and social marketing

The second volume of the PROFARM eBook is focused on the establishment, management and operability of a network that involves all the relevant actors for the successful planning and implementation of work-based learning experiences in Social Farming. The eBook includes an updated overview on Social Farming in Europe, a focus on the PROFARM partner countries, guidelines and tools, as well as numerous multimedia contents to showcase the activities carried out during the project.

 

PROFARM eBook V.1

Methodological and technical framework for a social policy innovation model

In the first volume of the PROFARM eBook, we present the methodological and technical framework developed by the project partners for implementing a social policy innovation model focused on personal and professional empowerment in Social Farming. The eBook includes the reports produced thanks to the research activities implemented during the first year of the project and it integrates audio and video contents that facilitate and improve the reading experience.

 

Project Handout #9

Policy Recommendations

Here you will find 5 policy recommendations elaborated according to the main findings and results obtained with the experimentation of 30 cases (10 per Country).

Project Handout #8

Project results in the Netherlands

ProFarm has contributed to the improvement of good practices in the way that the amount of organizations that are aware of ProFarm, have increased. Although it’s still a challenge to improve this even more, especially on local, regional en national government levels.

The ProFarm project has contributed by developing an excellent matrix to select students for the ProFarm pilot. This matrix is very suitable to compare cases with the rubrics of the matrix. It paves the way at the start of...

Project Handout #7

Project results in Germany

The case management approach could fill the gap in the new law on inclusion by supporting both farmers as well as people with special needs on farms to optimize their working process. 

An important step was the implementation of guided internships during the project. Farmers and social workers became aware of the potential of the case management approach for the improvement of social work on farms in the future.

 

Project Handout #6

Project results in Italy

PROFARM has helped to raise awareness on the issue of Social Farming. The first steps were taken by activating a dense network of meetings in collaboration with the economic, social and institutional players of the territory (in total almost 100 stakeholders). When it started to run with youths, round tables were never missing. Thus the comparison on PROFARM has always remained alive.

In terms of programming and local political intervention, PROFARM has helped to make the public...

Project Handout #5

Professional and personal development plans

After 2 years of preparation, the experimental phase of the project started in April 2018. About 30 participants began their vocational training at our partner farms and gardens with a duration of 60 days. In this 5th handout we would like to present an overview on our partner farms as well as an inside look into who is attending the training. We would also like to highlight the different national systems based on which the vocational plans were created.

 

Project Handout #4

Conclusions of the meeting in Zwolle, the Netherlands

With the 4th thematic handout of the PROFARM project we would like to resume the main conclusions gathered from the 4th international PROFARM meeting together with the 2nd peer-review event which took place in Zwolle, the Netherlands from the 23rd to the 25th of April 2018.

  

Project Handout #3

The identification of the cases with the PROFARM model

The 3rd thematic handout of the PROFARM-project is about the selection of cases to be used as pilots within the project. The following text describes how this identification of students has taken place in the three countries involved.

  

Project Handout #2

Opportunities and obstacles for the PROFARM local networks

Welcome to the 2nd thematic handout of the PROFARM-project. In this second edition, we would like to give you inside information on how the local networks within the project have been created and in which way they contribute to the overall quality of the project. Nonetheless we won’t exclude the challenges and difficulties we faced while creating our networks and which provided us with relevant information on how and where we can evaluate and readjust in order to ensure the highest...

Project Handout #1

PROFARM, an interim balance

With this first edition of a series of regular thematic handouts we would like to give an overview on the activities and goals so far achieved by the PROFARM team – pointing out that the project’s activities have already been under implementation for 18 months and, therefore, the project has completed its first half. We would mainly like to focus on the development of the profile of the Case Manager, as this is one of the most important milestones reached by the project within the...

Social Farming in the Netherlands

The research of a more structured follow-up strategy

The Netherlands has been an agricultural country for a very long time. People from the Netherlands even emigrated to other countries to have the foreign farming experience but also start their own farms (e.g. Canada). The social welfare system - we are from nature a caring country with many facilities for people who need any form of help either due to circumstances or due to a handicap or due to sickness… Social farming has been known since about 1960. At first started for youngsters...

Social Farming in Germany

A lack of cooperation between agriculture and healthcare

The SF sector in Germany is developing quickly, but there are still fewer farms practicing SF than in other European countries. Most SF farms are actually ‘sheltered workshops’ (Werkstätten für behinderte Menschen – WfbM) which offer jobs in the ‘green area’, rather than productive farms that offer jobs for people with special needs. There are farms that practice SF which are connected to a full-stationary institution (for people with special needs) and...

Social Farming in Italy

The multifunctionality of agricultural enterprises

Social Agriculture has developed in many fields in Italy, nowadays including a plurality of experiences, not attributable to a unitary model, which are different from each other in performed activity, organization, source of funding and targets. Intervention fields are broadly: education, training and job inclusion of low contractuality subjects, recreation and quality of life, everyday life services and therapeutic use. During the interviews it’s been possible to listen and meet some...

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