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Skills Incubator

PROJECT

On 18 February 2022, the Institute for Tourism, Culture, Sport and Youth Metlika signed a co-financing agreement with the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology for the project “Skills incubator”. The “Skills incubator” project is carried out by three partners from the Local Action Group Dolenjska and Bela Krajina area: the Metlika Institute, the Metlika Association of Farm Women and Turizem Lovšin, Luka Lovšin s.p.

The project is aligned with the objectives of the Local Development Strategy for the Local Action Group Dolenjska and Bela Krajina for the 2014–2020 period and will be implemented under measure 4.A: “Empowering vulnerable target groups for inclusion in society and the labour market.”

With the “Skills incubator” project, the partners applied to the 6th public call for the selection of operations aimed at achieving the objectives of the Local Development Strategy of the LAG DBK 2014–2020, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

The total project value, including VAT, amounts to EUR 34,776.83, of which EUR 19,105.42 is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, EUR 4,776.36 by the national budget for cohesion policy, and EUR 10,895.05 represents the own contribution of the three project partners.

The investment is co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund (ESRR).

Project overview

In working with the network of providers involved in the successful ERDF project House of Delicacies of Bela Krajina, we often encounter the challenge of helping local producers understand the importance of branding, appropriate and attractive packaging, and an online presence. At the same time, we are faced with the issue of young local providers of design, photography, video and other creative services who do not see employment opportunities in Bela Krajina. The project therefore addresses the significant challenge of highly educated young people and creative individuals seeking employment in the region.

The direct impact of the project is primarily aimed at two vulnerable groups in the Bela Krajina area: older individuals, who are carriers of traditional knowledge, skills and local self-sufficiency but have limited experience in creating content for modern marketing, and young people who lack a supportive environment to gain experience in producing creative design, photo, video and promotional content. The project will establish a space for knowledge exchange between these groups. This will create a stimulating and collaborative environment – a “skills incubator” – for the development of products, content and new marketing approaches based on the rich offer of local self-sufficiency.

The main objective of the project is to overcome the perception of local self-sufficiency as something lacking potential through intergenerational cooperation, and to highlight its potential for creating new, creative jobs.

The innovation of the project lies in simultaneously addressing two vulnerable groups and creating a synergy between older and younger generations. Through mutually beneficial activities, the project aims to strengthen connections within the local community and reduce the intergenerational gap.

With the Skills incubator project, we aim to achieve:

1. Establishment of a creative co-working space – a demonstration kitchen. The space will be designed for intergenerational interaction and the empowerment of target groups (older people and youth) through collaboration on joint projects. This goal will be achieved by equipping the demonstration kitchen and purchasing technical equipment for video and photo production. It will be implemented in the first phase of the project, as it is a prerequisite for all other activities.

2. Implementation of a series of five practical training sessions The training sessions will be focused on the final goal – developing a market-oriented pilot project. Both local self-sufficiency providers and young creatives will be invited to participate. The programme will be designed in a way that an intergenerational collaborative team will be formed during the training cycle.

3. Development of a pilot intergenerational project “Starter package – Belokranjska pogača”. The development of a market-oriented product is intended to empower the target groups through collaboration in a creative process.


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