"<< Background >>Significant international developments such as the adoption of the Paris Agreement and the rising prominence of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have signalled the need for more urgent sustainability action from the global business community.GreenPosts takes inspiration from existing initiatives, aiming to implement a general concept and approach to greening human capital and economy referred to the wider approach to sustainability introducing skills linked to the transition to a circular and greener economy. The project has the specific objective to enhance the required green skills for the workforce by improving its technical capacities, knowledge, values and attitudes to develop and support sustainable social, economic and environmental outcomes in business, industry and the community. With more than 600,000 post offices the world over, the postal sector operates the largest physical distribution network on the planet. Some 660,000 vehicles, 250,000 motorcycles and countless airplanes, covering billions of kilometers every year, are used daily to deliver the mail. What’s more, the post offices and 5.5 million postal employees consume electricity, water and paper, which all have an impact on the environment.More specifically, this project aims to provide a training material for posts’ staff on how to put the European Green Deal into practice at the local level, and respect the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13 ""Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts"", SDG 11 ""Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable"", as well as to relevant targets of other SDGs most material to the postal sector, which take action to mitigate climate change and cover issues such as ensuring decent working conditions, promoting innovation, building sustainable cities and communities, ensuring responsible production and consumption. Also, a pilot training course will be held for testing and making adjustments on developed material.<< Objectives >>Local posts are involved in a variety of environmental activities, but it is not always easy for them to keep up-to-date with science and policy on EU level, so they can create an adequate and complete long-term plan focusing on the right priorities, using the latest evidence, and delivering better results.The proposed project will present clear and tangible benefits for all stakeholders involved. Improve basic skills and competences on leadership, citizenship and action; support for green and social action, with demonstrated benefits for the environment, the region and local communities; and the promotion of social cohesion, integration and inclusion, with benefits and more opportunities for all.The objectives of this project are to establish a training programme which will enable local post offices’ staff to:●Set a clear, long-term direction with flexibility to adapt to new evidence and circumstances.●Provide robust and credible reporting, governance and accountability.●Put in place strong local leadership and a more integrated delivery framework.●Resource, set incentives and support sustainable finance, including from the private sector.●Make sure everyone plays their part in delivering the improved environment we all want.<< Implementation >>Generally, the project is meant to involve local post offices, which are aware of a variety of environmental problems related to noise or air pollution, waste disposal, consumer education and protection. The project's specific goal is to capacitate local posts’ staff for change engagement, developing green skills and fostering leadership skills, creativity, socio-educational and professional development, through its action.Its specific objectives are to help these target groups to keep up-to-date with science and policy on EU level, as well as to enhance their competences in various sustainability-relevant sectors by improving and extending the supply of high-quality learning opportunities for adults, under the perspective of lifelong learning via Online Training Courses and a Virtual Think Tank.Postal services from 4 countries supported by an SME active in building organisational capacity in Climate Change mitigation and adaptation strategies will be sharing experience on their individual carbon management achievements and discussing the new focus areas of the next phase. The initial internal workshops partner organisations have organised on the topics were consistently well attended and an excellent opportunity for internal networking. With GreenPosts activities there will be the opportunity for inter-regional sharing sustaining the success of the internal workshops. Furthemore, the knowledge will be shared via Multiplier Events with the wider EU and international postal Community thanks to the support of the associated partner PostEurope. Partners will be sharing best practice and information facilitating continuous improvement and effective carbon management and climate change mitigation and adaptation.<< Results >>In this project’s PR1 a “GreenPosts Assessment Tool” will be developed in order to enhance local posts' staff role on assistant provision of climate change. Also, “Implementing European Green Deal in Posts” Course (PR2) will be created by the partnership to increase and deepen the knowledge and competences of local posts’ staff working in the decision-making positions on how to increase the resilience of postal services. In this PR we will develop a Course that will be addressed to Postal Management as well as employees and consists of 9 modules that will include guidelines, exercises and case studies, aiming to provide trainees with skills and knowledge which will help minimise the carbon footprint of postal services.Moreover, ""Peer to Peer Success Stories videos"" (PR3) will play an important role in the project's implementation as they will motivate the target group, encourage them to change attitudes and adopt a new mindset, inspire people and organisations to become involved and encourage sustainable behaviours.As a last action, the partnership has the objective to develop a ""Virtual Think Tank"" (PR4) where information and resources about environmental actions in post offices and training opportunities will be shared, in order to increase the capacity and skills of stakeholders.As a result, the project expects to create clear and tangible benefits for all stakeholders involved, by supporting a sustainable improvement of their basic skills and competences on leadership, citizenship, green actions and social change for the environment. Furthermore, GreenPosts will promote the well-being of local post offices’ staff, providing a coherent response to the challenges facing the environmental sector by complementing and adding value to existing initiatives. The consortium declares that the GreenPosts project will have both international and local impact on social cohesion, integration and inclusion, with benefits and more opportunities for all."

Over the past few years, commercial applications of the drone technology and its growing impact can no longer be ignored. Drones or UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are piloted by remote control or on-board computers through a combination of computer vision, artificial intelligence and object avoidance technology. While some jobs may be made obsolete by drone technology, more jobs will be created to man the drones and ensure an efficient system in the delivery of services for various industries. Drones have already proved their usefulness in crisis situations, for example, when medicine or antidotes needed to be delivered in hard to reach areas, in urban planning, geographical mapping, archaeology and agriculture. Postal operators also realize the benefits of the drone deliveries in their everyday business, especially the possibilities of using a drone in the delivery of letters and parcels between post offices.But the issue is, aside amateur use for personal purposes, there is no Training Programs in the market for people to cultivate their drone skills to have broader options in the labour market, pursuing the position of the drone controller.Our project addresses exactly this need and opportunity, aiming at the realization of a training material for using UAVs on parcel delivery available on three e-learning platforms. In order to foster employability, socio-educational and personal development, as well as participation in civic and social life our project proposal aims to develop a curriculum, which better meets the needs of individuals and the labour market. That way, our project is related with the Horizontal Priorities of the Programme: Supporting opportunities for all in acquiring and developing key competences. Our project will develop partnerships between Postal Operators, Training Institutions, ICT companies and VET providers aiming at promoting and providing initial and/or continuing training to their staff in order to help people to gain practical skills for their job and to effectively integrate these career pursuits into their work setting which is in line with the VET priority: Enhancing access to training and qualifications for all.The synthesis of the project consortium brings together:a) Postal operators from three different countries (Croatia, Greece, Cyprus) which serve as the source for the identification of training needs as well as the project’s direct beneficiaries whose personnel will be trained. b) Vocational training institutions: (AERONAUTICAL TECHNICAL SECONDARY SCHOOL RUDOLF PERESIN ZTŠ and AKMI ) which will offer combined expertise in the design, development of UAV operator / remote pilot occupational profile as well as the design and implementation of the professional training program.c) UAV expert (DRONIT LTD) is a project technological partner being the expert for the development of the flight simulator, the design, development and the overall deployment of the UAV system and UAV’s pilot implementation.It is envisaged that, by the end of the project, 150 people in the participating countries will be trained.The above-mentioned objectives will be implemented through a concrete methodology, including the following activities: a) Conduction of a current needs’ analysis in skills mismatches for UAV Controllers.b) Preparation of Training Courses for “UAV controller”.c) Development of a Training programme for Drone Controllers.d) Implementing the curricula to relevant personnel and certification.At the end of their practical training period in real environment conditions of UAVs flight, trainees will be certified. By developing a new learning framework for “UAV controllers” impact of this project will be achieved through:a) Participants by their employability, enhancement of skills and competences and their access to training and qualification on equal termsb) Participating organisation (postal sector, VET and SME) through variation of their qualitative service offering, establishing a coherent methodology with specific tools that will enhance their provision of logistics services covering emerging needs, enhancement of quality of services provided to business customers and the society and establishment of a mechanism that will provide them with skilled and qualified UAV controllers, increasing standardization of servicesc) New policies are going to be developed for the enhancement of postal sector servicesd) A comprehensive framework on UAV's controller is going to be designed and delivered to national administrations and at EU Level Coherent dissemination strategy with multi-level approach is designed in order to reach target groups. It aims to ensure that the deliverables of the Project and the results of the project, are going to be communicated and exploited in a sustainable, specific and measurable way, while maximizing its reach and impact to relevant stakeholders and beneficiaries.

"The European ""Innov'Age"" project is the result of a strategic partnership for training in diversity, age management and innovation, applied to the European postal sector. The project addresses the issue of Europe's ageing population and the need to attract new skills/talents among younger generations. In fact, management of intergenerational teams is becoming a criterion of competitiveness for European postal operators. The objective of the project is to improve age management in the postal sector by creating an innovative training prototype to enhance intergenerational teams. The issues related to this objective are: increase the employability of both seniors and younger people; enhance and make more efficient intergenerational teams to promote business innovation; facilitate and stimulate innovation in the postal sector.The project consortium brought together six European postal operators (France, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Greece, Cyprus), the PostEurop postal association (52 postal operators), the University of Bordeaux, the Greek Post Vocational Training Centre and InoSalus, a Portuguese SME specialising in innovative training. Project Structure: The project was divided into three main Intellectual Outputs (IO): IO1: Research, identification and mapping of training needs in the postal sector related to age management; IO2: Co-creation and development of an innovative training toolkit for age management in order to develop a dynamic approach focusing on cooperation between generations, the motivation and involvement of professional teams including young and old people, the valorisation and transmission of experience - which will be done first and foremost in the partner companies of the project; IO3: Design and test a prototype of training in some intergenerational teams. This allows managers to discover a new management an approach to diversity, taking into account the specific needs and expectations of new entrants and seniors, acquire and appropriate methods and tools for the cohesion, motivation and performance of an intergenerational team.All the results were shared during the monthly conference calls, the transnational meetings and the dissemination events. Activities implemented: Scientific study on the following variables: diversity practices by age, climate in work organisation, learning climate, acceptable distance (depending on corporate culture) between employees and management, strengthening leadership, innovative team behaviours and related performance;Analysis of training needs and psychosocial aspects to develop the sectoral training needs matrix (questionnaire, study, research) and mapping of the current situation in postal organizations;Development of a roadmap for the volunteer team to help co-build training programs and identify case studies;Selection and development of case studies and production of a pedagogical movie; Development of the training programme based on the macro-competences identified to be developed through this prototype;Development of a test prototype and design of the toolbox;Assessment of the impact of the training prototype on the teams;Communication and dissemination of project results via partner communication media;Dissemination meetings coordinated by a communication committee.Results: The Training Program was formalized as a prototype. A part of the prototype (test modules) was implemented by the six postal partners, adapted to the reality of each operator and tested by the volunteer teams. The evaluation of these tests has improved the training programme by identifying areas for improvement or consolidation. The evaluation confirmed the importance of this training to help managers improve the management of multi-generational teams and foster inclusion and innovation. Project Outreach: Partnership with OSHA and its “Healthy Workplaces for All Ages” campaign, EYDAP SA, Athens Water Company, “Intergenerational HR Club”, and the University of Aix-Marseille has also shown its interest.Visibility of results: Meetings with external stakeholders: kick-off, closing conference, Multiplier events in Athens, Rome and Strasbourg; Use of websites, social networks...Two initiatives, one national pilot implementation initiative in Greece and the final multiplier event of the project, put in place in the framework of the Innov’Age project have been approved and registered successfully as events of the European Vocational skills week organized by DG Employment on 14-18 October 2019. The approval of both submitted events confirms their relevance in terms of training and innovation. Registering to this European-wide initiate coordinated by DG Employment is a further way to raise awareness about our work in the field of vocational education especially towards other sectors and stakeholders. The next step of Innov’Age 1 would be the certification of this training. (Innov’Age 2 – awaiting for funding)."

The regulatory changes which led to the liberalization of the EU Postal Market and increased competition in the provision of high-quality and diversified mail, parcel and financial services have led postal operators:a) to adapt to a customer-oriented model aiming at providing positive customer experience and attaining high quality of service.b) to focus on the development of human resources, by transforming traditional skills and knowledge into new, enhanced competencies.The projects’ overall objective is the provision of an attractive and modern training framework aiming at:- highlighting the necessity for recognition of skills, knowledge and competencies in customer service operations (sub objective 1)- enhancing and certifies employees’ professional assets and thus safeguarding their job positions (sub objective 2)- improving the perceived service experience of customers and citizens (sub objective 3)- providing a complete, integrated and configurable training toolkit (sub objective 4)- identifying ways for generalization of project outcomes to relevant sectors (sub objective 5)The project brings together ten partners from six sectors and six countries:- E-Learning systems developer (GR): project leader- e-learning expert - Postal Operators (GR,CY,RO): source for the identification of training needs, target group of beneficiaries- VET institutions (GR,FR): development of professional training programs- HR and business experts (PT,GR): consultation on human-centric orientation of the developed scenarios and experiential training, business continuity aspects- Certification body (GR): certification-related tasks (i.e. certification system, tools, methodologies)- NGO (LV): consultancy in the field of training and competence building Key activitiesThe project evolved through a coherent set of activities, corresponding to relevant expected project outputs:- Research on training needs for customer service (Research tools and methodologies, Training needs for customer service – Research results)- Training curricula for customer service (Development of Curricula, Development of Certification System)- Training Toolkit for customer service (Webinars for knowledge refresh, Training Scenarios, Experiential training)- 3D-based training system for customer service (3D game system with certification level, Evaluation toolkit)The training and certification system were applied in the Postal Operators through the following 3 interdependent Activities:- Experiential training- Webinar for refresh of knowledge - Scenario-based training in 3D environmentFinally, a set of activities have been planned to increase multiplying effects of the project outcomes:- Project launching conference for external interested parties (companies, governmental bodies, institutions, trade unions etc.) - Progress overview conference aiming at collecting feedback from stakeholders- Certification Ceremonies (RO,CY,GR) aiming at motivating postal employees for further participation- Project closure conference, which has central role in the dissemination activities plan and is expected to bring multiplication effects. - e-Workshops Methodology:- Analysis of training needs (literature research, original research (questionnaires, interviews) and group decision making sessions based on Nominal Group Technique). Results were analyzed with the use of formal qualitative and quantitative statistical techniques.- Development of training curricula: The experts adapted the generic training material to specific postal employees’ training needs, they identified potential gaps in the literature and developed new material. The certification method complies with ISO and ECVET standards. - Development of training toolkit. The design of: (a) training scenarios based on KEK ELTA’s Competencies Workbooks methodologies, (b) webinars for knowledge “refresh” and guidance exploiting e-learning authoring and multimedia tools through a prototyping approach and (c) experiential learning scenarios for experimental or control groups - 3D learning environment. Simulation of a post office workplace, multiple participants as avatars, predefined role playing educational scenarios. Dissemination strategy aims at communicating the project results to the widest possible reach through various channels. The project had high impact initially at national level and in particular in the participating countries. More than 500 Post Office employees in 3 different EU Countries participated in the first launch of the program (GR/CY/RO).The outcomes was also diffused to other EU countries and the impact is expected to be realized in several other external stakeholders and training professionals capitalizing on:- the architecture, the methodology and the applications developed- the potential of self-assessment of desirable competencies - the utilisation of the properties of the 3D serious games.