Waste management curricula development in partnership with public and private sector

The WaMPPP project wishes to address the slow progress in environment protection (Chapter 27), especially in the field of waste management. Serbia still produces excessive amounts of all kind of waste (mostly dumped in landfills) and manages hazardous waste by inappropriate means. Insufficient efforts have been made to tackle the problem, possibly hindering the Serbian accession to the EU. Low appreciation of environment issues and lack of WM experts are among many contributing factors.The project shall enhance education and training of current and future Serbian workforce in the field of waste management (WM), thus contributing to capacities of both vocational HE stream and the growing WM industry. It will also contribute to raising the awareness in society about the importance of the overall WM process and its possibilities in the development of society and reduction of poverty.Specific objectives include:- development of modern curricula and syllabi, based on real needs for a competent workforce in the WM sector,- creation of a sustainable model of students’ industrial placement through expanded partnerships with business entities,- utilization of ICT technologies for modern training courses, for networking of interested stakeholders and for provision of a plethora of WM-related information, - facilitation of open-access opportunities for continuous professional development of employees in the budding WM sector, - conducting campaigns to inform on growing problems of waste generation and positive opportunities in WM.Project outputs should benefit various groups in society:- graduates with modern knowledge will fill gaps in the labor market,- staff of project partners will be amongst preachers of environmental awareness,- current and future enterprises will utilize the open access to modern WM knowledge,- informal sector and deprived social groups, through information on possible job creation that will come as WM sector grows.