EcoSME - Business Sustainability Skills for SMEs in the Hospitality Sector

"<< Background >>This project was applied for at a time when the Hospitality/Tourism sector was in deep crisis as a result of temporary and permanent closures and loss of its customer base linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. This sector is the 3rd largest socio-economic activity in the EU and plays an important role in social inclusion, offering the first job experience for many young people. It also offers jobs to a relatively unskilled workforce, as 30,2% have a lower secondary education or under, compared to 17,7% in the overall economy, (EUROSTAT). ECOSME has developed a broad range of activities to support the sector and has brought together stakeholders from the hospitality and tourism ecosystem, encouraged lifelong learning leading to boosting the resilience and sustainability of SMEs . The sector, remains largely unsupported and is one of the most challenged sectors in Europe. It is still very much in crisis mode, experiencing several environmental challenges from skill shortages to inflation, energy costs and climate challenges.- The creation of results and materials such as the collection of practices, the development of European SME network and the provision of training toolkits and resources will greatly assist business needs.<< Objectives >>Key project objectives included the creation of awareness on the advantages of sustainable business management & green skills for business, society/community & the environment. Supporting SMEs in their green transition by upskilling/reskilling staff and encouraging sustainable entrepreneurship & practices, contributing to behavioural change and creating an understanding that sustainability is not a nice to have by-product but a critical aspect of business operations. It also aimed to develop business sustainability competences of academics & educators by offering a new flexible open-source training opportunity for educators and hospitality managers/ workers alike to upskill and meet new labour market needs but also to address the critical need for all to contribute to climate action.<< Implementation >>The activities of the project included engaging with SMEs through a consultation process and range of project networking and eventsDevelopment of Intellectual Outputs through a range of project events and research activities involving partner stakeholders.Five TPMs were organised one in Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and two in Ireland. An additional LTTA was hosted in ATU Galway, Ireland which included a range of speakers on the topic ""Effective Stakeholder Engagement"" with the underlying focus being on Engagement for Sustainability. In addition to the five TPMs, informal online meetings took place with partners to monitor timelines and progress. Associated with each TPM, each partner organised learning field trips to best practice locations on sustainable hospitality and tourism. Partners engaged in various dissemination and engagement activities throughout the project through a range of channels, online platforms and presented project results at national and international conferences.Five multiplier events took place which took the form of pilot testing of the resources and training materials and regional fora which formed a key part of dissemination of project plans and outputs and the final event was a conference with keynote speakers from Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland and MEP Maria Walshe. This was a very successful networking event and it gave the opportunity for SME owners to connect with policy makers to discuss the key issues they were experiencing. << Results >>The project produced 5 comprehensive national reports and a comparative report consulting with SMES across 5 jurisdications about the post-Covid 19 sustainabilitychallenges and skills needs of hospitality SME staff which assisted in informing subsequent activities. This involved consultation with Hospitality SMEs in Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France and Slovenia. A multi-lingual website has been developed which includes an interactive catalogue of best practice SME's/Case Studies which can be used for learning purposes but also for networking purposes. A six modular training programme has been developed which provides hands-on practical, easy to use learning resources/toolbox for SME staff,academics/educators that will lead to the uptake of sustainable practices that benefit businesses and their local ecosystem, their community and the environment. Accompanying the training programme is a self assessment competency framework which has been adapted from the GREENCOMP competency framework. A toolkit of resources was developed for further learning and includes resources such as EU policy documents, websites, publications and video content. This allows users to delve more deeply into sustainable practices appropriate to their own businesses. A set of policy recommendations was developed for Higher Education, Vocational Education and SME's with high level guidance on ""how to ECOSME"" their business."