CASEUM: Innovating tradition for the future of European rural dairy production

As we all know, small artisanal dairy businesses represent a fundamental asset in Europe’s rural areas, preserving skills, territorial identities, and production traditions. To facilitate the transition into the future ‘CASEUM’ was developed.

CASEUM stands for Capacity Building, Awareness Raising, and Sharing Experiences to Up-skill Digital Tools and Methods for sustainable future small-scale dairy production. This project is funded by the Erasmus+ program as part of Small-Scale Partnerships in Vocational Education and Training.

With a total budget of € 60,000, the project is coordinated by TAB Consulting Srl from Italy. The other partners beside FACEnetwork are Irish Rural Link (Ireland) and The Gastronomy Club of Epirus (Greece).

CASEUM’s goal is to strengthen the capacity of rural micro-dairy businesses to address the challenges of the dual transition: digital and green, through new skills, innovative training tools, and learning models aligned with the businesses’ real needs.

New skills for more resilient businesses

Small dairy producers are currently facing profound changes: technological innovation, environmental sustainability, new ways of promoting and selling products, as well as the need to continuously update professional skills.
CASEUM was created to create a concrete foundation to support the evolution of vocational training (VET), identifying the skills needed by artisanal producers and the trainers who support them. One of the main outcomes will be the creation of a Twin (digital and green) Transition Competence Framework, a European framework of skills related to the digital and sustainable transition of the sector.

Practical training and on-the-job learning

A central element of the project will be the development of Work-Based Learning (WBL) models, i.e. training courses directly linked to work experience.
Through discussions among partner countries, best practices in training and mentoring will be collected and analysed, identifying solutions suited to the characteristics of artisanal micro-enterprises, often characterized by small size and strong ties to seasonal production.
The project will lead to the creation of a WBL Toolkit, a practical tool with templates, guidance, and quality criteria to facilitate learning directly in the workplace.
Concrete results for the rural dairy sector
At the end of the project the following will be available:

• a map of the skills needed to address the digital and green transition;
• a training curriculum model with teaching units and assessment tools;
• a toolkit dedicated to on-the-job training in micro-enterprises;
• a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate the dissemination and future use of the results.

CASEUM will involve producers, trainers, industry experts, rural development agencies, and local stakeholders, connecting labour market needs, vocational training, and regional development.

With this Erasmus+ project, we are contributing to the construction of a rural development model in which innovation, sustainability, and skills become tools to strengthen the future of small artisanal businesses and the communities that host them.