In case of natural disasters/humanitarian crisis, experts/teams able to assess needs and act with local authorities and international organizations, are needed, and their role becomes crucial in the post-emergency phase, when communities try to return to their normal life, but attention around them is fading, leaving them with a sense of abandonment.

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In these situations, a key concept is resilience, i.e. the ability to cope with change, preventing as well as preparing against future disasters but especially turning a disruptive event into an opportunity for growth. Community empowerment is fundamental, preventing and facing social problems (e.g. distress, trauma, social disaggregation, etc.) resulted from extreme events. The key to cope with this scenario is a collaborative approach among all actors (governmental, non-profit, businesses, etc.) developing behaviour changing and resilience learning programs, informing communities, etc.

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Thus, professionals able to work in post-emergency/resilience building, analyse social needs, design social development plans, interfacing with technical and policy actors, are strongly needed. The professional profile of the Social Resilience Officer (SRO), created in the RespOnSE project (Resilience Officer for Social Emergencies), intends to catch this opportunity in terms of employability and innovative Vocational Education and Training (VET).

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Within this framework, RespOnSE aims at providing learning opportunities to young people aged 18-35 years, (to match the minimum age to be a volunteer in civil protection/humanitarian area and the difficulties experienced by youths in accessing the labour market), unemployed/underemployed, university and/or high-school graduates, with at least one volunteering experience - preferably in Civil Protection/Humanitarian Aid domain - to help them to transform this experience into a career opportunity, by providing them with:

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- knowledge, skills and competences to improve their “on field” volunteering experience with organizational and managerial abilities;

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- specific social and interactive skills, following their passion and inclination/attitude to work in direct contact with persons facing difficulties;

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- entrepreneurial skills so that they are able to build their own career. Within participants, at least 180 will be selected at EU level to participate to a basic training course and 90 of them will experience a blended mobility.  To reach project objectives, RespOnSE will implement: 

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- a Curriculum for the Social Resilience Officer, defining the transnational professional profile in terms of competences, skills and knowledges as well as its job positioning;

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- a Training methodology on social resilience, including: a training course structured in a basic online course (3 modules) provided through an e-learning platform, a specialized course (3 modules) provided though e-learning and a work-based approach (role/ simulation games, mentors/learner approach, cases study, etc.) learning tools, a study visit format, a step-by-step guide to use the method-ology itself.

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- n. 6 study visits (seven days each, 15 participants per each partner country) in six different partner’s countries, structured on five different thematic focus: disruptive events, social impacts, response to social impacts, from response to resilience, building your own career. 

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To develop the project and its outputs, a three steps methodology will be applied:

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1) Analysis, mainly dealing with: EU/national contexts analysis, mentors’ qualification, volunteer ser-vices functions, training courses, specialization, innovative training methodologies/tools/approaches.

2) Implementation, based on the above-mentioned analysis results and mainly dealing with: competences, training programme implementation, training methodologies/approaches/tools.

3) Evaluation: the project will be constantly monitored/evaluated to assess the efficacy and the coherence between training, targeted learning outcomes, competence needed by the labour market and target group needs. According to previously identified objectives, RespOnSE expected results refer to:

- the mutual recognition of the Social Resilience Officer qualification among all partners’ countries through the certification within the EQF (from level 4 to 5);

- the provision of basic training for at least 180 young VET with at least one volunteering experience as well as a specialized training through a multilevel and multidisciplinary training methodology, focused on work-based learning, for at least 90 selected young VET.

- the enhancement of employability for young VET through the creation of a new curriculum codifying the profile of the Social Resilience Officer, fostering job opportunities within NGOs, local authorities, private companies or creating self-employment opportunities.