CARES – Caregivers Advancing Regulatory Environment and Skills

CARES – (Caregivers Advancing Regulatory Environment and Skills) project (2024-1-RO01-KA220-ADU-000251559) is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

Summary

The CARES project aims to enhance the well-being of employees working in the social care sector by creating a supportive environment that values diversity and inclusion. The project focuses on upskilling and empowering care sector professionals, promoting their mental health and well-being, and improving their working conditions. The project aims to improve self-care practices, digital and sustainability competences in the social care sector through building a comprehensive capacity-building training program, and by providing mentoring, and self-learning handbooks. To increase the impact of CARES, a policy toolkit and replication guidelines will be developed to support international applications of policy tools that can be adapted and introduced in different care ecosystems and policy frameworks.

Activities and outputs

The implementation of CARES consists of several interlinked activities in order to address challenges within the social care sector by enhancing skills, promoting digital literacy, and fostering inclusion.

  • The partnership conducts a benchmark analysis on training for care sectors, and distributes a survey to identify the skills that social workers need to improve their well-being at work.
  • Based on the benchmarking, and survey results, the partners develop a comprehensive Capacity-Building Program for the social care sector. The program will include theoretical elements related to digital skills, entrepreneurship, transversal and soft skills, and environmental/sustainability skills. It will also incorporate microlearning content, challenge-based learning and case studies to enhance learning effectiveness.
  • The developed training materials will be available upon registration to the CARES Online Training Platform developed by the consortium. The training materials on the platform will be available in English, Italian, Lithuanian, and Romanian.
  • The partnership will develop two Self-learning Handbooks on self-care for caregivers, accompanied by eight infocards for learners to use autonomously. Handbook 1 focuses on promoting mental health, work-life balance and methods to enhance physical activity. Handbook 2 will offer nutritional insights with practical tips for healthier eating at work.
  • Pilot trainings will be conducted both online and face-to-face on the local level in Romania, Lithuania and Italy. Training sessions will be tailored to local needs, building resilience within the care sector. Participants of the capacity building programmes will receive individualised support for applying their new skills effectively in their work through mentoring.
  • Two online Policy Labs will engage international stakeholders to develop social innovation solutions and a supportive policy environment. Based on the labs’ lessons, a policy toolkit and replication guidelines will be developed to be adapted and applied across different care ecosystems and policy frameworks.

Partnership

CARES gathers two non-governmental organisation, one research institute, one social enterprise and one public service provider.

Consortium: