The Test and Validation Report of 'Enhancing Competitiveness of Microenterprises in Rural Areas' (MICRO), a Project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission, Key Action 2, Strategic Partnerships for Vocational and Educational Training, has been published on the MICRO website (www.microsmetraining.eu/).

MICRO developed practical training resources and a dedicated Open Educational Resource (OER Platform) specifically addressed to microenterprises in rural areas.

The purpose of the Test and Validation phase of MICRO was to test the training courses developed and validate that they address the specific training needs and capacity gaps identified during the assessment phase. Feedbacks and comments collected from more than 350 participants involved in the pilot deployment of the MICRO training are vital to fine-tune the MICRO OER Platform and the training content.

The feedback was very positive and confirmed that the training courses developed successfully address the needs of the target group.

The target was to train a minimum of 200 microenterprises and craft-type enterprises across the 6 countries represented in the Consortium (Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia and Spain). The target group for training was rural microenterprises and Partners were able to successfully reach this target group during their training activities. The Validation Plan guided the Test and Validation activities, that took place from February to October 2018.

The Partners carried out the training through face-to-face classes/workshops in order to complement the Online Educational Resource and facilitate the collection of feedback from participants.

Participants were very happy with the ease of use of the platform and really appreciated the free access to the content, which do not require registering. These aspects single the MICRO Platform out from other available online training.

EEO GROUP S.A in MICRO Project was responsible for the coordination of the Training Modules Development due to its experience and expertise. EEO Group S.A is a leading niche consultancy specialised in human resources development, education and lifelong learning, labour markets and public administration reform. The company was founded in 1992 in Athens, Greece. It is a private management consulting firm providing advisory services and conducting studies in the public and private sectors with more than 25 years presence in Greece and abroad.

For further information about MICRO Project:

MICRO website: www.microsmetraining.eu