A high percentage of young people in Europe does not participate in any kind of vocational training. The young people concerned often share a history of school and work absences, have social problems or a criminal or drug-related past, and thus generally have little chance of finding a job. The objectives of the Europe 2020 programme include increasing the employment rate of the population aged 20-64 from 69% today to at least 75% and reducing the proportion of citizens below the national poverty line by 25%.The VETinCon project had three main objectives:One objective was to improve equal opportunities and to involve disadvantaged young people in vocational training and the labour market. The practical handbook developed in the VETinCon project deals precisely with this target group: examples of good practice for the integration of young people in vocational education and training in the construction sector from six partner countries are presented, their applicability in the respective national contexts examined and conceived in the form of concrete national realization plans, partly tested and finally disseminated. The best practices presented are adaptable and transferable to various European vocational training systems and to other educational institutions and sectors. Thus, the project results promote an entry into successful vocational education and training, from the local to the European level.In addition, the competence of educational staff and youth workers in vocational training institutions in the construction sector should be promoted. In the multiplier and other dissemination events, the educational staff and social pedagogues of the partners or associated institutions were given knowledge about the respective recipes for success and pitfalls of the best practices used in other countries, and those responsible for training in construction companies and associations were also informed. The third objective was to improve the quality/labour market relevance of vocational training both for the young people concerned and for companies in the construction industry. Best practices promoting strong networks between training institutions and construction companies, are now part of the handbook and can contribute to promoting the quality of execution in the construction sector.The project was implemented by seven different institutions from six partner countries. All partners are either vocational training providers or associations of national construction industries with experience and expertise in the field of vocational orientation and the integration of disadvantaged young people into vocational training in the construction industry. A moderated exchange of experience was implemented in transnational project meetings and work steps agreed for the individual work in the partner countries. 16 national multiplier events were held in each partner country. They served to disseminate the five Intellectual Outputs created in the project: Output 1: Systematic overview of best practices for integrating young people into vocational training in the construction industry.Output 2: Questionnaire to identify the most suitable best practices.Output 3: National realization plansOutput 4: Evaluation reportOutput 5: Practice handbookAll results are available in English, German, Czech, Slovak, Dutch, Italian and Swedish.The main project objective of improving equal opportunities and involving disadvantaged young people in vocational training and the labour market was decisively promoted by the project. More and more young people with fewer opportunities on the labour market were continuously integrated into vocational training or employment in the construction sector or into vocational training in general. Not least due to the best practices implemented by the project partners from other European countries, innovative measures could be taken to integrate disadvantaged young people into vocational training or employment in the construction sector at European level, which would not have been possible without the project. The most promising best practice examples will continue to be considered and developed in the partner institutions in the future. By directly addressing relevant decision-makers, the national or regional prerequisites for the implementation of these implementation plans can be improved and their implementation facilitated in the future. Communication with stakeholders in vocational education and training does not end at the end of the project, but will be supported in the long term by the experience gained in the project.The announcement of the project results to the social partners of relevant institutions and experts from other sectors will ensure the sustainable use of the project results in the construction sector and other sectors.

The Project will extend the implementation of the Roadmap established and endorsed under Pillar I Build Up Skills project in Slovakia and the Czech Republic to middle and senior level professionals . These Roadmaps identified key measures for setting up a national qualification and training scheme and other measures for ensuring development of skills essential for the field of buildings to contribute to the fulfillment of the Europe 2020 energy targets. The project will particularly focus on key measure 1.3 and facilitate implementation of key measures 1.1, 1.2, 1.5 and 2.2 of the Roadmap endorsed in Slovakia, and on priority 4.3.1 and measures 1,2 and 4 of the Roadmap endorsed in the Czech Republic. This will strengthen the qualification of professionals identified as target group in the Roadmaps . The project will facilitate further investments in the skills anticipated in the EU Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe . Particularly the project will lead to: • Development of 5 education and training programmes for further education and training of middle and senior professionals in the field of buildings; • Setting up permanent network of trainers delivering the training programmes developed under the project; • Training of trainers for delivery of the programmes; • Proposal for financial measures to be established to facilitate and motivate middle and senior level professionals in participating to training programmes and SMEs to invest into further education; • Proposals to Slovak Government for incentives boosting demand for highly qualified professionals; • Reaching financing agreements using ESF for dissemination of training programmes. The project will establish necessary resources and prepare technical, organizational and financial conditions for training and re-training on energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources for middle and senior level professionals in the field of buildings.

The Project will commence implementation of the Roadmap established and endorsed under Pillar I Build Up Skills project in the Czech Republic. Specifically, the project will implement measures 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9 of the Roadmap. Moreover, the project will continue (as follow up to BUS StavEdu project) in implementing the Roadmap established and endorsed under Pillar I Build Up Skills project in Slovakia. Specifically, the project will focus on measures 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 and 2.6 of the Roadmap. The Project will set up in the Czech Republic the national qualification and training scheme for craftsmen and on-site workers in the field of energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources in buildings. It will also develop the training offer delivered via Slovak national scheme STAVEDU. Capitalising on the language proximity, the project will facilitate transfer of know-how and experience from the STAVEDU and Train-to-NZEB (H2020 GA no. 649810), as well as Fit-to-NZEB (H2020, GA no. 754059 ) projects between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Particularly the project will lead to: • Development of 7 training programmes for further education and training of craftsmen and on-site workers in the field energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources of buildings. • Development of on-site training course based on the training course developed by CrossCraft project (IEE project BUS Pillar II); • Development of training courses for further education and training of craftsmen and on-site workers in the field energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources of buildings; • Setting up permanent network of trainers delivering the programmes developed under the project; • Training of trainers for delivery of the programmes; • Development of e-learning programme for targeted craftsmen and construction professionals in Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia; • Proposals to governments for incentives boosting demand for highly qualified workers.

The overall objective of the project is setting up the Roundtables to implement smart finance for smart buildings initiative (SF4SB) in Slovakia and the Czechia, working out with stakeholders roadmaps and action plans aimed at developing the three pillars that underpin the initiative and launch implementation of the roadmaps with implementing short-term measures agreed in the roadmaps and the action plans before end of the project. The Roundtables dedicated to energy efficiency investment will be permanent multilateral discussion forums gathering the relevant stakeholders such as government, regional authorities and municipalities, financial sector, ESCOs, homeowners, operators throughout the energy efficiency value chain and construction sector. The majority of operators in the construction sector in are SMEs (large proportion are micro enterprises). Moreover, many SMEs in the energy efficiency value chain, particularly in energy performance of buildings, are essential for market disruptive innovations that are making the energy transformation in building sector successful. Therefore, the project will put particular focus on SMEs. An essential aim of the renovation efforts in both countries will be organizing renovations into larger blocks to benefit from better financing conditions and economics of scale. Therefore, the roadmaps will underpin the necessary coordination and support for creating a large-scale pipeline of bankable projects through aggregation of large number of small projects to feed the financial schemes developed by the financial sector with investment packages of a critical size for making the use of the private sources of financing as efficient and effective as possible.