ESF-SI-2024-LTU-01-0023

UPFARM aims to unlock the potential of social farming (SF) for creating inclusive, sustainable and regenerative jobs in Tuscany, addressing the unique needs of the long-term unemployed (LTUs). Leveraging promising yet still isolated SF initiatives in Tuscany, we aim to create an enabling infrastructure of knowledge, capacities, working tools and participatory governance that can upscale these initiatives as a regional strategic asset for quality employment, able to boost job inclusion and empowerment of LTUs and vulnerable people while supporting the sustainable development of local food and agriculture systems. Our scaling strategy involves establishing 4 territorial living labs – 2 frontrunners and 2 followers – in distinct areas of Tuscany. Drawing on transnational co-creation and successful cases of LTUs inclusion in SF from other EU countries, the Labs will work as quadruple-helix local alliances, strengthening their collaborative capacity, placing LTUs’ needs at the centre, and empowering them as ‘innovation carriers’ within local SF enterprises. Through experimental forms of co-governance, capacity building, co-design of personalised support, and novel job placement paths, the labs will drive UPFARM’s scaling efforts. They will work as ‘lighthouses’ of how SF can catalyse meaningful job opportunities for vulnerable people, developing the approaches and tools which will be first tested within the frontrunner labs, then transferred and upscaled to the follower Labs, and lastly systematised as guidelines and protocols of intervention for full scaling across the Region. Transnational co-creation will not only enhance the labs’ effectiveness but also seek to influence policy making and drive innovation at the EU level. Beyond realising 40 job placements, UPFARM shall leave a lasting legacy, equipping stakeholders with the tools and approaches needed to scale SF across new territories, boost cultures of true inclusivity, and influence institutional decision-making.

Expected results:

• Support at least 40 long-term unemployed in Tuscany through structured job placement pathways in Social Farming, with 20 participants engaged in frontrunner labs and 20 in follower labs.
• Design and implement 40 individualised job inclusion projects and pacts, tailored to each participant’s needs.
• Establish two fully operational Co-Governance Hubs and Living Labs to facilitate participatory, transdisciplinary, and transnational co-creation of tools and approaches for job inclusion.
• Create a transnational Community of Practice involving 10 or more European stakeholders in job inclusion and social innovation, promoting knowledge exchange and mutual learning.

Funding: 2,808,370.00 Eur

Social innovation scale-up

The Social Farming (SF) model.