OpenCom Italy

14/10/2026

Lessons from the SHE-GROWS field research in Béja and Jendouba

Many of the women interviewed around Béja and Jendouba belong to a women’s group or an agricultural development association. It is where they learn, help each other out and sell together, fairs included. And when a group is short of a tool, it sometimes borrows one from a neighbouring group.

That is one of the stories gathered by SHE-GROWS (Sustainable Hydroponic Education for Growing Rural Opportunities), an Erasmus+ project co-funded by the European Union. Coordinated by EFA El Soto in Spain, it brings together partners from Italy, the Czech Republic and Tunisia, and is preparing a training programme in hydroponics and sustainable entrepreneurship for 60 people from rural areas, at least half of them women.

In the research, and above all in the 27 interviews, people also described what that training should look like. Close to home. At times that fit around family and farm work, such as mornings or the school holidays, and away from the busiest weeks of the farming year. In Tunisian Arabic, with plenty of hands-on practice in the field. And with support that carries on after the last session, because without equipment and follow-up, what people learn can easily stay on paper.
These insights will help shape the SHE-GROWS programme. To follow it,

🔗 the project website is in our bio.
🇪🇸🇮🇹🇨🇿🇹🇳🇪🇺


🇪🇺 Co-funded by the European Union

European Commission
Erasmus+ Tunisia
Efa El Soto
OpenCom Italy
Elemtiez Formation
Grow It Yourself
الاتحاد التونسي للفلاحة والصيد البحري UTAP Tunisie
SŠZaZe A. E. Komerse, Děčín - Libverda, příspěvková organizace

14/10/2026

SHE-GROWS focus groups and interviews with 44 people in Béja and Jendouba
What does a woman farming in rural Tunisia need before she can try something new on the farm? In the interviews, the answer that came up most often was not more know-how, nor motivation. It was money.

That is one of the findings of the field research carried out by SHE-GROWS (Sustainable Hydroponic Education for Growing Rural Opportunities), an Erasmus+ project co-funded by the European Union. Coordinated by EFA El Soto in Spain, it brings together partners from Italy, the Czech Republic and Tunisia. The aim is to train 60 people from rural areas, at least half of them women, in sustainable entrepreneurship and in hydroponics: growing crops without soil, in nutrient-rich water.

Two focus groups in April 2026 and 27 in-depth interviews across the governorates of Béja and Jendouba: 44 people in all. What emerges is a picture of women who know their work inside out and are looking for new ways forward. What holds them back, the researchers conclude, is above all a lack of capital, water, equipment and markets.
We look at what the research found, and what it means for the training, in our article.

🔗Article link: https://shegrowsproject.eu/news/she-grows/field-research-in-tunisia-the-will-to-innovate/
🇪🇸🇮🇹🇨🇿🇹🇳🇪🇺

🇪🇺 Co-funded by the European Union
European Commission
Erasmus+ Tunisia
Efa El Soto
OpenCom Italy
Elemtiez Formation
Grow It Yourself
الاتحاد التونسي للفلاحة والصيد البحري UTAP Tunisie
SŠZaZe A. E. Komerse, Děčín - Libverda, příspěvková organizace

14/10/2026

13/10/2026

Le scuole della moda fanno rete
Ad Arezzo l’evento finale italiano di SEiSC
Diciotto scuole toscane lavorano già su moda, sostenibilità e imprenditorialità. Ora l’Ufficio Scolastico Regionale per la Toscana vuole riunirle in una rete, per costruire accordi con associazioni di categoria, ITS Academy e imprese del settore.
Lo ha annunciato il Direttore Generale Luciano Tagliaferri al Convitto Nazionale di Arezzo, chiudendo l’evento finale italiano di SEiSC, il progetto Erasmus+ su imprenditorialità sostenibile e abbigliamento intelligente di cui OpenCom è partner insieme all’USR e all’Istituto Cellini-Tornabuoni. «Le scuole diventano un vivaio vero e proprio, per che cosa? Per far crescere il nostro Made in Italy».
Intorno al tavolo l’Università di Siena, INDIRE, ITS MITA Academy, CNA, Confartigianato, Confindustria Toscana Sud e l’Accademia per le Eccellenze del Gruppo Kering. Il filo comune: le competenze che la moda chiede oggi ai diplomati, tra economia circolare, nuove regole europee e intelligenza artificiale.

📰 Il racconto della giornata nell’articolo, link
https://news.opencom-italy.org/education-and-training/2026/seisc-closing-event-tuscanys-regional-school-office-announces-fashion-school-network/

🇫🇮 🇮🇹 🇪🇸 🇹🇷 🇮🇪 🇧🇬 🇪🇺 Finanziato dall’Unione europea


Seisc - Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Smart Clothing

12/10/2026

SEiSC closing event: Tuscany’s Regional School Office announces fashion school network

Arezzo hosts the Italian closing event of the Erasmus+ project SEiSC, where Director General Luciano Tagliaferri announces a new network of schools across the fashion supply chain Tuscany's Regional School Office (Ufficio Scolastico Regionale per la Toscana) intends to bring together the region's 18 schools working on fashion, sustainability and entrepreneurship in a single network, which will then seek agreements with trade associations, ITS Academies and fashion businesses....

Seisc - Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Smart Clothing

Arezzo hosts the Italian closing event of the Erasmus+ project SEiSC, where Director General Luciano Tagliaferri announces a new network of schools across the fashion supply chain Tuscany’…

06/10/2026

Teachers and AI: the training they want most, and the time they don’t have

A survey of 1,378 teachers and student teachers in eight countries by the Erasmus+ project DigiSET Teachers don't need convincing that the climate crisis matters to their pupils, or that artificial intelligence is now part of young people's lives. They know. The question they carry into the classroom is different: what, in practice, to do about all this in a single lesson, with a full class in front of them and a syllabus to get through....

Digi SET

A survey of 1,378 teachers and student teachers in eight countries by the Erasmus+ project DigiSET Teachers don’t need convincing that the climate crisis matters to their pupils, or that art…

06/10/2026

DigiSET launches DigiSET Talks, a podcast on digital and sustainable education

DigiSET, the Erasmus+ Teacher Academy, has a new voice. DigiSET Talks is a podcast series produced by OpenCom with scientific oversight from the University of Siena, and it opens with the episode No teacher learns alone, now on YouTube and on the project website. At its heart lies a question every teacher recognises: why teaching in isolation is no longer enough....

Digi SET

DigiSET, the Erasmus+ Teacher Academy, has a new voice. DigiSET Talks is a podcast series produced by OpenCom with scientific oversight from the University of Siena, and it opens with the episode …

06/10/2026

Giovedì 8 ottobre, ad Arezzo, l'Ufficio Scolastico Regionale per la Toscana organizza un confronto fra scuola, istituzioni e imprese della moda su una domanda: quali competenze servono a chi si diploma nella filiera, ora che sostenibilità e intelligenza artificiale trasformano il settore. Sul tavolo il modello 4+2, le richieste delle imprese tessili toscane e ciò che i docenti hanno cambiato in classe.

È l'evento finale di SEiSC, progetto Erasmus+ sull'imprenditorialità sostenibile nello smart clothing, promosso dall'istituto finlandese di formazione professionale Lounais-Hämeen koulutuskuntayhtymä..

🎙️ Intervengono
Luciano Tagliaferri, Direttore Generale USR Toscana
Mario Giampaolo, Università di Siena
Roberto Curtolo, USR Toscana
Francesca Storai e Paola Nencioni, INDIRE
Antonella Vitiello, ITS MITA Academy
Alessandro Marinelli, Istituto Tecnico "T. Buzzi"
Gianni Camici e Serena Tropeano, Istituto "Cellini-Tornabuoni"
Erina Guraziu, OpenCom
Paolo Pernici, CNA Arezzo
Marco Cerofolini, Federazione Moda Confartigianato
Giovanni Basagni, Confindustria Toscana Sud
Cristina Bocali, Gucci

📅 8 ottobre, dalle 9:00 alle 13:00
📍 Convitto Nazionale "Vittorio Emanuele II", Arezzo
✅ Ingresso libero, registrazione all'ingresso

📄 Programma completo nella seconda immagine

🇮🇹🇪🇺 Cofinanziato dall'Unione europea



Seisc - Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Smart Clothing

05/10/2026

SHE-GROWS field research in Tunisia: the will to innovate is there, the means are not

Focus groups and in-depth interviews: the Erasmus+ project SHE-GROWS hears from 44 people in Béja and Jendouba In the farmland of north-western Tunisia, no water goes to waste, not even the water given to the trees. Around each fig tree is a shallow basin that catches the irrigation water. Some women farmers use it to grow squash and similar crops. The same water, which in some areas is carried by hand or bought from tanker lorries, feeds two crops instead of one....

SHE GROWS project

Focus groups and in-depth interviews: the Erasmus+ project SHE-GROWS hears from 44 people in Béja and Jendouba In the farmland of north-western Tunisia, no water goes to waste, not even the water …