"CONTENT & BACKGROUNDWith thousands of adults & children, legally defined as refugees and asylum seekers on their way to a destination country within the EU, trying to integrate in a new host society, there is soaring demand for up-to-date training for an emerging group of humanitarian professionals: the Cultural Mediators that work in the field with refugees. Cultural mediators employed by NGOs and other private and/or public entities that provide humanitarian support, need up-to-date Vocational Education and Training (VET) curricula, openly available to their growing community, as well as to organisations responsible for their vocational training. They are in need of tailored, comprehensive, and open educational resources (OERs) to a) respond immediately providing support in situ, where big populations of refugees are gathered (e.g. ports, borders, islands, etc), and b) assist in the long-term social integration of refugees in the EU host societies promoting solidarity and well-being. The project respons to the challenge to address emerging skills requirements as regards: a) conflict management, b) communication challenges in a multicultural context, c) working with people who suffer from the psychological trauma often caused by war, displacement and hardship experiences in transit countries & dangerous travels, d) adapting to the continuously changing national & EU regulation regarding refugees, d) assisting in the relocation & mobility of refugees within Europe, e) battling rumors that create confusion, xenophobia and conflict in the hosting communities etc.OBJECTIVESReCULM project formed a Strategic Partnership, with the objectives to:1. Develop up-to-date VET curricula, grounded on original learning outcomes (Knowledge, skills and competences), to support NGOs, humanitarian organisations, academic VET providers, institutes & public services to train and up-skill Cultural Mediators and other humanitarian professionals, in order to face emerging everyday work challenges related to the refugees' integration needs in the EU host societies. 2. Support Cultural Mediators to address their self-paced learning and their self-training requirements related to the refugees’ needs, by developing easy to access Open Educational Resources (OERs) and a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). 3. Facilitate mutual recognition of the ReCULM learning outcomes and of the professional profile that these learning outcomes describe towards the development of national and EU accreditation for Cultural Mediators that work with refugees.PARTNER ORGANISATIONFour partner institutions representing Education and Research related to the Cultural Mediators and the refugees' needs in Greece, Italy, Spain and the UK formed the ReCULM Strategic Partnership. In specific: the National Center for Social Research - EKKE (EL), the University of Modena and Regio Emilia - UNIMORE (IT), the University of Almeria - UAL/CEMYRI (ES) and the University of Glasgow - UGLA (UK) joined forces and expertise implementing all the project's activities, outputs and events.UNDERTAKEN ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGY1. Development of original learning outcomes and OERs based on skills needs data collected from field experts and Cultural Mediators.2. Creating a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).3. Establishing a support context involving education and field authorities for the future accreditation of Cultural Mediators based on the developed learning outcomes. 5. Disseminating and evaluating the developed course involving target group users in the process.RESULTS 1. Original learning outcomes (knowledge, skills and competences) to support VET provision for Cultural Mediators who work with refugees. 2. One modular course consisted of six learning units (five topics each), learning (624 slides) and assessment materials (40 case studies, 108 Q&As) provided as OERs.4. A ReCULM Massive Open Online Course, pilot tested twice, followed by almost 4.000 international learners, and evaluated.5. A Support Statement and a Strategic Plan for the valorisation of the ReCULM on an EU level.6. Four national workshops to promote results and evaluate the course.IMPACT AND POST-PROJECT SUSTAINABILITYThe ReCULM project achieved very high impact during its implementation period, since it produced a first international ""pool"" of Cultural Mediators attending & evaluating the MOOC during its two pilot sessions (nearly 4000 learners). However, the most important long term benefit is expected to come from the EU framework of Education, Accreditation and Migration EU authorities that expressed their support towards the development of formal recognition of the professional profile of the Cultural Mediator based on the ReCULM learning outcomes. Furthermore, the project's OERs will be adapted in the context of a new Erasmus+ project (which just started lasting 30 months), namely Inter4Ref, to synergistically support the needs of interpreters in Cultural Mediation."