Encouraging young specialists to power the agri-food value chains and building sustainable business models

The overall objective is to promote healthier lifestyles and power agri-food value chain by developing sustainable business models and encouraging young specialists to jointly-build capacities with Armenian rural communities. Specifically • To promote educational and productive cooperation activities among young specialists, from universities and agricultural schools, with cooperatives, NGOs and private companies, encouraging faster renewable technologies adoption in rural communities, validating and demonstrating their effectiveness and benefits. • To develop methodologies for analyzing the energy performance of agri-food value chains in rural communities in Armenia, identifying opportunities for better renewable energy integration, the introduction of efficiency improvements and product differentiation with local and sustainable identity. • To introduce better lifestyles in rural communities by encouraging the development and adoption of sustainable business models and healthier agri-food production and consumption. • To design and implement academic and internship programs to encourage and guide university and agricultural students to jointly build capabilities with rural communities, developing and implementing sustainable projects at the different agri-food value chain stages. • To implement micropilot projects in Armenian as demonstrative experiences and Community Learning Centers (CLCs) for the student and community members. • To identify and explore renewable energy incentive tools, including financing and net-billing instruments, developing market strategies for better product collocation and marketability • Powering agri-food value chain examples in Armenia. The micropilot project will serve as community learning center for young specialists and template for new projects. • Sustainable Rural Internship/Academic Programs for local universities and technical/agriculture schools. • Methodologies and handbooks to identify and implement Sustainable Business Models for agri-food value chains in rural communities, collecting the experience and best practices developed during the micropilot implementation. • Outreach and communication plans for both countries, showing to other local organization the technologies and the structure of the projects. Four main activities are stipulated to execute the objectives: A. Micropilot project as community learning center for young specialists and template for new projects B. Sustainable Rural Internship/Academic Program for local universities and technical/agriculture schools: the Institute of Energy and electrical Engineering (https://npua.am/en/institutions/institute-of-energy-and-electrical-engineering/ ) of the National Polytechnic University of Armenia (https://npua.am/en/general/ ) C. Methodologies and handbooks to identify and implement Sustainable Business Models for agri-food value chains in Rural Communities in Armenia, collecting the experience and best practices developed during the micropilot implementation D. Outreach and communication plan, showing the technologies and the structure of the projects to other local organizations Micropilot project developed in the Activity A will be used as the basis for the practical learning experience of the academic programme (Activity B) as well for the development of methodologies and handbooks (Activity C). The outcomes of the first 3 Activities will be an essential part of the outreach and communication activities under Activity D. Expected Impacts Young specialists in Armenia encouraged to power the agri-food value chains and building sustainable business models: (A) Micropilot project as community learning center for young specialists completed and template for new projects developed; (B) Sustainable Rural Internship/Academic Program for the Institute of Energy and electrical Engineering of the National Polytechnic University of Armenia developed and launched; (C) Sustainable Business Models for agri-food value chains in Solak developed; and (D) Armenia experience widely communicated to relevant audiences.