Building Bridges Between Continents: CREATE Partners Meet in Italy and Belgium to Strengthen Agro-VET Cooperation

Tanzanian and European partners exchange knowledge, explore innovative training practices, and shape the future of agricultural vocational education together

In June 2026, the CREATE partnership reached another important milestone through a study visit and transnational cooperation mobility that brought Tanzanian and European partners together in Italy and Belgium.

Hosted by IAL Friuli Venezia Giulia in Pordenone and the Institut de Haute Formation aux Politiques Communautaires (IHF) in Brussels, the mobility provided an invaluable opportunity for partners to deepen their collaboration, exchange expertise, and reflect on the future development of Agricultural Vocational Education and Training (Agro-VET) in Tanzania.

The visit represented much more than a project meeting. It served as a platform for peer learning, mutual understanding, and professional exchange, allowing participants to experience first-hand how vocational education institutions, agricultural training providers, and policy ecosystems operate within the European context.

The first part of the mobility took place in Pordenone, Italy, where Tanzanian partners were welcomed by IAL Friuli Venezia Giulia. During their stay, participants visited IAL’s facilities and had the opportunity to explore agricultural training environments, specialised educational infrastructures, and associated agricultural education centres.

These visits enabled partners to observe how vocational training is delivered within different learning contexts and to engage directly with trainers, educational managers, and sector experts. Discussions focused on a wide range of topics, including innovative teaching methodologies, practical learning approaches, emerging agricultural technologies, sustainability practices, and strategies for strengthening the connection between education and labour market needs.

The exchanges proved particularly valuable in highlighting both common challenges and context-specific solutions. Despite operating in different geographical and socio-economic environments, participants recognised many shared priorities, including climate resilience, skills development, digitalisation, learner engagement, and the need to prepare future agricultural professionals for rapidly evolving labour markets.

The second phase of the mobility was hosted by IHF in Brussels, where partners came together to review project implementation, assess progress achieved so far, and discuss upcoming milestones that will shape the next stages of CREATE.

Through collaborative working sessions, consortium members reflected on the ongoing piloting and implementation activities taking place in Tanzania, shared lessons learned, and identified opportunities to maximise the impact and sustainability of project results. These discussions reinforced the strong spirit of cooperation that has characterised CREATE since its inception and reaffirmed the consortium’s shared commitment to supporting innovation within the Tanzanian Agro-VET ecosystem.

Beyond project-related activities, the Brussels visit offered Tanzanian partners a unique opportunity to familiarise themselves with the broader European institutional environment. Participants visited key areas associated with the European Union’s governance and policy-making processes, gaining insights into the institutions that support European cooperation, education, skills development, and international partnerships.

Experiencing first-hand the environment in which many European education and vocational training policies are conceived helped participants better contextualise the objectives and philosophy underpinning initiatives such as Erasmus+. It also strengthened their understanding of how European frameworks, quality assurance approaches, competence models, and capacity-building programmes contribute to the development of modern vocational education systems.

For many participants, the mobility demonstrated the value of international cooperation not only as a mechanism for sharing resources, but also as a process of mutual learning and relationship building. The opportunity to observe different realities, exchange perspectives, and engage directly with colleagues from diverse backgrounds enriched the project and strengthened the foundations for future collaboration.

As CREATE continues its implementation phase, the knowledge, insights, and partnerships reinforced during the visits to Italy and Belgium will continue to inform project activities and contribute to the long-term goal of building a stronger, more resilient, and more innovative Agricultural VET ecosystem in Tanzania.

About CREATE

CREATE (Climate Change Resilience for Tanzania’s Agricultural VET Ecosystem) is an Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Vocational Education and Training project dedicated to strengthening the quality, relevance, and responsiveness of agricultural vocational education in Tanzania through international cooperation, innovation, and capacity building.

To know more about the project, please visit:

Official website: https://cbcreate.eu/

Learning platform: https://learning.cbcreate.eu/

Open Access Commitment

All project results, tools, training materials, and resources developed within CREATE are made freely available in open-access format to maximise knowledge sharing, accessibility, and long-term impact.

Funding Disclaimer

CREATE is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.