D.4.1 – Coaching and Capacity  Building Report, Round #1
Creators: name: Krabbe, Kasper
name: Couture, Isabelle
name: Cavallo, Dolinda
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023

description: This deliverable reports on the work related to tasks 4.1 and 4.2, carried out by consortium partners from Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University and ENoLL (European Network of Living Labs), respectively. These partners provide applicants with tools and coaching (T4.1), to ease the application process and guide them through consortium building and to design sustainable and well-thought soil health improving living labs. To provide possible applicants from all over Europe with valuable advice, NATI00NS has found mentors in 18 European countries, who can be consulted by possible applicants.

This deliverable is written to report on the implementation and execution of tasks 4.1, Coaching Sessions, and 4.2, Capacity Building. The tasks feed into NATI00NS’ main objective, that is enhancing the possibilities of more viable and well-planned soil health improving living lab applications under the Mission auspices, which hopefully will lead to the establishment of well-functioning living labs in the near future. The deliverable will provide both the public and the funding body, with knowledge on NATI00NS’ initial progress and results.

In short, the function of T4.1 has been to identify candidate Soil Health Living Lab Mentors in all EU member states and associated countries, followed up by a process aligning the candidates' perceptions on the meaning of a living lab and understanding the topic description in dept by participating in on-line training sessions. This concluded in mentor candidates signing the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) agreements to officially become mentors and thereby be mandated to coach possible living lab applicants within the NATI00NS framework.

Alongside the coaching of mentors, NATI00NS’ has carried out capacity building, prepared and implemented by ENoLL, the European Network of Living Labs, a NATI00NS consortium partner, that leads online support to bolster up stakeholders around the Soil Mission (hereafter only described as the Mission) and broaden their understanding of what a LL is. ENoLL have for this purpose, produced e-learning materials, including factsheets and webinars. The Capacity Building in combination with Coaching Session activities, provide information and training, that enhance the chances of well-conceived and relevant Soil Health Living Labs being created, by making sure living lab applicants are not only trained well by mentors with knowledge on living lab concepts; participants will also have capacity building material available to them in order to design and create a strong Living Lab consortium. The materials include manuals which they can use to design a living lab. The capacity building provided by NATI00NS does, in general, provide applicants with hands-on capacities, whether it be factsheets or webinars on specific living lab related questions.In supporting the applicants at national level identifying It has been important to associate skilled mentors has been of the essence. Therefore, the NATI00NS consortium has mapped stakeholders across EU Member States and Associated Countries during most of its first ‘introduction and pilot’ phase, to get in contact with gatekeepers in each country.

In most countries, the National Contact Point (NCP) structure, and its responsible officers appointed either for the Mission or the Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment area, were primary contact points, since it is already an integrated part of their job description, to support the Soil Health Mission calls. Consequently, many NCPs have taken on the role of mentors themselves while others have tried assisting NATIOONS in finding suitable mentor candidates, interested in acting as mentors within the NATI00NS framework.

NCPs are national structures associated to the framework programme. NCPs give personalised support on the spot and in applicants' own languages.

After reaching out to possible mentors, AU AGRO has continuously answered questions about the scope of the mentoring work – such as the mentors’ expected workload, responsibilities, and for how long they are expected to commit to mentoring duties. In parallel, NATIOONS has planned and implemented two training of trainers webinars that offered training to candidate mentors, so they all could be aligned in terms of living lab concepts, practical circumstances regarding the application process and confidentiality measures, after which they were able to take an informed decision about becoming NATI00NS Mentors or not.All webinar participants, whether they joined for reasons of curiosity or already knew they would commit to mentoring, were then briefed on, how it is necessary for them to read and sign NDA-documents to officially become NATI00NS appointed Soil Health Living Lab mentors, and thus appear on the NATIOONS website with name and contact details. NATIOONS have since then continuously collected signed NDA documents and updated the website accordingly, thereby expanding the number of mentors available to possible applicants.To carry out the work related to recruiting soil health living lab mentors and training them in living lab-affiliated concepts, a number of Aarhus University’s soil and farming systems scientists and research support advisers, planned a training programme for mentors.

They have also been responsible for all communication and mapping of possible mentors, organising of the training of trainers event (I.e., training the mentors that will eventually offer training to living lab applicants) webinars and gathering and handling Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) documents and FAQ by mentors and applicants. Content for webinars on soil health and living labs, have been created and presented by the NATI00NS partners who also produced the slides for the National Engagement Events – another NATIOONS activity belonging to another work package, which will be described in its own deliverable.

Additionally, a senior officer from the Aarhus University’s Research Support Office, with great experience in providing support for framework programme applicants, provided webinar attendants with important guidance on application practices.

The Capacity Building (CB) efforts plays a pivotal role in the NATI00NS project, to ensure the success of the Mission. Its main objective is to guarantee the submission of high-quality applications for the first two sets of topics aimed at establishing Living Labs (LLs) in 2023 and 2024. These efforts are led by the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) as part of Work Package 4, "Supporting Proposal Applicants." NATI00NS’ Capacity Building brings together a comprehensive range of essential training and guidance activities tailored specifically for applicants interested in the LL topics related to the Mission. At its core, Capacity Building provides online support materials for stakeholders involved in the Mission. These materials include a series of e-learning resources, such as Factsheets and recorded webinars, offering information about the criteria governing Soil Health LLs and the objectives of the Missions within the context of various land use types. Thisinitiative sets the stage for prospective LL applicants in the future.