The European Commission has recently launched a call for evidence on the initiative for a Quality Jobs Roadmap. The aim of the Roadmap is to promote quality jobs in the EU by supporting fair wages, high standards for health and safety, good working conditions, access to quality training and fair job transitions for workers and self-employed. ELCA took the chance in this call for evidence to emphasize on the importance of vocational training and life-long learning and to promote its ambition of realizing a European network of Centres of Vocational Excellence for landscape gardening.

ELCA has stated in its reaction: “The organization of the workforce is also one of the biggest challenges in the landscape garden sector throughout Europe. Companies in our sector, mainly small and medium sized, create and maintain the green and nature-based solutions that add to a better living climate, biodiversity and public health. The European Landscape Contractors Association, representing the landscape garden sector in 23 EU-member states, has marked supporting the organization of the workforce as one of the priorities on its agenda. Vocational training and lifelong learning are key to interest young people to come to work in our beautiful sector and to upskill our workers in their green career. ELCA has launched recently the ambition to initiate a European network of Centres of Vocational Excellence for landscape gardening. Aim is to create a strong cooperation on national level between the sector and vocational training organizations and to exchange on European level on best practices, innovative curricula and traineeships for students and workers. Also linked to EU-regulation, such as the Nature Restoration Regulation which has a visionary urban paragraph, ELCA has a clear view on how the sector should develop in the coming years and where opportunities for learning from each other and tailer made actions are possible. ELCA wants, from the sectorial landscape gardening perspective, take up this role.“

Regarding the Quality Jobs RoadMap, ELCA pleads for EU-support on sectorial capacity building to take up a European aligning role on vocational training and lifelong learning to skill and upskill the workforce. Our ambition for a European network of Centres of Vocational Excellence is described in a specific position paper that was attached to our reaction in this call for evidence.