Abstract:

In these uncertain times we are living in, it is increasingly necessary to be resilient in order to face extraordinary situations, adapt and recover efficiently. From a business point of view, enterprises have been particularly affected by different recent events such as COVID-19, wars, among others, which have threatened their business continuity. With the aim of supporting organisations to manage emerging threats and guarantee business continuity, the CONTINUITY project arises. This project: “Business Continuity Managers Training Platform” belongs to the ERASMUS + programme, specifically to the action: KA220-VET - cooperation partnerships in vocational education and training, with a duration of 24 months. The general objective of CONTINUITY is to create an appropriate vocational education and training, horizontal to all sectors and independent from the geographical and political context, intrinsically transnational, able to train the business continuity manager as a professional figure with an in-depth knowledge of business continuity issues and related governance frameworks, best-practices and protocols.

The training programme of CONTINUITY will promote interactive peer activities with a mix of vocational job skills in digital transitions, combining informal learning (daily life activities and not structured as learning objectives, timing or resources) and non-formal (planned activities not designed as learning). To spark target groups curiosity and awareness about real-world problems, CONTINUITY will promote work-based learning opportunities: experience in the enterprises labour market, application to their industrial reality and mobility with online and face-to-face workshops.

The training programme consists of 5 modules:
(i) organisational resilience;
(ii) business continuity;
(iii) crisis management;
(iv) supply chain resilience; and
(v) cyber resilience.

All these modules will be integrated into the online training platform. Thus, the aim of this article is to describe, in detail, the activities performed to develop the first of the modules and the resulting learning resources developed focused on organisational resilience, to contribute to raising awareness on resilience and to encourage target groups to implement preparedness and recovery plans.

Keywords:

Organisational resilience, business continuity, vocational education and training, ERASMUS +, online training platform.