LOST2 is a further development of a previous KA2 project entitled “LOST – Learning Opportunities, inStruments and Investigation Techniques to fight the growing phenomenon of Missing People in Europe”, which was considered in 2017 as best practice among Strategic Partnership Erasmus+ funded projects under VET sector & Inclusion and diversity priority. 

From the results of LOST project, it clearly emerged in the countries of the European Union (EU) the following the need for creating an international/European general system for the search of missing people to fight the phenomenon. There is also a lack of a real qualification in terms of standards of competence, knowledge and skills in relation to a professional dealing with the search of missing persons. These competencies are commonly considered to be the same as those of other categories of the investigation area, such as police forces, firefighters, private investigators, lawyers, criminologists, so there is a need to clearly define the areas of competence and the role of the professional working in the area also in relation to the reference national regulatory system, law enforcement procedures and volunteer organisations providing support services to families. 

Thus, LOST2 partners will work on a new qualification focused on the professional profile created in LOST project while addressing all above-mentioned needs, and foster the recognition of such qualification by EU countries, facilitating the certification of skills acquired through non-formal and informal learning contexts.  

LOST2 aims at achieving the following specific objectives: 

• Giving visibility and transparency at national and EU level to the professional figure proposed in the LOST project (Consultant in Information Analysis and Research of Missing Persons), by means of a recognition of shared training standards and the possibility of recognising and enhancing the competencies obtained in a formal, informal and non-formal manner; 
• Analysing, sharing, enriching and defining the qualification proposed in the previous project; 
• Preparing a consistent documentation with the European standards of representation of professions and qualifications in order to make national/local Authorities able to proceed with the verification, validation & recognition of the related learning; 
• Laying the foundations for a future equivalence of the qualification in Europe through the standards required by recent European guidelines provided by the last Council Recommendation capable of providing a valid certification for all EU; 
• Expanding employment opportunities of these professional figures, by guaranteeing the usability of the qualification and its transferability into all EU countries. 

Focused on partners’ technical operators and VET trainers, VET providers interested in improving their training supply, members of police forces and police officers, national authorities with competences in verifying, validating and recognising professional profiles, qualifications and ESCO and on members of Missing People associations supporting families and helping law enforcement services and public institutions, LOST2 project contributes to the definition of a new “European Vocational Core profile” with the aim of defining a high level of common training content at EU level, improving the search system to cope with the growing phenomenon of missing people in Europe.

Coordinator:  

• ARLAB Agenzia Regionale LAB – Lavoro e Apprendimento Basilicata (IT) 

Full Partners: 

• SIULP Union of Italian Workers Unitary Police (IT) 

• OMNIS (IT) 
• EUROMASC (NO) 
• Asociacion Sosdesaparecidos (ES) 
• EfVET European Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (BE) 
• The Smile of the Child (EL) 

• P-Consulting (EL) 
• APCD Associação Portuguesa de Crianças Desaparecidas (PT) 

Duration:  01/12/2022 – 31/05/2025 

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