Zoos are conservation, research and education centres, plus highly popular tourist attractions, throughout Europe. The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) alone represents 345 institutions, housing over 1.6 million animals and with an estimated 140 million visitors per year - making Zoos and Aquaria an important sector in the EU with 27% of EU citizens having visited an EAZA institutionin 2012. By ensuring that its member zoos and aquariums achieve and maintain the highest standards of care for the species they keep, zoos and aquariums (hereafter referred to as zoos) empower European citizens to learn about animal behaviour and welfare; and contribute to global biodiversity conservation goals; whilst contributing to local economies through their role as highly popular tourist attractions. Zoo keeper training opportunities vary greatly across Europe. Whilst in some countries standardised, formal qualifications are available to zoo keepers, for example, the Diploma in Management of Zoo and Aquarium Animals (DMZAA) in the United Kingdom, resources and standardised training opportunities are lacking in many countries, especially those who joined the EU in 2004 or later. This has resulted in a clear skills gap in professional zoo keeping in many EU member states. In these instances, zoo keeper training is reliant on the application of in-house identification of core zoo keeper skills and training, which lacks inter-institutional standardisation, a quantifiable measure of skills competency and implementation of best-practice. This often leads to limited capacity building within the role of the zoo keeper, barriers to mobility between institutions, compromised best-practice animal management and stilted progression in the value of the zoo as a place of conservation, research, education and as an economic contributor. The aim of this project is to develop and implement a sector-specific comprehensive and coherent Zoo Keeper Skills Competency Framework to meet the needs of the zoological tourist industry; incorporating skills from a range of relevant disciplines and available to all European zoos, bringing positive and long-lasting benefits through: - Building capacity within the role of the zoo keeper through implementation of vocational education and training (VET) via work-based learning (WBL); - Promoting progression in animal management standards, including animal welfare best-practice and as centres for conservation, research and education. - Facilitating labour mobility between zoos and have a positive effect on both employment opportunities and retention; - Professionalising the role of the zoo keeper to drive economic development, the value of zoos as modern tourist attractions and employers with high vocational opportunities.