Introduction
“We need a doctor twice a year, we may need a defence attorney once in our lives, but we need a farmer every day of our lives”.
This omnipresence of farmers in our lives is largely unappreciated and undervalued by the various players in the food production system. With obstacles inherent to the job, from labour demands, low pay and insufficient profit margins to commercial and environmental pressures, farmers, the backbone of the European food production system, are constantly put to the test to ensure food safety and security even with these daily constraints.
Driven by these factors, the COCOREADO project was designed to rebalance the position of the farmer as an individual actor, as a key player in innovative food supply chains, and as a supplier for public procurement, based on a multi-actor approach to maximise impact, relying on ambassadors, good practices, and a focus on youth.
Created as a holistic partnership involving academic partners, farmers and youth organisations from all over Europe, including Rural Youth Europe, this project stood out for connecting the main youth players, including young farmers, college students and youth movements, essentially through the creation of the COCOREADO Ambassador Training Programme and, consequently, the COCOREADO Ambassador Network, in which Rural Youth Europe members were represented.
Rural Youth Europe played a vital role in the creation of this COCOREADO Ambassadors Network, which currently has more than 40 ambassadors in 20 European countries. The project consortium, relying on Rural Youth Europe’s network capacity and outreach, developed this ambassadors’ network, in which Rural Youth Europe was involved from the outset: from defining the criteria for selecting ambassadors, to selecting ambassadors, to organizing 3 Ambassador Trainings, one led by Rural Youth Europe in Pamplona.
Outputs
Over the course of 3 years, Rural Youth Europe has made a specific contribution to the training of these 40 ambassadors, putting into practice various educational methodologies and incorporating the know-how and good practices of the organisation and its MOs into this project, thus representing the organization roughly 500,000 young members.
In addition, throughout the project the organisation has contributed to various tasks, including:
- the selection of good practices in the European context: UUDENMAAN RUOKA and WFC Lamb Initiative, regarding short supply chains.
- Communicating the project’s content through the promotion of the project on social networks, newsletters, the production of podcasts on Ambassador Trainings, Ambassador Networks, events such as policy workshops, conferences, among others, as well as organization of dissemination events and activities.
- Co-creation of Policy briefs, namely the one regarding “Empowering young citizens involvement in transition towards sustainable food systems”; the Food System Innovator toolkit; Educational materials; Replicability roadmaps and Decision Support Systems, for both farmers and public procurement authorities.
- Organisation of Policy Workshops with policymakers of EU level organisations, such as DG AGRI.
The Food System innovator toolkit, stands out, as it is a very comprehensive and complete document highlighting the developing of networks, communication through different streams and actors, including engaging with policy, as well as enhancing the developing an idea into a business. The full range of materials produced by COCOREADO can be consulted on the project’s website and are available to be used in various contexts by the Rural Youth Europe’s member organisations.
Final Considerations
Certainly, this project largely achieved its goal and provided a unique opportunity for Rural Youth Europe to show all its added value as a youth organisation in the context of European projects, as a valuable, competent and relevant partner.
It should also be noted that the organisation itself has benefited from this project, in the sense that it has seen its structure grow in the last three years, thus promoting stability for future strategic planning work that will ensure the viability and growth of the organisation over time, making Rural Youth Europe increasingly relevant as a reliable partner at the EU level on rural youth matters.
Listen to the final COCOREADO podcast special here. Dan chats to COCOREADO ambassador Peter Schön about his COCOREADO experience, how it has impacted his farming business and his hopes for the future of the project.