The Summer School will present the concept of Schools as Living Labs. Living labs are user-centred, open innovation ecosystems based on a systematic user co-creation approach integrating research and innovation processes in real life communities and settings. We engage the living lab methodology as a technique of crucial value in the heart of initiatives of open schools, which, in cooperation with other stakeholders, aspire to become agents of community well-being by creating new partnerships in their local communities.

The summer school builds the synergy of open schooling and the living labs methodology by working on the theme of the food system, which is linked to a very topical challenge faced by humanity, of huge societal, environmental and economic importance, as well as of direct relevance to science education and to ambitious current policy making at the European level (FOOD 2030 agenda).

The European Commission’s Expert Group working on FOOD 2030 conceptualizes the food system as incorporating ‘all elements and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution, preparation and consumption of food, as well as its disposal. This includes the environment, people, processes, infrastructure, institutions and the effects of their activities on our society, economy, landscapes and climates’. Further, understanding citizen science and food citizenship is a rather key element that will be introduced. 

Objectives

The “Schools as sites for Food System Transformation” Summer School 2022 aims to explore and introduce innovative practices and approaches (living-lab methodology) for overcoming the growing divide between consumption and food knowledge by engaging schools in (re-)connecting young people with the land. With the goal to better connect schools to current research and the societal needs of the communities they live in; the Food Systems theme will act as the ideal testbed under which the Living Lab projects will be set up as an aspect that concerns all communities.

Methodology

The school utilizes the cooperation and interaction of community members by providing learning and information opportunities on the extremely important nutrition issues for tomorrow’s responsible citizens. Selected innovative projects and actions at national and European level will be presented by food system actors on which educators in collaboration with them will be invited not only to collaborate to further implement/accelerate the relevant food system innovations.

Hands-on learning opportunities, such as the cultivation of school gardens, interdisciplinary projects on the topic of the food and nutrition system, entrepreneurship initiatives, but also actions, such as the prevention of food waste and the proper management of waste within the school and beyond it will be introduced. Finally, activities will be designed following an inclusive approach based on the Universal Design for Learning principles.

Preparation

To ensure the proper preparation for the training course an online platform will act as a main hub of communication and for sharing and distributing preparatory material with the participants. Through this platform the participants will have access to all materials necessary for their preparation (suggested reading, digital tools, relevant websites, guidelines and support material etc.) and a common workspace. Moreover, all the information regarding the training course such as the course description, the programme, travelling and accommodation guidelines will also be accessible through the website.

Participants will familiarise themselves with the training topics as well as the course methodology by accessing the relevant resources, materials and tools. At this point we would like to offer some ideas and guidelines for your preparation. The summer school will use the SALL portal as a tool to develop innovative projects that fit the needs of the society in the topic of the food system transformation. You might see the following resources/webinars:

• Schools as Living Labs: A Roadmap for Schools
• Introducing RRI Principles in your school projects

Follow-up, Recognition, Evaluation

At the end of the course, following the presentation of their work on the last day of the course, participants will receive a training certificate that confirms the successful completion of the course and its objectives.

As members of the FoodSHIFT2030 community participants will have access to support provided by the training team, and they will be able to communicate with other educators in European countries, who have a common interest, share their ideas and experience and collaborate in joint activities.

In order to assess whether, and to what extent, the course has reached its objectives and expected results the participants will have to answer, during and at the end of the course, a set of relevant questionnaires that will be provided by the course providers. The results of the questionnaires/survey or a so-called evaluation report will be available to all participants of the course.

Programme

The FoodSHIFT2030 Summer School programme will be announced soon.

Fees & Funding

Course fee

The course fee is 420€ (70€/per day) and fully within the funding opportunities of the Erasmus+ Programme. The course fee covers:

• Expert lecturers for lectures, seminars and workshops
• All materials and equipment needed for the course
• Participation in the social programme & excursions (e.g. Sunset and dinner at Cape Sounio, excursion to the Acropolis and visit to the Acropolis Museum and dinner in downtown Athens, traditional night and farewell dinner, etc.)

Subsistence & accommodation

The Summer School will be held at Golden Coast Hotel & Bungalows, an A-class/ 4-star sea-side hotel which stretches on the golden, sandy beach of the Marathon Bay, near the historic location of Marathon, at the outskirts of Athens.

We are happy to offer to all participants a single or double room with all-inclusive services (i.e. breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks and free of charge services for outdoors sports and recreational activities).

The costs for subsistence are also within the ceilings of the Erasmus+ programme for KA1 mobility actions.

Venue

The Summer School will be held at Golden Coast Hotel & Bungalows, an A-class/ 4-star sea-side hotel which stretches on the golden, sandy beach of the Marathon Bay, near the historic location of Marathon, at the outskirts of Athens. It is the area of Marathon, that has hosted since the times of myths when Theseus killed the terrible bull of Marathon, to the times of the Persian wars and the Battle of Marathon, further on to our days and the marathon race and Marathon Run, the emblematic symbol of man’s quest for freedom and the will to defend his most noble deeds which constitute the foundations of the Human civilization. The plethora of natural, historical sites and museums of the area reveal in all details this unique historical voyage. Participants are expected to arrive through the Athens International Airport, approximately 25 km (15,53 miles) distance from the hotel.

ERASMUS+ How to apply

School Heads and Teachers participation in the summer courses can be funded by the ERASMUS+ Programme.

In case your school or organization does not have the funds to cover the costs of your participation in the Summer School, there is another option: you can apply to be funded by the ERASMUS+ Programme. Please note that the Erasmus+ KA1 application can only be submitted by the school or the organization – no individual applications can be submitted.

What is ERASMUS+?

Erasmus+ is the European Commission’s Programme for education, training, youth, and sport for the period 2021-2027. As an integrated programme, Erasmus+ offers more opportunities for the mobility of learners and staff and cooperation across the education, training, and youth sectors and is easier to access than its predecessors, with simplified funding rules and a structure that aims to streamline the administration of the programme.

Erasmus+ Key Action 1 (KA1) provides a unique opportunity for teachers, headmasters, trainers, and other staff of educational institutions to participate in international training courses in different European countries. Schools, universities, vocational education and training, and adult education organizations are all eligible to receive full funding to attend courses under a KA1 mobility grant. The Erasmus+ KA1 grant covers all the costs to attend teacher training courses: including travel, subsistence, and course fee.

For up-to-date information about Erasmus+ please check the Programme’s website. Your school will need to apply to your country’s National Agency, who is also the one who will evaluate the proposal. Therefore, your National Agency is also a very good point to start for more information. Don’t forget to go through the New Programme Guide and you will have all you need to know.

The steps to apply for an Erasmus+ KA1 School Education Staff Mobility grant are:

1. Fill in the registration form to our Summer School with your details. This is an individual registration form, so if there are more than one participants from the same school, each one will have to submit a separate registration form. This way you have reserved a slot in the course in case your application for Erasmus+ funding is successful!
2. Register your school/organization here: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-esc/index/ , if not already registered.
3. Check the compliance with the programme criteria
4. Check the financial conditions
5. Fill in and submit the application form
6. Respect the deadline
7. Do not forget to inform us as soon as you get notified from your National Agency whether your grant application is accepted or rejected.

You can find all related information about submitting an Erasmus+ Application HERE.

Interested to participate in the FoodSHIFT2030 Summer School? We will be happy to guide you through the process! Please contact us at kriviou@[ea.gr] in case you need assistance and Register here!

Please note applications have now closed for this programme. Thanks for your interest.

The post Schools as sites for Food System Transformation: Summer School 2022 appeared first on FoodSHIFT 2030.

Earlier this month, we brought together speakers from Berlin, Ghent and Amsterdam to discuss how each of their food policy councils balance citizen engagement and political buy-in. One of the conversation’s recurring themes was how to get the structure of a council right in order to facilitate involvement from the community as well as ensure the decision-making process with the city government is transparent.

When thinking back on how the food policy council was originally set up, Lisa Haarhoff of Ernährungsrat Berlin (Berlin Food Policy Council) reflected that it needed to be both more dynamic and diverse. This has led them to adapt a sociocratic model (see webinar recording and slides for detail further down) which allows more participatory approaches that focus on dialogue, debate and consensus rather than voting.

“What would we do differently if we were to start again? We would pay more attention to structures that better and more effectively enable people to connect together and get involved. [Our new structure] helps us to be more flexible and react to the current climate.” Lisa Haarhoff of Ernährungsrat Berlin (Berlin Food Policy Council)

From the perspective of Arnold Arnold van der Valk, co-founder of the Amsterdam Food Council, the emphasis has been on shifting from “persons to practice” so that the functions of a council become embedded within the city. While there are many people motivated to transform the industrial food system to make it both more healthy and sustainable, there remains a need for more cooperation among institutions as well as reliable funding to sustain the time commitment that is needed to bring about lasting change.

“The elephant in the room… is funding.

We managed to get [the food policy council] going with almost full-time input of labour of two individuals. But you can’t keep the whole machine going with two people.” Arnold Arnold van der Valk, Amsterdam Food Council

In Ghent it has also taken time for trust to build between citizen collectives and the food council. For Maarten Crivits with Food Policy Council Ghent, he’s found that citizen participation can have a significant and positive impact on the city, but that it requires the council to take up issues that matter to the people. And when there are people who are funded to be involved, it is also important to ensure meaningful ways to participate for non-paid members as well.

“Gather interest around your goals. For instance, if you have a local food strategy with operational goals, do a survey, do interviews with the citizens and entrepreneurs of your city to see what kind of interest is there and use the energy of civil society, the energy that’s already there.” Maarten Crivits, Food Policy Council Ghent

Some of the key lessons from the discussion were best summarised at the end by our chair Beatrice Walthall from the Leibniz Centre for Agriculture Landscape Research (ZALF), who noted that although councils are still evolving in many cases, they also offer concrete ways for citizens to engage politically and instigate change in the food system.

“It’s a very dynamic field of action.

Things are emerging and growing, things are also collapsing because they didn’t work. But overall, we can see some new governance structures and modes emerging.

Communicate about the existence of food policy councils and communicate about the issues. Make people curious, it’s not just a theoretical dry way of lobbying. Food is a really active form of political engagement”, summarised Beatrice Walthall.

• Presentation Slides: available here!
• Take part in our innovation conference in Barcelona in October 
• Join our newsletter to stay in the know about future events (scroll down!)

The post Webinar key takeaways: Structuring food policy councils for citizen engagement appeared first on FoodSHIFT 2030.

These are critical moments to demonstrate how food system transformation needs to be a key aspect of addressing the climate and nature emergency. Our most recent webinar showcased the work of Glasgow and Barcelona to highlight how cities are taking this matter into their own hands.  

• Presentation slides: available here
• You can download the Q&A here!

Ben Reynolds, the webinar chair from Sustain, opened the discussion by emphasising how little food and farming had thus far featured in international and national commitments to tackling climate change, despite it contributing between a third and a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, cities have stepped up to the plate to devise their own strategic action plans, which we now seeing being translated into policy and practical change.  

The Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration is one such example, as Sofie Quist?from?Nourish Scotland outlined. The Declaration’s aim is to put food on the climate agenda before, during and beyond COP26, which is taking place in Glasgow, by inspiring ambitious local government-level action. It was written using inclusive language in order to enable wide participation among sub-national governments, with over 40 cities across five continents already having signed. City and local governments from around the world are invited to join the movement ahead of COP26 by signing the Declaration.   

“What we argue needs to be on the table at COP26 is a participatory whole food system approach, which cities are clear leaders on, in order to deliver effective food and climate change policies and planetary health,” Sofie Quist 

Riikka Gonzalez from Glasgow Food Policy Partnership shared how their city’s new 10-year food plan translates this declaration into concrete actions. The city has a thriving sector of over 200 community food projects, but also has high levels of income and healthy inequalities. Therefore, a participatory approach was key to the food plan’s development, with over 80 organisations taking part, and improving access to fresh, fair, healthy, affordable food was integral throughout. Launched in June, the plan has 76 actions divided between six themes, many of which address climate change, such as increasing land available for growing food in urban areas and sourcing more food from local and low-carbon producers to be used in public sector catering. Signing the Declaration and hosting COP26 has been a major catalyst for the city to step up its work, to lead by example and to secure political support. 

This year Barcelona is the World Sustainable Food Capital, a nomination stemming from the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP). Amaranta?Herrero?from?Pla?Estratègic?Metropolità?de Barcelona (PEMB) spoke about how the city is using their host status for the seventh MUFPP in October to ensure sustainable food is at the center of the political and social agenda throughout 2021 by running a host of events and working towards a 2030 Food Strategy. They have also helped launched the Barcelona World Sustainable Food Capital, a commitment and toolkit for cities related to the transformation of food systems in order to tackle the climate emergency. It includes a set of core indicators to demonstrate the positive impacts this will have for cities, citizens and the planet.  

Finally, Alessandra Schmidt from Fab Lab Barcelona, one of the nine FoodSHIFT Accelerator Labs (FAL), focused on how they use bottom-up approaches to build a bridge between food policy and citizens in the city. Barcelona has fostered an environment for food citizenship to flourish, with Fab Lab capitalising on this atmosphere by working with entrepreneurs to link food and tech, and to develop communities of practice in this area. Through their Food Tech 3.0 Acceleration Program they are accelerating ten initiatives, which will be driven equally by both society readiness as well as tech innovation. In addition, they are hosting a FoodSHIFT 2030 FAL showcase in Barcelona, within the Innovation Conference, on Monday 18 October focused on food system innovations, which will be a hybrid format of in person and digital access.    

“We have the political will, which is great, so how can we keep pushing forwards as a local actor towards this direction and participating in the decision-making at the table together,” Alessandra Schmidt.

Barcelona and Glasgow offer just two examples of the incredible work cities are doing to integrate policy and practical action around food and climate change, but there are many more leading the way. We look forward to the second half of 2021 bringing further attention to these issues and inspiring more people and place to get involved.     

• Encourage your city to sign the Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration 
• Take part in our innovation conference in Barcelona in October  
• Explore the work of the other FoodSHIFT 2030 Acceleration Labs 
• Join our newsletter to stay in the know about future webinars and events (scroll down!)

The post Webinar key takeaways: Getting food on the climate agenda appeared first on FoodSHIFT 2030.