The EU Food Security Hub project concludes with a meeting in El Prat with fifty attendees

The event served to present the project’s training materials and to share the challenges and solutions identified to guarantee the right to food.

The European project EU Food Security Hub, coordinated by the Welfare and Development Association – ABD Group, held its final conference in El Prat on Thursday, June 19 after two years of work.

The Deputy Mayor for Education, Culture and Social Action and Councilor for Culture of the City Council of El Prat de Llobregat, Anna Martín Cuello, opened the conference, highlighting the opportunity to share challenges and strategies and to create training frameworks “that help to break down limitations and to foster innovation”.

Maria Sais, as head of La Botiga del Prat and the EU Food Security Hub project on behalf of the ABD group, then presented the objectives and training materials developed to build innovative professional pathways that contribute to address food insecurity from a sustainable and socially inclusive approach.

Sharing experiences and challenges

The first roundtable featured the experiences of La Botiga, LAND Impresa Sociale and Agricultura pel Territori. They addressed the importance of standardized training for food projects and the learning generated in the framework of the project to identify and address challenges and shared experiences, as well as the possibility of broadening the view and questioning one’s own structures. Other participants who took part in the project exchanges highlighted the possibility of networking and learning from other contexts and applying this knowledge and experience in their own projects. Some demands or proposals were also shared, such as promoting interest in local products, promoting horizontal training and including the teams in the design, evaluation and review of training courses.

Co-creation of public policies

The second round table featured the coordinator of the Social Action, Education and Culture area of the City Council of El Prat de Llobregat, Arnau Funes; the head of the Support for Development and Innovation in Basic Social Services section of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Miguel Ángel Manzano; and the head of the Food Policy – Food Poverty Office of the Milan City Council, Lorenza Maria Sganzetta. The three, moderated by the director of the Poverty and Inclusion area of the ABD Group, Mònica Plana, debated on political advocacy, the links between public administration and organizations and the benefits of public-private cooperation. Some local examples of initiatives for food security were presented and the need and interest of citizens to get involved in sustainable food was highlighted, giving rise to possible initiatives of co-creation of public policies in this area. Also city strategies shared with the third sector, such as the project El Prat Alimenta, for quality food; or the inclusion of vulnerable people in food security projects and initiatives.

A guide to building inclusive food systems

In addition to the training materials, the day also served to disseminate the project’s policy recommendations contained in the European Guide: Building Inclusive Food Systems, presented by Eva Garcia from EQU. These recommendations are divided into X areas: food circularity, decent access, awareness and education, food governance and institutional anchoring. The aim is to inspire more cities to build strategic territorial alliances on food security.

The materials will soon be available on the project website.

Closing with demands

Dr. Claudia Rocío Magaña from GRITS and FARO of the University of Barcelona made the final presentation calling for a paradigm shift from the logic of aid to the logic of rights, the involvement of citizens and the construction of policies from practice. She appealed to continue building “food systems that nourish bodies, links and territories, present and future”.

For his side, the deputy mayor for Environmental Action and Urban Services of the City Council of El Prat, Joaquim Bartolomé, highlighted the efforts of the council to promote local products and care for the territory and pointed to the need to have committed political leaders who believe in the subject.

Field visits

The previous day, project partners were able to visit two local initiatives: Espaci creatiu Túria and Fundesplai. The first, located in the neighborhood of San Cosme del Prat de Llobregat, aims to be a center of cultural and community activity in the neighborhood. The second included a visit to El Prat facilities where the representatives of the partner organizations were able to discover the exhibition Make the most of food, throw away the minimum, about food waste.

About EU Food Security HUB

EU Food Security HUB aims to promote cooperation, knowledge sharing and the scaling up of best practices among organizations that promote food security and food sovereignty, while enhancing the development of professionals to improve the social inclusion of vulnerable groups of people.

EU Food Security HUB is funded by the Erasmus+ call and coordinated by the Welfare and Development Association – ABD Group, with partner organisations IASIS, LAND Impresa Sociale, Fondazione ACRA, Urgenci and EQU.