The overall objective of this multi-actor, participatory project is to facilitate the use and increase the value of Neglected and Underutilised Crops (NUCs) in food chains to foster healthier diets and more sustainable food systems. To achieve this, DIVINFOOD will focus on interactive short and mid-tier value chains that can meet the growing consumer demand for: 1) healthy plant-based food; 2) products with a local/regional identity, and 3) diverse services and benefits received from agriculture and food. DIVINFOOD will study minor cereals and legumes in 3 geographical regions that face various climatic hazards and diverse socio-economic challenges to developing agrobiodiversity-rich value chains. DIVINFOOD will: - Co-develop, with consumers, new interactive marketing modes and channels valuing biodiversity use and its services/benefits, with the support of participatory guarantee systems and digital tools - Co-produce new and diversified plant-based healthy and appetising products and recipes from NUCs meeting consumers’ needs, from minimal or mild food processing and formulations better expressing NUCs’ potential - Benchmark diverse agroecological farming systems and techniques that improve NUCs’ performance, inter-specific biodiversity and the provision of citizen-focused agro-socio-ecosystem services - Breed more performant cultivars of cereals and legumes with local adaptation, intra-specific biodiversity, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, and potentiating nutritious and appetising food - Demonstrate new business models that diversify income and activities for farmers and small-scale processors who are using agrobiodiversity - Co-design pilot multi-actor territorial networks/social cooperatives in charge of managing, propagating and promoting NUCs. Design policy recommendations to promote their replication - Disseminate the results to relevant stakeholders to optimise their exploitation

The project „Food&More” is a strategic partnership of four partners to design a European education programme for food consumer-citizens and disseminate it on local, national and European levels. The four partners are Tudatos Vásárlók Egyesülete (TVE, coordinator, Hungary), Asociace Mistnich Potravinovych Iniciativ (AMPI, Czech Republic) and Fundacja Ekorozwoju (FER, Poland) and the international network Urgenci (based in France).The implementation of “sustainable consumption and production” (SPC) as an integrated approach helps to achieve overall development plans, reduce future economic, environmental and social costs, strengthen economic competitiveness and reduce poverty. (UNEP EN, ABC for SCP, 2010). Food&More contributes to the achievement of these goals by the development of a non-formal educational programme for consumer-citizens, focusing on one key topic of SPC: food. The food we produce and consume has a significant impact on the environment. (EC’s EIPRO report, 2006). The sources of our needs analysis were the experience from directly working with food communities for more than a decade, annual survey of these active communities, in 2018 all partners actively participated in the European in-depth research of the financial sustainability and management coordination of solidarity based food systems. The European survey covered all partner countries, thus the results are representative to all partners (questionnaires filled in by 503 food citizens and farmers). The conclusion of the European Survey is that there is a strong, explicit need for more consumer participation in the management of food communities. Therefore in a consultative process we developed the Food&More project that is focused on the education of the most active consumer-citizens, so called food citizens. The training will equip them with knowledge from peers and trainers, skills, tools and motivation to enhance democratic participation in their communities. This way the food communities will operate in a more participatory way and become more sustainable, but this will not bring extra burden on the farmer.Our project is a non-formal educational programme which takes advantage of online learning. The project has three main pillars. I) To design a European core training programme for food citizens by 1) elaborating a participatory training programme with supporting tools, 2) to build capacity of staff and trainers in non-formal training methods and by 3) to run, evaluate, verify and improve the core programme (O1). II) To equip food citizens with educational methods and tools which can be applied in their food communities (O2-3) with 2) offering a mentorship system (O4) and also with 3) aiming to educate consumers about food citizenship (O2). III) To assure the dissemination and the accessibility of Food&More by 1) engaging key food citizens in the testing, verification and evaluation , 2) make the training program accessible on European level and with 3) building new alliances on local and international level for the long term sustainability of Food&More.Project partners line up several innovative elements in addition the specific content. The participatory methodology is supported with a specific mentorship system which will help staff and trainers of the project and also food citizens in carrying out community based education in their food communities. Partner organisations prioritize digital tools and OER, educational tools which will be published in most cases with Creative Commons (cc) licence which provides free, easy-to-use copyright license to share and use the chosen resources.During the project period, 1) a community based training programme will be elaborated with supporting tools (trainers guide and booklet), 2) 1 short term joint staff training event and 9 test training events will be organised with the participation of 116 adult learners, 3) a complex educational toolkit and an e-learning platform and a mentorship system will be organised for food citizens 4) 3 national and one Central-Eastern European Multiplier event will be organised. Partners plan to involve at least 25 participants with fewer opportunities into the elaboration and testing of Food&More. Partners will address allies, organise meetings with decision-makers and experts through dissemination activities, as well as disseminate the results to the wider audience reaching 32 European countries and thousands of people. Altogether, 1,7 million people will be addressed with the project. The learner based methodology of Food&More will contribute to the successful operation of food communities, the improvement of key competences and transversal skills of food citizens an on long term to the spread of SCP and locally working democratic communities in Europe.

The project “Solid Base - Financial Sustainability Education for Solidarity-Based Food Systems” is a strategic partnership of five partners to design a European core training programme and disseminate it on local, national and European level. The partners are Tudatos Vásárlók Egyesülete, (coordinator, Hungary), Asociace místních potravinových iniciativ (Czech Republic), Netzwerk Solidarische Landwirtschaft (Germany), the international network, Urgenci (based in France) and Forschungsgesellschaft die Agronauten e.V. (Germany). Rural areas of the EU facing several challenges. Rural people are more at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the majority of EU Member States (Europe 2020 indicators, 2014). The Solid base project addresses these challenges with a non-formal educational programme which contributes to the long-term financial sustainability of Solidarity-based food systems (SFSs). The purpose of the project is strongly connected to the objectives Europe 2020 Strategy which emphasises smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and highlight poverty reduction as a key policy component. SFSs are a form of short food supply chains which are based on social solidarity economy (SSE). Solidarity-based economic units rest upon a model of democratic decision-making and a participatory management system. SFSs are often produce organically, they are excellent examples of climate-friendly agriculture, thus they can provide nutritious food with less ecological impact and higher social benefits. SFSs connect small-scale farmers from rural areas directly with consumers from cities through the majority of researched schemes increasing social contact between people, a sense of community, trust and co-operation.The objectives of the Solid Base educational programme are the following: 1) designing a European core training programme on SFSs in 4 modules, 2) elaborating supporting educational tools, and 3) test, evaluate and improve the core programme and used tools. To assure the dissemination partners plan to 1) build capacity of staff, trainers and multiplicators (engaged volunteers), 2) make the educational programme accessible on European level and 3) build new alliances on local and international level in order to ensure the long term sustainability of the project. Topics of Solid base were identified by the needs of the adult learners which showed that for entrepreneurial education of SFSs not only financial and management related knowledge are required, but also those transversal and soft skills which could strengthen the solidarity and community based operation (Topics of the modules: 1. Management of SFSs, 2. Financial and business planning of SFSs, 3. Digital tools for SFSs, 4. Participatory inclusion techniques).During the project an easy-to-use IT tool will be developed (O2) which provides features in budget planning and consumer management. Specific innovative education methods (e.g. peer to peer learning, hackathon) will ensure that the primary target groups of the project will be able to improve the above mentioned skills through personal and practical learning.The evaluation process showed that adult learners would be especially interested for an educational programme which provides practical entrepreneurial knowledge not only for farmers but for their consumers, who actively participate in the management of these initiatives. So the main target groups of the project are: 1) adult learners (active farmers and consumers of SFSs); 2) multiplicators (volunteers of the partner organisations who will disseminate the project results in their local networks); 3) staff and trainers of the project partners; 4) Decision-makers and experts, 5) allies and 6) general public.During the project period, 1) a modular training programme will be developed with supporting tools (Guide for trainers, IT tool and Booklet), 2) 12 test training events will be organized in 3 countries, with the participation of 160 adult learners – 40 of them will be participants with fewer opportunities; 3) 3 national and a European multiplier event will be organised. Through dissemination, partners will address allies, organise meetings with decision-makers and experts, as well as disseminate the results to the wider audience reaching 32 European countries and thousands of people (at least 400 000). Altogether, about 4000 people will benefit from the project results indirectly.The share of rural people participating in life-long learning activities remained disappointingly slow in the project countries (CZ: 10%, GE: 8%), or even declined (FR: 5,7%, HU: 2,8%) (Rural Development in the EU Statistical and Economic Information Report 2013). Our project is an opportunity for them. Stakeholders of SFSs will acquire those entrepreneurial and soft skills which are needed for the building of financially sustainable social enterprises in rural regions in Europe.

There is broad consensus that the way we produce and consume our food urgently needs to change in order to deliver on the sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Agenda 2030 and address global challenges including climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty, and deteriorating health. But overall the central question still remains: how to make food systems more sustainable? The Education Towards the Creation of Alternative Food Networks project (EATingCRAFT) tries to address this question by designing an innovative and high-quality training programme focusing on up-skilling adult learners interested in building alternative food networks which ensure benefits for their local communities.Around the globe, organic farmers, consumers and facilitating organisations have been developing different innovations aiming at building local food systems based on solidarity and participation such as Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiatives. PGS and CSA are similar in their overall objectives of improving livelihoods of organic producers and increasing access to safe and nutritious food for consumers.Both PGS and CSA enhance transparent and shared decision-making processes, prioritizings a solidarity-based approach where the responsibilities for implementing sustainable agriculture practices are shared by the community.Funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, the project is built on a strategic partnership between seven European organisations involved in sustainable food production and consumption. The partners are IFOAM – Organics International (global), Nature et Progrès (France), the Association of Conscious Consumers – ACC-TVE (Hungary) PRO-BIO Liga (Czech Republic), MIRAMAP (France), Agroecopolis (Greece) and the International CSA Network URGENCI. The 2-year project (2017-2019) has produced a training programme on PGS and synergies with CSA articulated in 4 modules, along with a toolkit is published online on the project’s website. Each module was tested in three European countries: Czech Republic, Hungary and Greece. The project has been successful in creating in these country the tools and the capacity necessary to set up pilot PGS initiatives.During this project, partner organisations have researched the synergies between PGS and CSA systems. On one side, we discovered that PGS can contribute to the CSA approach in many ways, especially by offering a system to ensure quality and a continued improvement of practices. On the other side, we will showcase examples of how CSA can inspire PGS in building a robust solidarity economy and cultivate relationships between producers and consumers creating string and heathy local food systems. This project is also an opportunity to create a network of European PGS initiatives and likeminded organisations, which can learn and share local experiences and challenges at international level.

The project “Be part of CSA! - European Participatory Training Programme for Community Supported Agriculture” was a strategic partnership between 2014-16 of four partners to design a European core training programme and disseminate it on local, national and European level. The partners were the Association of Conscious Consumers, (co-ordinator, Hungary), PRO-BIO Liga (Czech Republic), CRIES (Romania) and the international network, URGENCI (based in France). The subject of our educational programme is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). A form of short food supply chain, where both consumers and farmers make long term commitments and share risks. Often producing organically, the ecological footprint of CSA is smaller than that of intensive agriculture. CSA is one of the best examples of sustainable food production and consumption practices. Based its innovative sustainability, business and organizational solutions, the CSA contributes to the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy: the EU becomes a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy. For example these partnerships ensure farmers a secure income and support the rural economy. CSA means market opportunities for small-scale farmers who are otherwise too small for local markets. Fostering local food demand also contributes to local employment.Thanks to the successful cooperation, the Be part of CSA! project facilitated the spread of CSA initiatives in Europe by providing knowledge, skills and competences to local communities. The three major pillars of the project were the following: I) To design a European core training program on CSA by 1) elaborating a modular training, by 2) elaborating supporting educational materials and by 3) running, evaluating and improving the core program. II) To assure the dissemination and the accessibility of the training program to various communities by 1) building expert capacity for staff and multipliers (volunteers of the partner organisations who disseminates the project results in their local networks) and 2) make the training program accessible on the European level. III) For the long term sustainability of the training program, partners will build new alliances on local and international level.Our project followed the Erasmus+ priorities. It supported the development of new innovative approaches. The Be part of CSA! project provided an innovative European informal and non-formal training program of 4 modules (1. Theoretical background of and practice on CSA, 2. Starting a CSA initiative, 3. Maintaining a CSA initiative and 4. Field training). The modularity was essential: allowed flexible participation for individual learners, free pass between modules and the combination of contents. It also allowed tailoring the training to the exact needs of the target groups and the participation both for the knowledgeable and for the beginners. Informal and non-formal peer learning methods of the educational programme ensured the learner-focused methodology that empowers and teaches adult learners to make commitments and form/maintain CSA communities for the sake of sustainability.The modules were built upon the advantages of the most progressive education methods, such as edutainment, films, drama pedagogy, peer learning, advanced visual methods (e.g. infographics) and on cross sectorial knowledge sharing.The target groups of the project was 1) adult learners including present or future members of CSA communities: farmers, consumers, volunteers, facilitators etc.; 2) multiplicators; 3) staff and trainers of the project partners; 4) media; 5) general public; 6) decision-makers and experts and 7) allies. During the project period, 1) four training events was organised in 3 countries, with the participation of 233 adult learners; 2) education content and supporting training materials were improved and tested with the target audience (such as training plans, booklets for adult learners, guide for trainers, short film, crop planner ICT application, visual materials) and 3) an European multiplier event was organised. Through dissemination, partners addressed allies, organised meetings with decision-makers and experts, as well as disseminated the results to the wider audience reaching 32 European countries and 2 932 175 people. The learner based methodology contributed in short term to the deeper understanding of the concept of CSA, provided target groups with transversal skills and facilitated the promotion of the training programme. The dissemination and post-project use of the project results were contributed to the emergence of strong, community based local enterprises in rural regions of Europe. As a result of the international cooperation and the training programme 13 new CSA communities started in Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania and at least 5 new cooperation and 4 new projects formed.