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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BOND (Bringing Organisations and Network Development to higher levels in the farming sector in Europe)

Teaser

Farmers and land managers play a key role in the environmental and economic sustainability of the farming sector in Europe. The way they organize and network, and their ability to combine individual and collective work, both mutually reinforcing, will critically influence the...

Summary

Farmers and land managers play a key role in the environmental and economic sustainability of the farming sector in Europe. The way they organize and network, and their ability to combine individual and collective work, both mutually reinforcing, will critically influence the future of Europe’s foods and landscapes. The aim of this project is to reach higher levels of organisation and networking, and develop a healthier, and more productive and harmonious farming sector in Europe for the long term. Within this perspective, BOND’s general objective is to directly contribute to unleash, strengthen, and organise, the great potential for collective action and networking of individuals, groups and entities of farmers and land managers in selected countries across Europe, with a view to creating strong, dynamic and effective organizations that have a voice and a place in policy design.
This will be achieved through a series of specific objectives (SO) as follows:
SO1: Draw up solutions and build bonding capital within farmer and land manager groups, ensuring cohesiveness and trust among people
SO2: Enable different organizations to come closer together, building bridging capital to form larger networks (value chains, cooperatives, apex bodies), understanding attitudes, weaknesses and constraints that impede collective action.
SO3: Build linking capital, developing ties with entities with different interests and powers, including government, donors, academia, private sector, to reach a stronger position in decision-making
SO4: Engage multi actors and policy makers.

Work performed

\"All activities were performed as per project plan. During the first part of the project “Learning from Success”, focusing on building bonding capital, the following was achieved: 60 farmer representatives, coming from farmer networks and organisations extending throughout Europe were selected. They came from 22 different countries, and 52 % were women. Six study tours in six countries (Netherlands, Norway, France, Italy, Spain and the UK) were organised for 5 days each, with 10 representatives per country, to visit best practice and explore successful case studies illustrative of collective action. Twenty of these were retained as best practice, and the BOND repository on the BOND website includes now 20 case studies of collective action that were presented during the study tours. In September 2018, 81 people participating in BOND activities gathered in Cordoba for the project International Forum, to share learnings and lay the ground forward for the next BOND activities. The 2-day Forum was followed by a 4-day Training-of-Trainer course on collective action organised and led by FAO, and attended by 20 representatives from 14 countries, 16 of which in the age range of 25 to 39 years old. The programme provided tools and concepts on collective action and practice and resulted in 20 Plans of Action to be implemented in the countries of the trainees. Under the second part of the project: “Overcoming Constraints”, focusing on building bridging capital, a participatory methodology was designed and tested to provide the tools and methods to analyse major constraints to collective action in the different countries and organisations, and to create bonding and bridging within the groups. It developed two techniques to build a reflexive diagnosis, and a social map of the actors involved and was tested and applied in different countries and contexts.
Under the Dissemination and Communication section of the project, a detailed dissemination strategy was developed and implemented, and a BOND web portal developed and published. The portal includes a description of the project, the news and BOND events, a documents and materials page with material for capacity building, a description of the \"\"Gamification\"\" methods, a repository of case studies and data on the main barriers and constraints with the outcomes of the different BOND activities. Under Communication, a BOND identity was created and material to foster social capital was developed with a logo and own identity designed specifically for the project. The material includes official templates, and brochures. Posters and roll-ups were also prepared and made available for the major BOND events, meetings and workshops. In addition, the project produced 20 practice abstracts that have been incorporated in the EIP-AGRI platform.
The 1st Project meeting was held in November 2017 in Brussels, the 2nd in May 2018 in Rome, the 3rd in October 2018 in Coventry and the 4th in April 2019 in Szentendre. A Data Management Plan was prepared and used by the project.
The first Social Impact Assessment was done during the months of January to April 2019. The Social Impact Assessment Report describes in detail the achievements of the project in terms of the social impact of the different BOND activities on the life of the representatives. A specific questionnaire was designed for the SIA, and the results of the evaluation questionnaires of BOND activities were also used. One-to-one open interviews completed the information with direct conversations with the principal end-users of the project. In summary the feedback indicates that BOND has changed attitudes quite significantly with relation to collective action and “working together”. Feedback on study tours indicate an increased understanding of the economic and social benefits of cooperation, the value of sharing visions, knowledge and experience and the learnings around ways of marketing, of group ownership, of democratic processes, as well\"

Final results

SO Key Performance Indicators Completion
SO1: The identification of the most relevant 20 case studies providing solutions for collective action, and a repository of good practices. 60 farmer and land manager leaders documenting and sharing with peers best practice after experiencing solutions with fellow partners in 6 European countries. A range of key stakeholders (consumers, NGOs, businesses, policy makers, landscape designers) engaged in the process of collective action with farmers and land managers. 20 farmers, after having followed the Training of Trainers (ToT) capacity building sessions, able to train groups and individuals in their respective countries. A series of plans of action in different farming and environmental sectors developed by the groups participating in the interregional forum. Additional 9 farmers have been trained on playful methods and ToT.
SO2: A methodology co-produced between farmers and academia to analyse attitudes, weaknesses and constraints to collective action.
SO4: Web Portal with BOND results (including tools and methods to foster social capital).

Website & more info

More info: http://www.bondproject.eu/.