Project idea database

EDUCATIONAL FARMS: methodologies for the valorisation of urban-rural approaches for school-age urban residents.

Created

03 September 2010

Last update

03 September 2010

Project idea owner
Institution
Country

Manuela Gandini
Provincia di Alessandria
Italy

General aim of the Project

The purpose of the project aims at more balanced territorial development through improved urban-regional cooperation, in which strategic, economic and social development between cities and their rural areas are mutually enhanced. In a nutshell, an Educational Farm (EF) aims to provide children of school age living in urban areas with a “jump” into the countryside, where they can get closer to a natural environment, learn about healthy nutrition, or approach farm animals which they have never seen before face to face. However, achieving these objectives means drawing up a well-designed program which totally integrates specific learning pathways and physical activities, to be approved by a government observer. The Province of Alessandria (Piedmont Region IT) with its wide network of Educational Farms, 78 precisely, could contribute to promoting interregional cooperation through, for example, exchange of experience and knowledge with partners eligible under the CE Programme. The Province of AL has long experience in planning European calls, and is currently lead partner in the INARMA project, approved in the second CE call. In particular EFs should: 1. RAISE THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF RURAL AREAS One of the main tasks of the project is to make school-age urban residents conscious of the importance of the preservation of rural areas, followed by their development as centres of typical local production, or as a container for all the local traditions and customs. 2. PROMOTE FOOD SAFETY EDUCATION EFs may be considered as one of the components which implements a policy of education for food quality. To achieve this objective, the visit of hundreds of children (6 -11 y.o.) per year through a network of EFs is a way to highlight organic farming and the consumption of safe typical local products, which contribute to reduce the negative side effects of food transport. The choice of some Local Authorities to create legislative instruments to encourage the adoption of correct eating habits assigns to the EF the role of a reliable “school teacher” for the visitors in accordance with the Food Safety Education Campaign launched by the European Commission in 2000-01. 3. REINFORCE SOCIAL INCLUSIVENESS The scheduled visits of pupils to the EF network enhances integration between the different subcultures of society. 4. CONTRIBUTE TO REBALANCE THE PSYCHOLOGY OF YOUNG PEOPLE This side concerns the cognitive and intellectual growth of those who are born and brought up far from the rural context. Children and adolescents brought up with urban habits are completely unrelated to all those practices, typical of the countryside, which if properly experienced help them to maintain a balanced relationship between man and nature. In some cases, the mere observation of rural work on the part of urban pupils would be sufficient to better understand how the natural environment should be correctly handled. However, direct involvement would be much more desirable, since it would stimulate a greater degree of internalization in the adolescent psyche. It would thus make a change, both of the conceptual roots, and of data from experience, through which each of us usually makes sense of the “real” world. This intellectual modification mostly affects the teenager, because it is diametrically opposed to the omnipresent media so familiar to them, in which "everything is possible" and anything can easily be had. TYPE OF ACTIONS Preliminary actions 1. To make an accurate survey of the Educational Farms settled in specific territorial areas (number, specialization, type of service); 2. To build up a local network between Educational Farms and primary schools and other stakeholders localized inside a Local territorial Authority (Province, District or Region); 3. To draw up a common “quality chart” Intermediary actions 1. To set up training courses for EF owners and school operators, teaching the basic requirements both in the management of these activities and in assisting children properly (i.e. introduction to safe food habits, the correct approach to a child's mental dimension, and prevention of potential danger during the visit); 2. To highlight the significance of this project through meetings and seminars in every school district of the territory, to familiarize school operators and parents with the social function of EFs; 3. To initiate pilot actions in justified cases (Partners in the start-up phase of an EF if they prepare for subsequent large-scale investment); Final actions 1. To increase public demand to visit EFs through the adoption of means such as the setting up of websites and contracting cheap prices for bus transport. PRIORITY AND AREA OF INTERVENTION P4.1 Developing Polycentric Settlement Structure and Territorial Cooperation. Refer to franco.gavio@provincia.alessandria.it and manuela.gandini@provincia.alessandria.it

Expected results
(either quantifiable or tangible)

As to point No. 1 – “Raise the economic value of rural areas” - the rural territory should attain “value” in economic terms. A “valued” territory affects not only the pricing of local products (PDO and PGI) positively, but can also, through its singularity, be defined as an "exclusive territory" in global competition (GLOCAL) and thus more marketable internationally. Secondly, EFs aim to improve rural investments in terms of local social cohesion, causing a positive reallocation of resources from the urban areas to the countryside around. As far as point No. 2 is concerned – “Promote food safety education” - the promotion of a food safety education should lead children living in urban areas to a more balanced relation between food safety and physical well-being in order to counterbalance invasive media advertising which prompts the average child consumer to choose food items whose quality and nutrient contents are often unfit for a safe diet. These initiatives are in line with Commission Regulation (EC) No 657/2008 of 10 July 2008, laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 concerning Community aid for supplying milk and certain milk products to pupils in educational establishments, and the Working document for managing the EU School Fruit Scheme edited 8th April 2009. Regarding point No. 3 – “Reinforce social inclusiveness” - an educational farm is a tangible place where young urban residents can establish ties with people living in the countryside. Different ways of living and thinking could lead to reciprocal comprehension; exchange of knowledge and techniques and a comparison between styles and values reduce social differences.

Estimated total cost
(€ if known)

To be defined

Estimated project duration
(in months)

36 months

Partners involved at this stage

Płock District – Poland

Further partners requested

Public Local Authorities exclusively

Partners' benefits

Since the differing levels of rural development among European countries match the differing stages of development of an EF network, the methodology of the project will be designed to implement first of all a joint strategy/action; secondly to transfer good practises and past experiences from advanced partners to those starting out.

What is innovative

The intervention in food safety educational aspects for pupils/children 6-11 y.o. results in a future more consciousness adult people able to choose a better feeding way for themselves and for the subsequent generations.

Follow-up project of

No

Other funding Programme

No