Global Growing Project has kicked off!

KOPIN Malta, is partnering up with another nine NGOs from Europe and Africa in a project referred to as Global Growing, which is meant to mobilise support in Europe for actions against severe poverty and food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa. The project is led by the ICU, Istituto per la Cooperazione Universitaria Onlus and funded by the European Union. The parties coming together for this project hail from 12 different countries which are; Italy, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Malta, Spain, Belgium, DR Congo, Kenya and Ethiopia.

In Malta, KOPIN is aiming at putting the issues of Food Security and EU Policy Coherence on the local agenda. We hope to bring about discussion and instill action in our society. For this purpose, the project includes an awareness raising campaign involving various stakeholders in the private and public sector, while also addressing the wider public. The stakeholders involved include: farmers’ associations, academia, members of the media, as well as, other civil society organisations.

Something for everyone
The activities of this project include information and educational workshops with the aim of improving knowledge and information of Sub-Saharan agricultural development problems. Such workshops are being implemented in each of the 9 European countries involved in the project and are structured according to each national context and need. In Malta, the educational workshops are mainly targeting university students who already have an established interest in the subject, thus, such workshops will reinforce knowledge and allow for a fruitful exchange of insights.

We have also embarked on a data collection initiative and we are compiling a survey on European agricultural policy framework and its impact. This will highlight the current status, the characteristics, the trends, the failures and successes with regard to global market developments. This will then be complemented by a European communication campaign. This campaign aims at spreading the information produced by the project and will contribute to the effort of overcoming the general stereotypes which usually characterize the information on development problems in Africa.

The project partners are in the process of producing a position paper which will be circulated soon.

For more information on the project and its activities please contact Maria Psaila at  maya.psaila@gmail.com   

Source: KOPIN Newsletter issue I/2012 from August 2012