'Food is essential to life. It also forms an important part of our cultural identity, and plays an important role in the economy.' says on a report from European Commission. 'Food systems contribute 19%–29% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions' according to Annual Review of Environment and Resources. Therefore, addressing food challenges will contribute to some central topics of EU, especially Horizon2020: Climate and environment, cultural integration and a more dynamic and vigorous economy. So the question is where to start? Our answer is each individual adult learner who want to learn how they can take actions to combate food problems. Our reasons are based on both theories and pratices. From a theory aspect, social changes and innovation follow a social diffusion model which starts with early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. If we can follow this pattern and have individual adult learner to act, all actions will spread through the whole society. From a practice aspect, this project is based on a pilot food program where we engaged more stakeholders in a community, namely, food producers, food processors, food distributors, industrial kitchens, individuals and local authorities. This pilot project shows that each individual person is more effective to take actions and a certain amount of active individuals are able to influence the other actors on a community level. So the primary target group of this project is all adult learners in EU who want to learn what they can do to address food challenges. Therefore, the first intellectual ouput will be a self-learnig workbook for individual adult learners. This workbook will be different from other similar workbooks because we will use an innovative pedagogical method to design the workbook. The method is innovative because it aims to produce long-term impact and life-long learning experiences through action and measurement. This method is based on our decades of work with education for sustainable development, especially informal/normal adult education. It looks at a circular learning experience, as opposed to linear learning. Our research together with research institutes, such as Leiden Univeristy and Swedish Centre for Education for Sustainable Development, shows that 'care-finding information-taking actions-seeing results-caring more-finding more information' model will empower individuals to take real actions. But this book will not come alone. We will produce two complementing intellectual outputs: training modules for coaches and one online library. The reason for training modules for coaches is that we encourage all adult learners to organize a study circle. Our practice proves that a study circle for adult education is more effective and can produce replicable impact (through people inviting new people) and such a study circle needs an empowering coach to facilitate the whole process. The reason for one online library is that any organizations that want to start a similar project can find all their needed information on this platform, including most updated research, project management, marketing material with videos, flyers, etc. So this is a complete package to achieve our goal that all adult learners in EU can start a life-long learning experience on food-related issues and have appropriate facilitation. In order to realize this package, we formed a strategic partnership:1) four out of five participated in the international multi-stakeholder food-wise community pilot project and have experience in food-related issues; 2) they all have experience in training and coaching with a focus in different areas, namely, municipalities (GAP Spain), business(agado) and community(TVE and InEuropa); 3) all are experienced in international and transnational projects, with GAP International and InEuropa exceptional in project managementment and project reporting; 4) all have good local and international connections through partnership and network; 4) all partners are part of GAP International network and have cooperated before. Main activities based on its expertise: 1) three transnational meetings: October-2015, Italy for kick-off meetings and coordination of different workplans and plan for the draft of the workbook; September-2016, Germany for finalization of workbook after testing phase and the launch of the training modules for coaches; February-2017, Sweden for finalization of the project and project evaluation; 2) three organizations lead three intellectual outputs: workbook for adult learners (Hungary), training modules for coaches (GAP International) and online library (GAP Spain); 3) GAP International and InEuropa will be in charge of overall project management including project coordination, quality control and monitoring, project evaluation and reporting; 4) GAP International will also be in charge of dissemination with the social media part lead by TVE
CONTEXT Addressing food challenges contributes to central topics of the EU. For instance, climate: food systems contribute 19%–29% of global greenhouse gas emissions; as well as health and waste/circular economy. Substantial improvements in all areas depend upon lifestyle choices and thus upon adult education. The Food Action program responds to a dual need: the need of adult learners for easily accessible factual and pedagogical support for sustainable lifestyle change; and that of society, given the importance of food in today's policy challenges of climate change, circular economy, preventive health, and social inclusion. OBJECTIVES The major objective of this 2-year project was to develop and test a self-learning package for adults wishing to learn how to adopt more sustainable food habits; culturally adapted in four national and one international (English-language) version. This objective has been fully met. A secondary objective was to test different possible delivery mechanisms, including use of IT tools and local, national and international partnerships; monitoring and evaluating in such a way as to lay a basis for future dissemination activities. This objective has also been met. PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS The beneficiary was Global Action Plan International (GAP-I), registered in Sweden. It coordinates a network of organizations developing and delivering sustainable behaviour-change programs, as well as conducting action research into appropriate methods and tools, and offering publications and training programs for curriculum designers. The 4 partners are all members of the GAP network, with prior experience of working together. Germany: agado, based in München, works with employees, business and local authorities and is engaged in adult education. Has a broad network and cooperation with NGOs and local authorities. Conducts research concerning sustainability and climate aspects of eating habits. Hungary: TVE is a highly active national consumer network with experience of study circles and coaching, strong engagement in food questions, social media and mass media engagement. Italy: InEuropa specializes in project management, particularly of EU-supported projects. Experience of working with municipalities and NGOs, and with education. Social media engagement. Mentor to the Beneficiary. Spain: GAP Spain has long experience of working with adult education and behaviour change through interactive web programs. Broad network and cooperation with local authorities and food-related businesses. MAIN ACTIVITIES The main activities concerned developing 3 outputs comprising the adult self-learning package, including translation and cultural adaptation in six languages: English, German, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, and (not originally foreseen) Basque. 1. Workbook for adult learners, covering 3 main topics: Food Waste; Food, Climate & Environment; and Food & Health. Including all 3 topics is designed to elicit critical thinking and a broadening of perspective that empowers adult learners to make decisions based on what is good for them personally AND what is good for society and the environment. 2. Manual for coaches, enabling competence-building in the general area of empowering coaching (a sought-after skill) as well as specifically for the Food Action program. 3. An online reference Library of documents for further reading, embedded in a multilingual Food Action web site. The secondary activities concerned testing different delivery mechanisms, including selecting, adapting and testing IT tools as well as partnerships with different types of organizations; and publicizing the project and its outcomes. RESULTS AND IMPACT This was a pilot project; the objective was to recruit 120 households to test the program (outcome: 264). The response is satisfactory: more than half the participants made behaviour changes that they have established as new habits; feedback regarding the materials is positive; trained Food Action coaches (target: 10, actual 39) find the skills generally useful and wish to continue supporting the program. Additionally, project team members in the 5 countries reported that their knowledge of food issues had improved, as well as their project management skills. The evaluation materials provide a base for further analysis and experimentation for scaling up dissemination and delivery of the program. Two key components are already clear: successful cross-sectoral partnerships, and improved IT tools. The media impact was far higher than anticipated, reaching close to 200,000 recipients via social media and other online activities (target: 7,000) and a further half million through mass media in Hungary. LONGER-TERM BENEFITS Preliminary results show that successful scaling up could lead to significant societal effects. For instance, a poll of some participants showed reductions in food waste and food miles of 10-15%, as well as a decrease in meat consumption.