Young Friends of the Earth Europe brought together over 40 young people from across Europe for an online training on food sovereignty.
The training – organised as part of the Growing Together project – was an opportunity to learn about the European context around agriculture, including the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), to share common demands and values around YFoEE’s Youth Statement on Food Sovereignty, to express these demands and values to European policy makers, and finally to hear about successful mobilisations and feel inspired for future joint campaigns and events.
The six sessions of the programme allowed the participants to learn about different aspects of the European agriculture and to meet with hand-picked trainers and speakers and to exchange and build common demands with like-minded counterparts.
On the first day, young people from ASEED, la Via Campesina and Young Friends of the Earth Europe presented the demands of the statement on food sovereignty, written by young people across Europe.
In the second session, Geneviève Savigny from La Via Campesina presented the general European policy framework of the CAP. This was complemented by a focus on the impact of the CAP on the Polish agriculture by Maria Staniszewska, from the Polish Ecological Club and Wioletta Olejarczyk, a peasant in Poland. The first day ended with an introduction to European politics and how the CAP is actually shaped in the European institutions. Stanka Becheva (Friends of the Earth Europe) and Andrzej Nowakowski (Greens/EFA Group) gave tips and advice to participants in a very interactive session.
After a weekend to digest this information, participants got back online on Monday for a discussion with two members of the European Parliament (MEPs): Thomas Waitz (Greens, Austria) and Tilly Metz (Greens, Luxembourg). This session allowed participants to approach policy-makers directly and express their demands. This triggered motivation to meet with other MEPs and continue advocating for food sovereignty in the future!
On the last day of the programme, participants had the chance to discuss with Verena Günther (Good Food Good Farming), Saskia Richartz (Meine Landwirtschaft) and Paula Gioia (La Via Campesina) who all showed inspirational examples of mobilisation for sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty. These examples fed the follow-up discussion on future joint actions.
Finally, the programme concluded with a cinema session, kindly organised by partners at SOS Faim. The movie ‘Thank you for the rain’ brought the focus on Food Sovereignty in the Global South (in this case, in Kenya). The presence of Kisilu MUSYA, co-director and hero of the movie made this session even more captivating!
After 3 intense days of exchanges and discussions, participants agreed on communication channels for the future and are now ready to take actions as a group who share common values.
The training programme was prepared by youths of Young Friends of the Earth and La Via Campesina. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, this online event was experienced as a great experience: to learn, to bring people together (virtually) and to continue working on Food Sovereignty – as the pandemic showed that all these elements are crucial for all of us!
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