Jon Bienzobas and Paola Eguinoa, INTIA technicians, highlight the enriching knowledge and experience they have acquired during these days from the more than 50 people coming from a dozen countries, belonging to different European entities that have visited Navarra this week.
“For Navarra it is very enriching to receive the experience and knowledge of other European countries on initiatives that improve and strengthen the position of the primary sector throughout the value chain”, say Paola Eguinoa and Jon Bienzobas after the visit of more than fifty people who are part of the European project Cocoreado.
The public company INTIA has been in charge of organizing and coordinating this event that has involved the reception for a training action to 33 people ambassadors from different countries and the general meeting of the twenty representatives of the partner entities.
Thus, the people selected in this European project as ambassadors, in addition to receiving training, have been able to visit the Local Product Week fair installed in Pamplona / Iruña. Coming from different parts of Europe, the ambassadors have received in our region, during the 10th, 11th and 12th of October, the second training course in the framework of this initiative that aims to facilitate sustainable changes in food systems.
Participation in the Local Product Week
In addition, on Monday 10th in the afternoon, they visited the 7th edition of the Local Product Fair held in the Plaza del Castillo in Pamplona/Iruña from October 5th to 12th, organized by Reyno Gourmet and the City Council of the capital of Navarre. The participants in the Cocoreado project visited the 44 stands with local and quality food products at the fair, and took part in a guided tasting of Reyno Gourmet products (wine and cheeses with Designation of Origin). On October 11 they participated in an ‘escape city’, and on October 12 they visited the association of consumers of organic products Landare. During these days, participants have carried out various training activities on various topics such as the six ‘seed initiatives’ selected by the network of ambassadors and their implementation.
The first training for the network of 40 COCOREADO ambassadors was held in Brussels on March 28. The sessions focused on good practices that help to (re)connect consumers and producers and/or strengthen the position of the farmer in the food chain and on the exposure of successful initiatives in different parts of Europe, with the aim of creating and working on new ‘seed initiatives’, which have been developed during these months.
General Meeting in Navarra
For their part, the partner organizations met for two days at INTIA’s headquarters to advance the objectives of COCOREADO, a project that promotes social innovations in rural areas that bring about changes in food systems. The general meeting of the project partners took place on October 13 and 14 at the headquarters of the public company INTIA in Villava / Atarrabia. During this double day, work has been done on good practices (NOFAS) that help to (re)connect consumers and producers and/or to reinforce the position of the farmer in the food chain, and on public procurement models.
About COCOREADO
The COCOREADO project is composed of 13 entities from 9 different countries (Belgium, Finland, Portugal, Bulgaria, Denmark, Latvia, Slovenia, Germany and Spain), coordinated by the University of Leuven in Belgium (KU LEUVEN).
The COCOREADO project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program, aims to rebalance the position of producers in the value chain. The project adopts a multi-stakeholder approach and is based on Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS).
The project started in January 2021 and ends in June 2024. The next meeting of the project ambassadors and partners will be held in Riga (Latvia) in May 2023.