Photo by Nathan Powers on Unsplash
The MedSNAIL kick-off meeting was held on 22 and 23 October, 2019, in Seville, Spain, hosted by Federación Andaluza de Municipios y Provincias (FAMP). All the partners joined the meeting, most in person but some remotely. Joumana Sweis, representing ENI CBC MED Valencia Branch Office, also participated.
The Gozo Regional Development Foundation was represented by Mariangela Luceri and William Sultana.
On the first day of the meeting, Teresa Muela Tudela, from FAMP, welcomed the MedSNAIL partners and thanked them for attending the meeting. Joumana then delivered an extensive presentation on the key issues pertaining to the management of ENI CBC MED projects.
FAMP’s Antonio Cosio presented to present the key issues and activities of WP1, including the management structure and appointments by FAMP itself, as well as the structure of the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is composed of one representative per project partner and chaired by FAMP as the Lead Beneficiary.
The Steering Committee will guide project implementation by taking major decisions; evaluate project progress; manage financial and organizational aspects; and evaluate quality and relevance of MedSNAIL outputs. Six biannual Steering Committee meetings are foreseen.
A Technical Board was also set up, composed of one representative per partner and chaired by the project coordinator. The Technical Board will be the structure responsible for technical coordination, and will define monitoring and quality assessment procedures, analyse project progress, assess communication actions and propose corrective measures to be submitted to the Steering Committee.
Technical Board meetings will be combined with Steering Committee meetings so to as to optimize efforts. That is, the SC meeting and the TB meeting can take place at the same time.
Antonio also explained the key issues related to the start of the project, based on chapter 3 of the Project Implementation Manual (PIM) of ENI CBC MED programme, entitled “Project Start in Five Steps”. He emphasised the fact that the manual follows a “preventive” approach rather than a curative discipline. This is the reason why it is important at project start to identify the main steps to prepare the ground for a project implementation without problems. For this reason, FAMP will apply this “preventive” approach during the management of the MedSNAIL project.
Inma Guerrero Alés, also from FAMP, then took the floor to present the key issues and activities of WP2: Project Communication. She summed up the main issues dealt with along the communication sessions in the context of the training seminar for lead beneficiaries, held in Rome on 1 and 2 October. Inma reminded the partners of the obligation imposed by the Programme to have information about MedSNAIL Project published in their corporative websites, according to the template sent by FAMP.
On the second day, 23 October, a Technical Session was conducted, focusing on WP3 transnational agro-food alliance, and WP4 market-driven pilot initiatives. Marina Mainardi, from Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, addressed issues related to WP3 by explaining the workings of Slowfood Foundation, which will serve as a methodology model for the development of the MedSNAIL project.
The methodology proposed for the entire duration of the project can be summed as follows:
- Phase 1: A brief description of the agricultural heritage of the area being surveyed will be carried out;
- Phase 2: An inventory of products will be created, with identities strongly linked to the territories of reference;
- Phase 3: The partners will identify products to be included in the Ark of Taste project;
- Phase 4: The project will identify products that will be included in the Slow Food Presidia project.
Marina followed up with a proposal for a calendar for the development of the first activities related to the WP3 of the project.
Nazarena Lanza, also from Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, then explained in depth the Slowfood methodology, give some practical examples to better illustrate the Slowfood approach. Nazarena’s address served to enlighten the partner representatives as to the situation of their territories regarding local slow food network and possible local alliances and partnerships.
Finally, Yaser Abunnasr and Shady Hamadeh, from the American University of Beirut (AUB), highlighted some initiatives developed by AUB and presented the outputs of WP3 relating to training and analysis, such as the training courses on the MedSNAIL approach and the MedSNAIL Legacy.
A very successful and productive meeting came to an end, auguring well for the further development of the project activities in the coming weeks and months, and with the promise of meeting again in Beirut in 2020.