Category Archives: Policy

Thesis opportunity: Effective strategies for civil society engagement in global food security governance

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New Thesis Opportunity with Rural Sociology Group, Wageningen University

Proposed title: Effective strategies for civil society engagement in global food security governance: An analysis of CSO interventions in the Committee on World Food Security

Key words: Food security; civil society; policy; global governance; Committee on World Food Security; Civil Society Mechanism; theories of change

Context: The world food price crisis of 2007/08 shook global food governance. Pressured to find solutions for unprecedented prices increase of led to the development of new global initiatives and the reform of old ones.  One of the most promising actions was the reform of the United Nation’s Committee on World Food Security (CFS), who transformed itself from “the most boring UN body of all” – in the words of an experienced diplomat based in Rome – to the foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for food security, with substantive participation of different actors including member states, civil society and private sector. Continue reading →

“We need policy rupture not incremental conservatism”: Toward a #commonfoodpolicy

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Transmango

The EU-project TRANSMANGO is focussed at sustainable pathways to changing the food system. This project aims to combine and integrate different theoretical approaches to gain insight into Food and Nutrition Security (FNS).
In light of that, TRANSMANGO’s Terry Marsden has written an opinion paper about transitioning from the CAP to a Common Food and Nutrition Policy to start the debate.

Join the debate: 

A Common Food and Nutrition Policy for Europe?
Having been fortunate enough to have attended and participated in several international conferences and working groups over the spring and summer of this year, and had a change to explore and discuss the current ‘state of play’ in what seems to be the increasingly dysfunctional global food system, I have recently begun to seriously reflect on European policy, and the questions of radically changing the current EU CAP into a Common Food and Nutrition Policy. This was mentioned by Damien Canare, from Montpellier at a meeting of the FLEDGE research programme in Waterloo in September this year, and in my preparation and discussions for a presentation on the TRANSMANGO EU project at the Agriculture and Urbanising Society Conference in Rome thereafter.

“Some have perceived this as being something of a naive question, given the overall complexity and political inertia in the glacial process of CAP reform experienced over the past 25 years”

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Reminder: 15 vacancies for Early Stage Researchers Sustainable Place Shaping (SUSPLACE)

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The 15 vacancies for Early Stage Researchers in Sustainable Place Shaping at six host universities are still open for application till October 7th (midnight). More information can be found at a previous blog posted here: SUSPLACE Programme vacancies: 15 Early Stage Research positions at six universities. Information and hyperlinks to the recruitment sites of the respective host universities have been updated.

Bettina Bock appointed as Professor for Population Decline and Quality of Rural Life at University of Groningen

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Dr ir Bettina Bock

Bettina Bock is appointed as Professor for Population Decline and Quality of Rural Life in North Netherlands at the University of Groningen. The appointment is for five years starting September 1st.

Dr.ir Bettina Bock (1960) is a rural sociologist working at the Rural Sociology Group of Wageningen University since 1996, currently as associate professor. Her research deals with rural development and social innovation in Europe while focusing on rural marginalisation, civic participation, entrepreneurship, governance and social inequality.

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Interreg project Rural Alliances: final report

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ra_eu_logo_stackedThe Interreg project Rural Alliances brought together 12 partners from North West Europe to tackle the challenges of demographic change in rural areas. These challenges included: young people leaving rural towns and villages; the elderly becoming increasingly isolated & in need of social and medical care; shops, post offices, pubs, public toilets and telephone boxes closing; and increasingly difficult environments for setting up and running sustainable businesses.

The project tackled these challenges by actively bringing rural communities and businesses together, capitalising on their two distinct attributes: rural businesses with their “make it happen” attitudes, with the values of rural communities of loyalty, pride and self-esteem to create over 76 Rural Alliances. Together they have reshaped their areas to make them friendly, buzzing and vibrant, creating a more stable future for all their residents.

Ina Horlings from the Rural Sociology Group was a member of the Policy and Advisory Panel of Rural Alliances. The project developed handbooks on rural governance and financial engineering, inspiring videos, a skils plotting exercise, and various fact sheets and policy papers, all available on the website. For communities who want to know how vibrant their community is, a new tool was developed to measure rural vibrancy.The final report can be downloaded here.