Preparatory Process

Nyeleni Process

The second edition of the Nyéléni Europe Forum For Food Sovereignty will take place in Romania, Cluj Napoca, between 25-30 October 2016.

PREPARATORY PROCESS FOR THE FORUM

The involvement of all those who are active in the Food Sovereignty Movement in Europe in the preparatory process leading up to the Forum is key to ensuring the success of the Forum. There are different ways for you to become part of the process/movement.

  • Get involved in a general way; sign up for the newsletter if you are interested in the preparatory process or just want to know more.
  • Join a working group: Task team, Communications, Methodology, Finance and Logistics. The working groups are open to anyone.

If you want to get involved in the working groups and sign up for the newsletter, please contact info [at] nyelenieurope.net (info[at]nyelenieurope.net).

The coordination committee coordinates the preparatory process among the working groups and keeps in touch with the national focal points. This committee is responsible for guiding the preparation and taking political decisions. The process will be organised in a way that guarantees grassroots level participation, enables all relevant constituencies to be involved, ensures regional diversity and provides a functional structure.

The members of the coordination committee are: Eco Ruralis Association, ÖBV-Via Campesina Austria, European Coordination Via Campesina, World Forum of Fisher People, The Resource Center for Indigenous People, Urgenci Community Supported Agriculture Network, The Biological Farming Association Elkana, Friends of the Earth Europe, FIAN European Sections and Coordinations, European Attac Network, Transnational Institute (TNI), European Shepherds’ Network.

FILL IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE

In order to prepare the most relevant discussions with information from all over Europe, we need your analysis and updates which are based on the discussions in your delegation (and are not the opinion of the focal points only). This will be essential, so that the outcomes reflect your interests and its outcomes are useful and relevant for your delegation.

Please answer the questionnaire HERE.

Please fill in the questionnaire at the latest by 1 September.

Questions (same as in online form indicated with the link above):

  1. What are the food sovereignty experiences you would like to share and what do you think others might learn from them?
  2. On what points are you particularly eager to learn from the experiences of others?
  3. While we don’t plan to rewrite the Nyeleni Europe 2011 declaration, we would like to know if the contents of the Nyeleni Europe declaration are still relevant for your country. Are there issues which need to be updated?
  4. What are the most burning issues and policies concerning food and agriculture right now on which do you think we should work collectively at European level when it comes to the 5 Thematic Axes? Anything else you would like to add (issues, sectors, categories of occupation)?
  5. What were the main obstacles you have encountered since the first Nyeleni Europe Forum, and what strategies and actions have you found to address them?
  6. Anything else you would like to see/ discuss at the forum?

PREPARATORY PROCESS AT NATIONAL LEVEL 

Before the Forum takes place in October, there must be a national/regional preparatory process in every country/region which participates at the forum with a delegation. Building processes in each country will differ depending on the level of organisation of the food sovereignty movement. If you are a person which is part of the constituencies* relevant for the Food Sovereignty Movement, you can get involved in your national Food Sovereignty Process. 

Together with focal points from your country you can hold preparatory meetings: organize discussions, forums, debates or meetings, locally or nationally, on any subject related to the 5 Thematic Axis of the Food Sovereignty.

Also, you can organize your own national Food Sovereignty Declaration, in line with the European Food Sovereignty Declaration adopted in 2011. These will feed into the content of the Forum itself, define the delegates for the forum and also help to build stronger working links for the future.

Part of the preparatory process at national level is also organizing fundraising for the travel of delegates at the Forum, the delegation fee and the follow up process if possible. More information about the costs of participation at the forum can be found at the section 'Participation'.

*List of groups of constituencies part of the Food Sovereignty Movement:

  1. Food producers: farmers/peasants, fishers, pastoralists, urban gardeners,Indigenous Peoples (where applicable)
  2. Workers: agricultural and food workers, migrant workers, trade unions.
  3. Environmental, Food, Health, Development and Justice/Solidarity/HumanRights NGOs
  4. Youth organizations
  5. Women’s organizations
  6. Organised consumers (e.g. Community Supported Agriculture), urban poor
  7. Local economic actors for food sovereignty webs : cooperatives, transformers, people owned distribution, food sovereignty infrastructure, etc.
  8. Others: artists, teachers, researchers, community groups involved in local food policy councils, representatives of local authorities.

Focal points.

The list of focal points identified so far is at the section 'Map'.

Guidelines for focal points.

The information for national focal points to support them in organizing the national delegations, while guiding the national preparatory process, can be found at the section 'Participation'.

Deadline:

1 September: national delegations answer the preparatory questionnaire HERE.

For more information and any questions, please contact Olcay Bingol at info [at] nyelenieurope.net.