EXPO MILANO 2015 CALL Best Sustainable Development Practices for Food Security Prospectus Online Application Form Storytelling has played a fundamental role in the transmission of knowledge since ancient times, especially thanks to its ability to share and interpret experiences. Stories are universal as they can be transferred from one culture to another, from one geographical region to another, and from one historical period to another without losing their meaning or significance. Along these lines, we can say that stories can bridge cultural, linguistic and age-related divides. Storytelling can be used as an attractive and effective way to report experiences and concepts concerned with ethics, values, and cultural differences to a broad audience. Following this idea, a Storytelling multimedia database will be designed to collect BSDP on food security: a database of knowledge, experiences and innovations collected on a worldwide basis from different cultural, political, economic, geographical and social backgrounds. The database will be designed to guide each applicant in the description of the real and significant core of each initiative focusing on people and important moments that have led to successful results. The output of the database will be an auto-generated multimedia product to share information and materials about the collected experiences with people from different contexts in a meaningful way. To achieve this aim, each applicant will be asked to describe different aspects of their initiative not only in a written statement, but also by means of relevant and significant photos with captions, visual diagrams, documents, etc., reporting information and indicators but also different points of view by people involved in the initiative and/or who benefitted from its results. In each step of the online form, the applicant will find useful suggestions to guide him/her in completing each field with text and multimedia files (images, slides, visual diagrams, etc.) which may be defined as: - immediate and expressive - transferring the real essence of the initiative in a concise form and the identities, skills knowledge of the people involved. 1
- comprehensible - presenting information with simple words, to make it accessible to a broad audience - non-redundant - using different media to transmit complementary information about the initiative Initiatives will be evaluated based on the criteria described in the call for BSDP for feeding the planet. Here below you can find in a chart the text boxes of the online application form, which represent the only modality to submit one s submissions. The online application form is available through the button submit best practice at the page: https://www.feedingknowledge.net/best-practices. Main information Main information Initiative Title Acronym Main Theme Summary TAG Total Budget Logo or Representative Photo Time and sustainability From month/year Sustainable management of natural resources Quantitative & qualitative enhancement of agricultural products Socio-economic dynamics and global markets Sustainable development of small rural communities Food consumption patterns: diet, environment, society, economy and health Insert a brief description of the initiative focusing on the characteristics that make it recognizable as a best sustainable development practice (main objective, beneficiaries and results) MAX 1000 characters including spaces Think about the keywords of the initiative relating to its purpose, field of application, produced innovation, results achieved, etc. To month/year (if relevant) Geographical area (Indication of the main place of the initiative) Main Region Main Country Main town Postal code Not mandatory 2
Partnership For each of the project partners we have to fill out a chart by clicking on the ADD ORGANIZATION button. Organization Official name in English Full name in original language Abbreviation Type of organization Governments (including bilateral aid agencies), local authorities/bodies, public agencies and their associations; Inter-governmental organizations and international agencies; Civil society organizations or networks (NGOs, associations, public or private foundations); Business community (small, medium, large enterprises, micro/social enterprises and their associations); Research and academic bodies; Public-private partnerships; Main activities MAX 1000 characters including spaces Tag Membership in relevant Scientific Networks Legal status Private/public National tax number Not mandatory Official address Phone Not mandatory e-mail Not mandatory Homepage Not mandatory Legal representative (not mandatory) Name Not mandatory Surname Not mandatory Phone Not mandatory e-mail Not mandatory Person in charge for scientific issues (not mandatory) Name Not mandatory Surname Not mandatory Phone Not mandatory e-mail Not mandatory Contact Person Name Surname Phone e-mail 3
Description of the developed initiative In each of the following steps the applicant will be asked to fill in information using different media formats. In the following chart the applicant can find descriptions of media formats and limits. PHOTO SLIDE or DOCUMENT VIDEO Describe the requested information using 1000 characters including spaces Each photo has to be described with: - title (30 characters including spaces) - description (500 characters including spaces) - caption (60 characters including spaces) Max dimension: 1 Mb Minimum width: 180 px Upload slide/document, where requested, to provide diagrams or facts that give concreteness to your Initiative Each video has to be uploaded on Vimeo http://vimeo.com/ or on Youtube. In the online application form you have to indicate the related link and: - title: (30 characters with spaces) - description (500 characters with spaces) - caption (60 characters with spaces) Limit: max 3 minutes Step 1 - Fast lane to the main idea In order to provide your reader with an immediate understanding of the main focus of the initiative, write a claim in the form of a subtitle that highlights its main strengths as BSDP for feeding the planet. Think about the key words of the initiative and create a short sentence that: - describes its essence - qualifies it as a BSDP for feeding the planet. Avoid redundancy with the title: the claim has to be a complement to the title, not a repetition of similar concepts. Step 2 - Main innovation developed What s the knowledge seed that you can plant in order to make your contribution to the Feeding Knowledge Program? What has been the main innovation developed in the Initiative? Certainly your Initiative has generated more than one innovation on various levels (political, technological, economical, cultural, social). Choose the one that you consider the most relevant and describe it with simple words that everybody can understand (i.e., avoid highly technical and specific terminology). If significant, explain how the innovation has been useful in achieving the results of the initiative. (MAX 1000 Characters) 1-3 Photos Description of the main innovation developed, significant steps or details 4
Step 3 - Background and context A Best Practice is related to a specific context with a set of particular conditions. How can you describe the local context from a geographical, climatic, economic, technological, cultural and social point of view? Please focus on all the relevant facts related to food security that are needed to understand the context of the initiative and give a brief description. Please avoid redundancy with the context and the description of the need. (MAX 1000 Characters) 1-3 Photos or Videos Do your best to explain the real environmental and human scenario in which the initiative has been developed (positive and/or negative aspects): explain personal points of view of people who are representative of the context or significant and useful real life anecdotes. Use photos or videos (if you already have some). Step 4 - Main results achieved The results of the developed initiative have a tangible impact on people and context. What have been the tangible results of the initiative? Please describe all the relevant results you have achieved throughout the initiative. (MAX 1000 Characters) 1-3 Slides or documents Try to be very concrete by providing all facts you can collect and representing them with appropriate visual aids. Step 5 - Main beneficiaries and needs addressed In order to better appreciate the results of your Initiative, it is necessary to really understand who are the real beneficiaries of the needs you have addressed Please describe the different people who may be defined as beneficiaries of the Initiative and the specific needs that you have addressed, but also try to transmit the real feelings of the people involved in the Initiative. (MAX 1000 Characters) 1-3 Slides or documents Provide the relevant facts you can collect and describe them with visual aids. 1-3 Photos or Videos Describe people that can be considered as representative of the different targets of beneficiaries. Through the use of photos or video, introduce the beneficiaries and provide a sentence that summarizes their feelings about the Initiative. 5
Step 6 - Human resources involved in the Initiative Who are the people that performed the initiative in the field? Describe the number and profiles of the people involved in the initiative. Describe (MAX 1000 Characters) who was really in the field for this initiative: - how many people were involved, - their professional profiles, skills and capabilities, - who the managers are. 1 Slide or image Provide a graphic and synthetic scheme of the staff. 1-3 Photos or videos Focus your attention on the people that made the difference while working in the field, day by day, and explain to us what kind of contribution they provided to the initiative. Step 7 - Main difficulty or obstacle Brief description of the main difficulty or obstacle that you had to deal with during the design or implementation of the initiative and how you managed to overcome this obstacle. You probably had to overcome difficulties and problems to achieve good results. Choose the one that: - most greatly threatened the success of your initiative or - pushed you to change your original plan or - gave a specific input to the innovation process. Tell us the strategy that you adopted in order to overcome it and to achieve positive results. 1-3 Photos Use photos to describe some significant aspects of the difficulty you overcame or a person who helped in its resolution. In the latter case, use the media description to introduce the person and his/her personal point of view about the obstacle and how it was overcome Step 8 - Environmental impact How does the initiative impact the environment (in term of energy savings, defence of biodiversity, complete product lifecycle, etc.)? To be considered a BSDP your initiative needs to show strong attention to its environmental impact. Choose your points of strength in terms of environmental sustainability, and provide a description with simple words that everybody can understand (please do not use highly specific terminology) (MAX 1000 Characters). 1-3 Slides or documents Provide facts about the effectiveness of the initiative in term of environmental impact 1-3 Photos Photos or video related to products, artefacts, activities developed to minimize environmental impact 6
Step 9 Sustainability, transferability and duplicability Did your initiative generate long lasting results in time and other related initiatives through a process of knowledge dissemination? Weblink, brochure, documents Describe how the results of the developed experience are lasting in time, after the end of main activities and the related significant initiatives by focusing on how they relate to yours (MAX 1000 Characters). Provide materials related to the described initiatives, if available. Step 10 - Dissemination Did you implement original and innovative methodologies in order to disseminate the main innovations and results achieved by your initiative? Briefly list the dissemination initiatives you consider significant, original or that achieved great results (MAX 1000 Characters). Leaflet and significant documents, Links, Videos Provide all available materials that help to better describe the dissemination activities performed. Add photos with captions and/or videos, brochures, slides used in the dissemination process, links and web references. 7