By Judith Hitchman, President of Urgenci
IPES FOOD (International Panel of Food Experts on Sustainable Food Systems) has been working for some time to establish a European Common Food Policy; There has been a complex methodology, that involves various members of different European Directorate General (Health, Environment, Agriculture…) and a wide process. This process initially consisted of Food Policy Labs on specific subjects and in various locations. Urgenci participated in two Food Policy Labs, including as a contributor in the one on social inclusion.
The next step fo the process was to collectively develop a ‘Sustainable Food Scoreboard’ document. Forr this stage RIPESS was included with a view to high-lighting the alternative that solidarity economy can provide to the economic sector, and distinguish solidarity economy from the ‘private sector’ involved in mainstream agribusiness.
Dražen Šimleša and Gaelle Bigler thus represented RIPESS, alongside Judith Hitchman from Urgenci. Various aspects of a Scoreboard were co-contructed by sixth teams, with Dražen and Judith actively participating in team 5 “Building sustainable farm livelihoods and functional supply chains” and Gaelle in team 3 “Harnessing the potential of urban food policies, city-region planning and alternative food systems”.
The final document will be publicly presented and debated in Brussels on 29-30 May 2018, at a major event called the EU Food and Farming Forum (EU3F). The main goal will be to carry forward “policy proposals addressed to the EU for a comprehensive ‘Common Food Policy’”.
IPES FOOD and RIPESS signed Letter of Agreement as partners in this process, where RIPESS and Urgenci jointly made sure that the practice of SSE and its values are well embedded in the Scoreboard document.
