Main Events / Project Events

The National Observatory for Female Enterprise and Labour in Agriculture (ONILFA), GEWAMED Project partner, has organized in collaboration with Formez International Activities a series of information seminars within the framework of the Project “Sostegno all’attuazione dei Piano di Sviluppo Rurale nelle Regioni Ob.1” (Contribution to the implementation of the Rural Development Plan in the Regions of Objective 1), carried on by the Department of the Public Function (DFP) and co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF). 

The focus of objective 1 is helping regions whose development is lagging behind (where the gross domestic product (GDP) is below 75% of the Community average) to catch up, i.e. providing them with the basic infrastructure which they continue to lack, whilst adapting and raising the level of trained human resources and encourage investments in business economic activity in order to create new jobs and by improving levels of economic activity within the working population. As far as Italy is concerned this category includes several regions, such as Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Apulia, Sardinia, Sicily and Molise.

Four study seminars were carried out in Italy in May 2009. The first took place in Calabria Region on 11th, the second in Sardinia on 15th, the third in Apulia on 18th and the last one in Sicily on 21st. 

They intended to focus on the topic of Social Agriculture as an innovative multifunctional approach for the development of rural areas.

Social agriculture is an important expression of the links between ethics and agriculture involving a valorization of agricultural products often directly sold in farm shops and through the creation of purchasing support networks. Social farms provide a critical contribution to the processes of local rural development because they translate development strategies, not only in economic terms, into a concept of rurality based on real ethical principles: solidarity, social welfare, environmental responsibility.

Women play a significant role in agriculture and fundamental is their orientation towards multifunctionality and diversification.

This topic was exhaustively discussed during the seminars by Mrs. Veronica Navarra, President of ONILFA. Particularly she talked about the relation between gender and agricultural multifunctionality stressing on the importance of female entrepreneurship and its valuable contribution to the establishment of didactic and social farms as well as to food safety and biodiversity conservation being sustainability and product quality two fundamental principles rural women want to respect.