A good project starts with a good kick-off meeting! The journey of the EWA-BELT project officially started with the first day of virtual kick-off meetings between the twenty partners, coordinated by Giovanna Seddaiu for NRD-UNISS. Partners got the chance to know each other better and to briefly present themselves, after a comprehensive overview of the project’s framework, contents and financial aspects. A special thanks goes to our European Commission spokespersons, Alina Kozacenko from the Research Executive Agency and Marta Iglesias from DG AGRI, who presented respectively on the project management and monitoring aspects from REA’s perspective and on the role of EWA-BELT within the EU-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA). Last but definitely not least, a big thank you goes to our guest speaker, Fabrizio Lobasso, Deputy Director at the Sub-Saharan Office at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, who offered an interesting point of view, arguing that food insecurity has serious political consequences and, in general, is a very transversal issue. Food security and food sustainability projects, such as EWA-BELT, are of great help in the area also in terms of gender equality and inclusion, and are perfectly coherent with the Food Coalition, an initiative recently launched by FAO. The kick-off meeting will go on for two more days in the coming week, with the grand finale at the 20th Infopoverty World Conference, live on the UN WebTV on December 4.

Bando per PROJECT ASSISTANT del progetto EWA-BELT bit.ly/EwaBeltPA