SEEDS – Learning the universal value of food
The cultural dimension of sustainability
The role of culture in the United Nations 2030 Agenda
Culture plays a key role in the UN 2030 Agenda and is directly and indirectly reflected in all the Sustainable Development Goals, but particularly in the challenges related to quality education (SDG 4), sustainable cities (SDG 11) and decent work (SDG 8). Just like food, culture is an essential prerequisite for the whole 2030 Agenda.
Only by promoting different cultures can we build an education system capable of offering
the degree of knowledge and awareness needed to make change possible, working across the board on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Seeds, the educational hub of the Barilla Foundation, was set up with the aim of promoting quality education and contributing to the growth of a culture based on sustainability, starting with food.
Learning from food
The Barilla Foundation’s commitment is based on a key concept: food is not a commodity because it contains a universal value that can be interpreted in a nutritional, cultural, environmental, social and economic sense.
Food helps us understand that what is good for individual health is also good for the health of the community and the Planet.
It reminds us of the value of resources and the concept of circularity. It suggests that every individual has an important role to play based on their daily choices.
Food therefore becomes a paradigm that allows us to understand the complexity of the issue of sustainability through the different dimensions of common living.
This is the focus of the activities carried out by Seeds, an area wholly dedicated to the topic of education for sustainability through food.
Starting from food allows us
to build educational tools and paths that lay the foundations for real and constant learning, which continues to feed on new experiences, knowledge and opportunities for sharing.
From learning to change-making
Improving skills in the area of food and environmental sustainability first of all requires adequate knowledge to be provided for people to understand the extent and implications of the nutritional, social, economic and environmental challenges of our time.
These are skills that not only increase the amount of knowledge, but that help to implement other skills, such as personal development and social skills, allowing two important goals to be achieved.
The first is to nudge citizens into adopting responsible behavior for themselves and for the environment. The second is to turn them into active agents of change, able to involve their family, friends and colleagues consciously and independently.
Educating about the universal value of food therefore becomes the first step in promoting a virtuous circle that starts with training and evolves into a continuous path of learning and change.
This commitment becomes even more fruitful and interesting if it is addressed to the younger generations, giving them the skills to have a long-term positive impact on their health and their social context.
Young people today are demonstrating a strong sensitivity and attention to the issue of sustainability, but limited knowledge of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We therefore need to provide them with the tools to understand the role they can play in helping to reach this goal, and the central role of food in this challenge.
In this context, schools have a very important task to perform, with teachers and educators leading discussions with students, encouraging them to develop as individuals and as citizens.
This is why Seeds relies on important collaborations and partnerships to create multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary tools and educational paths that can help teachers and educators in their work with young people in their studies and personal growth.
Educating for sustainability is a constantly evolving process that translates into change.
Food teaches sustainability
Seeds operates in four areas distinguished by target and therefore learning objective.
Introducing schools to the topic of sustainability through food
Updating teachers and trainers on the topic of food sustainability
Offering university qualified training
Supporting the role of young people in addressing global challenges
Introducing schools to the topic of sustainability through food
We, food, our Planet
The project, included in a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education, was set up in 2018 to introduce the topic of food sustainability to schools of all levels.
The project is intended to summarize the key points related to the food system, helping students to understand its complexity and its various factors, such as health, safety, culture and the environment.
The project includes:
Content, resources and materials for online teacher training and digital educational tools for lessons with students, including laboratory activities that promote more dynamic and engaging learning.
Rewards for excellence, through the “We, food, our Planet In action!” contest, with the collaboration of Tuttoscuola, which rewards teachers and schools committed to training young people on food sustainability issues using the educational tools provided by the program.
The project resulted in the “We, food, our Planet: Feeding a sustainable future” exhibition.
This multimedia path, divided into five themed areas, uses interactive and immersive methods of involvement to explain to students the paradoxes of food and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, addressing the culture of food, the relationship between food and cities, the value of the Mediterranean diet and the impact of food choices on the environment.
Launched on the occasion of Parma 2020 – Italian Capital of Culture, the exhibition included dedicated paths and workshops for students of all levels.
We, the food, the Planet
We, the food, the Planet is a digital game-based learning activity. It allows players to dialogue with our Planet to understand the impact of human activities on the environment, starting with food.
We, the food, the Planet provides quizzes and interactive games, and players can discover global problems and practical solutions that are both healthy for humans and respectful of the planet.
All the initiatives are constantly monitored to gather feedback from teachers and observe the results achieved.
Updating teachers and trainers on the topic of food sustainability
S.O.F.I.A.
As a training establishment recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education, Seeds has set up a project based on the blended learning model, which combines online and face-to-face learning.
The goal is to enhance and promote professional growth of teachers on a LifeLong Learning path, helping them to deal with food and environmental sustainability through:
specific and in-depth knowledge of the topics;
strengthening planning, evaluation, organizational and relational skills;
more informed use of new technologies.
The refresher courses developed by Seeds are available on the Italian Ministry of Education’s S.O.F.I.A. platform and allow teachers to gain training credits.
Offering university qualified training
As part of its work, Seeds has promoted the creation of high value partnerships, in the belief that sharing skills and tools can create synergies capable of achieving more solid and valid results.
SkillED – Key competences for building sustainability knowledge through food
An international Erasmus+ project that aims to build a framework of certified skills for teaching food and environmental sustainability. This three-year project began in 2020.
Led by Barilla Foundation, the project involves 23 teachers and over 250 students from Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, Latvia and Greece.
MOOC “Sustainable food systems: a Mediterranean perspective”
This MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is a free digital toolkit dedicated to teachers and educators, university students, professionals and policy makers interested in understanding the complexities of food and environmental sustainability. It consists of video lessons, documents and tests, in English and with transcripts in Italian and French, thanks to the collaboration with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and SDG Academy. The aim of the course is to reflect on the challenges for the agro-food sector in the Mediterranean area, framing the global challenges in the context of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
FSI Edu – The Food Sustainable Index as an educational tool
A module designed for university lecturers that identifies challenges and good practices as drivers for learning about the complexity of food sustainability. The toolkit is based on the results gathered by the Food Sustainability Index, a study carried out in collaboration with the Economist Intelligence Unit that analyzes nutritional challenges, the sustainability of agricultural systems and food waste in various countries around the world. The module also includes a handbook that shows teachers how to use the data, and various multimedia materials for further study.
Supporting the role of young people in addressing global challenges
BCFN YES! – Young Earth Solutions
International competition aimed at young university students and doctoral students (2012- 2014) and doctoral students and researchers (2015-2018), which supported and rewarded the best projects on the topic of food sustainability, supporting innovation and multidisciplinarity.
The aim of the competition was to encourage new ideas and promote research, cultivating a long- term collaboration through the Alumni group that brought together the finalists from the various competitions.
Youth Manifesto
Document created at the end of two days that brought together 80 young people in Parma to discuss the three food paradoxes identified by the Barilla Foundation.
The document was presented to institutions, including the Italian Minister of Agriculture Maurizio Martina, as well as numerous representatives from various countries, on the occasion of Expo Milan 2015.
BCFN Empowering Youth
Preparatory work for the Barilla Foundation’s Annual Forum, organized to encourage young people to get involved, through face-to-face and online meetings, in various aspects of food sustainability, including the Common Agricultural Policies and the food professions.
Learning about the complexity of food systems
Our path
Our commitment to educating about sustainability through food and contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda Goals began in 2012.
A path full of important experiences, which have allowed the project to grow and become increasingly complete and reliable.
Partners
A long, intense and meaningful journey that has relied on the collaboration of important partners.
