“CAP for Sustainable Growth: Mission Possible“

Association Dobrudja Agrarian and Business School (DABS) initiates the information campaign „CAP for Sustainable Growth: Mission Possible“ in order to improve the public understanding of the new role of Common agricultural policy (CAP) regarding sustainable development and its contribution for a more balanced development of the rural areas at the Bulgarian-Romanian cross-border region (municipalities on both sides of the Danube river) which due to its traditional agricultural specialisation and region-specific problem is to exemplify some of the main challenges before CAP’s success in new programming period (2014 - 2020).

To which audiences campaign targets:

The campaign CAP for Sustainable Growth: Mission Possible aims to achieve a set of objectives defined according to needs to the three main stakeholder groups in the Bulgarian-Romania cross-border region regarding the CAP:

(1)  General public and especially youth in the urban areas;

(2)  Farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs/ managers;

(3)  Policy-makers at the local and regional level, including in regulating institutions, that are involved in the implementation of the national agriculture plans pertaining to CAP issues.

What are the campaign objectives:

The objectives of the information measure are linked to the target groups as defined above:

(i)     to redefine the public debate in Bulgaria by drawing attention to the important social functions that the CAP confers on farmers;

(ii)    to raise awareness and to communicate of the key messages of CAP regarding sustainability of agriculture;

(iii)   to facilitate a rapid and sustainable shift towards a sectoral policy that links agriculture to sustainable development and the provision of public goods such as environmental conservation and food security.

Activities (work packages):

The 24 activities of the information measure were organised in 6 Work Packages (WP) as follows:

Work Package 1: Start up

Work Package 2: Promoting the Social Functions of Agriculture and the CAP Support for Sustainable Development

Work Package 3: Capacity building for farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs to engage in sustainable agricultural practices through CAP 

Work Package 4: Promotion of CAP-driven sustainable agriculture through the local authorities in the BG-RO CBC region

Work Package 5: CAP-driven Sustainability – Media Campaign

Work Package 6: Finalisation of the project

Results:

·         Developed multilingual website (BG, RO and EN) of the campaign – http://agroinfo.dabu-edu.org

·         Conductеd 4 promotional press conferences, live-streamed - total of 73 participants

·         Developed and distributed 219 informative letters for stakeholder organizations

·         Developed a data-base of companies that deal with organic farming - 100 companies

·         Developed and aired 10 short video-spots with interviews with selected farmers

·         Developed a best-practice catalogue “Social Functions of Agriculture and CAP Support for Sustainable Development” – in BG, RO and EN + printed and disseminated 1000 copies

·         Conducted a cross-border on-line competition for business plans for sustainable agriculture according to the CAP Priorities and presented the winners at publicity event with 100 participants

·         Developed and printed training kit on the new CAP – 500 copies in Bulgarian  and in Romanian

·         Conducted  6 training session for clarifying the new aspects of the CAP with a total of 127 participants in Bulgaria and Romania

·         Conducted a Multipliers` networking event with a total of 31 participants (from BG and RO), live-streamed

·         Conducted 2 public discussions of the sustainable development opportunities through CAP in the Bulgarian-Romanian CB Region with a total of 61 participants

·         Conducted  a Discussion panel “Sustainable Local Development through CAP: Opportunities until 2020” with 52 participants in BG

·         Conducted  a Exhibition of Bio-Food and Bio-Products in Varna, Bulgaria – 2 days with a total of 92 participants, live streamed

·         Developed and published printed media package (including 20 expert articles) related  the new focus of CAP

·         Developed 10-min. informational film “How to grow our food today and no to ruin the food of our children” and a 30 seconds TV spot from the film material and airing on national and regional medias

·         Conducted 3 targeted radio session on a national radio and aired 5 thematic radio-spot

·         Conducted  2 Press-conferences for dissemination of the results in BG and RO with a total of 60 participants

Production and dissemination of 500 copies (in BG and RO) of leaflet with the project results