The BOND model, defined through the application of the findings and tools developed in the previous activities, was tested in Moldova, as a ‘lab’ for analysing and fine tuning the approaches to foster social capital in the bonding, bridging and linking sectors, in one particular country.
The lab experiment in Moldova tested the BOND method in one country, in a real-life environment, with the main national policy-making agency in the farming sector: The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry of the Republic of Moldova. This exercise aimed at fostering the development of social capital in Moldova, contributing to strengthen farmers’ groups, and was also used as a demonstration field for other countries in Europe where the level of organisation is low, as a documented example that can showcase what can be achieved when providing an enabling environment, and using the methods and tools developed throughout the BOND project.
A participatory analysis and a review of the regulatory environments provided a range of examples, and good practice in Europe that facilitate a more enabling environment for farmers and provide solutions to overcome legal constraints which often represent a main impediment for collective action.
In the final year of the BOND project (2019-2020), a moment is related to the implementation of task 3.4 about ‘undertaking a lab experiment in Moldova’. The lab experiment was a learning process involving farmers and land manager groups who were able to participate in capacity building activities and in the design of Action Plans that could lead to the signature of a number of Memora of Understanding in different sectors.
The learning process was structured around three key events covering the period February to April 2020 where representatives from 10 farmer groups participated to learn new skills, apply them in their group and report back to the following event. Therefore, the selected representatives had the important task to stay engaged over the period of the lab experiment and after, attend all three events, disseminate the information in the group where they belong and start a strategic planning process for their group for a future change.
Target audience: 10 national farmers groups representing different sectors. Two representatives per group selected to attend the three events.
All three events were held both in Romanian and in English (with translation into Romanian language).
Event #1: Understanding group performance and developing an Action Plan
Chisinau, February 19, 2020
Objectives of the event #1
Participants will:
Engage with values and principles of our organizations
– Debate on the importance of building a shared vision
– Analyse organizational performance, identifying its strengths and weaknesses in relation to its mission
– Formulate strategies to strengthen performance, equity and governance
– Establish a plan of action for the next 12 months
– Introduce the Memorandum of Understanding as a tool to foster collaboration and share some examples
Expected outcomes:
After the event #1, participants will have to engage their group in the following:
– revise or formulate a common vision for their group
– engage in the analysis of the performance of their group
– start drafting an Action Plan.
The participants will report back on such activities during the second event planned for March 19, 2020.
Presentations
Event #2: Emotional and bridging skills
Virtual format, May – June, 2020
Objectives of the event #2
– Reflect on the group as a complex system and group dynamics
– Reflect on the emotional dimension of groups and its importance. Emotional intelligence as a key tool for groups.
– Apply emotional management tools
– Use tools for conflict management.
– Analyse the social arena beyond our groups. Familiarize with strategies and tools to build social networks.
– Advance in the definition of potential MoU to be signed.
Expected outcomes:
After the event #2, participants will have to engage their group in the following:
– Reflect and build collectively a strategy to foster networking actions with other groups and entities in Moldova.
The participants will report on such activity during the third event planned for September, 2020.
Presentations
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
Conflicts as a means to reinforce a group
Conflict resolution to strengthen groups. Incorporating the emotional dimension
The emotional dimension is very important to ensure good functioning of groups. However, it is often unknown and ignored when designing and developing collective processes. This video presents the different dimensions to be taken into account when developing groups, in order to make them effective, inclusive, motivating and secure. The video also includes a detailed explanation of two concrete tools to identify and deal with the emotional dimension in groups. We encourage you to envision it for individual and collective emotional work to improve the health and satisfaction level of groups.
The social map. An useful tool to design bridging strategies
The importance of bridging strategies to reinforce our groups. The social map as a tool to design effective ones.
Bridging strategies are key in helping our groups achieve their aims and goals. A correct identification of our social context, that is, of the actors around us, and where they are located in relation to our groups’ objectives, will be extremely useful to design effective strategies and to strengthen our groups’ success. The technique of the social map is explained in detail, to allow groups to design their own networking strategies in a visual and friendly manner. We encourage you to watch this video in order to learn skills that will be useful for designing effective bridging strategies within your groups.
Event #3: Collective Action, Cooperative development, dialogue, Lego serious play and game changers
Virtual format, September, 2020
Objectives of the event #3
Participants will:
– Increase understanding about legal and fiscal aspects of cooperatives and other forms of
associative agricultural producers.
– Familiarize with cooperatives experiences from different countries.
– Understand opportunity for investments from national and international development partners.
– Reflect on the nature and elements of constructive dialogue with government counterparts and among farmer organizations.
– Familiarize with concept of traditional seeds distribution program.
– Familiarize with social capital in farming and bonding in the development policy proposals.
– Improve creative thinking and sharing based on Lego serious play methodology.
Expected outcomes:
After the event #3, participants will have to engage their group in the following:
– Validate the recommendations coming out from the national workshop held in Moldova and eventually expand them.
– Report on progress of the activities undertaken during and after event 1 and 2
– Discuss & sign eventually MoUs.
The participants will report on the activities carried out after the first two events and report on progress.
Presentations
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
Marie Odile Smets from Panier Vert Cooperatives on Cooperatives in France
Marie Odile Smets, from Panier Vert Cooperatives, France, describes how the cooperative is run, how the cooperative operates on products, how the cooperative’s equity is created, and other interesting elements that make the cooperative successful and profitabl
Julie Nåvik Hval from Norsk Landbrukssamvirke on Cooperatives in Norway
Julie Hval discusses the experience of co-operation in Norway, how the co-operative should focus on youth and how young people can be motivated to join or set up co-operatives.
This article reports of 5 tips Norwegian young farmers presented to the Norwegian Minister for Agriculture and Food in a Facebook Live event in August 2020.
What is Your Story
WATCH THE RECORDED WORKSHOPS HERE
3rd Moldovan Lab Experiment – Part 1 (in Romanian language)
An opportunity for participants to deepen their understanding of cooperatives. The even included guest speakers from Moldova, France and Norway who shared their success stories on cooperative development. The session took place on 4th September 2020.
3rd Moldovan Lab Experiment – Part 2
A further opportunity for participants to deepen their understanding of cooperatives focusing particularly on constructive dialoge between farmers’ organisation and government institutions. The session took place on 11th September 2020.
Romanian language
English language
3rd Moldovan Lab Experiment – Part 3
In this final session of the third BOND Lab Experiment in Moldova, participants collectively created a story from a card game ‘What Is Your Story?’ The method is based on the observation that when people are informal, they can develop solutions using their creativity. At the end of the session, participants signed a Memorandum of Understanding. This final workshop hosted by Proentranse on September 18th 2020 concluded the eight months of testing of the BOND model in Moldova.
Relevant Articles
Please click below to read articles about two participants of the Moldovan Lab Experiment and the related workshop delivered as part of European Green Week 2020.