Periodic Reporting for period 3 - NEFERTITI (Networking European Farms to Enhance Cross Fertilisation and Innovation Uptake through Demonstration)
Période du rapport: 2021-01-01 au 2022-09-30
The project carried out concrete demonstration actions in various partner countries, with an ambition of continuous quality improvement thanks to yearly evaluations and exchanges of practices. 793 events were registered and reported on the platform for the 3-demo campaign (260 events in 2019 and 211 in 2020 and 322 in 2021/2022).
The project established and maintained a collaborative platform as a central tool of Nefertiti. Within the platform, various actors such as farmers, innovation actors, policy advisors and project consortia members collaborated through access to the whole range of demo-activities across Europe (Demo-agenda) but also found tangible and purposeful results from the project (Guidelines, Farm Demo Training kit, Demo reports, Practice Abstracts, technical sheets, videos etc…).
An effective and efficient monitoring and evaluation (M&E) approach and supporting tools have been developed. Based on the analyses of 45 Hub M&E journals of the 3 year, lessons learned have been separated in wins, hurdles, emerging questions and testimonies. The improvement of facilitation techniques for farmer-to-farmer learning have proceeded through the training on the ORID method and other techniques.
Nefertiti also aims at facilitating policy dialogue with targeted stakeholders and supporting the NEFERTITI network sustainability in the longer term. NEFERTITI have been connected with an external layer of regional stakeholders including a Membership (53 regions subscribed the NEFERTITI Membership). Some Policy Dialogue events and field visits have been organised to demonstrate the added value brought by demo-farms to public administrations of the regions and exchange best practices facilitating interactive innovation projects genesis and ensuring networks sustainability through efficient use of EU funds synergies.
Specific activities dedicated to effectively communicating, disseminating and reaching out to the targets have been settled, implemented and improved all along the project development using existing and alternative approaches. Nefertiti Communication and dissemination activities focused on the use of modern information technologies like web-based platforms and existing social media (including a reservoir of technical videos on demonstration activities) as well as more traditional tools like farmer journals, fact sheets, booklets, conferences,etc.
The activities related to networking, i.e. on-farm demonstrations, EU cross-visits, and knowledge exchange activities, contribute to an increased farmer-to-farmer exchange of knowledge and higher visibility of on-farm demonstrations. The “Manual for Cross Visits” is also a useful method for the organisation of cross-border cross-fertilisation field events. The sustainability of 50% of the demonstration hubs after NEFERTITI is also already ensured.
793 events were organised, 45 000 participants an online platform where all the events characteristics are registered and opened, and tools to evaluate all the events were set up in along the project time life.
The creation of the platform is seen as a great way for knowledge shown on the demo events to be shared even further. Many of the demonstration events showcase innovative solutions which impact the socio-economic state of their farm, but also their environment. These good practices can be found on the platform and implemented onto other EU farms. The FARM DEMO platform will be sustained after NEFERTITI through the Horizon Europe Climate Farm Demo project
The tools, methods and activities of the Monitoring and Evaluation dynamic stimulate Hub Coaches in a structured and critical assessment of their demonstration activities leading to an improved capacity to organise effective and efficient farm demos and finally in better demonstrations. The lessons and recommendations for AKIS on demo-activities on commercial farms constitute a good basis the deployment of R&I and demonstration programs across all EU AKIS.
NEFERTITI has shown the capacity of generating awareness on the role of on-Farm P2P Demonstration activities in relevant socio-economic regional ecosystems. The participation of Regional Governments through the Policy Dialogue activities can provide broader support to Demonstration and Demo Farm in relevant National, Regional and Local policy tools and increase the possibility of uptake of the project’s methodologies and recommendations by relevant operators and decision-makers.
Finally, Nefertiti widely disseminated all relevant results to a wide range of actors and stakeholders across Europe. The NEFERTITI platform and NEFERTITI website acted as an aggregator of a broad range of practical information from various sources and have been widely advertised through very-active Social media communication. The Farm Demo Youtube channel constitutes an innovative tool to share knowledge in the long term.