V4 brainstorming sessions on the methodology of the feasibility study – The Association of Social Farming

On March 21, 2023,  Strategic Analysis & Bridge of Friendship Kartlosi, organized the first brainstorming session with one of the V4 partners – The Association of Social Farming., regarding the project “ Sharing V4 experience with Georgian self-governments: regional development and green innovations”, supported by the International Visegrad Fund.

The association of social farming is a non-profit organization established in 2017 and the content partner of the project. The rationale is to have a formal organization promoting social agriculture and related topics in the Czech Republic, to provide support to social farmers and act as the representative voice of farmers, social workers, social farmers, and other stakeholders to defend and push forward their wishes, needs, and ideas in social farming. The Association is a member body with approx. thirty members and is partly an output of the Working Committee of Social Farming at the Ministry of Agriculture. The Association’s activities to date consist of organizing and implementing training, excursions, publications, roundtables, advocacy, consulting, seeking funding for social and agricultural activities, networking among interest organizations in the
Czech Republic and abroad.

The feasibility study is an assessment of factors such as technical, economic, ecological and legal considerations to assess whether future projects are worth investment. After conducting the field research and mapping all relevant challenges communities face along the ABL, the feasibility study will be prepared for the international donor community as well as the business community for potential investments in the selected fields. For creating the methodology for the feasibility study, online brainstorming sessions will be held for the V4 implementing consortium to set and create the criteria and the methodology for the feasibility study of four projects focusing on regional development, social entrepreneurship and/or social agriculture, green innovations in the context of local administration and local media to increase visibility for the region.

The lead author of these feasibility studies will be Tomas Baranec, who mapped the challenges of these communities, utilizing his expertise from the ground, as well as through desk research. Partners from the V4 would co-author the studies.

This project is generously funded by: