Barilla Foundation believes in the role young people can play in building a new sustainable development. Young researchers and students are a very important resource for addressing the current inadequacy of food systems and actively contributing to change.
Barilla Foundation is promoting dialogue and the exchange of ideas among young people around the world to identify concrete ways of combating food paradoxes and overcoming the challenge of sustainable development, such as reducing food waste and child obesity through better food education, starting from the Mediterranean diet to update the double food and environmental pyramid, laying the foundations for a new food security and better access to food.
Through the Foundation’s network of collaborations, various activities are promoted including competitions, workshops and online events reserved for young change-makers and their ideas.
Barilla Foundation organized a series of webinars to get a network of young people interested in gaining a better understanding of the issues surrounding food sustainability that were dealt with during the 8th International Forum on Food and Nutrition.
The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, the importance of food policies for the sustainability of food systems, the role of young people in achieving a sustainable development were just some of the issues discussed by young people for young people. The webinars thus became an opportunity for dialogue and discussion, focusing on common paths and concrete ideas about extremely topical issues, as well as an exclusive opportunity to exchange ideas with international experts who brought added value to the conversation with their feedback and experience.
Barilla Foundation, Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and the University of Parma have launched a competition for new generations of change-makers, individual researchers, lecturers and multidisciplinary groups.
The Student Case Study Competition is aimed at young people who want to work for food sustainability through projects intended to make radical changes to existing agri-food systems, inspired by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Working with the University of Siena and the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, Barilla Foundation organized Millennials Lab 2017, a workshop that promoted the role of Millennials in finding concrete solutions to make food systems more sustainable.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), sustainable agriculture, the environmental impact of local agricultural systems on the planet, the relationship between food and local areas were just some of the themes explored by the young people in the work sessions, focusing on the importance of new generations in exploring new paths for a paradigm shift in the agri-food sector.