The FLIARA Project reached a significant milestone this month, holding its final in-person General Assembly at the European Parliament in Brussels on October 16th. The formal session, which gathered representatives from all 15 partner institutions, was hosted by Irish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Maria Walsh and coordinated by the University of Galway team.
MEP Walsh opened the proceedings with a warm welcome, highlighting the project’s potential to foster a more inclusive rural future for Europe. Associate Professor Maura Farrell, the project coordinator from the University of Galway, followed by celebrating the success and considerable efforts invested in the project as it nears its conclusion.
Key Project Results and Future Steps Discussed
The assembly served as a platform for partners to detail their final progress and chart the path for the project’s culmination.
- Project Management (WP7): Louise Weir, Principal Project Manager from the University of Galway and organiser of the session, led the discussion on final steps. She confirmed that all key performance indicators (KPIs) had been achieved and thanked all partners for their smooth collaboration.
- Dissemination and Exploitation (WP6): VÃctor MartÃnez of Consulta Europa showcased the progress and forthcoming deliverables, notably acknowledging the project’s ambassadors as “catalysts of change”. He noted, “We started the project thinking about how to spotlight our 200 women in farming and rural areas, but they ended up spotlighting the project and sharing the message.” The session included a workshop for partners to discuss the project’s key exploitable results ahead of the final exploitation plan.
- Foresight and Trend Analysis (WP2): Tuomas Kuhmonen presented the final results of the research across the nine involved countries, followed by an internal assessment protocol with the partners present.
- Policy and Practice Framework (WP5): Willem Korthals Altes from TUDelft University of Technology outlined the progress on the framework guiding the FLIARA policy and practice recommendations and the development of the policy proposal intended to address policymakers at EU and other governance levels. Aisling Murtagh of the University of Galway then presented the planned content and importance of the project’s Gender Benchmarking report in support of the WP5 activities.
- Community of Practice (CoP) and Tools: Anastasia Oprea concluded the presentations by delivering an update on the CoP Network, the FLIARA toolkit, and the co-developed Gender-Specific Guide to Female-Led Innovation in Farming and Rural Areas.
Following the formal session, partners were given a tour of the European Parliament by MEP Walsh’s team.
Celebrating Women in Agriculture and Rural Innovation
The day concluded with an evening event, also hosted by MEP Walsh, focused on “Mental Health & Farming”, which provided an excellent opportunity for the FLIARA consortium to network with others celebrating women in agri-innovation and food.
During the celebrations, the innovative women involved in, and connected to, the FLIARA Project were recognised for driving innovation in agriculture and rural development. Speaking at the event, project coordinator Maura Farrell shared an inspiring message, acknowledging the transformative role of the FLIARA ambassadors:
“In agriculture and in rural areas, they have worked tirelessly, not just to bring the research to the fore, but to bring the work of the innovative women to the fore. We picked 20 ambassadors out of 200 women that we interviewed, and they were amazing. By the time we started finishing this project, they were leading us… They were the strong, innovative, capable women that we wanted at the front of FLIARA. We started thinking, you should not be trying to help these women. You should try to be capturing these women… let’s support them to do that. Because in doing that, they are the women who would support our rural regions right across Europe.”
The networking event saw FLIARA Partners and Ambassadors connect with key figures in Brussels, including Ambassador Cáit Moran (Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU) and Rose O’Donovan of AGRA FACTS. The gathering provided a crucial opportunity for connecting with women in farming and rural areas at an EU level, underscoring the project’s goal to fully support women in rural innovation prior the celebration of the FLIARA Final Conference.