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First SFYN winter school: co-creating a better food system in Kenya

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(11 FEBRUARY 2020, PIA MÜLLER-CYRAN, MARTA POTENZA) “ In 2017, the African continent had a total yearly deficit of 41 billions USD. The capital entering African countries accounted for 162 billions USD but the outflows were 203 billion of dollars ” is the astonishing data provided by Prof. Gabriele Volpato, during his lecture on Land and water grabbing in Africa. Prof. Volpato – ecologist, researcher and teacher at the University of Gastronomic Sciences UNISG based in Bra, Italy – has been one of the scholars lecturing during the first edition of the Winter School in “Agri-food choices: from field to plate, for the planet: building a better food system environment ” held in Kenya from the 19th to the 29th January 2020. On this occasion, participants from Kenya, Italy and Germany, together with Italian and Kenyan scholars and experts, had the chance to learn about the Kenyan agricultural sector and specific local study-cases. The participants of the Winter School, representing a var
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Red is the New Color of Life: The Maasai Community

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(Baraka Agricoltural College, Molo, Kenya – 28/01/2020, Jessica G. and Alessandro S.) Day 9 of the Winter School “ Agri-Food Choices. From field to plate, for the planet: building a better food system ”. The Winter School participants visited the Maasai community near Narok, a town west of Nairobi. After a 3 hour journey along the bumpy kenyan roads, they finally arrived at the presedium located in the village of Satellite. The lands of the various farmers and breeders are scattered throughout Satellite. The guys were introduced to Agnes Kunguru, her family and other members of the Red Maasai sheep group. After a brief presentation by the students, Agnes started to show them her red dress . From Red Shuka to Red beverage  Maasai community can be recognized by the Shuka, a particular red cloth that they wear with utmost pride and elegance. To Maasai community red is the most important color . It represents different things, for example: cow warm blood, which the Maasai drink mix
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Breaking down European aid paradigms

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(Baraka Agricoltural College, Molo, Kenya- 27/01/2020, Pia M., editor Giulia Z.) Day 7 of the WinterSchool on sustainable food systems starts with a short presentation of the group work conducted the day before. All groups have taken an effort to visualize their ideas and go into details on how to realize their first project ideas. Then there is an online lecture of Eduardo Occa, who has been working with malnutritioned children in Tanzania. He points out that there are two different stages of malnutrition- one is the chronic malnutrition, which is an insufficient supply of nutrients within the first 1000 days starting from the pregnancy of the mother until the 2 years of life of the baby. This way of malnutrition affects more than a third of the Tanzanian population and over 25% of Kenya's population. The second type of malnutrition is severe malnutrition, which leads to death if not treated in an hospital and 100.000 Tanzanian children are facing this threat - in Kenya the
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The Future - of Agriculture - WinterSchool Projects and a Multi-cultural Eat-in

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(Baraka Agricoltural College, Molo, Kenya- 26/01/2020, Ann S. and Pia M.) Today is all about the future . The team starts with lessons at 9 o’clock following up the day before session and envisioning the future of the projects. Valentina Gritti, from SFYN, gives an insight on brainstorming and all the groups start thinking (more or less) feasible solutions of the projects. After this exercise every group needs to take the hard decision of choosing one main idea to follow for the next days. The presentation of one PowerPoint slide per group is scheduled for the class after lunch. Following the coffee break there is a lecture about “sustainable Agriculture: the future of agriculture” – held by Mr. Wilhelm N. Keyah, who is a professor at the Baraka Agricultural College. He is a specialist for rural development and was working as an extension officer before joining the college. Mr. Keyah starts with asking the team questions about their worries of future developments in the agri
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Looking for two leaves and a bud. Participants to the 1st winter-school in Agri-Food choices meet the Kenyan tea farmers

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(Baraka Agricoltural College, 25/01/2020 – Anna F. – Giulia Z.) The day starts with another exciting trip: the Baraka Agricultural College team gets ready to know a tea processing factory and meet small tea farmers. Trying to win against the time, we leave the Baraka Agricultural College earlier than the scheduled departure to make the most of the limited time available in these rich lands. After two hours of travelling on the college bus surrounded by green landscapes, the Winterschool team reaches the Kiptagich Tea Factory. A team of proud employers of the Kiptagich Factory is waiting for the students, so dressing them with a white coat and a mask, and divided them in two groups: the participants are now ready for the factory tour. The two groups get to see all the steps of the tea processing. The process starts with the collected leaves, 65% of which are coming from small and middle scale farmers and 35% from fields owned by the factory. The factory decides the price according
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Naesa kupanda miti? When Ogiek people climb trees, Mau forest listens.

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(Baraka Agricultural college- Molo - Kenya, 24 January 2020- Elisa B. & Marco B.) (Title translation from Swahili "Naesa kupanda miti?": Can I climb the trees?) At 9 o’clock in the morning, the Winter School team left Baraka College heading to Mariashoni, where the Ogiek community lives. The road from the college to the final destination passed through the city of Nakuru from where, after 40 kilometers, the team reached a small city on the slopes of Mau Forest (Elburgon). To finally reach the village of Mariashoni, others 15 km of a very bumpy road had to be tackled by the Baraka’s college super-bus. Challenge accepted, the bus did a great job overcoming the huge holes on that trail. After 2 hours, the Winter School Team finally reached the Ogiek community’s home. Ogiek people are a community of bee-keepers and hunters living near Mau Forest and Mont Elgon in Kenya. They are divided into groups, named “kop”, made up of lineages (30-50 members for each group).
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Sharing is caring. Winter School in Agri-Food choices a chance to meet communities, values, landscapes and knowledge toward food.

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(Baraka Agricultural College – Molo – Kenya, 23 January 2020 – Giulia Z. & Anna F.) How can psychological perspective help to understand and modify the perception, attitudes and behavior toward environmental resources? Simona Sacchi , associate professor of Social Psychology at the University of Milano Bicocca , suggests that there are two main directions which can guide attitudes, believes and values: a top-down approach which is based on three values that forge behaviors (biospheric, altruistic and egoistic value) or a bottom-up process in which behaviors could be forged by perception. Talking about enviromental dimensions, it is necessary to take into account the moral behavior and the moral dilemma which could be faced through two main processes: deontology (when an action is based on internal moral) and consequentialism (when there is analysis of costs/benefits). But which is the best way to communicate environmental change? Could we use moralization in order to persude
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