For the second year in succession, Fundația ADEPT won a top EU prize for innovative communication with small-scale farmers, with its SMS Family Farms project. The project was supported by Fundatia Orange and by the Swiss Romanian Cooperation Fund.
ADEPT has developed a simple yet extremely effective system of sms information to farmers and peasants who can not access the internet or contact different governmental and non-governmental institutions. This system is part of the, funded by the Romanian-Swiss Cooperation Program and co-funded by Fundatia Orange. Through this innovative method, small farmers are informed directly and in real time about legislative changes and opportunities for them. It is a sms notification system designed to provide clear and concise information useful to farmers (eg the deadline for submitting payment applications, opening sessions of projects funded under the National Rural Development Program – NRDP, various opportunities for them etc.).
The 2013 Common Agricultural Policy Communication Awards recognize achievements in the categories ‘Communication to Stakeholders’, Communication to the Public and Innovative Communication. 1st Prize for Innovative Communication was awarded to the SMSFF project of Fundatia ADEPT Transilvania.
Of the 181 European projects proposed for judging, 9 were selected for the final stage of the competition. The final ranking, after the projects were presented to the public by officials from the European Commission, representatives of the European press, farmers’ associations and NGOs, was established by over 400 participants in the event.
The project proposed by the ADEPT Foundation in the “Innovative Communication” category won the most votes, ahead of the “AgriChat” projects in England and “FarmsUp” in Greece.
The jury’s motivation for selecting the ADEPT proposal was: “This project is extremely well suited to the needs of those to whom it addresses. Using Short Messages (SMS) is a simple and effective means of communicating to small-scale farmers (family farmers) who are in isolated or hard-to-reach areas. “
The winning of the 1st place for the second time is also an acknowledgment of the importance of the rural development and biodiversity conservation activities that the ADEPT Foundation carries out in Sighişoara – Târnava Mare.
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