Organic News
Intercultural dialogue
Organic Matters was invited to take part in a study visit to the Island of Procida in Italy in early October. The purpose of the study visit was to facilitate the exchange of information and expertise between educational specialists in the area of intercultural dialogue. This was part of the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
Cáit Curran, Editor, Organic Matters, presented a paper on the role the media in intercultural education to an audience from 12 European countries all involved in the area of education. The presentation focused on the role of Organic Matters magazine as well as organic community and school gardening. School gardening programmes are not well organized in most European countries and in some cases, such as in urban areas of the Netherlands, they are actively discouraged. The main difficulty is the lack of availability of green space and bureaucratic indifference.
Participants from various countries presented information on their school systems and the group visited a number of schools on the island. The visit concluded with the exploration of ideas for joint projects between countries. The visit was organized by the Network of European Active Citizens (NEAC), an international non profit organization dedicated to stimulating broader involvement building a democratic European culture.
Gillian Westbrook has been appointed to the new position of
General Manager with IOFGA. Coming from a background in the regulatory area...
