COURSEWORK-on-FEEDING
Presentation made at: Young Professionals Conference: Innovative Ideas to Feed the World Marco Bianchini - FAO Project overview University students can synergistically contribute to eradicate hunger. Since food security is highly multidimensional, students from any disciplines will be involved in this project. A Mobile and PC application, called “COURSEWORK-on-FEEDING“, will involve universities’ students to be part of a project that aims to provide technical assistance for NGOs and local organizations that are dealing with food security issues. The project is based on a twin-track approach: 1) in the short-term, it provides assistance to NGOs and other local organizations; 2) in the medium and long-term, it shapes new experts in food security, by making the most of the human resources available within the universities. Once this application is downloaded on a PC /Mobile, students can use it whenever they have to pick a topic for a coursework or a dissertation, which is often the firs critical task of the coursework. In fact, the application provides a list of specific issues raised by NGOs and local organizations worldwide associated with the students’ area of interests. In doing so, students have the opportunity to work simultaneously on their coursework but also providing technical assistance to beneficiaries contributing to a project aiming to eradicate hunger. The most successful coursework will be published on a free-online database. How the application works Fulfilling the application format, students will provide information about their coursework, area of interests and other relevant information (Annex 1). Correspondingly, the beneficiaries will specify their needs, their objectives, a detailed description of their project and the students’ profile that are looking for (Annex 2 and3). The application will match the students profile with the beneficiaries, providing the list of topics related to the students’ coursework/dissertation. Project sustainability By using this application, students are going to be part of a coursework competition award. In fact, both beneficiaries and students will pay a symbolic amount if they want to use this application, as following indicated. Students will pay from 0.1 to 5 euro for each coursework submitted, according to the student’s socio-economic status. Similarly, the beneficiaries will pay from 10 to 500 euro, for each issue raised, according to their economic status and other parameters. In doing this, the award at stake is based on the number of students that have chosen to work on that specific topic plus the amount paid by the beneficiaries. The best coursework submitted will win half of the award at stake. The other half will be used for humanitarian aids and to cover the costs of the application as well. Including the students attending online and distance universities courses, this project can reach a significant number of
