EIT Food Education’s partnership with JA Europe: Creating Impact through Education
We spoke with Sophie Norman about her journey and insights as Director of Development at JA Europe.
In a recent interview, Dr. Maarten van der Kamp, EIT Food’s Director of Education, discussed our partner ecosystem:
Maarten : ‘It’s the people within those organisations who make the work really happen—they have the passion, energy and expertise to codesign and deliver our programmes.’
Sophie Norman is one of those enthusiasts.
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Sophie, can you tell us about your professional background?
Sophie Norman: ‘I studied political sciences because I’ve always been interested in international relations and European affairs. Five years ago, I joined Junior Achievement (JA) Europe, an organisation providing educational programmes in entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy.
In my current role as Director of Development, I collaborate with partners who support our activities.
They help us empower young people, developing their skillset and mindset to build thriving communities. EIT Food has been one of our key partners since 2019, and I work closely with Mario Roccaro, EIT Food's Programme Manager Education.’
What’s the mission of the worldwide JA Community?
Sophie: ‘JA's story began in 1919 in the United States during the industrial revolution. Young people moving from rural areas to cities lacked the skills needed for industrial work.
While JA started in the US, it now operates in more than 100 countries worldwide, preparing young people to succeed in the global economy.
Our activities range from short courses to schoolyear-long projects where participants create startups or receive career guidance.’
Mario Roccaro: ‘These activities also help prevent school dropout, which is a huge problem in many European countries. Early school leaving often leads to employment issues, social exclusion, marginalisation, and inequalities.
That’s why it’s crucial to keep young people motivated.
When they see the real-world value of what they're learning, they're much more likely to stick with their education and build the skills they need to succeed.’
Can you give some examples of the collaboration between JA Europe and EIT Food?
Mario: ‘One of our joint programmes is Skills for Future, which I initiated in 2019 in Sicily, Italy.
The programme targets 16- to 19-year-old students in RIS countries, presenting them with two food challenges and guiding them to create mini-companies and prototypes.
Today, the programme has expanded to all of Italy and Bulgaria, with plans to include Greece and Turkey.
S4F represents a true partnership between EIT Food and JA Europe, combining EIT Food's challenge-based approach and coaching expertise with JA Europe's platform and innovation capabilities.’
Sophie: ‘The Foodathon has been another big hit. We just wrapped up our fourth edition in 2024.
It's an intense online hackathon that brings together students from Africa and Europe to tackle food-related challenges.
The teams have three weeks to come up with innovative solutions around sustainability, soil fertility and food quality.
What makes it really special is how it brings together different cultures while building entrepreneurial skills – all centered around food challenges.
The top teams get to join us at Gen-E, our big entrepreneurship festival, where they finally get to meet other young innovators face-to-face from all over the world.
We've seen some amazing projects come out of this – like 99Robotics, created by a Danish-Zambian team, which built a robot to cut down CO2 emissions.
“It’s crucial to keep young people motivated. When they see the real-world value of what they're learning, they're much more likely to stick with their education and build the skills they need to succeed”
How are you making impact with JA, and what are the long term ambitions?
Sophie: ‘Through our students, we want to have an increasing impact on society and on the food system’s sustainability. We’re working with 140,000 teachers every year and have 70,000 amazing volunteers helping students tackle real-world challenges.
Not everyone ends up starting their own business, of course, but they all pick up this can-do attitude that stays with them. We see our alumni everywhere – in politics, as employees or entrepreneurs, and they also stay connected through a global alumni network.
We have set ourselves a big target: by 2050, we want to reach 25 million young people each year. We're especially focused on helping those who might not otherwise get these kinds of opportunities.’
Mario: ‘One of our goals is to open young people's eyes to how farming and food production affect climate change, and what nature can and can't handle. It's amazing to see how many of them get excited about agtech and foodtech - they really see the chance to shake things up and make positive changes. We're keen to spread our activities to more countries and keep growing the EIT Food/JA community. Right now, we're also looking for more funding to support our young entrepreneurs through our new Secure Future Food programme. The idea is to connect them with incubators and business accelerators who can help turn their ideas into real products and services and bring their innovations to market.’
Source Image : Junior-Achievement-Longitudinal-Impact-Study.pdf
EIT Food Education's mission : Capacity Building for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Editor's Note :
EIT Food Education's mission is clear: building capacity for entrepreneurship and innovation. Beyond our diverse portfolio of education programmes, we actively collaborate on impactful projects, such as our partnership with JA Europe.
These alliances are pivotal in creating the infrastructure needed to empower diverse stakeholders in their teaching and learning journeys.
Through these strategic collaborations, EIT Food Education contributes to broader initiatives aimed at fostering innovation for both present and future generations.
By cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset from an early age, we plant the seeds of change, nurturing bright minds and equipping them with the skills to transform the food system and drive meaningful, lasting impact.