'Assessing current practices and procedures to strengthen AEGIS'
The funds for the organization of this workshop are kindly provided to ECPGR by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
The Workshop has been organized in collaboration with the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria.
AEGIS Workshop, 10-12 December 2018, San Fernando de Henares, Madrid, Spain
Background and rationale to the workshop
During the Steering Committee (SC) meeting held in Thessaloniki 15-17 May 2018, it was proposed to hold a workshop before the end of 2018 with the aim to strengthen AEGIS (see also Annex 4. Proposal to organize an AEGIS workshop (concept note) (59,8 KB) [in Report of the Fifteenth (End-of-Phase) Steering Committee meeting]
During the above-mentioned Steering Committee meeting, the slow progress of AEGIS was noted, mainly on the basis of the low number of accessions flagged in EURISCO as part of the European Collection. Besides a few countries that have not yet joined AEGIS, other possible reasons for slow progress were identified, such as the lack of a broad awareness about AEGIS, a lack of an adequate understanding of the underlying procedures that should lead to the formation of the European Collection at the national or institutional level, as well as a missing appreciation by the Steering Committee and Secretariat of the problems and constraints that countries and the respective Associate Member genebanks experience with the establishment and operation of AEGIS.
Objectives
- Provide information at all levels about scope and importance of AEGIS (targeting relevant stakeholders)
- Offer examples of positive policy engagement
- Offer examples of mechanisms to identify accessions to be included in the AEGIS European Collection
- Identify reasons why the process is slowed down at different levels and offer solutions
- Facilitate AEGIS activities during Phase X
Expected outcomes
- Create sense of ownership in the AEGIS process
- Provide solutions to processes of technical nature
- Provide simple documents showing the benefits