Wat was de uitdaging/het probleem aangepakt?

Recent EPA Water Quality Report for 2013-2018 show that water quality in Ireland has declined slightly in that period. ASSAP is a change in philosophy to move away from regulatory based ‘one size fits all’ approach, towards being more collaborative, and identifying and implementing ‘the right measure in the right place’, whilst supporting local communities to get involved in protecting their water resources.

An industry and stakeholder collaboration resulted in the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) supporting the ASSAP to deliver farmer focused advice in 190 priority areas for action (PAA’s). ASSAP is supported by the DHPLG, DAFM, Local Authorities, Dairy Processing Co-ops, Farming Organisations and Teagasc.

The ASSAP programme is collaborative, inter agency and public private partnership with funding and support received from DAFM, DHPLG and the dairy industry. It enables local landowners to engage positively in seeking solutions to local problems with the support of a confidential advisory service. Support from the farming organisations for the programme has been very strong and this is vital in communicating and informing farmers about the ASSAP programme and its key messages. In 2019 the first year of the programme 30 advisors from Teagasc and the dairy co-ops completed 1,160 individual farms assessments with 96% of farmers engaging and 89% agreeing to complete the actions.

Wat zijn de succesfactoren bij het oplossen van het probleem??

willingness of state agencies and dairy processors to support the approach and to recognize the value of having skilled advisors on the ground who were interested and willing step into this role.

The idea of working in a specialized but inclusive way with the other regular advisors who help these farmers mean that they were not threatened or afraid of loosing business.

Irelands economy depends on Agricultural exports and tourism, the green image is important and most farmers know this , but the don’t know precisely what they can do better to improve water quality. The value of an advisor who can point out simple things to help is appreciated.

Wat waren de belangrijkste uitdagingen tijdens het innovatieproces??

Getting everyone onto the same page at the start.

Welke rol speelt de adviseur of adviesdienst met de praktische zaak?

Kennisbewustzijn en -uitwisseling, Adviserend, consultancy en backstopping gericht op het oplossen van complexe problemen, die tijdens het innovatieproces moet worden geboden en gebaseerd op de eisen van actoren en de gezamenlijke constructie van oplossingen, Demand articulation, to allow actors to have access to new ideas, identify their needs, define their objectives and express clear demands to other actors, Netwerkfacilitatie en -bemiddeling, netwerken helpen organiseren of versterken, de relaties tussen de belangrijkste actoren te verbeteren en de diensten op elkaar af te stemmen, zodat ze elkaar kunnen aanvullen, Capacity building, aimed at increasing innovation actors’ capacities in order to play their roles in the innovation process, Verbetering/ondersteuning van de toegang tot hulpbronnen door de toegang tot inputs te vergemakkelijken, faciliteiten en financiering, Het faciliteren van toegang tot nieuwe netwerken en actoren, Het opschalen van de innovatie om de acceptatie door een bredere groep te vergroten

Voor het delen van ervaringen uit de praktijkcasus, Neem contact op

Noel Meehan

noel.meehan@teagasc.ie