This Saturday, November 20, Fundesplai has organized at its headquarters located in the Sant Cosme neighborhood of El Prat de Llobregat a great festive day to celebrate the inauguration of the expansion of Centre Esplai and the exhibition “Menja. Actua. Impacta”, on sustainable and healthy food.
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Thus, the expansion of the facilities allows the provision of new equipment that doubles the constructed area to 22,000m2, which will make it possible to increase educational and service activities.
On the other hand, the day has served to open “Menja. Actua. Impacta”, a major exhibition on healthy and sustainable food that is part of the program of activities of the World Capital of Sustainable Food that the city of Barcelona holds this year 2021. The exhibition aims to contribute to the change of collective mentality that is necessary to transform the current food system into one that ensures a healthy future for people and the planet.
Saturday’s grand opening party was attended by hundreds of people who enjoyed a day with a varied program that included, in addition to institutional events, entertainment, games, workshops and family activities. At the time of the speeches, the president of Fundesplai, Josep Gassó, thanked the efforts of all the people and institutions “that have helped in this project that aims to make possible a better world through coexistence and sustainability”. Also Jordi Martí, vice-president of Strategic Planning of the AMB, highlighted the importance of initiatives like this one that promote sustainability and networking. For his part, the mayor of El Prat de Llobregat, Lluís Mijoler, has shown his “Satisfaction for the inauguration of these excellent facilities, which are key for El Prat and, especially, for the Sant Cosme neighborhood”.Finally, the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Pere Aragonès, has highlighted the importance of projects like this that promote sustainability from education and has affirmed that “Menja Actua Impacta” is much more than an exhibition, it is a call for individual and collective commitment to improving the world through changes in our eating habits”.
An extension to respond to new challenges
With the expansion of its headquarters, Fundesplai will have three new facilities: a training center, of 1,400m2, with 14 classrooms and an agora for special events; A large multifutional space of 4,500m2 for cultural and sporting events and a new module of the current hostel, which will go from 75 to 125 rooms. This new module of the hostel will have an area of 2,500m2 for rooms and 2,500m2 for a parking of 99 spaces. The expansion will be completed with the forthcoming opening of a large public park inspired by the ecosystem of the Llobregat Delta.
The works have been carried out in just over a year despite the context of the pandemic, leaving only part of the area of the outdoor public park pending and the final adaptation of some spaces of the hostel, which will be completed in the coming months.
The project is the work of the OAB studio, with architects Carlos Ferrater and Núria Ayala, who have designed fully accessible and sustainable facilities. For this last aspect, we have had the advice of the Ramon Folch i Associats Studio.
The expansion aims to respond to new educational and social challenges. The new facilities will allow Fundesplai to promote training courses, especially to promote the employment of young people. Social action and integration programmes aimed at groups in vulnerable situations will be promoted. The educational activity will be expanded, through leisure programs, environmental education, health in schools and leisure centers. The presence in the midday educational spaces and school canteens will be expanded, which this year has reached about 300 schools and more than 30,000 meals a day. And, through experiences such as the exhibition “Menja. Acts. Impacta”, which we launch on the same day that we inaugurate the new multifunctional space, we will invite all society to mobilize and commit to – in this case, through food – work together for the sustainability of our planet.
The exhibition Menja. Actua. Impacta, an invitation to be part of a change
The exhibition “Menja. Actua. Impacta” occupies more than 1,500m2 and is located in the new multifunctional space of the Fundesplai headquarters (c / Riu Anoia,42-54 08820 El Prat de Llobregat). It is scheduled until July 2023 and over the 18 months it is expected to be visited by more than 200,000 people.
The exhibition proposes, in an immersive and interactive way, a journey of discovery of the serious effects that our way of eating has on our health and that of the planet, but also of the extraordinary opportunities for improvement that we have if we change the current food system. During the route of the exhibition, the great challenges of sustainable food are considered: food waste, the reduction of the consumption of animal protein, the consumption of local and seasonal products, the health risks of the consumption of ultra-processed foods and the reduction of the consumption of packaging, especially plastic.
The exhibition can be combined with various activities to enjoy a day of discovery of the Llobregat Delta. For example: visiting the Natural Spaces, the CRAM (Centre for the Recovery of Marine Animals), the Agricultural Park, etc.
“Menja. Actua. Impacta” is also an educational program aimed at schools and leisure centers. The program proposes adapted visits to the exhibition and workshops with proposals for experimentation, games and enigmas focused on discovering aspects of food ranging from health, science, art, etc.
On the other hand, during the 18 months of the exhibition, an extensive program of activities, forums and debates around sustainable food will be carried out, developed in collaboration with universities, experts, entities, companies and citizen movements.
Finally, the exhibition also offers a digital program through www.menjaactuaimpacta.org, which will be its virtual extension and a way of knowing, communicating and interacting with it and has the institutional support of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Diputació de Barcelona, the Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona and the City Council of El Prat de Llobregat, as well as the collaboration and support of different research centers, institutions and companies. You can now buy tickets to visit the exhibition here.
The exhibition is the first action of Demà/Fundesplai
“Menja. Actua. Impacta· is the first action of “Tomorrow”, an initiative promoted by Fundesplai that aims to create a space for personal and collective activation, focused on two main axes: sustainability and coexistence.
Fundesplai is a non-profit organization with a trajectory of more than 50 years working for the education of children and young people, the strengthening of the third sector and the improvement of the environment, with a desire for transformation and social inclusion. The total of its programs reached 286,810 participants in 2019.
Now, faced with the current social and environmental emergency, Fundesplai wants to take its mission further by addressing a wider audience. This is the intention of “Demà”, a space created to promote a series of actions aimed at raising awareness about the great future challenges facing humanity.