Hosted at Confindustria and Europa Experience, the meeting provided the opportunity to align on shared goals, refine the project strategy, and begin planning the activities that will shape the first year of implementation.
The first day focused on building a common understanding of the project’s vision: promoting safer, more inclusive workplaces in the wine sector and strengthening the industry’s capacity to prevent and address gender-based violence. Partners explored the project’s overall structure, clarified roles and responsibilities, and participated in an engaging team-building session to highlight each organisation’s expertise and contribution. A substantial part of the discussion centred on the creation of the Grapes of Change Observatory, which will serve as a Europe-wide reference point for gathering data, monitoring trends, and understanding the experiences of workers and stakeholders in the wine value chain.
The second day opened with a session that brought together speakers working on gender equality and violence prevention from different sectors. The consortium heard from the WINBLUE project on empowering women in the Blue Economy; from the French initiative Paye Ton Pinard, which breaks the silence around harassment in the wine world; from the Pink Harvest movement, dedicated to promoting women’s roles in viticulture; and from Vintlerhof, a social-agricultural initiative supporting survivors of violence. These contributions enriched the discussion with concrete examples of innovation, resilience, and community engagement.
