Waverley Street Foundation to invest $16 million over four years to strengthen global agroecology and climate justice movements’ approaches to food systems change.
Agroecology Fund, a decentralized multi-donor fund that supports just and sustainable global food systems, announces a new $16 million partnership with Waverley Street Foundation of San Francisco, CA to support collaborative research and advocacy among agroecology and climate justice networks and, through them, among farmers, scientists (biophysical and social), consumer groups, and policymakers, to explore how to create an enabling policy environment to scale up agroecology as a climate solution.
The Waverley Street Foundation supports climate solutions arising from local leaders and organizations at work in the places they call home. They work with partners around the world who are advancing climate efforts grounded in the day-to-day lives of people and communities, that build on foundations of equity and justice, and that respond to the growing challenges of those living on the frontlines of climate change.
This new partnership, which guarantees an investment of $10 million with the expectation that Agroecology Fund will solicit an additional $6 million in matching funds, will enable the Agroecology Fund to deepen its existing partners’ work in 12 countries and one region (Argentina, Brazil, European Union, France, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, USA, Colombia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia), building on successes and momentum. Through participatory action research, multi-sectoral collaborations will implement, research and course-correct advocacy strategies for food systems policies that link climate-resilience and agroecology.
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Agroecology movements are drivers of bottom-up food system transformation. Today, community organizations, social movements, and Indigenous Peoples – many of whom are grantees of the Agroecology Fund – lead this food system transformation work, in complex interactions with public agencies and research institutions.
“In agroecology we speak about co-creation, not technology transfer. This grant will allow the Agroecology Fund to support leading collaboratives from all sectors across the globe to reflect and act for climate and food systems transformation.” –Â Angela Cordeiro, Co-Director, Agroecology Fund
Central to this work is support for multi-sectoral collaboratives that bring together grassroots organizations, research institutions, and advocacy coalitions. Guided by a participatory research approach, these collaboratives will pursue critical research questions and leverage data to galvanize policy changes supporting agroecology-based food systems as climate resilience strategies. The process will also contribute to strengthening the agency of civil society in food systems governance.
“Agroecology Fund reflects our commitment to climate solutions that address community resilience,” said Amanda Eller, Strategy Director at Waverley Street Foundation. “We believe it is imperative to shift policy and public funding toward supporting healthy, climate-resilient food systems rooted in agroecology.”
Goals for this work include:
- Increased power and influence of the networks of farmers and other stakeholders that are advocating for climate-resilient, agroecology-based food systems in targeted countries and regions.
- Stronger grassroots capacity for policy advocacy through research-guided strategies.
- Publication and dissemination of the evidence of agroecology’s impacts on climate mitigation and resilience leading to increased support for agroecology policy platforms and increased public commitments to agroecology
- Better articulation of the key obstacles to scaling agroecology informs future advocacy strategies, funding priorities and policy design.
- Dialogues and collaboration among a wide range of civil society organizations active in agroecology, climate, and environmental issues (especially the climate justice movement), thus strengthen political and budgetary influence.
“Industrial agriculture is a major contributor to climate change, underwritten by public subsidies and bad policies. With this large investment in the Agroecology Fund the Waverley Street Foundation is demonstrating to the donor community how we can collectively invest in grassroots, movement led food systems change at scale. –Â Daniel Moss, Co-Director, Agroecology Fund
Since 2012, the Agroecology Fund has distributed nearly $20 million in grants to agroecology organizations and networks worldwide through a participatory and decentralized model led by global advisors embedded in grassroots movements. If you’d like to begin a conversation about how you can join the fund as a donor, please contact Daniel Moss, Co-Director at daniel@agroecologyfund.org today.
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