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Beacons of Hope: Transforming Food Systems Beacons of Hope: Transforming Food Systems
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Around the world, an extensive network of people and initiatives are working to transform food systems.

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By sharing their stories, we can connect diverse initiatives and strengthen our understanding of the food systems transformation process. Read the Stories

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Women in mask with boxes

The Common Market

Connecting farmers, families, and food during COVID-19.

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Hand holding onion

Lagos Food Bank Initiative

Lagos Food Bank Initiative builds food and economic empowerment.

+ READ FULL CASE STUDY

Fiji’s Ministry of Agriculture

Government pandemic response builds systems resilience.

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Gastromotiva’s Solidary Kitchens

The social gastronomy movement expands to home kitchens in Brazil.

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Agricultures Network (AN)

Agricultures Network

This global network facilitates knowledge co-creation and advocacy within the community and with farmer organizations, researchers, academia, agriculture extension, and civil society actors. They produce regional/global magazines with a readership of approximately 1 million.

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Agroecology Case Studies

Agroecology Case Studies

This collection of 33 African case studies counters dominant narratives about agricultural investments and land grabbing and shows the potential of agroecological methods to raise incomes, sustain productivity, improve livelihoods, and adapt to climate change. These examples can be used to show that Africans have found successful solutions to their own problems.

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Brazil’s National Plan for Agroecology and Organic Food Production (PLANAPRO)

Brazil’s National Plan for Agroecology and Organic Food Production

Brazil’s plan follows six strategic axes: 1) production; 2) use and conservation of natural resources; 3) dissemination of knowledge; 4) commercialization and consumption; 5) land and territory; and 6) socio biodiversity. The goal is to improve the quality of life of the population by working toward sustainable rural development and increased consumption of healthy food.

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Climate Resilient Zero Budget Natural Farming (CR ZBFN)

Climate Resilient Zero Budget Natural Farming

CR ZBNF, in Andhra Pradesh, India, currently engages 180,000 farmers and plans to scale to 6 million farmers by 2024. ZBNF seeks to increase yields and promote resilience through agroecological processes.

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Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO)

Community Markets for Conservation

This initiative seeks to work toward healthy soil, healthy food, and a healthy diet in rural Zambia. The program equipped participants with farmer training in agroecological approaches and diversification with the goal of generating an alternative income and livelihood to the (illegal) hunting of wildlife.

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Drylands Natural Resources Centre (DNRC)

Drylands Natural Resources Centre

DNRC works in Kenya to regenerate dryland resources holistically. It addresses three pillars of development: environmental, economic, and social.

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EOSTA

Eosta

EOSTA is a business dedicated to producing and importing sustainable, organic, and fair trade fruits and vegetables. They provide full traceability of their products, provide extension services to farmers, promote true cost accounting, and build a sustainable market with consumers.

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Farmer to Farmer Agroecology Movement (MACAC)

Farmer to Farmer Agroecology Movement

This initiative focuses on Cuban farmer autonomy through agroecological practices, participatory plant breeding, and farmer-to-farmer approaches. It was assisted by the Ministry of Higher Education and worked through changing researchers’ ideas about agriculture and agroecology.

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Hivos Sustainable Food

Hivos Sustainable Food

This initiative promotes healthy and sustainable food systems for all through different levels of strategy and intervention. The first strategy is to invest in small and medium enterprises.

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Institute for Sustainable Development

This farmer-led initiative, based in Ethiopia, works closely with rural agricultural communities to alleviate poverty, improve food security, and rehabilitate the degraded environment. They provide education and extension services on using local inputs to enhance soil fertility and nutrition.

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International Network for Community Supported Agriculture (URGENCI)

International Network for Community Supported Agriculture

URGENCI is both a community of practice and a network of partners affiliated with community supported agriculture (CSA) programs. The goal is to transform the food system through promoting CSA policy, disseminating food sovereignty and solidarity economy, and working with similar social movements.

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MASIPAG

MASIPAG

This initiative is a longstanding, farmer-led network of civil society organizations, NGOs, and scientists in the Philippines. The goals are to sustainably manage biodiversity through farmer-controlled seeds and biological resources.

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Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP)

Milan Urban Food Policy Pact

This pact, signed by 150 cities globally and led by Milan, provides 37 suggested actions through voluntary guidelines that work toward sustainable food systems. It also engages with the mayors of cities to recognize their role in making changes.

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North East India Slow Food and Biodiversity Society (NESFAS)

North East India Slow Food and Biodiversity Society

NESFAS is a network of NGOs, institutions, governments, and like-minded people in Meghalaya, India. They aim to enhance local biodiversity and food sovereignty through the conservation, promotion, and dissemination of traditional Indigenous knowledge and farming systems.

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Organic Valley

Organic Valley

This independent farmers’ cooperative in the United States works to support middle-sized agriculture through a cooperative structure. They believe that agroecology is the only sustainable way forward and that education is the key to this transformation.

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SEKEM Company

SEKEM Initiative

This private-sector initiative based in Egypt has four pillars of sustainability: societal, cultural, economic, and ecological. They operate under fair trade and fair pricing principles, promote good governance, focus on education at all levels, believe in holistic approaches to building fertile soils, add value through local processing, and guarantee price and income security for farmers.

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Soils, Food and Healthy Communities (SFHC)

Soils, Food, and Healthy Communities

This initiative, based out of Malawi, focuses on gender and social equity and nutrition and health. They work with communities using transformative, participatory methods of training on agroecological practice and discussions about nutrition, gender, and governance.

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Timbaktu Collective

Timbaktu Collective

An NGO, Timbaktu works with those who are marginalized (women, men, children, the landless, and the disabled) in a rural province in India. They believe in autonomy and help set up people-owned business enterprises.

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Vanuatu 2030

Vanuatu 2030

This initiative is Vanuatu’s national sustainable development plan. It builds alternate pathways to sustainability based on culture, values, natural wealth, and indicators of happiness.

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World Food System Center at ETH Zürich

The WFSC at the ETH Zürich aims to support transformation toward sustainable food systems through applied, systematic research. This integrated research supports healthy food production, food and nutrition security, environmental sustainability, and social well-being.

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Zero Waste San Francisco

Zero Waste San Francisco

This initiative works to reorganize waste management in San Francisco through the shift to a circular system. Their approaches target growers through waste reduction campaigns; wholesale markets through links to food banks; diversion from animal feed; retail food date issues; food establishments; diversion of grease and fat; consumer behaviours; information technology; composting; policy on labels; and recycling mandates.

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Women in mask with boxes

The Common Market

Connecting farmers, families, and food during COVID-19. ...

+ READ FULL CASE STUDY
Hand holding onion

Lagos Food Bank Initiative

Lagos Food Bank Initiative builds food and economic empowerment. ...

+ READ FULL CASE STUDY

Fiji’s Ministry of Agriculture

Government pandemic response builds systems resilience. ...

+ READ FULL CASE STUDY

Gastromotiva’s Solidary Kitchens

The social gastronomy movement expands to home kitchens in Brazil. ...

+ READ FULL CASE STUDY
Agricultures Network (AN)

Agricultures Network

This global network facilitates knowledge co-creation and advocacy within the community and with ...

+ READ FULL CASE STUDY
Agroecology Case Studies

Agroecology Case Studies

This collection of 33 African case studies counters dominant narratives about agricultural investments ...

+ READ FULL CASE STUDY
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BEACONS OF HOPE began as a collaboration between the Global Alliance for the Future of Food and Biovision Foundation for Ecological Development.
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