Our Approach

Mission

We are a force of many and diverse voices, mobilizing resources to build power that transforms food systems and fosters the well being of people and the planet.

Our Shared Vision

In thirty years, robust rural and urban communities with thriving economies will offer dignity and livelihoods for all food producers as well as the ability to adapt to and mitigate environmental change. Biodiversity and the earth’s ecosystems will be conserved not only in wild areas, but in cultivated areas as well. Local cuisine will be celebrated, produced by people gleaning knowledge of agroecology from elders and scientists alike and drawing on the creativity of all. Governments and financial institutions will fully support regenerative and restorative economies and ecosystems as well as rights protections for human beings and nature. Everyone will have access to healthy, affordable, and diverse foods harvested from fair food systems that are governed locally by both producers and consumers.

Cultural diversity and the role of farmers as stewards of natural resources will be encouraged and respected. Fair food economies will be good for people and the planet, leading to the halt of climate change. In thirty years, agroecology will be the model for food systems, while industrial agriculture will be remembered only in history books and museums.

Theory of Change

The primary protagonists at the center of the Agroecology Fund's theory of change are agroecology movements. They organize constituencies, conduct real-time field research, construct new economy food systems and apply political pressure to win agroecology-friendly public policies and programs. These movements are composed of a diverse groundswell of allied organizations advocating for equitable and sustainable food systems and resisting policies, institutions and vested interests that undermine such systems. The Agroecology Fund applies its resources to the intersection of these movements, where farmers, consumers, scientists, policy-makers and environmentalists collaborate.

For these localized movements to succeed, collaborations of constituencies must be supported to engage in strategies as diverse and complementary as researching soil carbon sequestration, creating agroecology schools and seed banks, offering new models of agricultural extension, passing local land and water use ordinances, and critically, resisting systematic and intentional barriers to agroecology, such as corporate control of seed systems. The Agroecology Fund seeks to fortify these multi-sectoral movements around the world.

 

5-Year Strategic Directions

STRATEGIC DIRECTION 1: Shift and leverage significant financial resources towards agroecology

  • Strategically approach funders to support the Agroecology Fund’s work and expand Agroecology Fund membership to include more climate change (CC) and biodiversity conservation (BD) funders and other intersectional funders.

  • Develop and implement a plan to create regional funds for agroecology.

  • Influence funding communities (philanthropic and development agencies) to divest from short-lived solutions and invest in agroecology solutions and Indigenous food systems.

  • Engage with Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) initiatives and ethical financing in the impact investment sector to decrease funding to industrial agriculture approaches and increase funding to agroecology enterprises grounded in 13 principles of agroecology (per the CFS High Level Panel of Experts).

  • Strengthen agroecology movements’ capacity to leverage public funding for agroecology (government budgets, public banks, etc.).

 

STRATEGIC DIRECTION 2: Strengthen political and economic systems to enable agroecology to thrive

  • Support agroecology movements’ actions against corporate control of food systems and the undermining of natural resources, and actions for land and territory rights, water access, biodiversity protection, fair trade regimes, climate justice, etc.

  • Support agroecology movements’ capacities to influence international agroecology related programs.

  • Mobilize the donor community to divest from industrial agriculture.

 

STRATEGIC DIRECTION 3: Co-create and share agroecology knowledge and practices

  • Amplify messages and stories about the value of the Agroecology Fund and the impacts of agroecology gathered from, and co-created with, the Agroecology Fund’s grantee partners and allies, with focus on science, practice, rights, and policy changes.

  • Support partners´ communication strategies to communicate with more impact with their target audiences.

 

STRATEGIC DIRECTION 4: Influence the global conversation about solutions to global hunger and climate change by amplifying agroecological solutions

  • Amplify messages and stories about the value of the Agroecology Fund and the impacts of agroecology gathered from, and co-created with, the Agroecology Fund’s grantee partners and allies, with focus on science, practice, rights, and policy changes.

  • Support partners´ communication strategies to communicate with more impact with their target audiences.

 

STRATEGIC DIRECTION 5: Ensure an adequate governance system, human resources, infrastructure, and management tools to implement and monitor the strategic plan

  • Consolidate a participatory governance system with broad representation of stakeholders and adequate tools and policies to guide decision making processes.

  • Strengthen the staff and management system needed to perform well and implement the Strategic Plan.

  • Fortify a fully operational MEL system that supports planning, fundraising, grantmaking, learning, and communication work.