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Help fund African agro-ecological solutions to the food crisis

Fahamu is supporting the 'We are the Solution' campaign to ensure that rural women’s associations have the skills to improve, promote and share their traditional agricultural knowledge, ensuring that this rich knowledge is not lost and is indeed promoted as an alternative to the Green Revolution methods.

The three-year pan-African campaign, coordinated by ROPPA (Network of Farmers’ and Agricultural Producers’ Organisations of West Africa), launches in February 2011.

Its objectives are to:
- Strengthen the work of 12 rural women’s associations and their leaders through organisational and individual capacity building activities
- Facilitate the participation of 75 rural women participants in media and advocacy activities so that they can engage in decision-making processes in local, regional and global campaigns
- Mobilise and sustain an Africa-wide action oriented network of 1,000 stakeholders for information sharing, partnership and advocacy.

You too can support 'We are the Solution': By making a donation through our page, you'll help ensure that West Africa’s women farmers can campaign for an African agro-ecological solution to the food crisis.

During the first phase, the rural women’s campaign will cover five countries in West Africa: Sénégal, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Ghana). It will be extended to other countries in the region and to other regions of the continent in the second and third phases.

BACKGROUND

Since the 1980s, African agriculture has been hit by cyclical crises, with a continual decrease in production. This situation is compounded by poverty, food insecurity and deteriorating health conditions. Beyond climate change and droughts that African countries have experienced, agricultural and food crises have been reinforced by inappropriate political and strategic actions.

In July 2009, 24 organisations agreed to develop a broad-based plan for a three-year campaign to amplify indigenous African farmers’ experiences, voices and agro-ecological solutions to address the current food crisis, confronting the industrial and market-led solutions being advanced by AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) and other Green Revolution institutions. During this meeting, a number of rural women’s associations met to address the need to support women’s organisations within the campaign.

‘We Are The Solution’ pan-African campaign objectives are:

- To promote good practices and knowledge that have been known and handed down for generations in Africa (agro-ecology, seed saving) and have sustained food sovereignty on the continent
- To influence decision-makers and promote better governance
- To value family agricultural production

THE GENERAL WOMEN’S CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES

1) To build the organizational and individual capacities of selected rural women’s associations and their leaders.
2) To build awareness and empower the voices of rural women to engage in decision-making processes in ongoing local, regional and global campaigns.
3) To organize, mobilize and sustain an Africa-wide action oriented network for information sharing and advocacy

THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE WOMEN’S CAMPAIGN:

1) To strengthen the work of 12 rural women’s associations and their leaders through organizational and individual capacity building activities.
2) To facilitate the participation of 75 rural women participants in media and advocacy activities so that they can engage in decision-making processes in local, regional and global campaigns.
3) To mobilise and sustain an Africa-wide action oriented network of 1,000 stakeholders for information sharing, partnership and advocacy.

IMPACTS

The impact of this campaign will be to ensure that rural women’s associations will have the skills to improve, promote and share their traditional agricultural knowledge ensuring that this rich knowledge is not lost and is indeed promoted as an alternative to the Green Revolution methods.

Family farming is one of the main solutions to reach food sovereignty in Africa. During a forum organised on 30 November and 1 December 2010 the Senegalese Rural National Council confirmed the living reality that shows that family farms are already contributing significantly to feeding Senegalese people. According to the National Agency of Statistics and Demography (ANSD), 61 per cent of the shopping basket is supplied directly or indirectly by family farms of farmers, ranchers, fishermen and foresters