Vredeseilanden & sustainable agricultural chain development

Chris Claes, 15/10/2009

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Vredeseilanden

A viable livelihood for organised family farmers

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Vredeseilanden

- Pluralistic and independent

- Dialogue

- Structural development

- Social base / national campaign

- Member of 11.11.11

- Turnover: +/- 12 mio euro

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Vredeseilanden

1960: birth North-South movement and NGOs

1998: Vredeseilanden = Vredeseilanden + Coopibo + Fado

central values: pluralism en dialogue

complementarity (geografical, financial,…)

co-operation versus fragmentation

2001: focus on sustainable agriculture and food security + policy influencing through concrete evidence

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Vredeseilanden

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Vredeseilanden

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Vredeseilanden

13 countries

- Senegal, Benin, Togo, Niger, Gambia, Burkina Fasso- Uganda, Tanzania, Congo- Nicaragua, Ecuador, Costa Rica- Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos- Belgium

From 13 country-offices to 7 regional offices

170 partners

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VredeseilandenMission

Viable livelihoods for organised family farmers

In North and South

through income generation from sustainable agriculture

Vredeseilanden contributes to the empowerment of farmer organisations to improve their position in the agricultural chain (from production to consumption). Consumer demand and markets are driving forces.

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Scenarios 2015Markets dominant

Value shift marginal

Energy expensive

Energy cheap

Valueshift in marketsEcological and social concerns

Scenario A

Scenario A

Scenario B

Scenario B

Scena-rio C

Scena-rio C

How to make a transition towards to a world where market logic that incorporates social and environmental concerns, leads?

-governments: laws, incentives?

-private sector: CSR in the heart of the business model?

-consumers: consuming sustainable produce?

-performant farmer organisations that produce

quality, quantity, sustainably, lobby, negociate…?

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Vredeseilanden3 strategic objectives

ECONOMIC

POLITICAL

Consumer behaviourConsumer behaviour

Evidence

Continiuous debate

Objectives 2008-2013

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Economic objective……sustainable agriculture chain development

- chain: from producer to consumer

(production-transport-transformation-distribution)- local, regional, international- organised family farmers

- influence on trade-relation(s)

- income

Cynefin quadrant; the science of complexity

• Emerging realities

• Interaction between different actors

• No straightforward planning possible

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Realisation of economic objective through multi-stakeholder dialogue processes

Market complexity

Different actorsfarmer organisation

private companypublic authoritiesresearch instituteNGO

Multi-stakeholder dialogue

Experiments

Innovation

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Political objective…

… stimulating a ‘friendly economic and political environment’ or an enabling environment in favor of family farming and sustainable agriculture

via advocacy (lobby and mobilisation)

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Realisation of political objective via ‘political’ alliances

Multi-stakeholder dialogues

Experiments

Innovation

Evidence

‘Political’ alliance

Advocacy (decisionmakers private- and public sector)

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The proof is in the pudding…Innovation in Benin

Project: rice in ‘bas fonds’ of Savalou

Objective: food security through increase in production-

capacity and better market positioning (partners: farmer organizations: economic on local level, political on higher level)

Results:500 ton in 2002

6000 ton in 2008

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From production- towards marketing support

Increased production volume:20% food security

80% local and regional markets

Objective: marketing support- transformation

- markets and marketing - lobby for domestic rice (vs imported and subsidized Asian rice)

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… From Benin to BelgiumInnovation via ‘learning alliances’

Partners:UCR, UNIRIZ, CCRB, FUPRO - Veco Benin –

Vredeseilanden - Colruyt - KULeuven (Agricultural Economics)

Objectives:- quality control / presentation / marketing /

distribution- export to Europe (development fair trade chain)- communication (stakeholders)

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Innovation delivers evidence…

… on ‘byer power’ of supermarkets and pressure on producer prices

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Evidence as a starting point for advocacy through ‘political alliances’

Action:‘kissing’ in favor of a sustainable relationship between

farmers and supermarkets on Valentines day 2007

Alliance partners :- Oxfam-Wereldwinkels and Max Havelaar (Ik ben

Verkocht) - Boerenbond

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Vredeseilanden in “the South”“Sustainable Agricultural Chain Development”

Vredeseilanden & SACD Chain-analysis and facilitation of business oriented

choices Local, national and international chains Facilitate innovative SACD-pilots Business development of farmer organisations (by

training, exchanges etc.) Scaling-up and multiplication

to other (development actors) Promote access to financial means

(e.g. credits)

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Vredeseilanden in “the South”Advocacy

= part of SACD Local and national chains: by and with farmer organizations

and strategic partners (private sectors, NGOs, VIPS, etc.) International chains: idem, at national level, with

international organizations and in Belgium Strategy: own successes and that of others as “evidence”

for “scaling-up” example:

- local food procurement by WFP in East-Congo - member of Belgian government representation at the FAO-top in Rome (June 2008) - member of the Global food Crisis Roundtable of the World Bank - member steering group IAASTD agricultural study (Worldbank, CGIAR etc.) - president food security group of Concord, the umbrella organization of EU-development NGOs

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Vredeseilanden in Belgium

Program- Analysis and development of sustainable agricultural chains

(economic objective) - Promote an enabling political and economic environment through

evidence (political objective)- promote buying behavior consumers

Strengthening social base - 10.000 volunteers (financial campagne January)- 12.000 registrated private donors / 150.000 punctual donors- Public opinion (press and media)

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Vredeseilanden in BelgiumProgram

Analysis and development of SAC in co-operation with retail (Colruyt, Carrefour, Delhaize…), university (KULeuven), Boerenbond, …: analysis and improvement of existing food chains: e.g. asparragus, pineapple,…

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InvestorsSo use point of leverage here

Primary producers/extractors

Consumers

Need to reduce the threat!

Need to reduce the threat!

Engage with >1B producers

About 300-500 companies

control ~ 70% of choice

Persuade >6B shoppers?

Su

pp

ly C

hai

n

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Sustainable business models

Supply side model

Business driven

model

Donor driven model

Does not empower

Small producers to succeed over long term

Lacks market insight and raises

Empowerment and sustainability

problems

Lacks critical buyer relationships that

ensure market demand

Sustainable model

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Vredeseilanden in BelgiumProgram

Promote enabling political and economic environment through evidence from SACD through multi-stakeholder platforms (cfr Kauri), exchanges, colloquia, campagnes, …

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Vredeseilanden in BelgiumProgram

Influence buying behavior consumers

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Vredeseilanden in Belgiumstrengthening social base

Financial campaign January (10.000 volunteers), 20 km of Brussels (30 private companies, 1200 runners), …

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Vredeseilanden in BelgiumStrenghtening social base

12.000 donors, 150.000 punctual donors,….

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Vredeseilanden in Belgiumstrengthening social base

Public opinion (press and media)

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Thank You

Good luck!