Every year, SIANI forms partnerships with expert groups that drive forward-looking projects related to sustainable, rights-based and inclusive food systems. The 2024 groups come from different parts of the world and will contribute important knowledge on pertinent topics.
Since the launch of SIANI back in 2009, a key activity has been to foster collaboration between the network’s members and like-minded organizations through multi-sector expert groups. The groups are organized by members and partners implementing joint activities, for which they can apply for funding from SIANI. In return, the successful candidates will share their insights with SIANI’s network and help advance knowledge about sustainable agriculture and food security, especially for smallholder farmers and marginalized groups.
SIANI’s Programme Director Madeleine Fogde explains the importance of the groups:
“The purpose of the expert groups is to enable meetings and bring together different perspectives. This is an excellent way to generate new knowledge about critical issues and connect people across countries and sectors.”
SIANI’s Programme Director Madeleine Fogde
The expert groups, with diverse and multisectoral backgrounds, are spread across the world. What they do have in common, however, is a strong drive to make food systems more rights-based and inclusive. Often, the groups have found innovative ways of doing this with a focus on the recognition of rights of smallholder farmers and other groups crucial for sustainable food systems.
“This is a very important aspect of the programme. The expert groups drive real change, both immediately and in the long term,” Madeleine Fogde explains.
The groups monitor their activities to generate a better understanding of what really works, which can also help others, according to Project Coordinator Jonna Wiklund: “We are supporting the groups so that they can continuously follow up activities and capture learnings. That way they, and others, can benefit from and build on their experiences,” she says.
Communication and knowledge sharing are at the core of the expert group engagements, so that SIANI’s network and other interested stakeholders can learn from the groups’ insights and experiences. The groups will keep SIANI members updated through articles on the SIANI website and participation in other activities. Each group also has a contact person who is happy to answer questions and discuss potential collaboration.
Here are the 2024 expert groups:
- A One Health Approach to WaSH in Burkina Faso. The group explores new ways to improve sanitation and agricultural productivity.
- The East African Agrobiologicals working group. The aim is to increase smallholders’ access to bio-based fertilizers and methods for disease control.
- Rural land rights and food security in a changing climate – rethinking rural development approaches in Latin America. The group seeks to reduce tension around issues like land rights and food security.
- Pollination knowledge exchange for food, nutrition and livelihood security in South and Southeast Asia. This group shares knowledge about bees and pollination for food, nutrition, and livelihood security.