New project takes off: fostering human rights in food systems

New project takes off: fostering human rights in food systems

11/06/2021
in News
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Rikolto is part of a multidisciplinary consortium recently awarded $3.8 million to launch the project “People-centered Food Systems: Fostering Human Rights-based Approaches”.

A multidisciplinary project consortium led by Dr. Jessica Fanzo, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Food & Agricultural Policy and Ethics at Johns Hopkins University, has received a grant to apply a human rights-based approach to food systems.

The award supports the first phase of a ten-year project to strengthen the capacity of governments, peasants, and other people living in rural areas to adopt and incorporate human rights frameworks such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) into food policy and food systems action.

El equipo del proyecto pretende promover, crear capacidades y desarrollar herramientas de responsabilidad para integrar mejor los marcos de derechos humanos en la política y la acción del sistema alimentario.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation will contribute half of the grant funding, with the remainder funded jointly by the consortium’s member organisations. The consortium includes Johns Hopkins University, CIAT on behalf of the Alliance of Bioversity International, The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), and Rikolto.

Small-scale farmers produce more than 80% of the world’s food, but this diverse population suffers disproportionately from hunger, poverty, discrimination, violent conflict, and climate change. Human rights instruments like UNDROP represent a major step forward in protecting their human rights, but more work is needed to integrate them into food systems policy effectively

Dr. Jessica Fanzo Professor at Johns Hopkins University

People-centered Food Systems: Fostering Human Rights-based Approaches

The project aims to characterise constraints globally and within countries for peasants and other rural dwellers to claim their rights to food security, adapt to and mitigate against climate change, and preserve the agrobiodiversity fundamental to their livelihoods.

Initial project activities will take place in Cambodia, Ethiopia, Honduras, and Uganda with the intention of scaling up the approach to other countries in later phases and producing global guidance on this issue.

In Honduras, Rikolto is coordinating the preparatory phase of the project named " Human Right to Food ", expected to be completed in 2025. Through the initiative, forums will be provided for review, analysis of the regulatory frameworks in law and actions that will lead to the creation of a normative framework on the human right to food in the Central American country.

The workshops to develop the baseline in Honduras have started this year 2022.
A workshop organized by Rikolto in July 2022 in Honduras with the participation of rights holders such as women, youth, members of ethnic groups and senior citizens.
In early August 2022, the workshop was replicated with representatives of civil society organizations, academia and municipalities.
A workshop organized by Rikolto in July 2022 in Honduras with the participation of rights holders such as women, youth, members of ethnic groups and senior citizens. In early August 2022, the workshop was replicated with representatives of civil society

“Rikolto charts a clear and unifying path toward sustainable food systems by focusing on interventions like these to reshape the roles of multiple food system actors from the global to the local level. We are excited to be part of this joint effort to enable a human rights-based approach to food systems. Access to sufficient and healthy food is a right…not a privilege.”

Nataly Pinto Director of Rikolto´s food smart cities programme in Latin America

Johns Hopkins University (JHU) is one of the leading U.S. academic institutions focusing on teaching, scholarship and research. The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT is international research for a development organization that is part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the largest international network on agricultural public research to service the global South.

The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction is an international not-for-profit organization aimed at enabling communities, and those who work with them, to develop innovative yet practical solutions to poverty through a community-led development approach, and to share widely these lessons to encourage replication.

Want to learn more about how Rikolto supports cities in their Food Smart City journey?

Rikolto supports cities in developing sustainable, inclusive, resilient and safe food systems. The evidence generated from pilot activities with the cities is documented and turned into knowledge which is then mobilised to foster peer-to-peer learning and contribute to international discussions on sustainable urban food systems.

Discover more here

Do you want to know more about Rikolto's actions to transform the food system of Honduras? Contact our colleague:

Zaira Colindres
Zaira Colindres
Coordinadora del Programa Sistemas Alimentarios Sostenibles en Ciudades | Honduras