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Social Organisations of Urban and Peri-urban Producers: management models and innovative partnerships for policy advocacy

This action-oriented research project (2005-2006) coordinated by IPES- Promotion for Sustainable Development (Peru) and ETC-UA (the Netherlands) analysed the organisational and management models of eight organisations of urban producers in Latin America and Europe and the strategies these organisations have applied to influence local policies and secure their access to land and other resources. The input of ETC-UA in this project focused on the coordination of the European case studies (the Netherlands and Hungary), development of an inter-regional action agenda for strengthening producer organisation, organisation of an north-south exchange visit and development of a promotional DVD (the latter in collaboration with FAO).

The project aimed to:

  • Categorise and characterise the organisations of urban and peri-urban producers that exist in different cities of LA and Europe and that have developed innovative partnerships with other urban actors (NGOs, local or national governments, research institutes, international organisations) and play a relevant role in policy advocacy, formulation and implementation.
  • Identify and compare the forms of (social) organisation, management and strategies applied for strengthening partnerships and their incidence in the formulation and/or management of policies at a local and/or national level.
  • Analyse the results and impacts of these partnerships, and the forms of organisation and management.
  • Develop in a participatory way 5 local and one inter-regional agenda for action-oriented research that identify objectives and activities needed to further strengthen the organisations of urban and peri-producers of LA and Eastern Europe.
  • Facilitate access to knowledge and learning for the producer organisations in Latin America and Europe; strengthen the development of new relations through the exchange and cooperation between the two regions.
  • Develop, in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) project "Urban and Peri-urban agriculture: Towards a better understanding of low-income producers' organizations" (GCP/INT/955/CAN)", a DVD, to illustrate and analyse the contribution of  urban producer organisations organisations to urban food security,  reduction of urban poverty and sustainable development of urban areas. The DVD will also advocate the recognition and support due to these organisations as fully fledged stakeholders in urban development and urban policy.

The project has produced the following results and outputs:

  • Seven Case Studies of experiences with social producer organisations in Latin America and Europe.
  • A synthesis document comparing and analysing the different case studies.
  • Five Local and one Inter-Regional Agenda for Action-Oriented Research. 
  • An inter-regional visit or exchange to Holland, by LA and Eastern Europe urban producers.
  • A project DVD in English, French and Spanish that draws on four case studies from Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Dakar (Senegal), Hyderabad (India) and Rosario (Argentina).
  • An interactive website for exchange, participatory knowledge building and dissemination of information.

Implementation of the local action-agendas already resulted in:

  • In Rosario-Argentina, an Urban Producers Network was established and network members were trained in organizational development and management and policy lobbying.
  • in Amsterdam-The Netherlands, the Bond van Volkstuinders (Gardeners Association) improved the communications with their members (website, emails)
  • The Duinboeren in the Netherlands started up a new project to improve the distribution of  local products.
  • APODU, the urban farmers organization in Montevideo-Uruguay has selected women as members in their board for the first time.
  • The farmers organization Villa El Salvador, Lima-Peru received legitimacy from the government and is developing new projects for their members.

Funding: IDRC- Canada, IPES-Peru and FAO-Rome

Publications

  • Dubbeling, M. (in collaboration with C. Castro and A. Santandreu). 2006. An interregional action-research agenda for strengthening social organisations of urban and peri-urban producers. ETC Urban Agriculture. Leusden. The Netherlands. Available in: English and Spanish.
  • Dubbeling, M. and F. Egal (script development). 2006. Small producers organisations: key partners for sustainable urban development. DVD. ETC-UA, FAO-CIIT, IDRC and IPES-Peru. World Report Foundation. The Netherlands. Available in: English. French and Spanish.
  • Pouw, M. 2005. Social organisations of urban and peri-urban producer organisations, the case of the Duinboeren-The Netherlands. ETC Urban Agriculture. Leusden. The Netherlands. Available in: English and Spanish.
  • Pouw, M. and J. Wilbers. 2006. In: R. van Veenhuizen (editor). The Urban Agriculture Magazine No 15 “Multifunctional land use”. RUAF Foundation. Leusden. The Netherlands.
  • Wilbers, J. 2005. Social organisations of urban and peri-urban producer organisations, the case of Amsterdam Gardeners Association-The Netherlands. ETC Urban Agriculture. Leusden. The Netherlands. Available in: English and Spanish.

Contact: Marielle Dubbeling (m.dubbeling@remove-this.etcnl.nl), Cecilia Castro (cecilia@remove-this.ipes.org.pe)

Website: www.ipes.org/au/osaup