Solidaridad’s programming towards 2025: Reclaiming sustainability

Recently, the Solidaridad Network organization published a new five years strategic plan. An innovative programme which conveys the ambition to give voice and value to farmers, miners and workers over their own data, working conditions and businesses.  ‘Amplifying the voices from the Global South in order to make sustainability work for them’, is the core message of the document of 56 pages in total and is for sure a challenging and powerful positioning in a world full of lazy sustainability claims from the wealthy markets.   

Below you will find a brief introduction to the full document inviting you to read more.

GROWING CAPACITIES

Solidaridad shows the power of an increased capacity to contribute to ambitious programming. In the past decades, the organization has shown a rapid growth of annual budgets from € 18.3 million in 2011 to € 66.3 million in 2019, an average growth per year of 33 percent. Solidaridad is presenting a multi-annual budget of 410 million euro, underpinning a new five years programme towards 2025. Two third of the growing budget has been assured already from a broad donor base of partners in five continents. 

INTERCONNECTEDNESS WILL DRIVE THE NEW AGENDA

The first thing that stands out from the presented ambitious planning is the combination of institutional strength and innovative thinking from an in-depth understanding of the signs of our time. Under the leadership of Executive Director Jeroen Douglas and his team of eight regional directors, a clear course of action is set. More importantly, the inclusive process of getting a common understanding of the future has created the interconnectedness to deliver to this new agenda. The finalisation coincides with the approval of two big grants for the coming years from the Dutch government. This confirms the trust that the new strategy will be a solid basis for institutional growth. There is momentum for a call for genuine sustainability maintaining our planet’s ability to safely support humanity.  

The institutional aspects setting the scene for implementation are summarized below. They illustrate the main factors for building the organizational power to deliver systemic changes towards sustainable development.

Reclaiming sustainability goes back to the imperative of ‘ farmers first’ to ensure that supply chain solutions will have direct benefits for producers. According to the new multi-annual plan ‘sustainability seems to have lost its true meaning’. There is no such thing as sustainability when the people who produce goods still live in poverty, when natural resources are not managed properly and working conditions are below living standards. Even sustainability initiatives designed to improve livelihoods are often failing smallholder farmers and workers. Solidaridad wants to redefine sustainability and reclaim its essence; inclusivity - leaving no one behind, respect to the planet - producing in balance with nature, and prosperity - a fair share for everyone in the economy. In order to achieve this, interventions on four levels are needed and could be brought to scale, visualized in the scheme below.

NO SILVER BULLETS

Solidaridad’s ambition for 2025 argues that the path forward to more effective action lies in a joint understanding of the magnitude and nature of the sustainability challenges and in a joint response through interventions on the different levels of the so-called ‘Pyramid of Change’. Systemic changes will depend on multiple contributions from different actors; consumers, companies, producers and governments. Overlooking one of these actors will reduce the chance of successful interventions aiming for lasting solutions.   

Moving from voluntary sustainability standards to mandatory frameworks is defined as a clear priority. Creating a positive dynamic between ‘raising the floor’, setting national standards for all producers, and ‘raising the bar’, as an ambition of the frontrunners testing voluntary far-reaching innovations, will create continuous improvements and change at scale.   

GROWING CITIZENS DEMAND TO CLEAN UP POLLUTION

One of the greatest problems the world is facing today is that of environmental pollution which is causing grave and irreparable damage to the natural world and human society. It has contributed to the malnutrition of 3.7 billion people worldwide, making them more susceptible to disease. This is the decade to decide for urgent changes. 

FAIR DATA HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME THE SECOND FAIRTRADE GLOBAL MOVEMENT

In order to make data work for farmers, Solidaridad’s mission is to create propositions which give farmers power, value and benefits from their own data. In a digital economy, farmers should be seen as owners and customers and not only as data producers or users. In order to make data work for farmers, Solidaridad wants to facilitate an emerging fairdata movement driven by the principle that data-driven solutions should be owned by farmers themselves, making them work for their benefit. On the four defined key intervention levels - good agricultural and mining practices, supportive business ecosystems, enabling policy environments and market uptake - producers will set the baseline, share best practices, set own objectives and pathways for improvement, and create forward integration into the data chain, empowering each other. 

Be inspired and read the full version which can be downloaded here.