Implementation Strategy

The project’s policy part works on two interconnected systems: seed systems and food systems in general. CROPS4HD’s policy addresses all levels – from local, to national, to subregional, and to international arenas. Again, these different levels are closely interlinked, allowing CROPS4HD e.g. to deploy studies showing the importance of Peasants’ Seed System in one country as advocacy instruments at international level.

The project uses a human rights-based approach, which develops the capacity of duty bearers to meet their obligations and encourages rights holders to claim their rights. Governments are made aware that they have three levels of obligation: to respect, protect and fulfil right. To respect a right means refraining from interfering with the enjoyment of the right. To protect a right means to prevent other parties from interfering with the enjoyment of rights. To fulfil a right means to take active steps to put in place, laws, policies, institutions and procedures, including the allocation of resources, to enable people to enjoy their rights.

For CROPS4HD this is a two-way street: peasants, but as well consumers and their organizations need to be fully informed about their rights and to be capacitated to participate in decisions that affect them. On the other hand,  duty bearers such as governments often lack the knowledge of the reality of peasants as well as the capacity to fulfill their duty to protect the rights of peasants. Therefore, the project collects evidence for better policy decisions and helps the peasants and their organizations to enter into a dialogue with the policy makers to help them to become actors in their own development, rather than passive recipients of services.

CROPS4HD deploys an advocacy theory of change for its policy, encompassing four key activities, which build on each other and can run as well in parallel on the different implementation levels:

1. evidence gathering,
2. public awareness creation,
3. movement building, and
4. engaging policy spaces.

Those steps are interlinked with activities of the other implementation strategies, and CROPS4HD seeks to harness synergies and integrate advocacy work with awareness raising on the advantages of traditional crops and varieties and improvement of their cultivation techniques.

Key Outcomes

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