As part of the PASS-LCD program, CARI has welcomed a young intern, Caroline Hottelart, a 5th-year student at the International School of Agro-Development (ISTOM) in Angers, specializing in “Agricultural Development, Territories and Transitions”.
Its tasks within the PASS-LCD
Caroline’s mission is to capitalize on citizen and political mobilization initiatives in favor of agroecology, in four Sahelian countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger & Senegal) and on a subregional scale. Faced with the challenges of combating desertification and drought, of agricultural production and sustainable food supply, the principles of agroecology and their ecological, economic and social scope, appear to be one of the relevant solutions for supporting the transformation of agricultural production systems to combine sustainable food supply and environmental preservation in dry zones.
Numerous Sahelian civil society stakeholders are seizing on agroecological principles and structuring their actions to promote the deployment of agroecology in their territories. Civil society organizations have joined forces to set up knowledge-sharing and multi-stakeholder dialogue platforms, where they include agroecology as a topic for discussion (Alliance 3AO, DyTAES in Senegal, CCAE in Burkina Faso, etc.).
The aim of this capitalization is to characterize these agroecology mobilization initiatives, and to provide an analysis of the factors that have contributed to their emergence, as well as to identify their limitations, to understand and enhance their modes of action. It will be carried out based on documentary research and interviews with the promoters of these initiatives and the players with whom they interact.
This approach will enable CARI and the PASS-LCD project partners to gain a better understanding of the interplay of actors involved in promoting agroecology, and to draw useful lessons that could inspire the actions of any actor wishing to advance agroecology politically in the region.
Work will also be carried out to identify influential spokespeople and players on agroecology, targeting women and young people, to draw up a repertoire of people to be remobilized during agroecology promotion and advocacy events.
Caroline’s mission will provide insights to enrich reflections and reinforce the effectiveness of these initiatives in favor of agroecology in the Sahel, thus contributing to one of the objectives of the PASS-LCD project, which aims to promote the inclusion of agroecology in national policies as a solution to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
