Vision

The abc desires a world where agricultural biodiversity is conserved, carefully utilized and continuously developed; a world where smallholder farmers, pastoralist, fisher folk and forest dwellers (men and women) are enabled to contribute to, and benefit from, biodiversity-based resilient food production systems; a world where these people, the agricultural biodiversity they manage and their associated socio-ecological systems, are recognized, supported and strengthened and consumers have access to healthy produce coming from such farming systems.

Mission

The abc aims to break through the barriers that limit the scaling up, institutional embedding and horizontal extension of people-centered, agricultural-biodiversity-based food production systems.

Priority areas

The abc works across five priority areas for strategic intervention:

• Seeds, breeds and technology


• Markets and trade


• Policy and governance


• Information networks


• Resilient communities

Strategy Cum Goals

The abc provides a platform for:

Knowledge exchange

Abc members exchange information, ideas, evidence and insights on changes, successes, failures, challenges, and opportunities for agricultural biodiversity conservation, use and development. Through this exchange, members learn from the experience of people and organizations with diverse disciplinary, geographical and cultural perspectives, build the evidence base for a transformation towards agricultural-biodiversity-based food production systems and advance action agendas.

Skills exchange

Through its members, the abc provides access to a network with an enormous amount and diversity of skills in interventions that strengthen the use and enhancement of agricultural biodiversity or prevent its decline.

Co-creation

The abc provides an enabling environment for co-creation of knowledge and products with actors from within as well as beyond the network.

Collaboration

The abc stimulates collaboration between members and with other actors on projects, in research and advocacy and to mobilize funding.

Inspiration and empowerment

The community allows members to inspire in successes and seek support when challenged. Connecting, celebrating and sharing success with peers from all over the world with a shared passion empowers and capacitates.

Ways of working

The abc operates through an online communication platform and listserve (dgroup) as well as through face to face meetings at key international and regional fora and dedicated abc conferences.

Listserv

Organisations or individuals that endorse the abc purpose statement can become a member of the listserve. He/she will receive this purpose statement and be asked to briefly introduce her/himself to the other members. Existing members can introduce or suggest new members as they see fit. In the listserve people need to respect the normal rules guiding e-mail traffic.

abc meetings and conferences

Where possible, abc members coordinate their presence and input to key (inter)national policy processes and events to streamline CSO involvement and maximize impact. A core group of abc members has met several times at dedicated abc conferences. Occurrence of these conferences and participation is a dynamic process responding to member interest, need and opportunity

abc co-created products

Products resulting from a process of co-creation by abc members are acknowledged as such, without being labeled or branded as representing the views of the entire community with all its members. abc members are free to use and adapt this type of material to suit their requirements.

Management

Moderation of the Dgroup and coordination of abc conferences was anchored at the Hivos/Oxfam Novib Knowledge Programme (agrobiodiversity@knowledged), with strategic support and guidance from a council consisting of several abc members. As the joint Hivos and Oxfam Novib Knowledge Programme, Agrobiodiversity@knowledged is coming to an end by October, the new Steering Committee will take up management of abc here onwards.

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