Supporting 'Autonomy and Resistance' : the Brazil-Mozambique-South Africa native seed bank project (original) (raw)

This case study explores an innovative multi-stakeholder project led civil society in three countries: Brazil, Mozambique and South Africa. The "community native seeds banks in family farming areas" knowledge-sharing initiative is the first Brazilian South-South Cooperation (SSC) project to be delivered by social movements working in coalition with an NGO and two different government agencies. The project has the overall objective of contributing to the economic and organisational strengthening of family farming in South Africa and Mozambique. Guided by the concept of food sovereignty and practices of agroecology, the project promotes the exchange of experiences between family farmers, technicians and rural leaders to rescue, use and multiply native seeds, and establish community native seed banks. Key lessons:  Drawing on traditional practice: easy adaptation of the Brazilian experience is due to the fact that the process of rescuing native seeds is based on respecting and remembering the traditional practices of farmers. Additionally, it articulates the knowledge of the farmers with technical agronomical aspects, taking also into account the knowledge and capacity of the farmers who attended the courses.  Mutual learning and dialogue: the civil society partners already shared a similar ideological background, which was crucial to the project's success. The People's Dialogue helped build trust and common understanding amongst the partners, and mutual respect and listening was a central part of participant training sessions, fostering intercultural understanding. The need for humility and "historical patience" is paramount to ensure equal partnerships.  Working with governments: government buy-in and support, with civil society autonomy regarding the context and approach of the courses, was essential. However a culture of distrust for civil society within governments in South Africa and Mozambique proved a stumbling block. Partners had to constantly convince government officials of the project merits and bureaucratic complexity of involving various government agencies often had negative impacts in the fulfilment of project activities.  Political and strategic aspects: a crucial part of the courses focused on the MMC, MCP and IBASE's experience around political mobilisation, emphasising that development is a political and not merely technical effort. Partners believe that sustainable and inclusive development can only be achieved by creating alliances and coalitions, as well as increasing people's political consciousness and autonomy. Key Successes  Mutual mobilisation and activism: while not an intended outcome from the project, the cooperation between social movements in Brazil and African counterparts had an 'inspirational factor', creating ripple effects of increasing political activism and adaptation of their rural extension approaches. The strengthening of relationships between movements has also been a key outcome, improving mutual perceptions on their commonalities, as well as broader consciousness on the importance of native seeds.  Mobilisation of women's movements: the use of women's seminars and sharing of experiences from MMC mobilised the creation of a women's movement within UNAC in Mozambique and the establishment of the Rural Women's Assembly, led by TCOE. The, Assembly is currently active in 8 countries in Southern Africa and more than 7000 rural women have participated in their regional activities.  Piloting new approaches and relationships: As well as being the first time ABC supported a project that was developed and implemented by civil society and the first partnership between UNAC and the Mozambique government; this initiative was also the first time farmers in South Africa and Mozambique learned about techniques to rescue and multiply native seeds.