An update from ILEIA

By
18 April 2017

Dear readers,

As you may be aware, ILEIA has to close its doors as an organisation on 1 July 2017, after more than 30 years of work to support family farming rooted in agroecology. The reason for this decision is that we did not succeed in raising enough funds to keep the organisation going in its present mode. Besides publishing Farming Matters, ILEIA has been the global Secretariat of the AgriCultures Network since 1997.

In a recent meeting of the Network the members have jointly decided to shift its Secretariat to Senegal so that it will get rooted in the global South. This happens at a moment when African agriculture is truly at a crossroads and the world needs strong and positive African voices in support of family farming and agroecology.

We are proud to inform you that Bara Gueye, director of IED-Afrique, the Senegalese member organisation of the AgriCultures Network, has agreed to take on this task and to steer the Network into a new phase.

With the Network we are also exploring new ways to carry forward ILEIA’s legacy and to continue supporting the practice, science and movement of agroecology and family farming.

During the past months we received encouraging messages from friends, colleagues, readers and authors of our magazine, policymakers, scientists and donor agencies.

We would like to thank everyone who has accompanied us over the years and take your recent advice to heart. Many of you told us that the world will be less diverse and less colourful without ILEIA, so we should try to find ways of continuing our work as an inspiring global connector, magazine maker and communicator.

That’s what we are doing right now and we look forward to keeping in touch with you.

At ILEIA we are now preparing the June issue of Farming Matters. This will be the final issue in our current constellation.

With warm regards from Wageningen,

Edith van Walsum – Director

e.van.walsum@ileia.org