Groundswell’s 2020 Annual Report: Highlights
Each year, the annual report sums up the progress our organization has made in countries around the world. 2020 was a year plagued by hardships and crises, yet we were still able to partner with grassroots organizations to bring agroecological principles where resilience to hunger, disease, and poverty was needed most.
Here are a few highlights from the 2020 Annual Report
- In Haiti, Groundswell is working with Partenariat pour le Développement Local (PDL) to scale farmer-led agroecology to address climate change. In 2020 over 360 community leaders, nearly 40% women, were engaged in participatory workshops to better understand the causes of climate change, based on their own experience and analysis, and what farming families can do about it.
- In Burkina Faso, we have been working with Association Nourrir sans Détruire (ANSD) to strengthen a territorial movement in the eastern part of the country for farmer-led innovation and spread of agroecological alternatives. Farmers are obtaining incredible results despite the water scarcity near the encroaching Sahara desert. Women are playing a leading role, organizing to produce vegetables in the dry season, and creating more nutritious household gardens.
- In southern Mexico, the loss of native seed varieties is a crisis undermining indigenous communities and cultures. In response, Groundswell is facilitating a collaborative action-learning process with eight local NGOs to strengthen farmers’ capacities to recover, improve, produce and distribute quality native seeds to farmers.
- In 2020 in response to COVID-19, we contribute to the AFSA publication The Barefoot Guide to Surviving COVID-19. Groundswell International’s Peter Gubbels was a part of, the Natural Food Barefoot Guide Writer’s Collective, which wrote the guidebook. It documents how people across Africa can weather the COVID-19 pandemic, debunking many misconceptions from the food industry. The guide provides real, sustainable solutions to the health challenges families face, and guidance on producing and eating healthy local food.
To learn more about the programs we support that are strengthening the capacity of communities to sustainably improve their lives, and to see a breakdown of our financials for 2020, read the full annual report. You can also view our audited financials for 2020 here.