Upskilling pathway for agroecology practitioners toward European synergies on land

<< Background >>We applied for Erasmus + funding in order to respond to a shared need among all project partners: to strengthen our capacity to advocate collectively at the European level in favor of fair and sustainable access to land, a key condition for an agroecological transition. The partners identified the lack of structured cooperation, limited political influence, and insufficient visibility of land issues as major challenges. This project aimed to address these by reinforcing our collaboration, building joint strategies, identifying core messages, create coalitions, and developing tools and knowledge to support policy objectives.We also identified to need to create a dynamic that could be sustained beyond the Erasmus + project period. However, setting such a dynamic requires a particular frame with clear objectives and a timeframe. This is exactly what the Erasmus + frame offers. We finally identified the need to create internal governance, coordination and coordination tools as well as external communication tools. << Objectives >>Overall, the project intended to create shared methodologies, raise awareness, and build long-term transnational capacity to advocate for access to land as a fundamental right and lever for agroecological transformation. The project aimed at creating a community of practice on advocacy for acces to land to the benefit of agroecology in Europe. We intended to allow A2L members, its partners and relevant policy makers to perceive agroecology as a lever for multiple transitions such as biodiversity restoration, climate change mitigation and the energy transition. It sought to strengthen the capacity of practitioner organisations — such as farmers, interns, consumers, and environmental stakeholders — to actively participate in policy debates. A key objective was also to build stronger synergies between partners, especially in Eastern Europe, in order to form coalitions at regional, national, and EU levels. The project also aimed at learning to jointly formulate policy recommendations based on a share knowledge base. In doing so, the consortium intended to increase the ability of grassroots stakeholders to act collectively, develop a common vision for agroecological transition, and enhance transnational cooperation.<< Implementation >>The consortium partners had diverging levels of advocacy experience at the beginning of the project and some have been involved since more than 10 years in the Access to Land Network advocacy activities. We therefore set up a training cycle that would include trainings on the architecture and functioning of the EU institutions and its decision making processes; on informal advocacy processes more widely know as “lobbying”; on the previous advocacy achievements of the Access to Land Network including an encounter with a former and and actual MEP / INI rapporteur; on agrivoltaics and access to land. Two thematic seminars where organised: one on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and one on Agriphotovoltaics (agriPV) where EU policy makers participated.In parallel we set up collective editing groups that drafted three policy papers: one on the European Land Observatory, one on Ukraine and one on access to land in Eastern Europe. A working group on the CAP was set up and the consortium partners participated in several official policy debates, one organised by the DG AGRI and one co-organized by the Access to Land network and the Good Food Good Farming Alliance in the European Parliament. << Results >>The training cycle resulted in common understanding of complex issues by a large group of stakeholders. We recorded most of the interventions. The resulting visual material will allow all participants to share the knowledge with their national organisations, partners and members. The seminar on the CAP allowed us to launch a working group on CAP and the one on agriPV to accumulate knowledge, launch a policy brief and develop closer ties with EU institutions. Both dynamics will sustain beyond the E+ project. The brief on the EU land observatory allowed us to create a governance model defining a common position. Once published, the policy brief triggered the DG Agri to invite us for a public stakeholder meeting.We were also identified by coalition partners as legitimate workshop co-organisers involving several MEPs. We also drafted a new flyer translated in 7 languages, we redesigned our website with updated Country Profiles and became more visible on social media with regular posts and videos. We published 4 newsletters. It resulted in a much higher visibility of our network. Regarding internal communication, we enriched our internal database to allow the Access to Land network members to better access to relevant ressources.