Project RAISE – Rights-Based and Agroecological Initiatives for Sustainability and Equity in Peasant Communities

The RAISE project was launched on January 2022 and aims at implementing the rights of peasants enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP) in 10 countries of the Global South : the Philippines, India, Nepal, Kenya, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Bolivia and Mexico.

It is coordinated by Action de Carême, with the Geneva Academy as strategic partner and financed by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency.

Several actions are planned within the framework of this project: trainings for peasants, youth and even children on their rights enshrined in the UNDROP, the joint elaboration of proposals for laws and programs on agriculture and food based on the UNDROP. The project also aims to sensitize the governments of the countries concerned on the dire situation of peasants and their rights, as well as on alternative systems to industrial agriculture, such as agroecology. Finally, advocacy work at the international level will also be carried out, in particular to obtain a monitoring mechanism for the implementation of UNDROP within the UN Human Rights Council.

As a strategic partner, the Geneva Academy will train the project’s partners and local peasants’ organizations of these countries on the rights of peasants and the use of national, regional and international mechanisms to protect them. The Geneva Academy team will also provide strategic guidance to national actors on the use of United Nations human rights mechanisms to ensure respect for the rights of peasants.

Defending Peasants Rights will follow the RAISE project as it works to empower peasants and implement the UNDROP.