Food, land and water are fundamental human rights guaranteed to everyone, rich or poor, no matter the color of his or her skin. Sadly, in the 21st century, access to and control of these and other essential resources are diminishing in communities around the world. Our partners use pioneering sustainable food production techniques and advocate to change policies that threaten their livelihoods, the environment and social justice. In Brazil, Haiti, Mesoamerica, the Middle East and around the world, they work for food sovereignty—the right of communities to decide what to grow and eat without being undermined by global trade rules, and of sustainable livelihoods and resource rights for all.

To make this vision a reality, we move money to our partners and grantees for their innovative community-led sustainable development, human rights and movement building work. We carry out education, communications, and advocacy programs with our partners, and with U.S. allies and audiences to strengthen the global network of movements and activists working to advance and defend rights to land, water and food.

Free trade agreements, international financial institutions like the World Bank and the corporations that increasingly control the world’s agriculture have tried to wrest control of what have traditionally been community decisions: how best to use local resources to meet the food and livelihood needs of local people. Our resource rights work is a positive, life-giving response to the harmful pressures of corporate-led globalization felt by our partners and by communities all over the world. The international movement for land and water rights represents an alternative globalization from below.

Our work links our partners in a global learning network to strengthen their community-based development projects and their advocacy efforts, uniting struggles for land, water and food. Core to our work is a dynamic partnership with the Via Campesina—a federation of over 100 million small producers in 68 countries—and cutting edge movement organizations in the regions we work in.