About
Since 1998, through concrete applications in agriculture, science and politics, Biovision works towards a world with enough food for all, produced by healthy people in a healthy environment and consequently on how food systems – from production to consumption – can be made sustainable. We develop, test and disseminate solutions and approaches to overcome hunger, poverty, adapt and mitigate the consequences of climate change and prevent biodiversity loss. We are also committed to promoting an enabling political and economic environment for agroecology. Through well-founded information, the inclusion of diverse food system actors – from civil society organisations to the private sector and research – and exchanges between decision makers, knowledge about the potential of agroecology to transform the food systems is strengthened.
Biovision is an official partner organisation of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). Biovision’s international projects are supported by the SDC.
The Agroecology Info Pool
The Agroecology Info Pool website was originally developed with support of the Mercator Foundation as part of the programme “A4A – Advocacy for Agroecology”, which aimed at scaling scientific and applied research on agroecology by analyzing current lock-ins and leverages. The evidence created was subsequently used for consulting with key decision makers from the donor and research communities. A second part of the project addressed the role of agroecology as a solution to adapt and mitigate climate change. The purpose of the Info Pool was to make the findings and outputs of the programme accessible to all and serve as a reference tool for evidence around agroecology. The A4A programme was concluded at the end of 2021, however, the website still continuously collects current findings from project work and science and makes them publicly available to support a sustainable transformation of food systems.
Biovision's Policy & Advocacy Team
Since January 2022, the Policy & Advocacy Team at Biovision is implementing two new programmes:
Enabling policy frameworks for agroecology
The objective of the programme is to increase the sustainability of food systems in Sub-Saharan African and beyond by creating coherent and equitable policy frameworks that enable an agroecological transformation of food systems. Current crises such as climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and the global food crisis show that we need to align the way we produce and consume food with agroecological principles. However, the formulation and implementation of supportive policies for this transformation remain a major challenge within the agroecological agenda.
To address these challenges, the programme aims to sensitize and engage new actors l in the potential of agroecology, while supporting existing champions that already implement agroecological approaches. At the national and subnational level, it provides tailored guidance to decision makers and supports multi-stakeholder platforms. Internally, it promotes peer-to-peer exchanges through policy forums and engages in global networks.
Investing in the Agroecological Business Case (iABC)
The iABC programme wants to increase the availability of suitable capital and build an enabling environment for agroecological enterprises (AEEs) in Sub-Saharan Africa. AEEs are key in supporting the agroecological transformation towards strengthened availability and access to healthy nutrition, resilience, local value generation and sustainability, however, these enterprises are still heavily underfunded.
To address this underfunding, the programme focuses on sensitizing donor and investor communities with convincing arguments and research evidence about agroecology and AEEs. Innovative matchmaking events that connect donors and entrepreneurs will be organized. Furthermore, tools such as the Business Agroecology Criteria Tool (based on the current ACT Tool), which enables investors and donors to identify inspiring and promising agroecological enterprises and understand their benefits and contributions towards sustainable food systems, will be developed.