Centro de Estudios Rurales y de Agricultura Internacional

CERAI, Centre for Rural Studies and International Agriculture, is a non-governmental development organization with a secular, progressive and independent character specialized in rural and fishery sustainable development guided by the principle of food sovereignty. The organization was founded in 1994 in Valencia (Spain), with the intention of addressing, investigating and tackling agricultural and rural issues in Spain and Europe, relations of international trade, international inequalities, environmental issues, organic farming and its future, sustainable development, rural emigration, over-exploitation of fishery, livestock and deficits of the actual industrial model of food production. We want to continue contributing to the transformation of the actual rural realities and to participate in social movements which demand food sovereignty and human development, not just limited to its economic component, of all people of the world. While CERAI does not waive to be active anywhere in the world as long as the projects are focused towards achieving food sovereignty from a local perspective and support processes aimed at facilitating rural development, partnership and sustainability of farmer societies in all its aspects; throughout our history, we have consolidated our operations in the following geographic areas and countries: Central America, the Caribbean, South America, the Maghreb region, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean region, and Europe. We want to be, ultimately, a seed of change, an organization able to accompany, have political impacts, and support processes which are already achieving a change in the rural world in which we believe. A place in which some ideas and initiatives are created and formed allowing for new ways of personal, local and global transformation which convert the rural world that we defend into a reality. Mission In CERAI we want to contribute to a development of farming communities based on an agro-ecological approach that defends food sovereignty via the impulse of rural development models which originate from their own capacities and abilities. Vision We are an NGO for rural development intending to be the driver of change for farming communities in our sphere of action, helping them to achieve their food self-sufficiency in a sustainable and ecological manner, preserving their cultural identity and the integrity of the resources by means of international cooperation and rural development, awareness campaigns and gender equity. We foster and promote food sovereignty, agroecology, a sustainable rural development and the recognition and visibility of the role of women farmers. Values Local resources: The dependence on local resources implies the use of inputs produced during the farming process, i.e. products from direct human actions and from natural processes. The local and regional development, the circulation of goods and all types of activities (social, economic and cultural) are enhanced by making use of both the local agricultural inputs and the work force of the farmers. Rural sustainable development: Can be defined as the management of natural resources: • Environmentally sound, which means the maintenance of the quality of natural resources • Economically viable, presuming that farmers are able to produce enough to get self-sufficiency and ensure their access to livelihoods • Socially just, implying that the distribution of both power and the access to resources allows to make up for basic needs of all community members and assures the participatory and democratic dimension of decision-making processes • Culturally adaptable, meaning that rural communities should be able to adapt to changes which the agrarian conditions require, from the cultural pattern of their specificidentity. For us rural, a sustainable, integral and human development needs to assure food sovereignty of the communities implied without compromising them, and further does not focus exclusively on economic development, but respects and fosters the protection of the environment. Agro-ecology: Agro-ecology can be defined as a scientific discipline which focuses its studies and investigation on agriculture following an ecological and global perspective with the objective of creating a theoretical framework which addresses and identifies social, economic and political issues and processes actively or passively influencing the configuration and development of agrarian systems. Gender equity: Valuing and appreciating the contribution of women in the rural development and the importance of their participation in decision making processes, which serves to foster the recognition of their rights. Food sovereignty: The right of people and nations to feed themselves and to defend their productive national resources in accordance to their world-view. Food sovereignty is the way to eradicate hunger, malnutrition, and guarantee endurable and sustainable food security for all people. We understand food sovereignty as a “right for all people and nations to define and frame their own sustainable policies and strategies for food production, distribution and consumption, which guarantee the right of access to food for the whole population on the basis of small and medium-scale production while respecting their own culture and diversity of farming, fisheries and indigenous systems of agricultural and livestock production, marketing and management of rural spaces in which women play a fundamental role.”