We can bring these words into action with the SchoolFood4Change programme. After three years, the coalition of 43 partners, from academia, cities and experts, documented the benefits of implementing a systemic approach to food in schools. With funding from the European Union and led by ICLEI, the network partnered with 18 European cities, and with an average of 20 schools per city. Great efforts and a lot of creativity have been put into sharing these system-wide benefits with more cities, and to institutionalise the ''Whole School Food Approach'' at every level of the government. In line with the vision of making “sustainable and nutritious food in school the standard for every child”, we are also collaborating with ICLEI Africa on the SchoolFood4Cities programme in Uganda, to contribute with a proposal at national level, to support cities to design and run more sustainable and gender responsive school meal programmes.

^{(picture: An Van Gijseghem)}

Climate finance can be one of those common grounds. In Tanzania, we work with partners such as Ecosystem Equity to develop financing schemes that integrate sustainability requirements. Adopted by CRDB Bank as well as village savings associations, these schemes give farmers adopting climate-smart practices access to better credit conditions, further strengthening their resilience. We also collaborate with Carbon Farm, whose satellite-based MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification) system provides reliable greenhouse gas reduction data for actors seeking credible sustainability evidence. One example is BENEO Remy, which will source Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP)-verified rice from Vietnamese cooperatives whose practices are validated using Carbon Farm's data. The same technology also supports the development of carbon credits for a project involving 8,000 farmers across 30 cooperatives and 14,500 hectares. These partnerships work because they align complementary interests: financial institutions invest in more resilient farmers, companies gain credible sustainability impact, and farmers are rewarded for adopting sustainable practices. Yet these dynamics also depend on early investment to get off the ground. Funders such as the Flemish Government, through the FICAP programme, and the Livelihoods Carbon Fund help make this possible by supporting pilot projects which inspire wider adoption and help build the market conditions and policy frameworks needed to scale climate finance over time.

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Across cocoa and coffee landscapes in Africa, Asia and Latin America, we work closely with cooperatives and farmer organisations, their leaders and members, striving for equal partnerships. This starts from the moment we start co-creating our programmes, using tools such as SCOPEinsight to jointly map strong points and challenges and decide on capacity building trajectories. But equal partnerships also mean making sure that cooperative and farmer voices can genuinely shape the conversations that affect their futures, especially in policy discussions. That is why we invest significantly in making sure farmer leaders have a seat at the table in multi-stakeholder platforms, as is for example the case for cocoa in Ghana, in the Wassa Amenfi West Multi-Stakeholder Platform, or the Multi-Stakeholder Platform of Coffee of Cajamarca in Peru, and in sector discussions, for instance supporting a delegation of women leaders to join discussions on the implementation of the European Deforestation Regulation.

Overview of our funding sources and our investments in 2025.

Overview of our expenses in 2025.

• 85.4% of our expenses are linked to our programme operations.
• Our three global programmes – Sustainable Rice, Sustainable Cocoa and Coffee, and Good Food for Cities – are at the core of ourwork. In the past year, 48.6% of our investments supported Good Food for Cities, 26.2% went to Sustainable Cocoa and Coffee, and 20.6% to Sustainable Rice, together accounting for 95.4% of our total investments. The remaining 4.6% was directed to other food system initiatives beyond our core programmes, including support for agribusiness supply chains accessing European markets.

Overview of our income in 2025

Overall, our funding base in 2025 demonstrates a healthy balance, with reduced dependency on a single source and continued diversification.

• Multilateral organisations, including the EU, IFAD, UNEP and FAO, were our largest revenue stream, contributing 36.7% to total revenue.
• Public funding from Belgium ranks as our second largest revenue stream, at 35.7% of total income, continuing to provide an important foundation for our work.