We are proud of our role in the AfriFOODLinks consortium project. Funded by the European Union and coordinated by ICLEI, AfriFOODLinks is all about strengthening connections between food system stakeholders in cities across Africa and Europe. More than 65 cities and 26 project partners are involved.

Our added value in this project lies in our commitment to building equitable, impact-driven partnerships. We’re working to bridge the gap between local ownership and practical experimentation on the one hand, and inter-city connectivity and learning on the other. As a catalyst in this process, we facilitate co-creation, coach entrepreneurs on circular food models, and build connections between public institutions, businesses, and communities.

In AfriFOODLinks, we anchor project activities in real urban contexts, particularly in the hub cities of Mbale and Ouagadougou and the sharing cities of Arusha and Bukavu. Together with partners like SHONA, HIVOS, ICLEI, APHRC, ACRA, and local governments, we’re leading efforts to support women- and youth-led food entrepreneurs, promote inclusive food governance, and foster circular food economies.

We draw on our longstanding local presence, coaching experience and facilitation skills to co-design city-based incubation frameworks, organise hackathons, and coordinate coaching tracks for food businesses, especially in Mbale and Ouagadougou. We’re also involved in supporting multi-stakeholder platforms like the Good Food Council and Good Food Parliament in Mbale, mapping barriers for SMEs, and co-developing financing models with partners such as Oribi and WISE.

Our work is grounded in consistent engagement with entrepreneurs, policymakers, and civil society. This approach builds trust, ensures local ownership, and embeds food system change within communities and municipal structures. It’s a practical demonstration of how inclusive partnerships can transform systemic food challenges into shared, locally rooted solutions.

The strength of this project lies in its collaborative approach: interventions are selected and co-created together with city officials, communities, and key stakeholders, to ensure ownership, relevance, feasibility, and sustainability. While this process requires time and multiple rounds of discussion, it also allows for the integration of diverse perspectives, making sure no voices are left unheard.

Rikolto and ICRA have built a trusted and complementary collaboration over the years, rooted in our shared vision of resilient food systems and inclusive markets. In 2024, this long-standing relationship was formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding to scale our partnership across West Africa.

The partnership is guided by the belief that no single organisation can address the complexity of food systems alone. Together, we aim to catalyse collective action and bridge the gap between smallholder farmer organisations, SMEs, public institutions and other food system actors. At the heart of our collaboration lies a commitment to fostering trust-based partnerships, grounded in open dialogue and aligned interests.

Our joint approach builds on the Agri-Business Cluster (ABC) model, bringing farmers, processors, input providers, and market actors together around a shared vision to strengthen coordination and competitiveness in local value chains. Rikolto plays a coaching role in this process, helping partners build the capacities needed for effective collaboration.

In Benin, the ABC model has been instrumental in linking the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) system with market-oriented business models and equipment subsidy mechanisms. In Mali, pilot clusters supported by Rikolto and ICRA have led to stronger business ties between rice producers and processors such as AgriSahel and Rizerie Royal, demonstrating the added value of this collaborative model in building inclusive and competitive rice value chains.

Commodity platforms are one of the fora through which we contribute to creating more competitive and resilient cocoa and coffee sectors, while strengthening our partnerships with other sector actors, because together we can have a greater global impact.

For this reason, we were proud to co-found VOCAL-the Voice of Organisations in Coffee Alliance-on the 1st of October of 2024, together with Coffee Watch, Fairfood, Fern, Forests of the World, Inkota Netzwerk, Oxfam Belgium, and Public Eye. VOCAL is a network of civil society organisations that want to highlight the urgent need for action on issues facing the coffee sector. The platform has already published its first report ‘VOCAL (2024): Coffee’s regulatory blend’, which highlights that the key to successful regulatory implementation lies in a scenario where private sector commitments, international policies, multi-stakeholder collaboration and financial support converge to support smallholder coffee farmers. Read more here…

In addition, Rikolto has been an active member of the VOICE network for cocoa for many years. The network unites voices in a mission to achieve a sustainable cocoa sector which it seeks to achieve by combining evidence-based advocacy with practical action.

What both networks have in common is that they aim to close the gap between voluntary regulations and commitments and the real impact on the ground - a gap that is still wide: smallholder farmers continue to struggle for a fair income, deforestation persists, and sustainability efforts are too often undermined by weak enforcement and voluntary measures. They do this by

• creating spaces where global civil society can exchange information and stay up to date on the sector and each other’s activities, thereby increasing their impact, synergies, and alignment;
• doing research that can feed the public debate on pressing issues in the sector (for example the cocoa barometer); and
• engaging in joint evidence-based advocacy based on a constructive, open dialogue.

For Rikolto, these are ideal spaces to share our knowledge from the ground (on sustainable production and market inclusion) and to work together with others on the enabling environment, influencing policy and pushing sector actors to take more action. In parallel, we also actively contribute to global multi-stakeholder sector platforms that include the private sector, such as the Global Coffee Platform (GCP), the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and the Living Income Community of Practice.

In 2024, we shared our publication, “Rethinking procurement models in the cocoa sector: recommendations for more inclusive business models”, with and through these platforms. In this publication, we assess the extent to which the business models we support in our sustainable cocoa programme in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America align with the principles of inclusivity and equity. We particularly looked at how a range of practices, such as pricing, risk sharing and interventions that support cocoa production, access to finance, data collection, women, youth, joint innovation and transparency, contribute to addressing existing inequalities in the cocoa sector. Besides identifying insights that help us refine our own strategies, we have also identified high-potential best practices for private sector companies and for service providers like Rikolto to enhance their efforts to foster more inclusive and equitable business models.

Overview of our funding sources and our investments in 2024.

Overview of our expenses in 2024.

• 88.3% 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 our work. In the past year, 48.6% of our investments supported Good Food for Cities, 26.9% went to Sustainable Cocoa and Coffee, and 20.5% to Sustainable Rice, together accounting for 95.9% of our total investments. The remaining 4.1% was directed to other food system initiatives beyond our core programmes, including support for agribusiness supply chains accessing European markets.

Overall, our funding base in 2024 demonstrates a healthy balance, with reduced dependency on a single source and continued diversification.

• Public funding from Belgium remains our largest single revenue stream, contributing 36.7% of total income, slightly lower in proportion compared to previous years.
• Multilateral bodies (such as the EU, IFAD, UNEP, FAO, and the World Bank) now constitute 37.3% of our total revenue, solidifying their position as a major pillar of our funding base.