News & Insights

For the past five years, our colleague Paola Mercado has coordinated a programme for sustainable and inclusive development of the coffee sector in Peru. Today, Paola is leaving Rikolto. But not before she takes time to share the lessons she has learned and make some recommendations. A farewell interview over a cup of coffee!

An earthquake, tsunami and mudslides affected 3 districts and 1 city in Central Sulawesi. 1,200 people confirmed died, 18,000 people in the emergency camps and thousands people are still missing. Rikolto supports cocoa organisations on this island. Read how our colleagues experienced the past days.

For the past three years, the project Wanted: Food for the Future fuelled the debate on sustainable food in Belgium. The partners and the researchers that took part in the project collected their insights. To inspire companies, public authorities, knowledge institutions, NGOs and other organisations to face the complex challenges of our society together.

In November 2017, Rikolto in DR Congo used the Inclusive Business Scan to collect stories from members of the Kawa Kanzururu Arabica coffee cooperative in North Kivu. The aim was to understand what the members think about having access to the coffee micro-washing station and about the relationship between members, micro-washing station and the cooperative.

Since April 18 of this year, Nicaragua faces a deep socio-political crisis. Rikolto works in the cocoa, vegetable and coffee sector. Due to general insecurity and protesters’ barricades (until July), there was generally less mobility and trade, which affected the functioning of the cooperatives and the livelihoods of the farmers.

The complex environments in which we sail demand that we invest more in evidence-based strategy reflection. What do we learn from our own monitoring data? What does feedback from our stakeholders teach us? But especially: how and when does it feed into our strategic planning? Time to update the project management cycle that underpins our work!

On 30 July, Vietnam National University of Agriculture and Rikolto organised the workshop “10 years of Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) in Vietnam: Sharing lessons and introducing a new PGS training toolbox”. The event concluded a one-year project funded by the Agroecology Learning Alliance in Southeast Asia to capitalise PGS experiences in Vietnam for upscaling and institutionalisation.

How do we feed the world with zero land expansion and ocean depletion? What is good food? How can we end malnutrition? How can new technology save our food system? These were just some of the questions raised during the EAT Food Forum 2018. Chris Claes, Executive Co-Director of Rikolto, attended the event, which was held in Stockholm, Sweden, on 11 and 12 June.

A glimpse into the future of the current food system shows massive challenges ahead for the 7.6 billion people currently inhabiting the planet. Based on that concern, Rikolto is picking up its pace in securing food for the future through the involvement of consumers, especially young people. Why young people?

Is food a priority in Latin American city policies? And how do cities address food-related issues? These were the main questions raised during the seminar “Developing sustainable food systems in urban areas of Latin America and the Caribbean”, organised by the FAO. Rikolto took part in the event.

For the last two years, Rikolto has been implementing a big project in Uganda, called Food Trade. The project linked smallholder staple food surpluses to regional markets. At the end of the project we noticed that farmers received 12% better prices for their commodities relative to the prevailing market prices.

How can private companies connect the SDGs with their smallholder supply chains – and what is the business case for doing so? These were the central questions of the Innovation Forum in London three weeks ago. Liesbeth Van Meulder attended the conference and shares her insights.

Better for the environment! Better for your health! Better for people and animals! Supermarkets and food companies in Belgium are constantly launching initiatives on sustainability. Time to assess the situation. In what areas are supermarkets heading in the right direction with their sustainability policy? And where are the sticking points?

We are looking for a new colleague to develop instruments, methodologies and processes to support the organisational Monitoring and Evaluation system in view of achieving Rikolto’s vision and mission. Deadline for applications: February 25th.

In this four-part article series, we’ll dive into some key insights and building blocks that can help your organisation to take learning to the next level and share some of our own experience.

Between 29 January and 4 February 2018, representatives from 6 Regional Offices and Rikolto’s International Office met to design Rikolto’s International Food Smart Cities programme for the next four years.

On 30 November 2017, NICAFES, the Nicaraguan platform for sustainable coffee, was launched. The initiative brings together more than 25 unions, exporters, service providers, educational institutions and Non-Governmental Organizations supporting Nicaragua's coffee sector.

Since 2016, over 3,180 Vietnamese tea farmers have been trained by Rikolto (previously VECO) on sustainable land management practices as part of The Rainforest Alliance’s project “Mainstreaming Sustainable Management of Tea Production Landscapes”. Initial results show that farmers’ income has increased by an average of 30% due to a reduction in chemical use and higher prices for quality tea leaves.

In this four-part article series, we’ll dive into some key insights and building blocks that can help your organisation to take learning to the next level and share some of our own experience.

In this four-part article series, we’ll dive into some key insights and building blocks that can help your organisation to take learning to the next level and share some of our own experience.

In this four-part article series, we’ll dive into some key insights and building blocks that can help your organisation to take learning to the next level and share some of our own experience.

From 12 to 14 January 2018, thousands of volunteers took on the streets and supermarkets of Belgium to raise funds for Rikolto's projects worldwide, as they do every year. It was the first annual campaign under our new name: Rikolto.

On 29 and 30 November 2017, a team of the Belgian Development Cooperation and the Belgian Embassy in Burkina Faso visited the women rice parboilers and rice producers of Douna. Exchanges with our partners allowed the visitors to appreciate the changes in their lives following Rikolto's 2014-2016 programme.

The Inca Food Trail is a culinary fundraising trip organized by Rikolto in November 2017. Along with Belgian chef Sofie Dumont and 15 adventurers with a passion for food, the tour is an opportunity to discover Peruvian gastronomy within sustainable food systems. With this trip, the participants support Rikolto and its projects aimed at sustainable food systems.

On December 6, 2017, our project 'Wanted: Food for the Future' won the Sustainable Partnerships Award of The Shift (the Belgian sustainability network). The award showcases the best examples of international collaboration between the public sector, companies and non-profit organizations.

Last week, our colleague Tom Van den Steen, Programme Advisor Planning, Learning & Accountability, visited coffee cooperative Kawa Kanzururu, engaging with over 600 coffee farmers on their experiences selling coffee to international buyers. Read his insights on implementing the Inclusive Business Scan in Eastern DR Congo here.

Alexander De Croo, Vice Minister and Minister of Foreign Aid of the Belgian Federal Government, visited Rikolto’s office in Leuven on October 20th. First, our colleagues highlighted our worldwide activities to make the food sector structurally more sustainable. Subsequently, the Minister led a panel talk in which the role of the government, business and development cooperation were discussed.

On the Dominican part of the island of Hispaniola, four shade-grown cacao varieties prevail in agroforestry systems: National, Trinitarian (from Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil), Criollo from Venezuela and a small amount of Forastero cacao from Brazil. These varieties were very carefully introduced to the island, which keeps a detailed record of the origins of its cacao.

Two researchers from the University of Wageningen visited the cocoa growing area in Polman district. They studied the business relations between the farmer organisation, called Amanah, and Mars. Our colleague Peni Agustijanto explains the role Rikolto plays in the cocoa sector in this area.

Colleague Jasmine Mushi, Agribusiness Advisor, shares the story of MUVIKHO, a Tanzanian cooperative of fruit and vegetable farmers which has grown from nothing to over 700 farmers in 4 years time, and now generates sales of over US$ 210,000 each year.