Overall, the project intended to create shared methodologies, raise awareness, and build long-term transnational capacity to advocate for access to land as a fundamental right and lever for agroecological transformation. The project aimed at creating a community of practice on advocacy for acces to land to the benefit of agroecology in Europe. We intended to allow A2L members, its partners and relevant policy makers to perceive agroecology as a lever for multiple transitions such as biodiversity restoration, climate change mitigation and the energy transition. It sought to strengthen the capacity of practitioner organisations — such as farmers, interns, consumers, and environmental stakeholders — to actively participate in policy debates. A key objective was also to build stronger synergies between partners, especially in Eastern Europe, in order to form coalitions at regional, national, and EU levels. The project also aimed at learning to jointly formulate policy recommendations based on a share knowledge base. In doing so, the consortium intended to increase the ability of grassroots stakeholders to act collectively, develop a common vision for agroecological transition, and enhance transnational cooperation.
We applied for Erasmus + funding in order to respond to a shared need among all project partners: to strengthen our capacity to advocate collectively at the European level in favor of fair and sustainable access to land, a key condition for an agroecological transition. The partners identified the lack of structured cooperation, limited political influence, and insufficient visibility of land issues as major challenges. This project aimed to address these by reinforcing our collaboration, building joint strategies, identifying core messages, create coalitions, and developing tools and knowledge to support policy objectives. We also identified to need to create a dynamic that could be sustained beyond the Erasmus + project period. However, setting such a dynamic requires a particular frame with clear objectives and a timeframe. This is exactly what the Erasmus + frame offers. We finally identified the need to create internal governance, coordination and coordination tools as well as external communication tools.