The Seeds of Survival Scale-Up Program is a five year, $19.5 million climate resilience and food security program (2015-2020) funded by Global Affairs Canada. It is implemented in six countries with leading local partners and technically supported and managed by SeedChange. The objective of the program has been to scale-up tested biodiversity-based strategies and practices and agroecological innovations that strengthen resilience and food/seed security of marginalized farm households and Indigenous and non-Indigenous farming communities. Over the five year program, the project has supported over 31,500 rural farmers in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Over the five year program Ethio-Organic Seed Action (EOSA) provided technical and material assistance to farmer conservator associations (cooperatives) in Ethiopia to increase food security through agricultural biodiversity and improve farmers’ access to just markets. SeedChange’s SoS program with EOSA aimed to improve food security, climate resilience and income-generation in the central highlands of Ethiopia. In a context of repeated droughts and climate instability, a key priority was to support women and men farmers to diversify crops, improve locally adapted seed access, improve production, as well as strengthen cooperative businesses to provide a more stable income for families. For the entirety of the five-year program, and indeed for a decade prior, EOSA maintained links and a key partnership with the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute as well as with different research and academic institutions. Technical exchanges and farmer linked participatory varietal trials were maintained over the long term, allowing important grow-out and evaluation opportunities for over 60 different field crop varieties helping to strengthen food security and community resilience to climate change hazards.

Resources

Information on the preliminary results of the SoS Program

• Seeds of Survival Scale-Up Program report (2015-2020) – Preliminary results and lessons learned, Ethiopia
• What we’ve learned so far: Reflections from the Seeds of Survival Scale-Up Program (2015-2020)

Partner SoS program publications

• Establishment of a Community Seed Bank and the Services Provided, EOSA, 2017 English
• Ethiopian Farmers Restore Indigenous Varieties, Farm Radio International Script 2018. Pack 108

SeedChange SoS global program publications

• Farmers seed systems | A critical contribution to food sovereignty and farmers’ rights
• Innovating from the ground up | Farmer-led agroecological research finding innovative solutions
• Women seed change | Agroecology as a viable path for rural women’s empowerment
• Brochure: Seed Security Assessment and Action Plan tool