Highlights
Results
Connecting the Dots
Leveraging US climate policy to lead global green transition innovations
Solidaridad in North America has been successful in influencing policies towards more climate-friendly directions. With the Amazonia Connect project, we walk the talk and take action to promote and scale the adoption of low-emission commodity production.
Solidaridad North America is well positioned to engage in policy influencing in the US due to the policy shift towards enhanced climate action, and the increased interest in climate change and deforestation reductions.
In a snapshot:
- President Biden’s Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad (signed January 27, 2021) applied a domestic and international focus in a call “for the development of a plan to promote the conservation of the Amazon rainforest and other critical ecosystems that serve as global carbon sinks”.
- The US Executive Order to Strengthen America’s Forests, Boost Wildlife Resilience and Combat Global Deforestation (signed April 22, 2022) further recognized the importance of conservation and restoration of forest ecosystems by preventing emissions caused by deforestation and by increasing carbon sequestration in soils and forest biomass.
- In terms of international development, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Climate Strategy 2022-2030 outlines the agency’s approach to facilitate low-carbon and climate-resilient development.
- The US Government also developed the Executive Order on Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies, which sets out that “a) within 1 year of the date of this order, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Homeland Security (through the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection), the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, the United States Trade Representative, and the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, shall submit a report to the President evaluating options, including recommendations for proposed legislation, for a whole-of-government approach to combating international deforestation […]”. Thus, by April 2023, these recommendations should be delivered to the President, and there should be more insight about what the US legislation could look like. Linked to this process, Solidaridad was engaged in a multi-stakeholder consultation on October 26th, and further provided written feedback to a request for information released by the US Government.
- In terms of deforestation-free sourcing, there are signs of interest in the US with the proposed Fostering Overseas Rule of Law and Environmentally Sound Trade Act of 2021 (FOREST Act, status – introduced to the House), as well as State initiatives for deforestation-free procurement (e.g. the New York Deforestation-Free Procurement Act (Senate Bill S5921A, status – currently in committee). While none of these acts have yet passed, their existence indicates increasing interest in moving towards such legislation. The FOREST Act in particular may be brought to a vote in late 2023.The US also is committed to combating illegal logging and stopping trade in illegally sourced wood products including through the Lacey Act.
Solidaridad North America is closely watching these developments. Our project with USAID and partners in Amazonia Connect and extensive experience has positioned Solidaridad as a thought leader on the topic. Connections with the Policy Team in Solidaridad Europe have leveraged experience in the EU to boost credibility.
Solidaridad in North America and South America, along with Earth Innovation Institute, National Wildlife Federation, and University of Wisconsin-Madison, were awarded a 16.3 million USD cooperative agreement by USAID to implement Amazonia Connect, a 5-year initiative. Together with USAID’s Amazon Regional Environment Program, producers, companies, local governments and financial institutions, Amazonia Connect promotes and scales the adoption of low-emission commodity production to improve biodiversity conservation and climate resilience in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. The project has also been included as part of the US Government’s Plan to Conserve Global Forests: Critical Carbon Sinks.
This was the largest award in Solidaridad history outside of grants received from European donor partners. Nurtured through USAID’s Broad Agency Announcement process and focused on “Achieving Sustainable Landscape Goals Via Reducing Deforestation in Commodity Supply Chains and Promoting Landscape Restoration”, the project was co-created over a one year period in 2021 with all partners. After being awarded the project in March 2022, the team carried out project inception activities until September and has transitioned into implementation.
As a first-time Prime Recipient of US Government funding, Solidaridad underwent a successful finance and accounting due diligence process. The team also prioritized building out the necessary systems to implement effective grant management.
Solidaridad North America is leading a network collaboration to develop Ping!, a digital platform that makes it easy for companies and impact investors to access real-time information on communities of small-scale farmers and miners. As companies and donors “ping” the platform seeking relevant producer information, producers are rewarded for sharing their data.
Platform users will also be able to incentivize future improvements in environmental, social and core business practices by making rewards available as farmers and miners reach certain milestones, such as committing to carbon-neutral practices. This provides a new level of insight into first-mile practices for buyers and donors. Solidaridad is partnering with other North American-based civil society organizations (CSOs) to link Ping! to a range of field tools and measurement frameworks to provide actionable insights to farmers, miners, downstream buyers and CSOs.
In 2022, Solidaridad in North America reached agreement on the build-out and testing of Ping!, to be launched in 2023. We also received contributions from tech companies for the development of the platform.
Fundraising, Partnerships and Engagement
Solidaridad North America continues to grow its donor and partnership base in the region, sometimes through steady engagement, and sometimes through unanticipated breakthroughs. Through our efforts in 2022, our fundraising success increased from USD 726,141 in 2021 to USD 1,832,667 in 2022. We expect this trend to continue in 2023.
In December 2022, Solidaridad in North America, in collaboration with Solidaridad in Southern Africa, won the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Smart Farming Innovations for Small-Scale Producers Grand Challenge. Over the next two years, the team will focus on implementing and scaling “Kvuno”, a decentralised digital service provision model to reduce the cost of providing last-mile services to smallholder farmers in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia. Specifically, Solidaridad will work with leading technology service providers and research institutions to test the impact of providing bundled services to smallholder farmers. The project also includes a robust learning agenda to improve operational efficiencies and strengthen Kvuno’s viability as a social enterprise. The project will advance into implementation from 2023.
Solidaridad in North America led four regional offices in Solidaridad Network in negotiation of what is expected to become the largest private-sector partnership contract in Solidaridad’s history — a partnership with a U.S.-headquartered commodities trading, purchasing and processing company.
In addition, we serve on the Governance Committee of the leading multi-stakeholder dialogue group around high-risk minerals sourcing, the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Mineral Trade, founded by the U.S. government in partnership with leading tech companies and NGOs in this space. Through this participation, we are able to share our network’s learnings on responsible small-scale mineral production as well as gain input for the development of digital tools for better monitoring of practices at mine sites.
To cap off this unprecedented year, Solidaridad received a three-year grant to support regenerative agriculture for smallholder coffee farmers in Mexico from Mitsubishi Foundation for the Americas.
Communications
In September, Managing Director Michaelyn Baur took the main stage at Clinton Global Initiative with Colombian coffee grower Rosa Ines Restrepo and representatives from our Dream Fund partner Postcode Lottery Group, the world’s third-largest private charity donor, to deliver an impassioned commitment and call to action for the world’s Climate Heroes: smallholder agroforestry farmers who represent a significant opportunity for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building sustainable food systems.
What makes this commitment unique is that for the first time, we are able to connect millions of smallholder farmers to the international carbon market, thanks to a new innovative satellite-based marketplace developed by Rabobank and Solidaridad: ACORN. With Postcode Lottery Group’s support we are now reaching hundreds of thousands of farmers across the globe to implement regenerative farming practices and agroforestry systems on their land, so that they can produce food crops with decreased carbon emissions.
In 2022, Solidaridad in North America led on multi-stakeholder communications for USAID-funded Amazonia Connect, Solidaridad Network’s global website and social media channels, and an upcoming global report on smallholders. Additionally, we successfully earned stories with a number of well-known media outlets, including The Guardian and Food Print, and influential trade publications, such as Barista Magazine, Food Dive, Candy Industry and others.
Organization & Governance
As a 501(c)3 registered in California focused on delivering fundraising, technical support and partner and project management services to our colleagues and partners globally, the North American team works remotely across the United States and Canada, optimizing access to partners, donors and events in the region. In 2022, as planned, the team grew from 3.5 FTE to 5.5 FTE, adding a Climate Innovation and Green Growth Expert, as well as a Financial Controller, improving our gender balance with new hires. Additional support is secured through part-time consultants, interns, membership with Connective Impact, and BidBoss, a consulting firm providing invaluable support as we launch Amazonia Connect and address other US Government contract demands. Legal support is provided by Mintz, and audit support by Baker Tilly.
As contracts in the pipeline are secured, we envision increasing the staff to balance project management roles with fundraising goals. With increased time in the Financial Controller role, we are moving to live financial transaction reporting, and empowering our team to optimize the use of our internal data and financial system Plaza.
Solidaridad in North America led the Market Uptake Global Expertise Team for Solidaridad Network. This involved further developing thought leadership and skills across Solidaridad’s regional offices on how to link our work with farmers and miners to downstream buyers. Accomplishments included overseeing a mapping of new opportunities in Africa and Asia for small farmers to sell to governments when they purchase food, e.g. for school feeding programs; the design of innovative digital platforms for data sharing between small-scale producers and buyers; action research on a locally-led verification model for data collected from small producers; and organizing a joint learning event with Acumen on how social entrepreneurs can successfully do business with corporate buyers.
Integrity
Annually, the North American team reviews and accepts our global Code of Conduct and Whistleblower Protocols, as well as updates to our Human Resources and Financial Management Manuals. We are proud to have passed demanding due diligence reviews by institutions such as USAID and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that have strengthened and reinforced our integrity-related policies and behaviors. We practice transparency in all interactions/transactions, and address ethical management issues in our team calls to ensure accountability and sharpen our integrity programming. Due to our small team, we seek support from our colleagues globally to provide access to Integrity Advisors and Persons of Trust.
In 2022, there were no integrity issues to report.
Finance
Total income for Solidaridad in North America in 2022 was EUR 1.8 million. The income from government grants was lower due to slower than expected Amazonia Connect execution during the contracting and launch phase.
All information above is pending the auditing process.
The full audited annual statements of 2022 will be added as soon as they are available.