News

The pilot of Dare to Trust, facilitated by NTFP-EP, was implemented in two grassroots women’s organisations in the Philippines and Cambodia. The Dare to Trust project provided them with the independence to utilize the resources they have and thus handed to them the agency for more grounded and better judgment. By giving more liberty to the communities we are moving them away from bureaucratic processes and power structures, and towards more empowered decision making capabilities. 

Lumière Synergie pour Développement (LSD) has helped 63 individual women who all have had problems due to the development of a controversial train project (TER) in Senegal and a recent big earthquake. These communities are displaced by the train project, involuntarily resettled, their property has been destroyed and they have been harassed. Moreover, they have never been consulted and are still waiting to receive fair compensation.

The Dare to Trust-initiative, led by Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre with support from Both ENDS, empowers individuals with business potential who face financial constraints. The program has successfully supported 40 beneficiaries, enabling them to grow their businesses and skills without the need for formal proposals. 

Yasores as an organisation was supported by the Samdhana Institute in our Dare to Trust-project, a no-strings-attached way of funding. The only administrative duty was to send a creative report about the activities. The Samdhana Institute send this story about the history and founding of Yasores by Mama Loretha, to report about their grant.

In the Dare to Trust project, WOMIN South Africa has worked with local women’s, youth and farmer groups in Madagascar. They worked on increasing capacities of local organisations, implemented sustainable livelihood initiatives and started a pilot on the promotion of communal land sovereignty.

In the Kingdom of Eswatini, rural women have been the custodians of local and indigenous seeds and preserving biodiversity for generations. Officially founded in 2011, the Swaziland Rural Women’s Assembly (SRWA) has brought together over 20.000 women across the country to reclaim their traditional knowledge of seed sharing. In the Dare to Trust project, the SRWA has developed a new Agroecology Demonstration Center as a learning facility for rural farmers and produced a seed bank to help the 20.000 seed savers in their community. 

Institutio Cordilheira in Brazil has a vast network of grassroot organisations in Brazil. With a lot of creativity they were able to assist many of them with support of Both ENDS's Dare to Trust-project.

On December 6, the visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the Mercosur Summit sealed the agreement on the final text of the EU-Mercosur Association Agreement. Both ENDS condemns this damaging agreement for undermining human rights, the environment, and democracy in Europe, and in Mercosur countries. Should the agreement be ratified as it stands, it will have devastating consequences for the environment, indigenous communities, family farming and small-scale farmers on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Hague/San Francisco, Dec 12, 2024 - The updated version of the Financial Exclusions Tracker is released today: financialexclusionstracker.org. The website tracks which companies are being excluded by institutional investors, pension funds and banks due to human rights, public health and sustainability issues. The most common reasons for exclusion are links to fossil fuels, weapons or tobacco. 

The Financial Exclusions Tracker is an initiative from an international coalition of NGOs striving for more transparency and information disclosure. 

On the 4th of December, the European Parliament voted in majority for a delay of implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Earlier, the European Commission and the European Council already endorsed this proposal for a delay with one year. Both ENDS and partners are worried about this decision, as there is no time to waste in our global fight against deforestation, biodiversity loss and climate change.

For decades, our local partner organisations have been developing and promoting effective ways to combat land degradation, desertification, and drought. This includes regions like the drylands, as well as forests, and wetlands. Supporting these locally-led actions is essential to reversing negative trends. For COP16, Drynet has developed 10 recommendations to strengthen the implementation of the UNCCD. Success at COP16 would mean turning these recommendations into action, fostering inclusive land governance and sustainable land management practices globally. By enabling locally-led actions—particularly those led by women, youth, pastoralists, and Indigenous Peoples—we can build a more resilient future.

As the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) celebrates its 30th anniversary, the global community faces an urgent need to address the escalating challenges of land degradation, desertification and drought. At the forefront of these efforts, Both ENDS has long advocated for inclusive, locally-led solutions to these critical issues. In this interview, Nathalie van Haren and Yordanos Mulder, who will represent Both ENDS at the upcoming UNCCD COP16, share insights into the significance of the conference, the key issues on the agenda, and the crucial role of local communities in shaping effective land governance. They discuss Both ENDS' ongoing work to amplify the voices of marginalised groups and emphasise the importance of sustainable land management practices, particularly those driven by women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples.