Farming First scooped the award for “Best Communications by a Not for Profit Organisation” at the Corporate Communications award ceremony in London last night. Our 2015 campaign “The Story of Agriculture and the Sustainable Development Goals” triumphed over stiff competition from ZSL London Zoo, Age UK and Scope. It also came highly commended in the “Best International Campaign” category, making it a double win for Farming First.
“The Story of Agriculture and Development Goals” was a year-long campaign that sought to ensure agriculture and sustainable farming issues were well represented in the text of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Farming First supporters went on three missions to the United Nations in New York, to meet with and present to Post-2015 negotiators, as well as taking part in side events to demonstrate how agriculture can be considered “a common thread” throughout the SDGs. An interactive toolkit was also launched, to explain the impact that investing in agriculture can have on a range of goals beyond Goal Two to end hunger, such as health, economic growth, gender equality and combatting climate change.
When the SDGs came into force in September 2015, Farming First was delighted to see many of the key issues it has been advocating for during this process, such as food security, rural development, and innovation well represented in the final text. These topics now feature six, two and 13 times respectively throughout the document. The Farming First supporter delegation also encouraged inclusion of improved access for farmers to extension services and training, access to inputs and investment in research and in infrastructure which are now specifically mentioned under Goal 2.
Farming First’s call to recognise agriculture as a common thread thought the SDGs has been well heeded. Equal access to resources for women farmers is mentioned in goal five on gender equality, and post-harvest losses are mentioned as target 12.3 in the goal relating to sustainable consumption and production.
To celebrate the adoption of the SDGs, Farming First supporters submitted stories from farmers around the world that they work with, who shared their hopes for what the SDGs would achieve, and how they intended to implement them. You can read the full stories on our “SDGs and Me” page.
Farming First would like to thank all its supporters that contributed to this award-winning campaign!