EUROPEAN COORDINATION VIA CAMPESINA

Their core work

European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) is the European regional body of La Via Campesina, the international peasant farmers' movement. They represent small-scale farmers, agricultural workers, and rural communities across Europe, advocating for food sovereignty, agroecology, and fair agricultural policies. In H2020 projects, they bring the voice of farming practitioners and rural communities into research consortia, ensuring that scientific outputs align with the real needs and practices of small-scale agriculture. Their Brussels base positions them as a policy interface between grassroots farming organizations and EU-level agricultural research and regulation.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ECVC's early H2020 involvement (2019) began with animal health — participating in VACDIVA, a large project on African Swine Fever vaccine development, where they likely represented the perspective of pig farmers affected by outbreaks. From 2020 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward agroecology, food system transformation, and living lab approaches, as seen in COACH and AE4EU. This trajectory mirrors the broader EU policy shift toward the Farm to Fork Strategy and reflects ECVC's deepening role as a multi-actor partner in participatory agricultural research.

ECVC is moving firmly toward agroecological transition and participatory research infrastructure (living labs, policy labs), making them a strong partner for future projects on sustainable food systems under Horizon Europe.

How they like to work

ECVC exclusively participates as a partner, never as a coordinator — consistent with their role as a representative body rather than a research institution. Despite only three projects, they have worked with 50 unique partners across 22 countries, indicating they join large, pan-European consortia. Their value lies not in technical research capacity but in providing organized farmer representation, multi-actor legitimacy, and grassroots reach that funding agencies increasingly require.

ECVC has collaborated with 50 different partners across 22 countries through just three projects, reflecting their involvement in large multi-actor consortia. Their network spans most of the EU, with connections to universities, research institutes, and other civil society organizations active in agricultural research.

What sets them apart

ECVC is one of the few organizations in H2020 that represents organized peasant and small-scale farmer movements at the European level. Unlike research institutes or agri-tech companies, they bring genuine grassroots legitimacy and direct access to farming communities across Europe. For consortium builders, ECVC solves the increasingly critical "multi-actor" requirement — they provide the practitioner voice that reviewers look for and that many consortia struggle to include authentically.

Highlights from their portfolio

• COACH
  Largest funding (EUR 491,625) and directly aligned with ECVC's core mission of transforming food systems through collaborative, territorial approaches.
• AE4EU
  Pan-European agroecology coordination project using living labs and policy labs — positions ECVC at the center of the EU's agroecological transition agenda.
• VACDIVA
  Unusual topic for a farmer advocacy organization — shows ECVC's ability to contribute practitioner perspectives even in veterinary/epidemiological research contexts.