Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative
The Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative is a network-based communications platform dedicated to food security and agricultural development. It operates in line with 2030 Agenda, under the vision of “Ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture”. SIANI's mission is to facilitate inclusive and engaging dialogues around Sustainable Development Goal #2, with participation from academia, the private sector, public authorities and civil society. SIANI seeks to generate impact by:
creating opportunities for evidence-based, gender-balanced dialogues
making knowledge available for informed decision-making in local, national and international arenas, and
Launched in 2009 with core funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and hosted by the Stockholm Environment Institute, SIANI provides an open, interactive and neutral platform for multi-sector engagement and dialogue. SIANI seeks to improve sustainability and gender equality, but does not take any ideological stance and does not lobby for any particular farming method or practice. Individual members are welcome to express their opinions through SIANI activities and media. SIANI strives for gender balance and multi-stakeholder representation in its operation and activities.
History
SIANI work initiated at the consultative workshop in 2008, where a wide range of stakeholders discussed a noted lack of attention given to agriculture's role in sustainable development, both within Sweden and internationally. It was argued that a lot of agricultural expertise existed amongst the Swedish resource base, but that this expertise was not used to its full potential. This led to the launch of SIANI in 2010, with the goal of establishing a platform for cross-sectoral knowledge exchange about agriculture, food and rural development. Since then, SIANI has been working on awareness raising and knowledge production and exchange about the critical role of agriculture for sustainable development. Since then SIANI has proceeded to other development phases: Phase 2 was centered on network expansion and consolidation. That is when the SIANI platform anchored its position as a facilitator of choice for anyone who works with and is interested in sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition, particularly in low-income countries. In the spring of 2016, an external evaluation concluded that the SIANI network should no longer be seen as an initiative, but rather as a long-term investment aimed at tackling issues of poverty reduction, food security and sustainable agricultural development. In January 2016, SIANI entered phase 3. To better reflect the 2030 Agenda it was determined that SIANI will focus and orient its actions on SDG2: Zero Hunger.
Vision/Goal
SIANI's vision is to promote knowledge-sharing, dialogue and collaboration to advance sustainable agriculture for food security, improved nutrition and the eradication of hunger.
Mission, Objectives and Activities
Centered around SDG2: Zero hunger, SIANI's overall mission is to “Promote a multisector dialogue with participation from academia, the private sector, Swedish authorities and civil society surrounding SDG 2”. In practice, this is done via three main objectives, translated into activities: 1) Create an enabling environment for evidence-based, multi-sector and interdisciplinary dialogues.
Arranging and participating at seminars and workshops, often in collaboration with SIANI partner organizations. Many of these events happen annually like the Annual Meeting, the World Food Day celebration, World Water Week and participation in the Swedish political week at Almedalen as well in the sessions of the Committee on World Food Security, CFS and the Global Landscapes Forum, GLF.
SIANI Expert groups: broad-based interdisciplinary working groups centered around specific issues, where experts explore new ideas, strengthen knowledge and bring different actors together. These groups receive seed funding for a fixed period of time and finish their work by producing various communications outputs about the new insights and knowledge they have generated through their work.
SIANI Youth: an initiative dedicated to the creation and production of agriculture and food security related communication for the youngest members of the SIANI network.
2) Make knowledge generated through the network available for informed decision-making in local, national and international arenas
The SIANI homepage: where information is shared through blogs produced by SIANI members, news, information about different relevant events together with videos and presentations, as well as photo essays, debates and policy briefs from SIANI's Expert groups.
Social media engagement, including a Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
3) Facilitate inclusive action with international partners to generate sustainable results.
This includes close collaboration with Swedish Universities, like SLU, and other organizations whose profiles’ relate to SIANI's goals, like YPARD or the Rome Based Agencies of the United Nations, like FAO and IFAD, and participation at the Global Landscapes Forum.
Governing Body
Steering Committee
The SIANI Steering Committee is responsible for the strategic development of the SIANI network, making the major decisions concerning SIANI's general objectives, planning and program, and on issues of major importance regarding the organization, finances, administration and information activities. The SIANI board is made up of a minimum of five and a maximum of ten members who must collectively comprise a broad and varied experience and expertise in aspects of international agricultural development. The Swedish Development Cooperation Agency, the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences are permanent members and can participate in debates, comment, and ask questions, but have no right to vote when decisions are made, with the exception of cases where full consensus is required.
Executive Body - The Secretariat
The responsibility for the day-to-day functioning and financial management of SIANI as well as developing, coordinating and stimulating the network is carried out by the SIANI Secretariat. The secretariat is hosted by the Headquarters of the Stockholm Environment Institute in Stockholm.
Membership
SIANI membership is free and open to all interested individuals working on issues of agriculture and food security and registered via the SIANI website. SIANI's membership base is primarily academics from Sweden but is open to anyone, and members can be found in both of the Americas, Africa and Asia. There are also a number of members from civil society organizations, government agencies and the private sector. Members have an opportunity to contribute to the formation of the annual work plan through the annual members’ meeting.
Impact
In collaboration with partners SIANI has built a robust body of work and the network has a broad global outreach. Among other things, supporting Swedish work on antimicrobial resistance, initiated a strategy for developing urban agroforestry work in Gothenburg, and helped to create the Agroforestry Network. SIANI raised the issue of food waste with its implications for global food chains, and highlighted that social protection systems have a greater impact if they are designed with a food and nutrition perspective in mind. The SIANI event about soils in Malmö created interest among government officials and led to a request for training of decision-makers in southern Sweden.
