At the recent HABITAT III preparatory thematic meeting Mexico City “Localizing finance for inclusive change”, Judith Hitchman had the honour of being invited by Carlos de Freitas of FMDV to represent both RIPESS and Urgenci (http://www.fmdv.net/index.php?id=2&L=2).
It was a great pleasure to share the round table discussion with Yasy Morales of the Rencontres Mont Blanc, Milder Villegas of INAISE and Enrique Ortiz of HIC (Habitat International Coalition). They dynamic moderation was by Carlos de Freitas himself, who took great care of us all during our brief stay. It was relatively intimidating to speak on a television-style plateau in the centre of a large room, under the light of tv cameras! Judith spoke of the need for a joined-up SSE approach to the economy, not as a poor persons’ alternative, but as a full, multi-dimensional economy in its own right, illustrating this through food sovereignty and agroecology. Yasy spoke most eloquently on the importance of short distribution chains in general and gave some clear illustrations of the SSE approach.
The importance of this moment was significant: not only were the key actors of the solidarity economy movement speaking as one, with highly complementary input, but the final declaration reflects the importance and need for the focus to shift to SSE as the lever that can support the necessary paradigm shift for cities to achieve successful governance. You can find the final declaration here, including reference to both Community Land Trusts and Community Supported Agriculture. Sadly the references to Local Food Policy Councils as a means of linking Local Authorities and the governance of sustainable territorial food systems, or the reference to the need for implementation of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for the Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests did not make it into the final declaration:
