ABOUT
Welcome to Schola Campesina, an international school of agroecology.
Founded in 2018 in Gallese, in the Biodistrict della Via Amerina e delle Forre (Viterbo, Italy), Schola Campesina Onlus is an international center for training and participatory research that strengthens agroecological organizations in their struggle for food sovereignty through knowledge sharing, including within global food and agriculture governance processes. Grounded in the Nyéléni International Forum for Agroecology (2015) and on the principles of ‘dialogo de saberes’ and popular education; at Schola Campesina we facilitate the exchange of peasant, academic and activist forms of knowledge. As facilitators, we foster dialogue among different kinds of actors, strengthening smallholders’ voices at international policy level.
We are also facilitators of a wide array of online courses, including:
- Corsus
- Corsus
Visit our E-Learning page for our most recent courses and webinars.
VISION
Schola Campesina is rooted in food sovereignty and peasant agroecology.
We believe that the dominant agro-industrial model is socially and environmentally unsustainable. It contributes to inequality, environmental destruction, biodiversity loss, dependence on fossil fuels, the erosion of rural communities and the loss of local knowledge systems. It concentrates power and wealth while undermining the autonomy and rights of food producers.
In contrast, peasant agroecology strengthens autonomy, collective rights, biodiversity, community organisation and the relationship between people and territory. Agroecology is based on knowledge, participation, responsibility and social justice. It is a living process of innovation rooted in the experience and knowledge of peasant farmers, Indigenous Peoples, fisherfolk, pastoralists and rural communities.
Schola Campesina works to rebuild, defend, exchange and transmit peasant farming knowledge across generations. We recognise the equal importance of informal peasant knowledge and formal academic knowledge, and our work is grounded in diálogo de saberes — a dialogue between different ways of knowing.
Our work supports agroecological training, participatory action research and collaboration between grassroots organisations, researchers and social movements. We value traditional knowledge, language justice, and collective learning processes rooted in territories and communities.
The pillars of our work include:
- Food sovereignty and peasant agroecology
- Autonomy and the rights of food producers
- Dialogue between different forms of knowledge
- Biodiversity, seeds, water and local resources
- Community organisation and participation
- Intergenerational transmission of knowledge
- Language diversity and multilingual exchange
- The connection between local processes and global advocacy
We believe that social transformation requires collective organisation and the active participation of communities and movements.
Schola Campesina contributes to strengthening networks, organisations and processes that defend dignity, autonomy, rights and the
defence of life.
Schola Campesina emerged from the global agroecology movement with the goal of implementing the principles and action plan of
the 2015 Nyéléni International Forum for Agroecology. The strategies of Agroecology are fully described in the Nyeleni Declaration,
and are encapsulated in the following 11 pillars of Agroecology.
TEAM
Meet Schola Campesina’s team, which comprises a coordinator (Andrea Ferrante), a project manager (Caroline Ledant), and a
Communications and R&D team (Maria Anisimova and Katie Whiddon).
PARTNERS AND DONORS
Schola Campesina works closely with food producer organizations and their networks, as well as with universities, institutions and NGOs advocating for human rights. Here are some the partners we have worked with since 2017.