AVSF's Networks

VSF International

VSF International is an international network, constituted as a non-profit association, made up of national VSF associations from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland. All of VSF Europa’s members share a common commitment: working to reduce poverty and improve the food security of people who live off livestock farming.

VSF International’s eleven member associations carry out their activities mainly in Southern countries. The network’s objective is to honor the common commitment of its members by pooling and coordinating their efforts, programs, and activities in the countries where they are active. VSF International also strives to support smallholder livestock farming by collectively engaging in advocacy activities and activities aimed at educating people in the North about development. AVSF is a founding member of the VSF International network.

Learn more about VSF International

MOABI Group

The “MOABI Group” (formely, AVSF Group) is made up of more than 450 professionals, men and women, combining their expertise for the sustainable and fair development of territories and the promotion of the social and solidarity economy.The MOABI Group is composed of Agronomes et Vétérinaires Sans Frontières ; PROGRESO (a non-profit Peruvian non-profit association) ; CESA (an Ecuadorian non-profit foundation) ; and Tero (a research unit in the form of a SCIC (Collective interest cooperative company). These four entities o the North and South, independent but complementary in terms of roles and geographies, are all committed to servicing family and smallholder farming. They all want to act in the service of an ecological and social transition and that results in an entirely new model of growth.  Thanks to a range of different types of entity and present in different locations, the “MOABI Group” forms a combination of competences and resources, resulting in innovative means of taking action:

• The identification, formulation and implementation of rural development programs capitalizing on the international contacts of Group members and links with private economic operators;
• Supplying services and expertise on a national and international level;
• The creation of social enterprises to provide services accessible to rural organizations and communities;
• Finally, studies, publications, representation and dialogue with the private and public sectors.

The structures united within the MOABI Group share values, philosophies and ways of operating under a charter.

World Mountain People Association

The World Mountain People Association (WMPA) was founded in April 2001 in Paris on the initiative of several associations of elected officials from mountain regions in European countries, representatives of mountain regions from over 50 different countries, NGOs (including AVSF), and researchers engaged in development activities in support of people living in mountain regions. The WMPA addresses a major challenge: bringing together people from mountain regions, regardless of their differences, to rally around a common project based on stronger solidarity and a common vision of the role that mountain people play in contemporary society.

The WMPA’s goal is to promote policies throughout the world that are more closely oriented towards the equitable and sustainable development of mountain regions and the people who live there. The WMPA works towards this objective by organizing exchange and establishing connections between residents and representatives of different mountain regions throughout the world, and by organizing seminars and activities aimed at influencing policy. AVSF is a founding member of the WMPA and its plenary board.

Read the la charte de l'APMM, to which AVSF is a signatory.

Learn more about the APMM

Nexus-Carbon for Development

Nexus-Carbon for Development is an alliance of NGOs that pool their skills and expertise to provide vulnerable families with better access to and real control over energy, natural resources, and other services, while also making sure that the natural resources are managed in a responsible and sustainable way. Nexus also strives to promote its values and vision among actors and decision-makers at the international, regional, and national levels in the climate finance and development sectors.

Nexus’ mission is to expand and replicate the most successful projects carried out by its members by securing the projects access to appropriate financing, such as carbon finance.

Learn more about Nexus - Carbon for Development

Groupes Initiatives  

Groupe Initiatives, created in November 1993, is a collective of professional associations dedicated to international cooperation and development that have banded together in order to share their experience and knowledge. Today, Groupe Initiatives comprises ten organizations for development cooperation.

Groupe Initiatives is a member of Coordination SUD and serves as a forum for discussion, reflection, and pooling skills. Groupe Initiatives carries out a variety of activities:

• working together and exchanging views on issues and common problems related to cooperation and development,
• representing Groupe Initiatives members and participating in advocacy networks and platforms,
• sharing our experiences and methods, spreading the word about the work that Groupe Initiatives does, and making seminar proceedings accessible, particularly via its publication, Traverses.

Read revue Traverses, a publication of Groupe Initiatives.

Learn more about Groupe Initiatives

France Vétérinaire International

AVSF has been a member of the French public interest group France Vétérinaire International (FVI) since November 2006. FVI was created in April 2003, and its mission is to promote, federate, and coordinate the veterinary training and technical cooperation provided by France at the international level. In particular, FVI promotes France’s innovative model of veterinary public health, which is based on an active partnership between public services and the private sector, which includes the livestock farmers themselves.

FVI provides the expertise necessary for developing international training activities that are in line with foreign demand, particularly in warm regions of the world and in the fields of livestock production and animal health. FVI facilitates the preparation of collective responses to international calls for bids in the veterinary field, contributes to international scientific and technological partnerships (particularly newer partnerships in the field of veterinary public health), and contributes to studies and research related to its own activities.

Learn more about FVI

Commerce Equitable France

Plate-Forme pour le Commerce Équitable (PFCE), created in 1997, is a federation that represents and consults with key actors in France’s fair trade sector. The PFCE is made up of about 40 national organizations that are engaged in fair trade and whose various regional networks comprise a total of more than 600 different structures. Several different fair trade practices are represented within the PFCE: organizations working in support of the South, importers (wholesale dealers and retailers), specialized distribution networks, fair tourism operators, promotional associations, labeling associations, and international solidarity organizations.

AVSF co-founded Max Havelaar France (MHF) in 1993 (along with ISF and Peuples Solidaires) but withdrew from its General Assembly in 2012. AVSF continues to work with MHF in conducting impact assessments and prospective studies. Since 2010, AVSF has been a member of the Technical Committee of the Ecocert référentiel ESR (in Fair Trade, Social Partnership, and Responsibility), which combines organic farming and fair trade. Finally, AVSF helps promote the référentiel "Petit Producteur", which was created by smallholder organizations in Latin America in order to differentiate products coming from small producer organizations from those coming from agro-plantations and contract farming. In order to help these initiatives grow in the best way possible, AVSF decided in 2012 to join the PFCE’s network (registration currently being processed).

Learn more about PFCE

Inter-réseaux Développement Rural

AVSF has been a member of Inter-réseaux Développement Rural since 2010. Inter-réseaux is a forum where people involved in rural development projects, particularly in Southern countries, can share their experiences and discuss various issues. Its objectives are:

• to facilitate exchange between actors and stimulate reflection on topics and practices concerning rural development in Southern countries,
• to make this information as well as any other information that would be useful to rural development actors, especially those working in Southern countries, widely accessible, particularly via its publication entitled Grain de Sel and its collection of resources organized by topic,
• to encourage cooperation that is more closely attuned to the concerns of actors in the South and to the reality of the situation on the ground.

Learn more about Inter-Réseaux

Coordination Sud 

Coordination SUD was founded by three collectives in 1994. Today, Coordination SUD comprises more than 130 NGOs, some of which belong to one of its six constituent collectives (Clong Volontariat, Cnajep, Coordination d'Agen, CRID, FORIM, Groupe Initiatives), and some of which are direct members.

Coordination SUD is a national coordinating body of French international solidarity NGOs. Its mission is twofold: to support and strengthen French NGOs (via information and training, and by working with sponsors to improve subsidy measures) and to represent and promote the values and positions of its member NGOs to public and private institutions both in France and abroad (the French government, the European Union, international organizations, etc.). Coordination SUD has created working committees that are dedicated to various topics: AVSF is an active member of the “Agriculture and Food” (C2A) and “Climate and Development” committees.

Learn more about Coordination Sud

Cité du Développement Durable  

Réseau Rhône-Alpes d'appui à la coopération internationale

RESACOOP is a Public Interest Group (PIG) with 14 founding members: the French government (represented by the Prefect of the Rhône-Alpes Region); the Rhône-Alpes Region; the towns of Chambéry, Grenoble, and Romans; the Urban Community of Lyon; the Pierre Mendès France University in Grenoble; the Hospices Civils de Lyon; the CIEDEL; Bioforce Développement; the Association Ardèche Drôme Sénégal; Handicap International; Humacoop; Agronomes et Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (AVSF).

RESACOOP’s goal is to help develop and improve the quality of international cooperation activities conducted in the Rhône-Alpes region, for activities involving collaboration with local actors, NGOs, or other types of actors. RESACOOP strives to mobilize and assemble different types of actors to work together on innovative activities and activities aimed at raising awareness in the Rhône-Alpes region about cooperation and international relations.

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Ethiquable, created in 2003, is a worker cooperative based in the Gers department of France that specializes in fair trade. Ethiquable is committed to defending smallholder farming by offering small producer cooperatives access to fair trade that is both demanding and tailored to their needs, a concept that aims to serve as a lever for development.

Since they both believe in strengthening smallholder farming and smallholder organizations in the South, AVSF and Ethiquable have established a privileged partnership. They develop joint activities, both in France and in Europe, to defend a fair trade model that benefits smallholder organizations. In the South, AVSF and Ethiquable coordinate their complementary efforts and skills to serve several smallholder cooperatives and organizations in Latin America, Haiti, West Africa, and Madagascar.

Learn more about Ethiquable