Foundational Program and Related Projects
Foundational Program: Advancing Trandisciplinary and Participatory Action Research (PAR) in Agroecology
Lead: Ernesto Méndez
Description and Publications
This on-going endeavor seeks to critically examine and advance agroecology’s evolution and application as a transdisciplinary and participatory action research (PAR) approach. Although the field has embraced a transdisciplinary and participatory focus since its inception, our efforts aim to more explicitly incorporate these perspectives into research and applications of agroecology. Since 2011, and with the help of close collaborators, the ALC has led a series of publications that bring together important voices supporting this approach, including:
- a special issue in the journal Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (2013), which was translated into an open access, special issue (in Spanish), for the journal Agroecología (2013),
- the recently published book Agroecology: a transdisciplinary, participatory and action-oriented approach (2016).
- New Pathways to Sustainability in Agroecological Systems, a special forum in the open access journal Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, guest edited by Ricardo Salvador, from the Union of Concerned Scientists, and ALC lead Ernesto Méndez.
Related Projects
Agroecological Risk and Resilience Tool for Mercy Corps Food Security Programming
Lead: V. Ernesto Méndez
Description and Publications
In this project we joined Mercy Corps to develop a ‘screening tool’ to support Mercy Corps staff evaluate the potential impacts of their project activities on smallholder farmer livelihoods and resilience through an agroecological lens.
- Scarborough, G., V.E. Méndez and A. Bisson (2014) Agroecological risk and resilience screening tool: guidance for considering agroecological impact of agriculture interventions and identifying opportunities to build resilience in food systems. Mercy Corps: Portland, OR.