GLOBAL ALLIANCE WELCOMES NEW MEMBER AZIM PREMJI PHILANTHROPIC INITIATIVES
The Global Alliance for the Future of Food is pleased to announce that Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives (APPI) has joined our alliance of over 20 foundations working together and with others towards healthy, equitable, renewable, resilient, and culturally diverse food and agriculture systems shaped by people, communities, and their institutions.
In alignment with the principles, values, and systems-approach of the Global Alliance, APPI brings its quest for enduring change at the individual, the community, and the systems level through its different roles as a funder, enabler, and orchestrator. APPI supports projects across geographies in India that can transform the lives of the poorest and the most vulnerable who continue to be isolated, unheard, and unseen. While they aim to meet the urgency of “here and now” needs, they aspire to bring about lasting systemic change.
As independent foundations, Global Alliance member priorities pull us in different directions, but we all share a commitment to a future of food that is sustainable, secure, and equitable, addressing issues related to global food and agriculture at different scales, on diverse issues, and from a multitude of perspectives — including public health, biodiversity conservation, climate change, farm workers’ rights, cultural diversity, and community well-being.
“APPI’s mission is to create a just, humane, equitable and sustainable society,” says Ananthapadmanabhan Guruswamy, APPI Chief Executive Officer. “One key goal for us is reducing vulnerability and making a tangible and sustainable difference to the lives of small and marginal farmers in India, and working with governments to create change at the system level and endeavour to solve at the scale of the problem. This is a global challenge and our efforts in India carry the potential to inform action across India and elsewhere; the urgency and scale of the issues involved requires us to collaborate across the globe. This is very much aligned with the aims and values of the Global Alliance for the Future of Food.”
“Our efforts in India carry the potential to inform action across India and elsewhere; the urgency and scale of the issues involved requires us to collaborate across the globe.” Ananthapadmanabhan Guruswamy, Chief Executive Officer, Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives
Ruth Richardson, Executive Director of the Global Alliance, recently had the opportunity to meet with APPI in India, and to travel to Andhra Pradesh – a state of 49 million people in south-east India – with a mission to see first-hand the ambitious Climate Resilient Zero Budget Natural Farming initiative (ZBNF) supported by APPI and the Andhra Pradesh government.
“Visiting the Climate Resilient Zero Budget Natural Farming initiative in Andhra Pradesh, and meeting with APPI, solidified for me the synergies between the Global Alliance’s work around agroecology, health and well-being, and true cost accounting, and the work APPI is doing on the ground,” says Richardson. “We are thrilled to welcome APPI and its diverse perspectives and experiences to the Global Alliance.”
