Vision

To promote agroecological and livelihood innovations for sustainable socio-economic transformations and transformative social change.

Mission

To create and apply innovative agroecological and livelihood systems within communities and institutions for transformative and sustainable development excellence.

About ALISS & its uniqueness in detail

ALISS stands for Agroecology and Livelihood Systems Society. Due to its headquarters, ALISS is part of agroecology in the Rwenzori region, but it also extends beyond with a focus on Africa. Moreover, as an established community-embedded professional society, ALISS aims to foster interactions between practitioners and academia to enhance continuous co-learning and co-creation of local context-specific interventions that are also translocal. Grounded in ecologically sound community practices, we adhere to the principle that knowledge and practice should not be separated but rather co-created and developed iteratively. Therefore, ALISS comprises practitioners and academics. Additionally, we include policymakers in our team to facilitate the integration of innovations into local governments whenever they are

discovered. So, we create innovative knowledge on how this interaction works. Like any COLIGS (under THRAIF), mainly linked to the ENS, we are a living lab network that conducts community-engaged action research and iteratively designs innovations in the areas of agroecology and livelihood systems. Our iterative design of innovations fosters the generation of new appropriate actions and ideas for developing knowledge. Moreover, the innovations are co-created with agroecological communities through innovative training and education, resulting in continuous socio-ecological improvement while promoting knowledge-based communities. We aspire to create a society where sustainability and peace coexist, i.e., pandemic prosperity, while fostering socio-ecological resilience to socio-ecological challenges.

Operations and operational areas

We operate as a multi-stakeholder community of practice. This means it includes various stakeholders, comprising the following: (1) Farmers and Farmers’ Unions or Associations, (2) Agroecological or ALISS Extension Fellows (AGEFs), (3) Academic and Research Institutions, and (4) Techno-administrative leads. To facilitate the integration into public and related advocacy, policymakers and development actors are involved. 

Farmers and farmers’ unions comprise groups of individuals involved in various sectors of the agroecological and livelihood systems chain, including collaborative production, processing,  

and agroecological entrepreneurship. These unions are tied to their geographical landscapes, incorporating landscaping and landscape management into the overall process of enhancing agroecological and livelihood systems. Essentially, each group within an association comprises farmers who are located near one another within the landscape. This proximity enables us to address landscape-related issues that affect the entire agroecological and livelihood enhancement chain, while also employing more joint landscape-sensitive formats, such as a landscape-based Farmer Family Learning Group approach, to enhance these systems. Additionally, this structure facilitates collaborative activities, including joint production, processing, and marketing. Here, it is evident that farmer unions form the backbone of our operations, serving as the testing ground throughout the entire chain, from production to processing and marketing. They are more than just knowledge workers; they are practitioners who generate their knowledge through hands-on experiences. 

AGEFs are also known as Farmer Facilitators. Essentially, they serve as stakeholders and educators who share knowledge in agroecological and livelihood systems. Their primary role is to moderate co-sharing sessions, ensuring that existing knowledge is communicated and applied in practice among farmers and farmer unions. As such, AGEFs must be well-informed individuals who continuously seek out and generate knowledge

in their interactions with farmers and farmer unions. They also analyze that knowledge against new or existing literature to ensure that what is being tested is relevant in other contexts. Consequently, they facilitate connections with the scientific community, enabling interactions between the farming and scientific communities. To support this process, ALISS, through TREC and collaborations, provides AGEFs with access to higher education (including up to doctoral levels). This also includes access to research labs where they can conduct research to inform their interactions with the communities. 

AGEFs engage in research seminars organised by ALISS to promote ongoing research, co-learning, and innovation. Collectively, we refer to them as Extension Fellows. Given the diversity in agroecology and livelihood systems, AGEFs come from various academic backgrounds, forming the core of the scholarly component of ALISS. So, they are also engaged in scholarly life (incl. projects, scientific discussions in research workshops, and meetings). 

Academic (and Research) Institutions facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and methods for engaging with communities. Their key role is to ensure that facilities have access to the necessary academic training and research resources to inform their interactions with farmers and farmer unions. The approach taken

is to create an academic circle where individuals with higher degrees can teach those with lower levels, provided a recognized academic institution verifies their qualifications and the pedagogies used. The THRIVE Training & Education Centre (TREC) of THRAIF oversees these and related activities. This primarily applies to lower academic training, including programs that require TVET skills within agroecology and livelihood systems, up to the bachelor’s degree. 

For higher degrees, including master’s and doctoral programs, TREC ensures sufficient scholarships are secured to facilitate this process using funds available to THRAIF. It is those with higher degrees who eventually become educators or teachers in the educational circle of ALISS. 

Techno-administrative leads are the backbone of society’s daily activities. They connect with others, especially fellow unions and farmers, to ensure smooth operations. In this context, a secretariat has been established at THRAIF to enhance efficiency and coordination. 

Core activities

Our core activities encompass the operational areas previously described. They combine practical and academic aspects through a community-engaged action research framework. These activities are categorised 

into the following:

  1. Sustainable production & productivi-ty.
  2. Green processing & markets.
  3. Innovative Education & Extension (this includes the academic enhancement of the fellows and mass education on agroecology and livelihood systems).
  4. Research & Monitoring (incl. trials to experiment and monitor innovations across the whole chain of agroecological & livelihood systems).
  5. Advocacy and policy mainstreaming.

Furthermore, as part of disseminating our findings and contributing to the vision of its founder, ALISS subscribes to the FAIDA Conference Series (whose secretariat is at THRAIF). Led by the AGEFs, we convene a panel at each FAIDA Conference. At this conference, members become acquainted with new knowledge in this field, including the benefits of sharing expertise and awareness of various opportunities, new insights, and funding or funding sources available for conducting research and innovation in this area, among other things. 

Income sources and partnerships

We have diverse sources of income to support the activities of ALISS. These include projects and grants, as well as institutional support or subscriptions. The sales of ALISS services and

goods, including training, also generate additional income to support ALISS’s activities. It should also be noted that some of the financial support is provided by the secretariat (THRAIF) and partnering institutions. 

Every partner institution associated with the ALISS provides support, in-kind and financially. This may include, but is not limited to, hosting events such as writing workshops, research workshops, and conferences at their institution or any other partner institution.

Getting involved

Membership into ALISS follows the three of the earlier categorised stakeholders: i) Farmers and farmer unions, ii) Agroecological or ALISS Extension Fellows (AGEFs), and iii) Academic and research institutions. Farmers’ unions gradually emerge from farmer groups (see details under the community livelihood program). Several farmer groups comprise a farmers’ union and are connected in a geographical landscape. What that means is that every farmer within the union belongs to a specific group. It is also possible for

a union to start and form its groups. However, this is a rare special case. The difference with farmers’ groups is that the union is more organised and corporate. They are also expected to have achieved some economic sovereignty and independence, to the extent that they can participate in corporate agroecological enterprises such as corporate production, processing, or marketing.

Unlike the farmer groups, which save against risk through direct saving, the unions do it as part of their savings from business earnings. Considering the economic sovereignty and independence, the unions contribute to the financing of the process through subscriptions, which (partially) support the operations of the society that corporately serves the unions. See more details at COLIG’s page. 

How about getting involved as an AGEF? The AGEFs are registered as individuals, forming the academic group or league of the society. Their role is that of knowledge brokers, facilitating the co-creation of knowledge and innovations with farmers. They are expected to possess and do 

a minimum of the following:

  • Formal education that can be advanced from the level of an ordinary certificate to higher degrees, including doctorates.
  • Has an academic ability and skill that aligns with the scope of ALISS. This also means that the prospective members can exploit that academic skill in ALISS.
  • Able and willing to pursue a career with a humanitarian mindset while working as a knowledge broker to farmers and farmer unions. Priority will be given here to those willing to pursue an academic career as knowledge workers. 
  • Able and willing to engage in intensive community-action research on the various aspects of the chain of agroecology and livelihood systems.
  • Able and willing to be retooled into the context of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This means that they can act or work as a lecturer or teach others in higher education. 
  • Able and willing to act as a mass community educator in at least one of the various matters of agroecology and livelihood systems.
  • Able and willing to participate, within a humanitarian mindset, in the core activities of ALISS as set in #3 above or as may be changed from time to time.
  • Complies with the standards and rules established from time to time to govern the academic league of ALISS. In this regard, two consecutive failures to comply with this requirement without providing a prior justified reason shall result in automatic disqualification and termination of membership. A notice of prior justified reason shall be construed as soon as is possible to avert any (financial) losses in any case, twenty-four (24) hours before the occurrence of the event.

To officially join as an AGEF, one must first meet all the requirements outlined above. Second,

make a notice of expression of intention and send it via email (to info@thrive.ac.ug). In that expression of interest, please include a detailed CV related to ALISS and attach relevant academic documents. Upon successful assessment of the expression of interest, an application link is sent to commence the third and last step. Following that link, thirdly, a prospective member fills out an application to be registered as a member. 

This process can be initiated at any time during the calendar year. Please note that a recommendation might be required from the LC1 and/or another reputable organisation or institution. If one is linked to or from our partner institution, that will not be needed. Please note that priority is given to those currently in similar settings, as they are considered to have valuable experience already.

Once approved, the member is registered as and is at that time liable for all benefits and obligations of ALISS.

 

 

They will also be fully added to all our communication channels, including the ALISS official WhatsApp community and its associated (sub-)groups.

Regulation on visibility and recognition

Every member is recorded in a register maintained at the secretariat, both in hard copy and electronic format, with details of each individual. Accordingly, each member is assigned a unique identification number for recognition purposes. THRAIF has experience in recording membership rights from its inception.

Organization and leadership 

Headquartered with a secretariat at THRAIF, ALISS is headed by an executive committee. The committee oversees the operations of the secretariat, ensuring the smooth running of all ALISS operations. This includes coordinating AGEFs, organising farmer unions and relevant stakeholders and partners, and mobilising all necessary support from them.