Our international partners are, as you might imagine, welcome our support. But they’ve also pressed us: It’s not enough, they say. You have to change the U.S. policies that open the world to U.S. corporations and make it so hard for small producers around the world to protect our livelihoods, they tell us.

To answer that call, we have increased our support to powerful activists who can do just that. And we support and collaborate with U.S. groups seeking links to global movements. For example, we are members of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture (which advocates for safe, fair farming policies in the U.S., which will ultimately protect the livelihoods of farmers everywhere), the U.S. Food Sovereignty Campaign (which argues for returning control of food and farming to citizens, guaranteeing safe, delicious food for all and fair prices for farmers) and the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (which advocates for a just peace in the Middle East).

Although the vast majority of our funding is directed overseas, a recent grant supports the creation of an office for the Vía Campesina’s North American work. The Vía is the world’s leading social movement for family farmers, community fishers, landless and agricultural workers, and other small producers. A grant to the National Family Farm Coalition supports their Food Sovereignty work to change U.S. agricultural policy for the betterment of family farmers around the world. Our work with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives supports minority farm leaders in the southern U.S.

We regularly bring our overseas partners to meet with U.S. audiences—including the U.S. Congress—to talk about what it feels like to be on the receiving end of U.S. agriculture, trade, development and foreign policy. These visits help us create educational materials based on our partners’ daily experiences, teaching tools that share stories of action and hope.