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ETHIOPIA
Produced by Alberto Miti
Written by Carlo Fadda
Edited by Ann Thrupp and Douglas Gayeton
Photography by Alberto Miti
Research by Katelyn Mann
Produced by Alberto Miti
ETHIOPIA IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S RICHEST CENTERS of major and minor crop diversity. Ethiopian farmers have grown wheat, barley, sorghum, and peas for millennia, passing seeds from one generation to the next through an informal community-based seed sharing network.
Despite this tradition of agricultural biodiversity, Ethiopia is also an arid region, one vulnerable to climate change and drought. At a time of increasing globalization, Ethiopian farmers in recent generations have discarded seeds from hundreds of traditional grains in favor of a select few non-native industrial hybrids, but after many of these modern crops failed—partially due to climate change—farmers are shifting away from “modern” crops to safeguard the future and livelihood of Ethiopian rural communities.
Beginning in 2014, an ambitious project called Seeds for Needs, created with joint support from Ethiopian farmers and researchers at Bioversity International, Mekelle University, and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa, began researching Ethiopia’s past to reawaken ancient grains that might provide solutions to the country’s extreme vulnerability to drought and other environmental conditions.
Written by Carlo Fadda, Bioversity International
Edited by Ann Thrupp
Photography by Alberto Miti
TIGRAY IS ONE OF NINE REGIONAL STATES of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, a country with over 100 million people. It is a small region, with only 5.5 million people, most of whom belong to the Tigrinya ethnic group, a vital cultural and political fixture in the country’s social landscape. While the Ethiopian population is growing rapidly—the average woman has four children in her lifetime (World Bank)— its food systems cannot keep up with growing demand. Consequently, undernutrition contributes to a child mortality rate of 28%, with stunting affecting 38% of children under the age of five (UNICEF).
Improving nutrition is made increasingly difficult by climate change, which now impacts healthcare, the environment, and the productivity of many crops and livestock. Thanks to its rich heritage of agricultural biodiversity, Ethiopia has the capacity to address undernutrition by enhancing agrobiodiversity, which spreads agricultural “risk” by growing a range of crops to meet the challenges of uncertain times. Unfortunately, most agronomic research is generally overlooked, while policymakers incorrectly assume that indigenous crops developed by hundreds of generations of farmers are less productive and unable to contribute significantly to food security. Policymakers have recently encouraged farmers to grow a small collection of modern grains to please food processors and international markets. This approach, which rarely includes traditional varieties, now threatens the country’s agricultural biodiversity and with it the survival of the country’s food production system.
Smallholder farmers are responsible for over 80% of the country’s agricultural production, and the introduction of commodity crops across Ethiopia has wreaked havoc on traditional farming systems; these “modern” grains require additional fertilizers, pesticides, and water that many smallholders either cannot afford or do not possess.
One solution may come from the country’s near past. The Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, the largest and oldest Seed Bank in Africa, holds 6,000 accessions (different varieties) of teff, 7,000 accessions of durum wheat, and 12,000 accessions of barley. Can the bio-regional genetics of these seeds provide clues that may aid in the struggle against climate change? The international coalition behind Seeds for Needs thinks so. Led by Bioversity International, Scuola S. Anna in Pisa, Mekelle University, Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI), and the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute (EBI), this project has adopted a holistic, participatory action-driven approach to researching whether traditional varieties can help solve today’s agricultural challenges. The program, which has grown to include GIZ, the World Bank, the Integrated Seed System Development (a Dutch initiative), and the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture, uses extremely simple yet effective logic: if 4000 ancient grain varieties kept in the National Gene Bank’s seed vaults survived and adapted for millennia on farmers’ fields, they may provide benefits if returned to the very farmers who first developed and saved them. In Tigrinya, the farmers have a name for the initiative: Wehabit … or “We got it back”.
AN EVERYDAY SMALLHOLDER FARMER IN ETHIOPIA often contemplates many variables: At what point in the season should I plant? When the rain comes, how long will it last? Did I plant at the right time? If I didn’t, will I have enough spare seeds to plant twice? Instead of depending on one crop, what else should I plant to manage risk? And finally, How will I feed my five children and my animals, which are so crucial for the livelihood of my family?
These nagging questions become even more challenging in the face of climate change. Seasons are increasingly unpredictable, rain is much less frequent, temperatures are rising, and wind conditions are erratic. To make matters worse, smallholders do not receive subsidies that would protect them in case of crop failure. The lack of government assistance makes farming in Tigray a very risky business; yet, thousands of families rely on farming for their food security.
Fortunately for Ethiopian farmers, they’ve cultivated their lands for more than 5,000 years, and have developed strategies that adapt to change: they rotate not only crops but plant varieties, use manure and compost to maintain soil fertility, and observe nature when determining their planting times. While many traditional strategies still work, the incredible speed at which their climatic conditions change has left these farmers in need of further support.
Farmers are not alone in managing climate challenges. They rely on communities, friends, family, networks, and other groups to share their concerns and seek opinions to resolve issues. The most pressing question for a farmer is: “What shall I plant?” For many decades they have been asked to plant modern varieties that left them prone to crop failure. In 2018, the year of the last major failure, an outbreak of yellow rust destroyed thousands of hectares of modern wheat varieties. In the past, farmers were planting diversified crops and varieties that served a wide range of purposes and afforded them more food security.
Seeds for Needs recognized Tigray’s crop genetic diversity as an opportunity to improve resilience and took initiative. The project promotes diversity as a risk management strategy, just as a financial advisor would advise diversifying an investment portfolio to mitigate risk. In order to identify “blue-chips,” both farmers and investors must understand their varieties. Knowledge regarding valuable crops needs to be openly available at the community level so that as many farmers as possible can benefit. In order to widely disseminate knowledge, Seeds for Needs promoted the development of community seed banks, locally-based organizations which manage traditional varieties of seeds and provide locals with farming-related education. In the past, farmers kept their seeds stored in their homes, hiding them like a treasure. The researchers of Seeds for Needs had to convince farmers to take their seeds, share them with the community, and guarantee that the seeds would be protected legally for community benefit. Ethiopian seed laws forbid the commercialization of seeds that are not registered in the national registry, but in community seed banks, seeds are traded, not sold. Therefore, community seed banks are a resource that makes traditional varieties available to farmers without violating any laws. Farmers can open an account by depositing seeds and, when needed, withdraw their seeds and plant them. Women and men, like young Gebremariam in Ayba, have been elected by their peers and trained by the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute to manage seed banks to ensure that their varieties can be available to the community even in the case of seed loss due to natural disasters.
MORE THAN 10,000 FARMERS ACROSS ETHIOPIA took part in Seeds for Needs’ first trials. Using a crowdsourcing approach, they provided farmers with 4000 seed accessions, 373 farmer-grown varieties, and 27 seed varieties from international seed companies. Women accounted for nearly 50% of farmers participating in the project as citizen scientists; they were asked to plant their fields, collect crop data, and help judge their harvests according to four criteria: yield, features, local adaptation, and nutritional content. While crop research can be time-consuming work, all stakeholders in the program were motivated by the same goals: enhance livelihoods, reduce risk in cultivation, and improve diets.
Six years after the project began, the team’s data shared some unexpected results: traditional varieties were 60% more stable over time and across variable climatic conditions than “improved” modern varieties. The grains were also tested for calcium, iron, protein, iron, zinc, and phosphorus, with the “natural bio-fortification” of both teff and durum wheat emerging as potentially important allies in the country’s fight against malnutrition as well as zinc and iron deficiencies.
THE TRUE PROTAGONISTS OF SEEDS FOR NEEDS are the Women of Tigray. They not only participated in the selection and breeding of grain varieties used in the project, but also became their guardians once the program released seeds to rural communities.
Women play an important role in deciding which crops to plant, not only for markets but also for home consumption. If these women only cultivated modern varieties, many of their traditions would quickly disappear. They grow what they eat, and recognize that their traditional food cultures depend on many ingredients that come from their own fields. By protecting, cultivating, and continuing to prepare foods like injera and tella, they’re also safeguarding their culinary heritage for generations to come.
Endu is a farmer in Ayba, a village in southern Tigray, located not far from the border with Eritrea. She lives with her husband, son, and daughter-in-law on a farm perched atop a mountain ridge overlooking experimental fields used for Mekelle University’s participatory plant breeding project. Like many farmers in his region, Endu is actively involved with both the research and Seeds for Needs.
On most days—when she’s not working her fields—Endu can be found preparing food for her family. This includes injera, Ethiopia’s most iconic staple food, a naturally fermented flatbread. It can be made with any kind of grain flour, though in Ayba the recipe requires teff.
After starting a fire in her mogogo, the traditional oven used to bake flatbread, Endu instructs her daughter-in-law, Lemlem, on the ballet that is injera making. The fire is carefully stoked with dried manure to reach the correct temperature, then the liquid dough, usually stored in plastic buckets and left to ferment for three days, is slowly poured onto a steel plate set atop the fire. Lemlem spreads the dough with her thin fingers, quickly and in a circular motion as she has been taught, and minutes later, the injera is ready to be eaten.
Aside from teff, another major crop in Tigray is barley, which farmers often refer to as the “heaven crop” due to its adaptability; in fact, it’s often found on the steep mountainsides that line the valleys of Tigray. Barley is often malted, a process that introduces then rapidly halts the germination of seeds. Ameteselassie malts her own barley on plastic tarps set in front of her home to prepare tella, a typical barley-based beverage.
In the village of Melfa, Ameteselassie counts on barley to earn an income and provide nutrition for her young grandchildren. Like many Tigrayans, she claims that the secret behind Ethiopia’s legendary marathoners is the barley their mothers fed them as children.
ETHIOPIA NEEDS TO FEED OVER 100 MILLION PEOPLE; that responsibility largely falls on smallholder farmers, who, despite their limited land, produce 80% of the country’s total food production. Wehabit grains developed by Seeds for Needs can play a vital role in helping farms reach this objective and sell more grains into the market, but they face many challenges.
Consumers in Ethiopia are often reluctant to try new products, even when they are healthier and taste better, but one opportunity arose from an unlikely group: local pasta producers. Macaroni is a popular dish in the country and pasta producers rely on imported grain to satisfy demand. With the collaboration of a local pasta producer in Mekelle, the first 100% Wehabit pasta has now entered the marketplace. Producing a product like pasta is the first step to show the market that Wehabit is more nutritious, tastes better, and is perfectly suitable for food processing. It’s also an opportunity for rural farmers to grow a high-value grain that is more tolerant of pests and diseases, and resilient to climate change.
by Katelyn Mann of The Lexicon
edited by Carlo Fadda of the Alliance of Bioversity-CIAT
TEFF IS AN ANNUAL CEREAL CROP with thin stems, an extensive crown of seeds, and a prolific wide root system. Teff is self pollinated and uses C4 photosynthesis, which allows teff to fix carbon more effectively in tropical environments with high temperatures and in drought conditions.
Teff is the staple grain for the majority of Ethiopians and Eritreans. Teff provides around ⅔ of the daily protein intake in Ethiopia. Teff is eaten in a variety of ways, but the most common is injera, a sourdough flatbread made of teff flour. Injera is eaten at most meals, used to scoop up vegetables, meat, and legume dishes and curries. Teff can also be eaten as a porridge or fermented into beer and other alcoholic drinks.
Teff is a good source of iron, vitamin B1, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc. Iron deficiency anemia is the most common type of anemia, affecting millions of people around the world by causing extreme fatigue and other health issues. Consumption of teff can be used to prevent iron deficiencies, especially for those with diets low in red meat. Teff contains concentrations of all 18 essential amino acids, making it a complete protein. Cooked teff contains a 1:5 ratio of protein to carbohydrates. Teff’s fiber content beats that of most other cereals. The small grain of teff size allows it to cook quickly, saving fuel resources.
A teff grain is about the size of a poppy seed and grows from a bunched grass. Because of its small size, the grain germinates fast, within 3 to 12 days after sowing. The grain is harvested two to six months after sowing, a short growing season that maximizes minimal land resources. Teff is harvested once a year, in rotation with other cereals and legumes to regenerate the soil in an agroecological cycle. Teff grain is used for human consumption and animal fodder; teff straw is a strong natural fiber and is used in local construction.
Teff is adaptable to a variety of environmental conditions and elevations, able to thrive on marginal soil and grow through wet periods or drought. This resilience to environmental change is paramount as the Horn of Africa continues to experience prolonged droughts that increase in intensity which leads to extreme food insecurity, malnutrition, displacement, and conflict. Continued development to further the strength of teff in the face of climate change is needed to secure a reliable food source for the region.
Teff dominates Ethiopian agriculture; it’s grown by 6.5 million households and is responsible for 70% of the local diet and ⅔ of daily protein intake. Almost all production is small scale, grown by many of the 13 million smallholder farmers in the country. Ethiopia grows 90% of the world’s teff, with the vast majority used for domestic consumption.
Around 3000 years ago teff was domesticated in Ethiopia. The word teff comes from teffa, the Amharic word for “lost”, due to its tiny seed that is easily blown away in the harvest and threshing process.
In the early 2000s, the Ethiopian government banned the export of raw, unprocessed grain and flour to keep teff affordable at home. This helped to avoid the quinoa calamity of South America where U.S. and European demand for the “superfood” skyrocketed prices of quinoa for smallholder Andean farmers, ensuring teff would remain accessible to Ethiopians. Ethiopian teff still made it around the world, in the form of injera, enabling processing and manufacturing jobs to stay in Ethiopia. In the early 2000s, members of the Ethiopian diaspora living abroad, those who left Ethiopia during the famine and conflicts of the 1980s, were the main consumers of exported teff products. Teff farming popped up in Australia, the U.S., China, India, and South Africa in use as cattle feed and to provide the grain for the diaspora community and a growing consumer base. Slowly, teff gained prominence as a nutritional powerhouse beyond the diaspora community and the Ethiopian government implemented an agricultural development program that increased teff production by 40% through efficiency measures, mechanization, and increased research. In 2018, the Ethiopian government brought a Dutch company to court to sue over the company’s patent rights on teff products in Europe Ethiopia won the court case and the patent was declared invalid.
Feeding the wave of teff’s rediscovery, research organizations like Bioversity International, chefs, local governments, and other institutions are working together with farmers to better understand, safeguard and promote the use of the genetic variability of teff, enhance its cultivation and open new income opportunities for small scale farmers.
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Lexicon of Food is produced by The Lexicon, an international NGO that brings together food companies, government agencies, financial institutions, scientists, entrepreneurs, and food producers from across the globe to tackle some of the most complex challenges facing our food systems.
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The Agrobiodiversity Channel was developed by an invitation-only food systems solutions activator created by The Lexicon with support from Food at Google. The activator model fosters unprecedented collaborations between leading food service companies, environmental NGOs, government agencies, and technical experts from across the globe.
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We have no idea who grows our food, what farming practices they use, the communities they support, or what processing it undergoes before reaching our plates.
As a result, we have no ability to make food purchases that align with our values as individuals, or our missions as companies.
To change that, we’ve asked experts to demystify the complexity of food purchasing so that you can better informed decisions about what you buy.
The Lexicon of Food’s community of experts share their insights and experiences on the complex journey food takes to reach our plates. Their work underscores the need for greater transparency and better informed decision-making in shaping a healthier and more sustainable food system for all.
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This online platform is years in the making, featuring the contributions of 1000+ companies and NGOs across a dzen domain areas. To introduce you to their work, we’ve assembled personalized experiences with insights from our community of international experts.
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Over half the world’s agricultural production comes from only three crops. Can we bring greater diversity to our plates?
In the US, four companies control nearly 85% of the beef we consume. Can we develop more regionally-based markets?
How can we develop alternatives to single-use plastics that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly?
Could changing the way we grow our food provide benefits for people and the planet, and even respond to climate change?
Can we meet the growing global demand for protein while reducing our reliance on traditional animal agriculture?
It’s not only important what we eat but what our food comes in. Can we develop tools that identify toxic materials used in food packaging?
Explore The Lexicon’s collection of immersive storytelling experiences featuring insights from our community of international experts.
The Great Protein Shift
Our experts use an engaging interactive approach to break down the technologies used to create these novel proteins.
Ten Principles for Regenerative Agriculture
What is regenerative agriculture? We’ve developed a framework to explain the principles, practices, ecological benefits and language of regenerative agriculture, then connected them to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Food-related chronic diseases are the biggest burden on healthcare systems. What would happen if we treated food as medicine?
How can we responsibly manage our ocean fisheries so there’s enough seafood for everyone now and for generations to come?
Mobilizing agronomists, farmers, NGOs, chefs, and food companies in defense of biodiversity in nature, agriculture, and on our plates.
Can governments develop guidelines that shift consumer diets, promote balanced nutrition and reduce the risk of chronic disease?
Will sustainably raising shellfish, finfish, shrimp and algae meet the growing demand for seafood while reducing pressure on wild fisheries?
How can a universal visual language to describe our food systems bridge cultural barriers and increase consumer literacy?
What if making the right food choices could be an effective tool for addressing a range of global challenges?
Let’s start with climate change. While it presents our planet with existential challenges, biodiversity loss, desertification, and water scarcity should be of equal concern—they’re all connected.
Instead of seeking singular solutions, we must develop a holistic approach, one that channel our collective energies and achieve positive impacts where they matter most.
To maximize our collective impact, EBF can help consumers focus on six equally important ecological benefits: air, water, soil, biodiversity, equity, and carbon.
We’ve gathered domain experts from over 1,000 companies and organizations working at the intersection of food, agriculture, conservation, and climate change.
The Lexicon™ is a California-based nonprofit founded in 2009 with a focus on positive solutions for a more sustainable planet.
For the past five years, it has developed an “activator for good ideas” with support from Food at Google. This model gathers domain experts from over 1,000 companies and organizations working at the intersection of food, agriculture, conservation, and climate change.
Together, the community has reached consensus on strategies that respond to challenges across multiple domain areas, including biodiversity, regenerative agriculture, food packaging, aquaculture, and the missing middle in supply chains for meat.
Lexicon of Food is the first public release of that work.
Over half the world’s agricultural production comes from only three crops. Can we bring greater diversity to our plates?
In the US, four companies control nearly 85% of the beef we consume. Can we develop more regionally-based markets?
How can we develop alternatives to single-use plastics that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly?
Could changing the way we grow our food provide benefits for people and the planet, and even respond to climate change?
Can we meet the growing global demand for protein while reducing our reliance on traditional animal agriculture?
It’s not only important what we eat but what our food comes in. Can we develop tools that identify toxic materials used in food packaging?
Explore The Lexicon’s collection of immersive storytelling experiences featuring insights from our community of international experts.
The Great Protein Shift
Our experts use an engaging interactive approach to break down the technologies used to create these novel proteins.
Ten Principles for Regenerative Agriculture
What is regenerative agriculture? We’ve developed a framework to explain the principles, practices, ecological benefits and language of regenerative agriculture, then connected them to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Food-related chronic diseases are the biggest burden on healthcare systems. What would happen if we treated food as medicine?
How can we responsibly manage our ocean fisheries so there’s enough seafood for everyone now and for generations to come?
Mobilizing agronomists, farmers, NGOs, chefs, and food companies in defense of biodiversity in nature, agriculture, and on our plates.
Can governments develop guidelines that shift consumer diets, promote balanced nutrition and reduce the risk of chronic disease?
Will sustainably raising shellfish, finfish, shrimp and algae meet the growing demand for seafood while reducing pressure on wild fisheries?
How can a universal visual language to describe our food systems bridge cultural barriers and increase consumer literacy?
This game was designed to raise awareness about the impacts our food choices have on our own health, but also the environment, climate change and the cultures in which we live.
First, you can choose one of the four global regions and pick a character that you want to play.
Each region has distinct cultural, economic, historical, and agricultural capacities to feed itself, and each character faces different challenges, such as varied access to food, higher or lower family income, and food literacy.
As you take your character through their day, select the choices you think they might make given their situation.
At the end of the day you will get a report on the impact of your food choices on five areas: health, healthcare, climate, environment and culture. Take some time to read through them. Now go back and try again. Can you make improvements in all five areas? Did one area score higher, but another score lower?
FOOD CHOICES FOR A HEALTHY PLANET will help you better understand how all these regions and characters’ particularities can influence our food choices, and how our food choices can impact our personal health, national healthcare, environment, climate, and culture. Let’s Play!
The FOOD CHOICES FOR A HEALTHY PLANET game allows users to experience the dramatic connections between food and climate in a unique and engaging way. The venue and the game set-up provides attendees with a fun experience, with a potential to add a new layer of storytelling about this topic.
Starting the game: the pilot version of the game features four country/regions: Each reflects a different way people (and the national dietary guidelines) look at diets: Nordic Countries (sustainability), Brazil (local and whole foods instead of ultra-processed foods); Canada (plant-forward), and Indonesia (developing countries).
Personalizing the game: players begin by choosing a country and then a character who they help in making food choices over the course of one day. Later versions may allow for creating custom avatars.
Making tough food choices: This interactive game for all ages shows how the food choices we make impact our health and the environment, and even contribute to climate change.
What we eat matters: at the end of each game, players learn that every decision they make impacts not only their health, but a national healthcare system, the environment, climate and even culture.
We’d love to know more about you and why you think you will be a great fit for this position! Shoot us an email introducing you and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
Providing best water quality conditions to ensure optimal living condition for growth, breeding and other physiological needs
Water quality is sourced from natural seawater with dependency on the tidal system. Water is treated to adjust pH and alkalinity before stocking.
Producers that own and manages the farm operating under small-scale farming model with limited input, investment which leads to low to medium production yield
All 1,149 of our farmers in both regencies are smallholder farmers who operate with low stocking density, traditional ponds, and no use of any other intensification technology.
Safe working conditions — cleanliness, lighting, equipment, paid overtime, hazard safety, etc. — happen when businesses conduct workplace safety audits and invest in the wellbeing of their employees
Company ensure implementation of safe working conditions by applying representative of workers to health and safety and conduct regular health and safety training. The practices are proven by ASIC standards’ implementation
Implementation of farming operations, management and trading that impact positively to community wellbeing and sustainable better way of living
The company works with local stakeholders and local governments to create support for farmers and the farming community in increasing resilience. Our farming community is empowered by local stakeholders continuously to maintain a long generation of farmers.
Freezing seafood rapidly when it is at peak freshness to ensure a higher quality and longer lasting product
Our harvests are immediately frozen with ice flakes in layers in cool boxes. Boxes are equipped with paper records and coding for traceability. We ensure that our harvests are processed with the utmost care at <-18 degrees Celsius.
Sourcing plant based ingredients, like soy, from producers that do not destroy forests to increase their growing area and produce fish feed ingredients
With adjacent locations to mangroves and coastal areas, our farmers and company are committed to no deforestation at any scale. Mangrove rehabilitation and replantation are conducted every year in collaboration with local authorities. Our farms are not established in protected habitats and have not resulted from deforestation activity since the beginning of our establishment.
Implement only natural feeds grown in water for aquatic animal’s feed without use of commercial feed
Our black tiger shrimps are not fed using commercial feed. The system is zero input and depends fully on natural feed grown in the pond. Our farmers use organic fertilizer and probiotics to enhance the water quality.
Enhance biodiversity through integration of nature conservation and food production without negative impact to surrounding ecosysytem
As our practices are natural, organic, and zero input, farms coexist with surrounding biodiversity which increases the volume of polyculture and mangrove coverage area. Farmers’ groups, along with the company, conduct regular benthic assessments, river cleaning, and mangrove planting.
THE TERM “MOONSHOT” IS OFTEN USED TO DESCRIBE an initiative that goes beyond the confines of the present by transforming our greatest aspirations into reality, but the story of a moonshot isn’t that of a single rocket. In fact, the Apollo program that put Neil Armstrong on the moon was actually preceded by the Gemini program, which in a two-year span rapidly put ten rockets into space. This “accelerated” process — with a new mission nearly every 2-3 months — allowed NASA to rapidly iterate, validate their findings and learn from their mistakes. Telemetry. Propulsion. Re-entry. Each mission helped NASA build and test a new piece of the puzzle.
The program also had its fair share of creative challenges, especially at the outset, as the urgency of the task at hand required that the roadmap for getting to the moon be written in parallel with the rapid pace of Gemini missions. Through it all, the NASA teams never lost sight of their ultimate goal, and the teams finally aligned on their shared responsibilities. Within three years of Gemini’s conclusion, a man did walk on the moon.
FACT is a food systems solutions activator that assesses the current food landscape, engages with key influencers, identifies trends, surveys innovative work and creates greater visibility for ideas and practices with the potential to shift key food and agricultural paradigms.
Each activator focuses on a single moonshot; instead of producing white papers, policy briefs or peer-reviewed articles, these teams design and implement blueprints for action. At the end of each activator, their work is released to the public and open-sourced.
As with any rapid iteration process, many of our activators re-assess their initial plans and pivot to address new challenges along the way. Still, one thing has remained constant: their conviction that by working together and pooling their knowledge and resources, they can create a multiplier effect to more rapidly activate change.
Co-Founder
THE LEXICON
Vice President
Global Workplace Programs
GOOGLE
Who can enter and how selections are made.
A Greener Blue is a global call to action that is open to individuals and teams from all over the world. Below is a non-exhaustive list of subjects the initiative targets.
To apply, prospective participants will need to fill out the form on the website, by filling out each part of it. Applications left incomplete or containing information that is not complete enough will receive a low score and have less chance of being admitted to the storytelling lab.
Nonprofit organizations, communities of fishers and fish farmers and companies that are seeking a closer partnership or special support can also apply by contacting hello@thelexicon.org and interacting with the members of our team.
Special attention will be given to the section of the form regarding the stories that the applicants want to tell and the reasons for participating. All proposals for stories regarding small-scale or artisanal fishers or aquaculturists, communities of artisanal fishers or aquaculturists, and workers in different steps of the seafood value chain will be considered.
Stories should show the important role that these figures play in building a more sustainable seafood system. To help with this narrative, the initiative has identified 10 principles that define a more sustainable seafood system. These can be viewed on the initiative’s website and they state:
Seafood is sustainable when:
Proposed stories should show one or more of these principles in practice.
Applications are open from the 28th of June to the 15th of August 2022. There will be 50 selected applicants who will be granted access to The Lexicon’s Total Storytelling Lab. These 50 applicants will be asked to accept and sign a learning agreement and acceptance of participation document with which they agree to respect The Lexicon’s code of conduct.
The first part of the lab will take place online between August the 22nd and August the 26th and focus on training participants on the foundation of storytelling, supporting them to create a production plan, and aligning all of them around a shared vision.
Based on their motivation, quality of the story, geography, and participation in the online Lab, a selected group of participants will be gifted a GoPro camera offered to the program by GoPro For A Change. Participants who are selected to receive the GoPro camera will need to sign an acceptance and usage agreement.
The second part of the Storytelling Lab will consist of a production period in which each participant will be supported in the production of their own story. This period goes from August 26th to October 13th. Each participant will have the opportunity to access special mentorship from an international network of storytellers and seafood experts who will help them build their story. The Lexicon also provides editors, animators, and graphic designers to support participants with more technical skills.
The final deadline to submit the stories is the 14th of October. Participants will be able to both submit complete edited stories, or footage accompanied by a storyboard to be assembled by The Lexicon’s team.
All applicants who will exhibit conduct and behavior that is contrary to The Lexicon’s code of conduct will be automatically disqualified. This includes applicants proposing stories that openly discriminate against a social or ethnic group, advocate for a political group, incite violence against any group, or incite to commit crimes of any kind.
All submissions must be the entrant’s original work. Submissions must not infringe upon the trademark, copyright, moral rights, intellectual rights, or rights of privacy of any entity or person.
Participants will retain the copyrights to their work while also granting access to The Lexicon and the other partners of the initiative to share their contributions as part of A Greener Blue Global Storytelling Initiative.
If a potential selected applicant cannot be reached by the team of the Initiative within three (3) working days, using the contact information provided at the time of entry, or if the communication is returned as undeliverable, that potential participant shall forfeit.
Selected applicants will be granted access to an advanced Storytelling Lab taught and facilitated by Douglas Gayeton, award-winning storyteller and information architect, co-founder of The Lexicon. In this course, participants will learn new techniques that will improve their storytelling skills and be able to better communicate their work with a global audience. This skill includes (but is not limited to) how to build a production plan for a documentary, how to find and interact with subjects, and how to shoot a short documentary.
Twenty of the participants will receive a GoPro Hero 11 Digital Video and Audio Cameras by September 15, 2022. Additional participants may receive GoPro Digital Video and Audio Cameras to be announced at a later date. The recipients will be selected by advisors to the program and will be based on selection criteria (see below) on proposals by Storytelling Lab participants. The selections will keep in accordance with Lab criteria concerning geography, active participation in the Storytelling Lab and commitment to the creation of a story for the Initiative, a GoPro Camera to use to complete the storytelling lab and document their story. These recipients will be asked to sign an acceptance letter with terms of use and condition to receive the camera.
The Lexicon provides video editors, graphic designers, and animators to support the participants to complete their stories.
The submitted stories will be showcased during international and local events, starting from the closing event of the International Year of Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022 in Rome, in January 2023. The authors of the stories will be credited and may be invited to join.
Storytelling lab participation:
Applicants that will be granted access to the storytelling Lab will be evaluated based on the entries they provided in the online form, and in particular:
Applications will be evaluated by a team of 4 judges from The Lexicon, GSSI and the team of IYAFA (Selection committee).
When selecting applications, the call promoters may request additional documentation or interviews both for the purpose of verifying compliance with eligibility requirements and to facilitate proposal evaluation.
Camera recipients:
Participants to the Storytelling Lab who will be given a GoPro camera will be selected based on:
The evaluation will be carried out by a team of 4 judges from The Lexicon, GSSI and the team of IYAFA (Selection committee).
Incidental expenses and all other costs and expenses which are not specifically listed in these Official Rules but which may be associated with the acceptance, receipt and use of the Storytelling Lab and the camera are solely the responsibility of the respective participants and are not covered by The Lexicon or any of the A Greener Blue partners.
All participants who receive a Camera are required to sign an agreement allowing GoPro for a Cause, The Lexicon and GSSI to utilize the films for A Greener Blue and their promotional purposes. All participants will be required to an agreement to upload their footage into the shared drive of The Lexicon and make the stories, films and images available for The Lexicon and the promoting partners of A Greener Blue.
