URDN stands for the Ukrainian Rural Development Network, a public union founded in 2016 by KP-ADRI in collaboration with other All-Ukrainian organizations. The network's aim is to advocate for the rights of peasants and small farmers in Ukraine at all levels (local, national, and international), and to share knowledge on sustainable agricultural and rural development, including agroecology-friendly practices. The network has over 50 active participants from various sectors, including academia, non-governmental organizations, local communities, landowners, and others. URDN has experience in implementing projects and activities supported by international agencies and partners. The network works towards improving the rural socio-economic conditions in Ukraine through various initiatives, including advocacy, capacity building, and networking.

NGO

Over the past years, ADRI has initiated the following activities, realized with URDN partners:

• 2018: Ukrainian campaign in support of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. A public conference was organized with the participation of various stakeholders from different sectors, resulting in the adoption of a common resolution expressing the unified position of civil society in Ukraine.

• 2019-2020: Implementation of the monitoring and control of the World Bank's program "Accelerating Private Investments in Agriculture." The project aimed to inform and involve small agricultural producers and their associations, public organizations, and activists in discussions on state support for farms, evaluate the support measures, and convey the opinions of peasants on the institutional support of the World Bank's programs to the authorities.

• 2019-2020: Project to support small farmers and peasants in their struggle for land and other rights in Ukraine. The project included a public forum, advocacy for the land rights of peasant households and family farms, preparation of educational content, and the transmission of the forum's recommendations for improving land market legislation to the Ukrainian government, ministries, and parliament.

• 2020-2022: Pilot project to promote and contribute to rural development in selected local communities in Ukraine. Experts from ADRI conducted a social and economic analysis of six local communities to identify opportunities for the local economy and people. The project was extended for 2021-2022 with a focus on a thorough social and economic analysis of newly selected local communities in Ukraine to develop measures to improve inclusiveness and ensure sustainable development. In 2022, ADRI redefined the project tasks due to the war and focused on supporting family farms and farming households in solving problems in rural areas, including providing local food security under wartime conditions, resettling refugees, and assisting in the distribution of food to the most vulnerable segments of the rural population.

• 2022: USAID project to consolidate rural grassroots initiatives for political dialogue and sustainable postwar recovery of local agrifood systems in Ukraine, with a focus on farmers' access to land and other resources, gender equality, and social justice.

• 2023: Project "Farmers' Rights and Food Sovereignty" to advocate for the rights of Ukrainian citizens to food, land, means of subsistence, as well as the rights of small agricultural producers, peasants, and vulnerable populations to food self-sufficiency amidst the challenges brought by martial law in Ukraine.

• Theoretical and analytical framework for access to land in Ukraine
• Research on a wide range of rural development and land issues
• Advocacy for sustainable rural development and awareness-raising
• Advocacy for land rights of small farms and smallholders in Ukraine
• Development of socio-economic strategies for local rural development
• Training to peasants, farmers, policymakers, and other stakeholders

Theoretical and analytical framework for access to land in Ukraine

Scientific publications

• Land Relations in Ukraine: Social, Economic and Political Overview
• The New European Reality in Land Tenure

Series of scientific publications

Agricultural and rural development and food security in wartime (in Ukrainian)

Advocacy for peasants right according to UNDROP

The International Forum for the Protection of Peasants’ Rights “SMALL PRODUCERS ON THE GUARD of FOOD SECURITY: The UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas”

Outcomes:

• Forum Resolution (Sent to the highest levels of Government)
• Agenda
• Key highlights of the International Forum participants
• Bulletin “The Right to Adequate Food”
• Bulletin “The Right to Land”
• Bulletin “The Right to Means of Subsistence” (in Ukrainian)
• Manual “UN Declaration on the rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas: Popular Summaries and Comments” (in Ukrainian)

Advocacy for sustainable rural development and awareness rising

Three Regional Conferences and Public Forum on the Rebuilding Ukraine

Outcomes:

Farmers Forum Resolution (Sent and communicated with Government)

Advocacy for land rights of small farms and smallholders in Ukraine

Public Forum “The Right of Peasants to Land: Will Land Reform Protect Peasant Farming in Ukraine?”

Outcomes:

• Forum Resolution (Sent to the highest levels of Government)
• Open letter to the Heads of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Development of educational content

Guide: Community consolidation in rural areas (in Ukrainian)
Community responsibility of producers and consumers in agriculture (in Ukrainian)
Development of socio-economic strategies of local development in rural areas
Socio-economic analysis of the development of territorial communities (12 Territorial Communities) (in Ukrainian)

• Providing training to peasants, farmers, local authorities, and others
• Coalition building with civic society in Ukraine and abroad for the sustainable development of rural areas in Ukraine