Who we are

The World Rural Forum (WRF) is a plural network that works in favour of Family Farming and sustainable rural development, composed by family farming federations and organisations such as COPROFAM, PROPAC, PIFON, PDRR and AFA, rural development organisations such as INADES, and agriculture cooperatives and research centers such as CIRAD.

Please find here a complete list of WRF‘s members. The WRF groups entities that represent more than 50 million family farmers in the five continents.

In addition, the WRF maintains collaborative relationships with hundreds of external entities (non-members) all over the world.

The World Rural Forum came into being as a result of the International Congress on Trade and Rural Development held at the end of November 1998 in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country, Spain. The Vitoria-Gasteiz declaration “For a Globalization Compatible with Rural Development” established some objectives and a far-reaching agreement to create an Association or Forum that would have the task of putting the declaration into practice.

Thus the World Rural Forum was born and legally registered as Association for Development in the year 1999, establishing its Secretariat in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

In this way, in 2024 the World Rural Forum celebrates its 25 years. During its career, the WRF has received several recognitions and has managed to gain an important space to develop its work facing International Organizations:

• In 2024, it obtained observer status at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
• In 2023, the World Rural Forum was granted UNFCCC full observer status This means that from now on, the WRF will have secured accreditation at the upcoming Climate Change Conferences (COP) and preparatory meetings. This underlines the growing influence of the World Rural Forum in international climate fora.
• In 2015, the WRF received the Jacques Diouf Prize, recognition that FAO gives every two years to the entities that have significantly contributed to the fight against food insecurity in the world.
• The WRF enjoys special consultative status with ECOSOC, which allows it to send proposals and participate in conferences of the United Nations system.
• FAO granted the WRF the status of Liaison, an official recognition that allows the association to participate in the FAO Conferences and the Committee on Food Security.
• Member of the Civil Society Mechanism, CSM, for relations with the Committee on Food Security.

The new statutes of the WRF establish as Social Objective of the organization: “To Promote Family Farming and Sustainable Rural Development.

Among the aims of the Association are:

• To promote sustainable rural development across all five continents.
• To promote better public policies for Family Farming and effective implementation of them.
• To promote gender equity in family farming and rural development.
• To promote the integration, incorporation and equal participation of young people in Family Farming and rural development processes.
• To support the strengthening and empowerment of Family Farming organizations and other organizations working in a rural context.

The WRF statutes have been designed according to Law 7/2007, of June 22, of Associations of Euskadi (Basque Country) and Organic Law 1/2002, of March 22, regulating the Right of Association, which establishes various conditions and obligations legal to the text.

You can check WRF statutes here.

The WRF has a Secretariat formed by a multidisciplinary team and with offices in several continents. The Secretariat headquarters are located in the Basque Country, Spain. To contact the WRF Secretariat, please click here.