Ecuador
The Food and Nutritional Sovereignty System
Ecuador's Food and Nutritional Sovereignty System (Sistema de Soberanía Alimentaria y Nutricional) is a coordinated network of communes, communities, peoples, nationalities, social organisations and state actors that develops public policy proposals. Its participatory body, the Plurinational and Intercultural Conference on Food Sovereignty, is nominated by social organisations and works closest to rural producers. This institutional set up can be classed as a dual, stakeholder-centric mechanism.
Food and Nutritional Sovereignty System (SISAN)
Institutional set-up and structure. Established in law in 2009, the System links individuals, communes, communities, peoples and nationalities with social, institutional and state actors in the participatory development of policy proposals. Coordination with government runs through the Ministry of Agriculture and its undersecretariat for family and peasant agriculture.
Mandate and decision-making power. The System develops public policy proposals on the food sovereignty regime for submission to the relevant ministry for approval; coordinates between civil society and the different levels of government on production, marketing, distribution, processing and responsible consumption; and promotes compliance with the Organic Law on the Food Sovereignty Regime across the national territory. Proposals require ministerial approval to take effect.
The System carries the following roles (building blocks):
Agenda setting: advocacy and dialogue
Policy formulation and decision making: coordinating policy development; developing policies for consideration by the relevant authorities
Who is involved
Government: delegates of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture and Fisheries, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion and the national planning secretariat, alongside the state development bank
Subnational government: decentralised autonomous provincial and municipal governments, parish councils and special regimes, represented by the presidents of their national associations
Civil society: the members of the Plurinational and Intercultural Conference on Food Sovereignty
Development partners: United Nations agencies providing technical support and facilitation
Academia
How it works in practice
Policy proposals are prepared for submission to the relevant ministry
Coordination with civil society and the different levels of government runs across production, marketing, distribution, processing and consumption
Data is gathered by individual organisations rather than consolidated nationally
Turnover of staff and authorities affects continuity
Plurinational and Intercultural Conference on Food Sovereignty (COPISA)
Institutional set-up and structure. The participatory body within the System, presided over by a representative drawn from civil society and composed of delegates nominated by social organisations. A later restructuring reduced the number of independent civil society representatives and brought the body closer to government, narrowing the role of independent leadership it was originally designed to carry.
Mandate and decision-making power. The Conference is the route through which civil society contributes to the participatory construction of policy proposals under the food sovereignty regime. It works closest to rural producers, and its proposals travel through the System to the relevant ministry for approval.
The Conference is tasked with the following roles (building blocks):
Agenda setting: advocacy and dialogue
Policy formulation and decision making: providing technical advice; developing policies for consideration by the relevant authorities
Who is involved
Civil society and producers: one delegate each from universities, consumers, medium and small-sized producers, medium and small-sized farmers, small and medium-sized livestock farmers, artisanal fishers, peasants and irrigators, and indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorian and Montubio communities
Private sector: small and medium-sized enterprises only
How it works in practice
Roundtables and dialogues are convened with academia, social organisations and producers, most recently in 2025 with the Ministry of Agriculture and a United Nations agency
Participants register for thematic tables, each with guiding questions and a moderator
The presidency is held by a civil society representative
Evidence base: key informant interviews and policy documents, 2026. Last updated: September 2026.
Would you like to share more information on this institution or offer corrections? Please get in touch!