Women’s Leadership in Global Agroecology

Winter 2026-27 Online Certificate Course

Women’s Leadership in Global Agroecology

This six-week, 12 session course focuses on highlighting and growing the leadership of women in food systems around the world. Course fees will be donation-based and open to farmers from MESA's global network, featuring guest workshops from women leading their agro ecological NGOs, political movements, schools, businesses, scientific research.

Course Overview

The Introduction to Agroecology course offers an interactive, practice-oriented learning experience for participants seeking to understand and apply agroecological principles in farms, gardens, and community food systems. Through dialogue, reflection, and collaboration with farmers, researchers, and community practitioners, participants explore key themes such as food sovereignty, soil health, water and land management, seed saving, Indigenous food systems, participatory action, and social change. The course emphasizes two-way learning and encourages critical engagement with global food systems, environmental justice, and sustainability while grounding learning in local and Indigenous knowledge. Participants culminate the course by developing an applied agroecology project plan, leaving with practical tools, a strengthened learning community, and a deeper commitment to building equitable and resilient food systems.

Expand your global literacy in the practices, politics, and science of agroecology with MESA’s
12 live online learning sessions this Winter!

Course Fee: MESA’s grant from Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation’s will honor the U.N.’s International Year of the Woman Farmer by offering this once-in-a-lifetime course free for aspiring women leaders around the globe, but space is limited. Donations for this special course are encouraged!

Course Dates: DECEMBER 8 - JANUARY 26th (we will take the week of Christmas-NYE off).

Course Times: TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS from 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM PACIFIC TIME

Course Platforms: ZOOM & GOOGLE CLASSROOM

Course Details

Emily Kuhn joined the MESA team in 2023, freshly invigorated by an agroecology exchange as a Fulbright researcher in Ecuador. After earning her Bachelors’ in Environmental Sociology and Spanish from Pitzer College, she spent a year recording oral histories with Kichwa elders in support of culturally grounded intercultural bilingual education for migrant youth.

Guided by her perennial experiences in community education and rooted in the belief that fresh food is sacred, Em weaves insights from her work as a farmer in Southern California into her facilitation of MESA’s Introduction to Global Agroecology Course.

Your Instructor