Any development worthy of the name must necessarily strive to be democratic, fair, environmentally friendly, and respectful of human rights, particularly women’s and minority rights. Local development is a process whereby a community becomes the driver of change in its environment with the goal of improving its living conditions. Local development rests firmly on two pillars: local governance and socioeconomic development.

In its mission and values statement, CECI places the principle of equity in human relations at the centre of its vision and its action. We believe in human dignity and equality before the law, and we work to establish equity between women and men both in society at large and within our own organization.

CECI gives pride of place to nonpolluting forms of agriculture that feed people and generate decent income for farmers. We strive to reconcile the interests of consumers with those of producers, taking as a basic principle that the food system must be fair to both groups. Our agrifood work takes on particular urgency in the context of the ongoing food crisis.

In the last decades, CECI has frequently been called on to implement humanitarian aid operations in order to help populations dealing with natural disasters or human conflicts in countries of Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, or the Americas.