USC Canada is a non-profit, international development organization working to improve livelihoods by promoting agricultural biodiversity

Agricultural biodiversity

Agricultural biodiversity is a sub-set of general biodiversity. It includes all forms of life directly relevant to agriculture: rare seed varieties and animal breeds , but also many other organisms such as soil fauna, weeds, pests, predators, and all of the native plants and animals existing on...

. The organization was founded in 1945 by Lotta Hitschmanova

Lotta Hitschmanova

Lotta Hitschmanova, was a Canadian humanitarian. In 1945, she helped to found USC Canada as the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada...

 as the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada.

USC Canada’s mission is to promote sustainable living through strong rural communities with family farms and healthy ecosystem

Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....

s. The Canadian organization partners with programs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to provide training and to promote self-sustaining communities that strengthen biodiversity, food sovereignty

Food sovereignty

"Food sovereignty" is a term coined by members of Via Campesina in 1996 to refer to a policy framework advocated by a number of farmers, peasants, pastoralists, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, women, rural youth and environmental organizations, namely the claimed "right" of peoples to define their...

, and the human rights. As of 2009, the organization is run by a staff of 110.

USC Canada's award-winning flagship program, Seeds of Survival was featured in a National Geographic article in July, 2011.

USC Canada also works to influence global food production policies and practices that nurture fertile landscapes, regenerating the water, soils and vegetation that seeds, plants, and animals depend on.

History

Lotta Hitschmanova founded the organization in 1945, receiving registered charity status on August 30 of that year. She served as Executive Director for nearly 40 years, retiring in 1982. Throughout her career, her work took her to conflict zones and newly-independent countries; wherever the need was greatest.

Through Public Service Announcements on television and radio, Hitschmanova became one of Canada’s most recognized humanitarians and public figures. Her distinctive Czech

Czech language

Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...

accent as she pronounced USC Canada’s address, 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa became an unforgettable signature. She struck a special chord with Canadians and mobilized a whole generation to take action and help.