Programme Committee

The Purpose of the Programme Committee
The Programme Committee’s main purpose is to strengthen the participation of the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) and their regional and sub-regional fora in the Global Forum, given the key role they play in agricultural research for development (ARD).

The Structure of the Programme Committee
The Programme Committee consists of 12 members: two representatives from each of the five southern regional fora and one representative from each of the two northern fora.

One of the Southern fora representatives is always the Executive Secretary of their fora. The others should not be Executive Secretaries, but should be drawn from one of the non-research groups (NGO, Farmers’ Organizations and the private sector) that must be represented on the Committee.

Functions
The main function of the Programme Committee are:

• To oversee the planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation of agreed GFAR programs at the global, regional and/or sub-regional levels
• To review all GFAR plans and activities specifically related to the GFAR lines of action in order to “strengthen the national agricultural research systems (NARS) and their regional and sub-regional fora”.
• To discuss the overall agenda of the Forum from the perspectives of national agricultural research systems in order to develop common positions and ensure that their priorities are considered fully.
• To promote inter-regional cooperation and collaboration (both South-South and South-North), as well as the exchange of experience gained from efforts to promote regional/sub-regional cooperation in agricultural research.
• To provide a forum where national agricultural research systems can discuss topics of common interest at the global level – examples would include developing common positions on issues related to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).