Welcome to the NGO Homepage of the GFAR. The capacity and commitment of NGOs for technology implementation and outreach programs are a vital contribution to GFAR's goals; participation of NGOs in GFAR facilitates the translation of research into direct benefits for farmers and ensures a civil society voice in multi-stakeholder research agendas.

Full involvement of NGOs in GFAR is essential because the capacities of NGOs for technology implementation and outreach are vital elements in translating research into impact in farmers' fields and in shaping well-defined research agendas. Moreover, NGOs can facilitate partnerships in research between formal scientific organisations and experimenting farmers.

As key players in global agricultural research, the participation in GFAR of NGOs involved in agricultural development will contribute towards the establishment of a strong cooperative framework that can be used to forge new multi-lateral partnerships. These, in turn, will facilitate the development of new agricultural technologies that suit the conditions of farmers in developing countries.

The NGO constituency is large and loosely-knit and we anticipate that this GFAR site will provide a platform for establishing improved dialogue between interested NGOs, as well as between the NGOs and other GFAR constituencies. As such, this site is being developed further in collaboration with the GFAR NGO stakeholder group to facilitate access to the activities and information resources of the NGO community. Meanwhile, through this website, one can access information about various NGOs involved in agricultural research for development.

The NGO stakeholder group is represented by Ms. in the GFAR Steering Committee. They have also set up an NGO Working Group within the Forum. This includes focal points identified from each region during the GFAR Conference in Dakar, Senegal in May 2003.

The NGO-WG is composed of:

• (MAELA, Chile) for Latin America and the Caribbean
• (ANGOC, Philippines) for Asia region
• (SSA NGO Consortium) for Sub-Saharan Africa
• (ANSAD, Jordan) for West Asia and North Africa
• (ELKANA, Georgia) for Central Asia and the Caucasus
• (ETC Ecoculture, the Netherlands) for Europe

We hope that this website will help to build awareness of GFAR among a broader cross-section of NGOs. We would also like to see the website used to gain input and feedback from the other constituencies.

As we develop this page further you will find information on activities undertaken by the NGO constituency of GFAR, their activities, discussion papers, news, events and link to websites of active members. Please feel free to send us your comments on ways to improve the site. We also encourage you to participate in upcoming dialogues and to suggest topics for new ones.

Survey

Please take a moment to fill out the following short survey in the language you prefer. The survey should only take few minutes to complete. The information you provide on this form will only be shared with other GFAR stakeholders to facilitate networking and collaboration among the various stakeholders.

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