Newsletter August 2004 - GFAR Secretariat News

		August 2004
		Issue 10/2004
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GFAR Secretariat News Feature article GLOBAL.RAIS Past Events GFAR Statutory Meetings 2nd Executive Secretaries Meeting 10th Management Team Meeting DURAS GFAR Stakeholder Committee of the GCP Back to CONTENTS	Feature article Policies for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development: A Time for Action The objective of this article is to identify strategic policy priorities and innovations for a possible action agenda for GFAR's consideration, aiming to accelerate sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) based on a brief review of the major challenges, future imperatives and positive developments for ARD in Developing Countries (DCs). Major Challenges and Imperatives for ARD From 1960 to 2000, the per capita income of the world's 20 poorest countries barely changed from US$212 to US$267, while that of the richest 20 nations almost tripled, from US$11,400 to US$32,300. The global poverty statistics are that 1.3 billion people live on less than US$1/day; 70 to 80 percent depending on the region of world, live in the rural areas, and there are approximately 850 million people suffering from hunger. One spin-off is that millions of rural people, especially the youth, are migrating to cities and foreign countries, to escape poverty and a bleak future in rural areas. In recent decades, developing countries have pursued policies that weakened government programmes and agricultural performance, thereby exacerbating rural poverty. Such policies include market liberalisation, submission of agriculture to macro-economic policy reforms (i.e. exchange rates, high interest rates and fluctuating market prices), and retrenchment of government budgets and staff for agriculture. It is noteworthy that today less than 1 percent of government's recurrent budget in many DCs goes to ARD. Such policy bias, coupled with unfavourable international markets due to constantly falling prices of agricultural export commodities, have weakened the sector's performance and its economic-political status as a key engine of development. This has spelled disaster since agriculture is essentially the most important economic sector of rural communities in DCs. The poverty and hunger statistics are not surprising. The current dialogue on international trade, a contentious issue for DCs, is primarily driven by free trade and competition objectives. Success in trade negotiations depends on governments' capacity, backed by their private/business sector, to impose their conditions on other governments. Free trade can lead to greater economic growth, efficiency and welfare, provided traders can compete, have access to key resources and are enabled by policy and institutional frameworks, as shown by the benefits of freer trade between Japan, North American and European countries. The DCs cannot bargain with the stronger countries, they cannot even influence the agenda for trade negotiations. If they could, DCs would prefer more attention to development issues, i.e. the prerequisites to participate effectively in trade (e.g. investment and technical assistance to develop human capital, markets, private sector, infrastructure, technology and financial institutions). Instead DCs are pressured into trade negotiations prematurely, indicated by a rather high-level donor support for capacity building for trade negotiation. To make matters worse, developed countries have agricultural and trade policies that damage the interests of DCs and in particular those of small, poor farmers. If developed countries are serious about free trade, they should modify their support policies that work against farmers from DCs. HIV/AIDS is truly a global disease, now afflicting some 40 million people, 5 million more in the last year alone, and 3 million die every year (UN 2004 figures). HIV/AIDS is a major problem for Sub-Saharan Africa, but elsewhere too: one out of every four new infections is occurring in Asia today, and new infections are becoming of concern in Latin America, the Caribbean and USA. The impact of HIV/AIDS on ARD is devastating in terms of the attrition of professionals, decimation and weakening of the most productive groups and labour force (i.e. men, women and youth), plight of widows and orphaned children, the stigma surrounding the disease, increasing problem of chronic food insecurity and vulnerability of rural communities, all as a result of HIV/AIDS. A major constraint in dealing with these critical challenges is the limited national capacity to lead and manage policy and institutional strategies. Take a country like Vietnam, in 2002 there were 25 bilateral donors, 19 multilateral donors and some 350 international NGOs funding over 8,000 projects, one for every 10,000 Vietnamese. Here as elsewhere in DCs, the donor-funded projects are not well coordinated because each major donor has its own strategic plan for the country. The senior officials and skilled professionals of the country are occupied as counterparts on these donor-funded projects and spend an inordinate amount of time collaborating with foreign-managed projects and reporting to different donors and in different formats, instead of working on their national programmes. In this context, it is extremely difficult for national institutions to develop their long-term strategies; they are not coordinating, and thus are not likely to utilize all that available assistance to the best advantage of ARD in the country. In many DCs, there are no clear national visions and no national corporate identity, and absorptive capacity can be a serious issue for ARD. Very influential people and decision makers may not know it, but ARD professionals are convinced that agriculture has a fundamental role to play in breaking the vicious circle of rural poverty. Agriculture is central to the livelihood strategies of the rural poor; sustainable development and productivity growth can benefit the poor enormously (i.e. provision of food, energy and construction materials, generation of income, and reduction of vulnerability), can benefit the whole economy (i.e. employment generation, affordable food for urban population, and generation of scarce foreign exchange) and also contribute to local, national and global protection of the environment and natural resources (e.g. watershed protection, bio-diversity, and other environmental services). In fact, if rural poverty is to be addressed, ARD must be placed at the core of national economic policy, which obviously is not what the decisions and actions of national leaders reflect. Poverty, hunger and their effect on rural people are unacceptable on moral, social, economic and political grounds, because they threaten the very foundation of democracy, peace and human welfare. The appropriate strategies and tools to defeat poverty and hunger are known and available, but political will, commitment and seriousness are conspicuously lacking. Positive Developments for ARD The good news is that there is hope of better times ahead for ARD in DCs. Some recent developments indicate a positive trend that the time is right to move forward towards sustainable ARD in the fight against rural poverty and hunger. The potential for major breakthroughs in the near future can be felt all around. The World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, in Chapter 14 of Agenda 21, to which most if not all countries are signatories, accepted the major challenge for sustainable ARD, that is, to improve the livelihoods and quality of life of the rural people, especially the rural poor. The World Food Summit-Five Years Later (WFS-fyl) in 2002, agreed to 3 key objectives to tackle global hunger: promotion of sound policies and programmes for technology adoption and skills development; decisive action in cooperation with public and private sectors to strengthen and broaden research and scientific cooperation in agriculture, fisheries and forestry; and implementation of integrated rural development strategies in low and high potential areas of the developing world. This WFS-fyl established an international alliance to accelerate efforts and has created mechanisms to share expertise and knowledge to fight poverty and hunger. According to its 2000-2015 strategic framework, FAO cites unfavourable policies, weak support institutions and market imperfections, as key constraints to mobilising programmes and resources for ARD. Also, 5 of the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) directly or indirectly relate to ARD: No. 1 on poverty and hunger, No. 4 and No. 5 are related to family nutrition, No. 7 on environmental sustainability, and No. 8 on global partnership for development. Important multilateral and bilateral cooperation organizations such as the World Bank, IFAD, IDB, DFID, and others share essentially the same vision and recommend similar strategies to fight rural poverty and hunger, namely: improving governance by creating a more enabling policy, institutional and decentralized environment to address the needs and priorities of the poor; enhancing assets of the poor by increasing their access to education, health, water, land, appropriate technology, reliable markets, and protection from vulnerability; improving the quality of growth by promoting sound environmental management and protecting the environment, forests and biodiversity; reforming international and developed-country policies by eliminating trade-distorting agricultural subsidies; and supporting pro-poor investments in infrastructure, environmental goods and services, and addressing the socio-economic concerns of the poor. For example, the World Bank, in its strategy Reaching the Rural Poor stated that it plans to allocate a greater focus and investment in ARD and to scale up programmes to fully engage its community of stakeholders. But such investments would be made for ARD, only if national governments include it in their list of top priorities and the proposed strategies and activities are bankable. Regional development bodies or mechanisms (e.g. NEPAD, SADC, ASEAN, ACP, IFAP Regional Committees, SICA, and CARICOM) are also speaking the same language, indicating that ARD will have to play a more decisive role in solving the basic constraints to enhancing rural livelihoods and rural development by creating viable options and innovations for rural producers, rural workers, households and communities. Recently the Heads of State and Governments in Africa adopted a major policy for ARD, committing them to allocating within the next 5 years at least 10percent of the national budget to ARD implementation. The CGIAR system wants to broaden the research agenda, by engaging a broader spectrum of stakeholders to effectively tackle development issues of global significance. This system comprises 16 international research centers that have an illustrious track record in the development of improved production systems and technology innovations for crop, livestock, forestry, agroforestry, fisheries, aquaculture, integrated natural resource management, soil and water management, as well as for food policy and R&D institutional management systems. Through its Challenge Programmes, the CGIAR intends to attract additional financial, technical, and human resources, to mobilize quality science and research for reducing poverty and hunger and protecting the environment and natural resources. The mission of the new CGIAR system qualifies it as probably the single most essential and valuable partner for ARD in DCs. Lack of investment and fresh resources may be a constraint in the short term, but in the long term it is not. Take the Vietnam example again, the donors and the resources are there, the question is how can they be deployed and invested and managed to build complementary synergies for maximum efficiency and sustainable ARD in the short, medium and long terms? A recent analysis shows that Overseas Development Assistance accounted for more than 50 percent of government expenditures in 17 Sub-Saharan countries in 1999. Another major source of investment for ARD is the rapidly increasing remittances worth billions of dollars per annum. In the last few years, remittances have become the second largest capital flow behind foreign direct investment. Latin America and the Caribbean received the lion share of remittances in nominal terms with US$25 billion, South Asia was the region where receipts were the largest in relative terms, amounting to 2.5 percent of GDP, and for Africa, though the data is not available, the level of remittances is bound to be significant. Another development is the creation though the bond market of a first-ever private investment fund, specifically targeted for micro-finance institutions in DCs. The fund sponsored by the Grameen Bank, BlueOrchard Finance and Developing World Markets and the guarantee service being provided by JP Morgan Securities, will avail affordable loans for more than 40,000 micro-entrepreneurs, mainly women, in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. If this fund is successful, micro-finance will enter a new phase in becoming a major driving force towards poverty reduction and sustainable ARD. There are valuable lessons and principles for sustainable ARD policies and institutional strategies that can be drawn from: past policy reforms; ARD strategies and innovations; technology development and farm experimentation with new approaches; governments working with emerging NGOs, peasant organizations, and other actors in the field. FAO, IFAP, the Third World Network in Malaysia and others are discovering in various DCs a wealth of policies, management systems and innovations based on local experiences and indigenous knowledge which are very relevant for poverty reduction and sustainable development. These can be rapidly systematized, validated and adapted to other regions and DCs. In its new Business Plan 2004-2006, GFAR stakeholders have decided to start a new programme combining strategic thinking, policy advocacy and public awareness, which aims to add voice and GFAR perspectives to the global debate and initiatives on policy and institutional issues of critical importance to ARD. Specifically, GFAR expects to achieve 4 main outcomes: More participation, empowerment and ownership of key stakeholders at regional and national levels, e.g. farmers, NGOs and private sector; Definition of policy directions, institutional priorities and enhanced support for ARD from policy makers at national, regional and global levels; Strengthening of regional and national institutional capacity for planning, implementing and evaluating policy, institutional strategies and performance; and Emergence of functional National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) and demand-driven research, inclusive of the participation of its stakeholders, particularly the rural poor. To accomplish these, GFAR is determined to assist ministries responsible for ARD to mobilize effective collaboration from their counterparts in finance, economic development, education, trade, environment and others, and to make the case for ARD's role in national development. One positive factor is that there is at present enough technology on the shelf to cause a significant boost to ARD in the short and medium terms. After the collapse of the Cancun talks of WTO, there is talk of a remarkable turn-around on the concessions to DCs that developed countries are willing to make on sensitive issues (31/07/04 WTO release) such as market access, domestic support and export competition. Although only a framework agreement was signed, these are encouraging signs for the detailed negotiations to follow among WTO members over the next few months. Policy Analysis, Action and Mobilization Policy is about governments, organizations or individuals selecting advantageous, expedient and effective directions or course of action to achieve desirable goals and targets. Policies drive the work of institutions and organizations which establish laws, norms, principles and practices to achieve such goals. Policy without capacity and resources to implement programmes will have no effect. Conversely, institutions and organizations cannot function efficiently or effectively without clear policies. To assess the success of policy, one must judge its effects on sustainable ARD objectives, including poverty and hunger reduction. Quite often, policy is more important than technology and other factors when farmers must decide what, how, when and whether to produce. To address the future challenges and take advantage of new development opportunities outlined above, ARD stakeholders must focus on policy, which requires them to think strategically in visioning, be pro-active in seizing opportunities, pragmatic in operations, and effective in mobilizing political support where and when it counts. This is no time for more discussions or for hesitation; it is a time for action. The following provides a synthesis of key policy priorities and innovations suggested for an action agenda. Strategic visioning - ARD needs a long-term vision and strategy based on the analysis of plausible future scenarios and expectations. As Dr Swaminathan pointed in the previous GFAR Newsletter (April 2004), this is the responsibility of the political directorate, however the vision must reflect the cultural values, social priorities, economic potentials and environmental concerns of the society. ARD stakeholders that can guide the design and execution of action programmes articulate a vision into a holistic, integrated and coherent strategy. Vision and strategy should be providing directions for achieving food security, human nutrition, how to address gender and youth issues, etc. Also crucial in terms of globalization and international trade, the vision and strategy should be explicit, inter alia, on the potentials and targets for developing competitive products, trade and market development, technology generation and transfer (e.g. biotechnology and GMOs), role of small farmers and family farming, provision of services, and linkages and interactions with the urban, manufacturing and services sectors (e.g. health, education, water), particularly to address poverty and hunger. Appropriate, favourable policies for ARD - Policies can affect ARD indirectly, such as macroeconomic, social and governance policies. There are others that affect ARD directly such as those related to agriculture, rural development, natural resources and environment. A practical approach is to identify and analyze them in terms of the following key objectives, i.e.: policies to enhance access and security to land and other natural resources; policies to create opportunities for production, processing and marketing; policies to conserve resources and safeguard the environment; and policies to enhance capacity for preparing for, managing and mitigating natural hazards and man-made emergencies. The analysis of existing policies and priority reforms should be focused on understanding more precisely how they affect the poor, Indigenous Peoples, women and children (food and nutrition issues), small farmers and entrepreneurs, and understanding how to integrate or mainstream poverty and hunger related issues into national development policy. Stakeholders' participation - Following on the GFAR model, GFAR is by definition the multiple stakeholders it represents (e.g. farmer and cooperative organizations, NGOs, research institutions, CGIAR centers, agri-business private sector, and the donors). To this list, key government ministries, universities and consumer groups, where they apply, should also be included and invited to participate as key stakeholders in policy analysis. It is essential to involve all these stakeholders in policy analysis for several reasons: They each possess a particular comparative advantage in terms of knowledge, skills and potential contributions they can make; They each have a different perspective in analysing policy issues at local, provincial and/or national scales (even at global level), and then in assisting to understand policy effects and implications in its totality, synergies or contradictions at different scales; and They each have a vital role to play in promoting, implementing and/or monitoring and evaluating future policy performance in their spheres of influence and operation. Because of the interests and benefits for each stakeholder, it is important for them to jointly identify and agree on a core set of indicators relevant to ARD which can be used to monitor and assess the performance of policies, particularly as they relate to priority objectives and target groups. In this respect, GFAR is very keen on promoting and supporting stakeholder groups to work together to clarify their positions, develop a coherent visions and strategies, and plan and implement them based on the principles of comparative advantage, complementarity and subsidiarity. Institutional capacity building - Given the current level of expertise, capacity building is high priority for policy planning, implementation and evaluation. A first priority is policy analysis methodology, e.g. tools for effective participation of stakeholders at the local, territorial and national levels; policy constraints analysis in ARD; analysis of future scenarios; design and implementation of sustainable ARD policies; policy analysis matrix; and M&E indicators for sustainable ARD. As second priority are relevant policy guidelines and innovations (e.g. policies to achieve specific objectives, strategies to promote and create productive/income-generating options, for social protection and vulnerability reduction of the poor, and governance options for participation of the poor and smallholders). Another priority area deals with skills for communication and mobilization of support for policy action. Depending on resources and opportunities, a combination of capacity building and good management options could be employed, in order to create highly committed and performing teams and individuals for policy analysis and execution. Partnerships among international and regional actors - Most external donors (multilateral and bilateral) and cooperation agencies are keen on greater collaboration among them and supporting the national actors to assume leadership and management roles, provided those actors can implement programmes with efficiency, effectiveness and transparency. Partnerships offer a very high pay-off because they can enable stakeholders to take a comprehensive, multisectoral and integrated strategy for sustainable ARD. Partnerships, however, are complex and thus require careful nurturing and management. Recent experience suggests that the secrets for their success include the following key requirements, for example: enabling policies, institutional frameworks and legal regulations; impartial, legitimate and credible brokers; capable and committed partners with realistic expectations; operational processes with clear responsibilities, code of conduct, transparency and social accountability, particularly for mobilizing, allocating and managing financial resources; functional and meaningful M&E and reward systems; and continuous capacity building and technical assistance to ensure effective organization, management and mutual learning among partners. Mobilization of political commitment and support - The key task here is how to grab the attention and influence those who make decisions on national priorities and financial investments. The ARD vision and strategy can be very helpful for mobilizing political and public support, and ARD stakeholders should study and learn to quote international conventions, declarations and commitments for their cause. More pointedly, ARD stakeholders must put themselves in the shoes of, the Minister of Finance (or those in the higher echelons of power) and figure out what type of evidence the Minister needs to know, or whom the Minister should hear from, to be convinced of ARD. Probably for the Minister, the case must be made in the context of national economic growth, employment and income generation, and public revenue and foreign exchange generation. Since multilateral financial institutions and donor agencies cannot put ARD on the priority list unless instructed by their boards of directors, made up of government representatives, ARD stakeholders must know who represents the country on such bodies and when national positions are crafted for such fora. Here DCs have to borrow a page from developed countries, which have the best expertise (e.g. street demonstration, organized letter-writing and phone-calling to elected representatives, commercial boycott, poster campaigns, etc) for mobilizing political and public support for ARD, even though less than 3 percent of the population is directly involved in agriculture. Policy leadership and management - All of the above in policy analysis and action requires able leadership and management. Leadership development must be supported solidly and continuously. The main task of leaders is to engage the various stakeholders to work together to guide policy choices and to deal with inherently conflicting demands, and to make good judgment in terms of future expectations and possibilities. Leaders and managers make it happen; they form a competent and committed team who champions and carries out the required tasks to successful completion. This means that criteria and capacities must be put in place to develop and motivate leaders and managers. Some capacities to consider should include these: Developing, articulating and communicating shared, long-term visions and strategic plans; Leading change in terms of anticipating/preparing for change, developing creative solutions to ARD challenges, and enabling staff to learn, be innovative and take initiative; Focused on timely delivery of results and achievement of objectives; Focused on building staff capacity and mobilizing resources; and Motivating and managing stakeholders and partnerships in the process. Books and courses are readily available on good practices of exemplary leadership (i.e. how to model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart), the key characteristics of admired leaders (i.e. honesty, forward-looking, competence, inspiring, broad- and fair-minded, straight-forward, team player, etc.), and the foundations of leadership (i.e. mission-oriented, credibility and stability). Their application to ARD is high priority. On the key question of which institution or institutions should take the lead in national policy analysis and action for ARD, it is suggested that appropriate multi-institutional partnerships be established that can: Ensure effective participation of key stakeholders, as mentioned above, particularly those responsible for making, analyzing and implementing policy, as well as those who are affected by policy; and Promote a favourable environment and incentives for open policy dialogue among stakeholders, particularly those at the local and provincial levels. These policy-related initiatives would usually depend on the NARS, NGOs and universities, with the support of interested international and regional stakeholders, e.g. FAO, who can then entice government participation. Concluding comment This article argues strongly and cogently for a national policy framework, strategy and action agenda for ARD, which is the single most conspicuous weakness of DCs in the drive towards sustainable ARD. This must change, otherwise: DCs will not be able to influence global, multilateral and bilateral stakeholders that could invest in ARD; national institutional capacity will not develop to lead decision making; those well intentioned, externally funded projects will not amount to much impact for long term ARD objectives; and as for GFAR, R&D systems will never be able demonstrate the potential pay-off of technology in terms of reducing rural poverty and hunger and improving the social and economic well-being of rural people. That effective policy, institutions and stakeholder empowerment in policy making are indisputable for sustainable ARD, including rural poverty and hunger, means that the time is perfect to move forward. There is strong support on the part of most international stakeholders, but the high echelons of national power need some convincing and prodding to make ARD investments. Over the last 50 years, the international discourse on poverty, unfortunately, has shifted from eradication, to reduction, and now to alleviation. What's next, coping or acceptance? This paper is optimistic, using poverty reduction, though realizing that poverty eradication is within reach, hopefully in the life of this generation! (The contents of this paper reflect the views of the author and do not represent FAO's official position. The author is grateful to Dr. Ola Smith, Executive Secretary of GFAR, for his constructive suggestions) Marcelino Avila Project Coordinator, SARD-Farming Systems Evolution Project - FAO/SD GLOBAL.RAIS Results of the GLOBAL.RAIS Inter-Regional Workshop: Towards a Global Agenda for ICM in ARD The GLOBal ALliance of the Regional Agricultural Information Systems (GLOBAL.RAIS) is a project by GFAR. It is funded by the European Commission (EC) and aims at strengthening GFAR's information and communication system, EGFAR, and improving the relationships of EGFAR with the Regional Agricultural Information System (RAIS) of the various Regional Fora (RF), members of the GFAR Steering Committee. As a global platform of communication for ARD, EGFAR aims to promote cooperation in sharing and exchanging ARD information and knowledge internationally. The main goal of the GLOBAL.RAIS project is to bring consistency at several levels to achieve economies of scale and synergism to the RAIS of: West Asia and North Africa (AARINENA-RAIS) managed by AARINENA; Asia-Pacific (APARIS) managed by APAARI; Central Asia and the Caucasus (CAC-RAIS) managed by CACAARI; Sub-Saharan Africa (FARA-RAIS) managed by FARA and the three Sub-Regional Organizations (SROs) CORAF, RAIN/ASARECA and SADC; Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC-RAIS) managed by FORAGRO; Europe (EARD-InfoSys+) managed by EIARD. Through a bottom-up participatory approach spread over a period of 16 months, GFAR has through its member RF, supported and enabled a series of consultations with its stakeholders in various regions on a global agenda for ICM in ARD to enable and enhance agricultural information system and services. An Inter-Regional Workshop was held on 10th-11th June 2004 in Rome as a culmination of this consultation process. This meeting brought to the fore the significant inequity in availability, access and ability to use agricultural related information by GFAR Stakeholders. It has also highlighted that social appropriation rather than technology is the driving force for improving information systems. The meeting agreed that 1. Advocacy for sensitization, awareness and resources mobilization, 2. Capacity development and 3. Integration of ICT enabled information systems and services are the three main pillars for attention by GFAR and its stakeholders in the Agenda and Development of a Global Partnership Programme (GPP) for ICM in ARD. This consultation process has also revealed the huge potential available in enhancing information systems and services for ARD through collaborative and cooperative programs that can be utilized in its execution. Download the full report (draft version) of the workshop. GLOBAL.RAIS Working Group Past Events Meetings and Seminars participated by GFAR Secretariat The Secretariat participated in a number international workshops and meetings over the last several months. Two of these addressed the theme of how to improve the contribution of agricultural research to sustainable development through partnerships and alliances amongst stakeholders - an issue that is central to the raison d'être of GFAR. The first meeting was a symposium organized by the Association of Applied Biologists to celebrate its Centenary. The theme of the symposium was: Increasing the effectiveness of world public sector agricultural research through partnerships - bases for novel paradigms. The organizers recognized the GFAR initiative as one of the novel systems of collaboration and partnership, which because it favors the pooling of relevant resources that are becoming increasingly scarce, will improve the effectiveness of agricultural research. They therefore invited the Secretariat to share the GFAR experience with others. The full text of the paper presented at this symposium by the Executive Secretary: Strategic partnership in agricultural research for development: the global forum on agricultural research model is available on EGFAR. The second meeting was a research workshop organized by the Agriculture and Rural Development Department (ARD) of the World Bank on: Development of Research Systems to Support the Changing Agricultural Sector. The organizers suggested that the current pace of globalization of agriculture, as well as rapid changes in the science supporting the sector and the regional features of the research systems, there is an urgent need to take stock of recent experience and re-think strategies for the future development of national agricultural research and innovation systems, while recognizing the wide diversity of country situations. The workshop focused on six different sub-themes each introduced by an overview presentation followed by in-depth discussion of the issues raised. The Secretariat was invited to make an overview presentation on the theme: Promotion of regional and international research alliances and technology spill-ins from a country-perspective (with emphasis of the role of biotechnology, global science, and IPR), available on EGFAR. A third meeting we would like to report on was a consultative meeting of the ISNAR-IFPRI Program Advisory Committee. One of the objectives of the meeting was to brainstorm on future research and capacity strengthening strategies and priorities for the ISNAR Division. Participants were requested to make suggestions on what the new ISNAR Division should do and how it should go about doing it within the context of three broad strategic themes decided upon in earlier consultations and discussion within the CGIAR. The themes are: Institutional Change, Organization and Management and Agricultural Science Policy. The Secretariat was invited to tackle the issue of Agricultural Science Policy. The presentation made can be downloaded from EGFAR. O.S. GFAR Statutory Meetings 2nd Regional For a Executive Secretaries Meeting, 17-18 May 2004, Rome, Italy GFAR Chair Dr. Mohammad Roozitalab welcomed the participants to Rome and to the second Regional Fora Executive Secretaries meeting held on 17-18 May in Rome. The meeting served as a venue to share and discuss updates related to on-going and future GFAR activities, including implications for inter-regional collaboration. They were also apprised on the on-going GFAR Charter Review where their inputs were also solicited. Download the full text of the minutes (draft version). A.S. GFAR Statutory Meetings 10th Management Team Meeting, 17 may 2004, Rome, Italy GFAR Chair Dr. Mohammad Roozitalab welcomed participants to the meeting and expressed satisfaction at the outputs of the 2tnd Executive Secretaries Meeting which was held the previous day. The GFAR Management Team, composed of FAO, IFAD and the GFAR Chair, Vice-Chair and Executive Secretary, reviewed the final draft of the GFAR Business Plan 2004-2006 and discussed the on-going GFAR Charter Review process, among others. They were also updated on the on-going and future activities of the Secretariat and were briefed on the results of the RF Executive Secretaries meeting held the previous day. Download the full text of the minutes (draft version). A.S. DURAS The DURAS Project: Call for Proposals The DURAS Project (Promoting Sustainable Development in Agricultural Research Systems) is a three-year project of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) and Agropolis, and is being supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It aims to contribute to strengthening the involvement and enhancing the scientific potential of southern stakeholders in agricultural research for sustainable development (ARSD), particularly in Africa, Near East and some parts of Asia. Go to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. Go to the DURAS on Agropolis website. The DURAS Competitive Grants It is among the Type 2 Initiatives (Partnerships for Sustainable Development) under the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) and is a voluntary multi-stakeholder partnerships which contribute to the implementation of inter-governmental commitments in Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The project takes part in enabling all stakeholders in agricultural research to make a concrete contribution to the outcomes of the WSSD and other international agreements in furthering sustainable development (SD). One of Project DURAS' components is a Competitive Grants that will fund proposals in key priority areas consistent with the GFAR Business Plan. The DURAS Competitive Grants is established to encourage innovation, allow scaling-up of successful innovations and/or best practices developed in the South, and to further develop and explore scientific potentials. It also aims to create opportunities for historically disadvantaged stakeholder groups in the South to develop and enhance their scientific capacities through the provision of start-up funds, via a competitive process, that will bridge funding gap that usually exist between the initial stages of research/innovation process and the early stages of implementation or scaling-up. The funds are expected to allow Southern partners who have developed interesting and innovative proposals but have not received donor support to access and attract additional funding. This is the first of the two Calls for Proposals that will be carried out under the DURAS Project. The thematic focus of this first call are: Theme 1: Agrobiodiversity and genetic resources management for food security; Theme 2: Local knowledge in natural resources management. Application is open to all stakeholders involved in ARSD. Deadline for submission of pre-proposals is on 8 October 2004. Download the Project DURAS Competitive Grant Scheme Guidelines (also in French) for further reference. Download the Regional Priorities and Emerging Global Programmes: A Preliminary Report on a Stakeholder Dialogue (GFAR, September 2001). For further queries, please contact: Oliver Oliveros DURAS Project Coordinator Agropolis International Avenue Agropolis F-34394 Montpellier Cedex 5 Phone: +33 (0)4 67 04 3747 Fax: +33 (0)4 67 04 7599 Email: Oliver Oliveros DURAS Project Coordinator GFAR Stakeholder Committee of the GCP GFAR Stakeholder Committee for the Generation Challenge Program (GCP) of the CGIAR As you read in our April newsletter, the Secretariat has been involved in facilitating the establishment of a GFAR Stakeholder Committee of the Generation Challenge Programme Cultivating Plant Diversity for the Resource-Poor Challenge Programme (GCP) of the CGIAR. In mid June, after a two-month consultation process, the Secretariat submitted the results of the selection and screening process it carried out to CP Director Dr. Robert Zeigler. In late July, the GCP Programme Steering Committee (PSC), following the GCP recommendation approved the composition of the Committee which comprises 15 representatives from GFAR stakeholder groups: three (3) from Farmers' Organizations, two (2) from the NGOs, two (2) from the private sector group and seven (7) representatives from Regional Fora i.e., one per region. Committee members who will serve on for the next two years are: Farmers' Organizations Representatives: Mr. Raul MONTEMEYOR (Philippines) Mr. Philip KIRIRO (Kenya) Mr. Esa HARMALA (Finland) NGOs Representatives: Mr. Mamadou GOITA (Mali) Mr. Omar Jofré FUENTES (Chile) Regional Fora Representatives: Dr. Mutsuo IWAMOTO (Japan) - APAARI Dr. Charles NKHOMA (Zambia) - FARA Dr. Hamid NARJISSEE (Morocco) - AARINENA Dr. Victor M. ARAMBULA (Mexico) - FORAGRO Dr. Anthony HALL (USA) - NAFAR Dr. Aleksidze GURAM (Georgia) - CACAARI Ms. Anne Chetaille (France) - EFARD Private Sector Representatives: Dr. Arvin KAPUR (India) Mr. Manuel Ruiz (Peru) The Committee will hold its first meeting in Rome during the period November 28-1 December 2004, in conjunction with the CP's PSC meeting. The Stakeholder Committee serves as a neutral platform for inter-stakeholder dialogue on issues related to the implementation of the GCP. It acts in an advisory capacity, and is expected to serve as a link between the GCP and the various stakeholder groups. Thus, it is expected to facilitate the articulation, promotion and presentation of the views of various stakeholders to the GCP governance and management structure in order to contribute to the policies, strategies, research priorities, and program activities of the GCP. More specifically, the Stakeholder Committee will: Advice the GCP PSC so that it could appropriately take into account the views, experience and perspectives of various stakeholders in formulating the overall policies guiding the GCP; Recommend measures to improve multi-stakeholder involvement, especially those from the South and from the civil society organizations (CSOs), in the GCP implementation and review, through such mechanisms as: broad-based consultative processes, workshops and information sharing strategies; and Provide feedback to various stakeholders on the CP implementation and outputs. N.A.
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