December 2003
News from the Regional Fora
West Asia & North Africa
Central Asia & the Caucasus
EuropeNew EFARD Chairman elected
Dr. Hans Hurni has been elected new EFARD Chairman starting from 1st January 2004.
At present Dr. Hurni is Co-Director of the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), based in Bern, Switzerland.
He was born in the Swiss Alps on 21 December 1950. As of 1969, he studied Geography, Mathematics and Geology at the University of Berne, which he completed by doing an MSc degree in 1975, followed by a teacher's diploma in 1978. In 1980, he completed his PhD on climate change in Ethiopia. In 1991, he received the 'venia docendi' of the Natural Science Faculty based on a thesis titled 'Soil erosion and soil conservation in agricultural environments'. In between these educational activities, he professionally worked for WWF International from 1975-1977 as a Warden of the Simen Mountains National Park in Ethiopia.
In 1979 and 1981, he was a UNU fellow in Northern Thailand, and from 1981-1987, he worked as initiator and director of a national network on soil conservation research in Ethiopia. Since 1987, he is back at the Institute of Geography, where in 1988 he helped founding the 'Centre for Development and Environment', co-directing it since then.
During the past 10 years, he was fulfilling several mandates and tasks, currently as president of KFPE: Swiss commission for research partnerships with developing countries (since 1999); as editor-in-chief of MRD, the international journal 'Mountain Research and Development' (since 1999); as member of the Scientific and Technical Council of the Observatory of the Sahel and the Sahara (OSS), Paris (since 1998); as a member of the Board of IBSRAM: International Board for Soil Research and Management, Bangkok (since 1994); as a member of the Board of ISCO: International Soil Conservation Organization, and as president of WASWC: World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (1991-1997).
Between 1975 and 1999, Hans Hurni authored or co-authored 7 books, 22 scientific reports, 79 papers and articles in journals or chapters in books, and 14 maps, and he co-edited 7 books. In addition, he wrote 10 unpublished reports and about 20 editorials and WASWC president's reports.
The first institutional meeting for Dr. Hurni within his new position, will be next EFARD Steering Committee, to be held in Bern on 28 January 2004. The agenda of the meeting will focus on (a) starting the process for the next EFARD General Meeting to be held in April 2005 following the one held in Rome in 2002, (b) preparation of the ERA project on ARD as a reaction to the ERA-NET, and (c) election of the new Vice-Chair and the new EFARD representative in the GFAR Steering Committee.
Fabien Boulier
EFARD
Asia-PacificExpert Consultation on Strengthening Regional Agricultural Information System: Role of ICT in ARD and Status of Regional Research Networks and Consortia
APAARI launched on the 1-3 December 2003 a regional consultation on strengthening the Asia Pacific Agricultural Regional Information System (APARIS). This ICT Expert consultation, held at Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok was partly supported by GFAR, as one regional component of the GLOBAL.RAIS Project. This workshop was articulated through three main sessions: (1) Global and Regional Initiatives, (2) status report on ICT/ICM activities from the NARS of the Asia Pacific Region, and (3) Demonstration of existing ICT opportunities. The following NARS presented a national report underlining the strengths and weaknesses of their country in the area of ICT/ICM in ARD: Bangladesh, India, Iran, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea, Taiwan, New Caledonia, Vietnam and Western Samoa. To take into accounts the main outcomes of the various issues raised as well as the main lessons learned from the national statements, four working groups discussed the APARIS framework and formulated some recommendations from the point of view of the end-users. Parallel to the third session, a special session highlighted the main updates on the research networks operating in collaboration with APAARI.
The APARIS Steering Committee Meeting during the evening of the 3rd of December reviewed the ICM plan of work consistent with the two following objectives: (a) To enhance information sharing and exchange, and (b) To strengthen capacity development for effective ICM and ICT use in ARD.
On the 4th of December, the APAARI Executive Committee Meeting endorsed: (a) the recommendations of the APARIS Steering Committee, (b) the establishment of the APCoAB, and (c) issues related to the APAARI functioning such as progress report of the Secretariat, opening up of the memberships, audited account statement, 2004 plan of work and budget, and the venue of the eighth General Assembly and Expert Consultation on Post-harvest Technologies to be held in December 2004.
Raj Paroda & Sahdev Singh
APAARI
West Asia & North AfricaFirst AARINENA-RAIS Steering Committee meeting
During the first Steering Committee Meeting of the AARINENA-RAIS, held with the kind support of ICARDA in Aleppo, 28-29 July 2003, and chaired by Pr. Ahmed Rafea (Egypt), the sub-regional representatives of Mashreq, Maghreb, the Nile Valley, West Asia, and Arabian Peninsula reported on the present situation of ICT and information management capacities. Tools that are used or have been developed in these regions were also presented. The discussion led to a strengths and weaknesses analyzis of the five sub-regions of the AARINENA Forum. The common following weaknesses were identified: (a) lack of well qualified human resources, (b) lack of national policy on information management, (c) language barriers (need for a multilingual system), (d) poor communications at the sub-regional level, and (e) poor communications infrastructure in some countries (bandwidth).
Members reviewed then the RAIS requirements, strategy and implementation. Six projects/components were identified and further defined within the concept of National Agricultural Information Systems (NAIS), perceived as being the prerequisite of the launching of the RAIS gateway function.
The next steps to be undertaken were endorsed as follows: (a)To draft a project proposal and to circulate it to different stakeholders to ensure exchange of ideas and experiences through inter-regional discussions, (b) To prepare a provision work plan for improving the AARINENA Website hosted by AREO (Iran), (c) To prepare a questionnaire to collect information about the current system that are related to the proposed modules in the collaborative program in the region, and distribute it to all countries in the region through the SC sub-regional members, (d) To draft a project proposal for Human Capacity Building based on NARS actual needs.
Ahmed Rafea
AARINENA
Expert consultation on Olive oil production
AARINENA is preparing an Expert consultation on Olive oil production, to be held in the Olive Tree Institute at Sfax, Tunisia, 16-18 February, 2004. The experts from AARINENA Olive producing countries will attend the meeting, as well as European Experts belonging to the already existing ESCORENA Olive Network. National status reports will be presented and discussed, highlighting strengths and weaknesses, in order to define a shared vision statement on the objectives to be achieved at a regional level in Western Asia and North Africa. A document on "Regional Olive Technical Co-operation Network" is under preparation. The role to be played by AARINENA in the launching of this Olive Oil production Network will be discussed during this meeting. AARINENA has already played a similar role in the launching of the Global Date Palm Network (GDPN). More information will be soon available on the AARINENA website.
Ibrahim Hamdan
AARINENA
Sub-Saharan AfricaFARA at CG-AGM 03
Nairobi, Kenya
This year's CGIAR AGM brought together approximately 1,000 international and Kenyan policy makers, agricultural research experts, scientists and development specialists. Discussions focused on agricultural research and technology, food initiatives and new ways of working to ensure that science continues to promote sustainable development by facilitating agricultural growth, reducing hunger, protecting the environment while delivering real benefits to the poor.
The FARA delegation included the Chair of FARA, Dr. Pape Seck, Vice Chair, Ms. Bongiwe Njobe, Executive Secretary, Dr. Monty Jones, FARA Senior Resource person, Dr. Ralph von Kaufmann and the Special Assistant to the Executive Secretary, Madam. Myra Wopereis-Pura. The meeting provided them an opportunity to meet FARA and GFAR stakeholders and donors, and brief them on the progress that FARA has made since the plenary in Dakar in May 2003. It also provided an environment to meet key partners to chart the way forward on FARA's priority activities.
Besides the small meetings held with individual delegation, two major meetings were organized by FARA, such as the FARA-Donors meeting and the Africa group meeting. The FARA-donors meeting was attended by around 20 representatives from the international donor community, FARA partners such as SROs and the FARA ExCo and its Secretariat. This was a follow-up from the Dakar pre-Plenary meeting in May 2003. The purpose was to allow transparency and better coordination of support to FARA. Donors had the opportunity to exchange information/views on its support to FARA to avoid duplication. FARA presented in details activities currently supported and could be supported by individual donor through its three year rolling work program and business plan. The meeting had very productive discussions and FARA was encouraged to continue its openness and transparency.
The Africa group meeting replaced the regular African Caucus Meeting held every CG-AGM, but this year the agenda centered on 'how to enhance Africa's ownership of its agricultural research systems by increasing investment in African agricultural research for development'. The topic is not new but this time, concrete actions need to be identified to achieve agricultural development. Discussions were initiated by presentations from Monty Jones, FARA's Executive Secretary who shared FARA's views on how resources could be mobilized, and FONTAGRO's Executive Secretary Nicolas Mateo shared experience on successful investment in agricultural research through endowment funds provided by national governments.
A consensus was made that FARA has a big role to play in advocating for increased investment by the African government, but should not be limited towards the ministers of agriculture alone but should include the ministers of finance who gives out funding. Discussions were very lively from 44 participants, mainly FARA key stakeholders who shared experiences and views, but time constraint cut it short. It was then decided that discussions be continued by electronic forum to be organized by FARA. The e-forum will start in January 2004 when FARA launches its e-forum.
In general, the discussions indicated greater awareness and interest in collaborating with FARA as compared to CG-AGM02 in Manila. Numerous action points were identified that will guide FARA in pursuing its mandate.
The Sub Saharan Africa Challenge Program (SSA CP) proposal was also presented during the parallel session on partnerships and stakeholders consultation, highlighting activities and revisions made after the interim Science Council commentary. The CG-AGM03 also gave the opportunity for FARA to discuss with Ian Johnson and Francisco Reifschneider of CGIAR the way forward for the SSA CP. FARA was assured that approval need not wait until the 2004 CG-AGM04 but the process will be facilitated via email through the new Science Council, ExCo and the CGIAR members.
Beside the CG-AGM03, FARA actively participated in the GFAR statutory meeting such as the NARS sub-committee, regional fora and GFAR steering committee meetings. These meetings have enhanced collaboration among the regional fora, one of the major outcome was cross-collaboration on ICT where FARA was invited to be actively involved in GFAR's project on strengthening regional agricultural information system (RAIS) project. AARINENA gave its indication on willingness for North African countries to join FARA, a contact person was recommended that FARA could follow-up.
FARA also took part in the exhibition that included displays from each of the 16 CGIAR Centres and many partner organizations. FARA's booth received visitors who had the opportunity to know more about FARA and its activities. Copies of FARA's major documents were distributed such as the 2002 annual report, strategy, implementation framework, the three year rolling work program and business plan. Documentation of the SSA CP were also available, as well as the first FARA Newsletter.
The CG-AGM03 had very fruitful to FARA to continue its function as the apex organization and as a catalyst for innovation and change for Africa's agricultural research for development. It was also an opportunity for FARA to enhance and strengthen partnership with CGIAR focusing on the Millennium Development Goal and programmatic integration approach for Africa.
Monty Jones & Myra Wopereis-Pura
FARA
Central Asia & the CaucasusNew CAC Regional Forum: CACAARI
Dr. Sherali Nurmatov of Uzbek Scientific Production Center for Agriculture (UZPCA) was elected as the new Chair of the Central Asia and the Caucasus Regional Fora in June 2003.
Drs. Samuel Avetisyan (Ministry of Agriculture of Armenia) and Asanbek Ajibekov (Center of Agrarian Science and Consulting Services-Kyrgyz Republic) were nominated as the Executive Secretaries for the Caucasus and Central Asia sub-regions, respectively. Dr. Bakhtiyor Kamilov (UZPCA) was named Executive Director.
While it was established in 2000, it was not until in June 2003 that CAC’s regional fora adopted its official name - Central Asia and the Caucasus Association of Agricultural Research Institutes (CACAARI) – where at the same time, the new set of above mentioned officers were elected. In their previous two meetings, held last 08 June 2003 in Uzbekistan and on 28 September 2003 in Armenia, important decisions taken include the adoption of CACAARI’s constitution, approval of its logo, to pursue partnership with the Inter-Regional Network on Cotton (INCANA) and to learn from the experience of APAARI and AARINENA. As a first step towards inter-regional collaboration, those two regional fora were invited to participate in the forthcoming CAC-RAIS workshop in January 2004.
CACAARI Secretariat is also being established. Currently, the RF is being supported jointly by the CGIAR Program Facilitation Unit (PFU) in Tashkent and the ICARDA Regional Office in the CAC region.
Sherali Nurmatov
CACAARI
Regional Agricultural Information System Workshop 27-28 January 2004, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
The workshop on Regional Agricultural Information System (RAIS) for Central Asia and Caucasus (CAC) to be organized in the framework of GLOBAL.RAIS Project, will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan 27-28 January, 2004.
The main purposes of the workshop are: a) to define the current regional situation on agricultural Information and Communication Management (ICM) and generate SWOT analyzis of this situation, and b) to design a regional program of work leading to the launching of a RAIS for CAC region, including a capacity-strengthening component. Expected added value from CAC-RAIS are:
- Renewal of National Agriculture Information Systems (NAIS) potential and local knowledge integration into the information systems.
- Facilitating access to publications, research results, articles and current news whether inside or outside the region.
- Facilitating access to the global information facilities.
- Providing interaction between researchers and other agriculture stakeholders.
- Encouraging regional research networks to be integrated into the RAIS, systematization of databases, capacity building in ICM.
- Promoting the use of web-enabled technologies in the information facilities in the region.
- Facilitating the exchange of information between Governmental, Private Sector, International, Nongovernmental and Farmer Organizations.
The focus will also be on studying the possible opportunities of AgroWeb CAC Network as a model for now to better develop and socialize a RAIS for CAC Region. The discussion will be enriched in order to receive contributions from other institutions/organizations which have gone through similar processes in building networks.
An electronic discussion will be launched 14-21 January, 2004, based on the a draft background document in order to receive comments/inputs from all interested Stakeholders of the Region but also from representatives of other RAIS, sharing their experiences, and all interested experts who wish to bring their point of view or simply aware of particular lessons learned and possible failures/mistakes of other systems.
GFAR and AgroWeb CAC invite all interested experts who wish to participate in electronic discussion and in the Workshop, especially coordinators of other RAIS or similar organizations/networks. All preparatory documents are available on the website of the workshop.
Arman Manukyan
Agroweb Caucasus
GFAR Secretariat
c/o FAO, SDR, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla - 00100 Rome, Italy
Tel. +39.06.5705.3413 Fax +39.06.5705.3898
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