April 2003
News from Stakeholders
CSOs
IARCs
CSOs in Southern Caucasus to establish its own network
Non-government and farmers organizations (NGOs/FOs) from three countries in the Southern Caucasus sub-region gathered together in workshop held on 31 March-01 April 2003 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The NGO/FO Meeting on Agricultural Research and Development in the South Caucasus Region brought together civil-society organizations from Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The objectives of the meeting were to build a network of farmers'/civil society organizations in the sub-region concerned with ARD so as to raise awareness of local stakeholders on possibilities of bringing their voices into national/regional programs and decision-making bodies related to agricultural research for development (ARD).
For two days, participants discussed issues and challenges facing the three countries in the South Caucasus. Participants highlighted that the region is traditionally agriculture-based. With majority of the population in rural areas, the agriculture sector remains to be the main source for employment. However, the development of the sector is hampered by the continued deterioration of the natural environment as a result of ineffective and irrational use, slow process of reform in the agrarian sector, and the influx of imported goods in the domestic market.
Recognizing the important role they play in developing the sector and to effectively contribute to it, participants proposed to form an informal network called Forum of NGOs and Farmers' Organizations in the South Caucasus. This informal network aims to facilitate cooperation, partnership and coordination of efforts of NGOs and FOs in the countries of the South Caucasus related to ARD.
The network will endevour to involve other NGOs/FOs of agrarian sector in the region, develop representation in each country, conduct priority setting exercise in the region, create regular thematic working groups to contribute to addressing priority agricultural issues, conduct fundraising activities, and to raise funds to carry out their activities.
Some of the activities identified include information exchange/dissemination; articulating the Forum with participation of all interested parties; establishment of a Scientific-technical Committee of the Forum; and linking with NGOs and FOs in Central Asia and other international organizations working in ARD.
The meeting was organized by the Biological Farming Association “ELKANA”, a non-governmental local organization promoting organic farming in Georgia, with funding support from the Non-Governmental Organizations Committee (NGOC) of the CGIAR.
Mariam Jorjadze
ELKANA Biological Farming Association
CSOsCivil Society Organizations to meet before GFAR 2003 Conference
A number of non-government organizations (NGOs) and farmers organizations (FOs) from all regions of the world are expected to gather together on 20-21 May 2003, two days prior to the opening of the GFAR 2003 Conference in Dakar, Senegal.
The important stewardship role that Civil Society Organizations play in research priority-setting is well recognized by all stakeholder groups. However, the present situation calls for a more proactive CSO involvement in identifying approaches and models for specific development activities, drawing on their close knowledge of local communities and their needs. As such, this event is part of GFAR’s over-all effort to reinforce their involvement as stakeholder groups in agricultural research for development (ARD). It is designed to facilitate networking CSO groups and consolidate their participation in the GFAR 2003 conference and beyond.
The format of the workshop is designed to allow the participants to examine the present situation of NGOs and FOs in terms of their role in influencing ARD, determine their objectives, and as distinct stakeholder groups forge a path towards these goals.
The expected outputs include the articulation of individual vision statements for both NGO and FO groups and defined mandates including roles a responsibilities of those involved in ARD, an enhanced CSO network, a plan for improved mechanisms for NGO and FO representation in various governance and decision and policy-making bodies at the sub-regional, regional and global level.
CSOsInformation technology for ARD and rural development: Linking people and networks
Effective communication and information exchange in the field of ARD and rural development is one of the main premises to ensure an efficient collaboration between researchers, institutions and farmers. Modern Information and communication technology (ICT) can support this task. A working group at the German Centre for Documentation and Information in Agriculture (ZADI) is developing concepts to support the building of sustainable networks. The working group is specialised on systems for direct communication between farmers and scientists as well as the co-ordination of decentralised information networks. In the frame of two different international projects specific tools and services for internet communication have been developed.
RUN (Rural Universe Network) Project contributes to rural development by enabling the population itself to take advantage of the latest IC technologies. Based on a network of rural information centres operated by rural information brokers, low-cost tools are developed in collaboration with the population to facilitate communication and information management. RUN is thus an independent, decentralised information system driven by rural population's demand.
E-publishing with "Email2Web": publication system with e-journals and articles that can be sent by email. A publishing form is filled offline (low cost, no programming skills afforded) and its coded content is sent off by email. The article appears on the web immediately. For more comfort, an equivalent online-form can be used.
Question-Answer-Service: Through its free publication system, RUN serves as a platform for the expression of questions arising in the rural population. This platform opens new efficient ways of both localising and pooling the existing demand for information and finding experts and answers to the problems. All questions and answers are stored in the RUN information system and thus build up a growing pool of globally available practical information contributing to rural development. An innovative voucher and control system coupled with the information flow compensates for the lacking spending power of the customers.
Example
Market Price Information System: Market price transparency is essential for efficient rural trade. The Infoprix system combines the traditional monitoring of marketprices with the advantages of modern information technology: market prices are fed into a server-based database from which prices for each product on each market can be retrieved by sms-request
For more information go to:
www.isicad.org
www.runetwork.de
Marlene Horstmann
EARDInfosys+ PR Coordinator
IARCsCGIAR Challenge Program on Genetic Resources
The CGIAR Challenge Program on Genetic Resources "Unlocking genetic diversity for the resource poor" held a stakeholder meeting at the Library of Alexandria, 14-16 January 2003. The Challenge Program focuses on examing the genetic diversity of crops held in the CGIAR centre genebank collections and to use the power of modern genomic analytical tools to develop cultivars with new stress tolerance, including drought.
The meeting was chaired by Dr Ismail Serageldin and was attended by a broad array of CGIAR centre staff, representatives of donor governments, advanced research institutes, representatives of regional NARS fora, and private sector companies.
The meeting focused on issues such as, which crops and centres would participate in the program, the design of the competitive grants portion of the program, the engagement of NARS, advanced research institutes and the private sector, delivery of products to the resource-poor, and capacity building issues. There was some very interesting discussion around some of these issues as the challenge program model represents a major departure from the long-term funding model for the CGIAR centres. All representatives at the meeting, including the various donor agencies, expressed a strong commitment to move the project forward as quickly as possible.
By the end of the meeting the participants had agreed on several key points. The program will encompass the four major crop groups represenetd in the CGIAR- cereals, legumes, roots and tubers, and forage grasses. The participants also reaffirmed the focus on drought as the main target trait, initially. The competitive grants program will request proposals that reflect the involvement of at least two partners (CGIAR centre, ARI or NARS). Both small seed rant proposals as well as large full-project proposals will be solicited. At least 50 percent of the CP funds will be dedicated to the competitive grants program. Capacity building will be a crosscutting lement of all funded research. Many of the program specifics will be determined at technical planning workshops during 2003.
The challenge program proposal is currently under review with the Executive Committee of the CGIAR.
Peter Ninnes
CIMMYT
Improving Livelihoods and Natural Resource Management in sub-Saharan Africa: Securing the future for Africa’s children
The sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Programme (SSA CP) will be an important vehicle for achieving the goals of NEPAD’s Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAAPD) for addressing the nexus of falling incomes, deteriorating food security and degrading natural resources.
The SSA CP Programme Formulation Workshop convened by FARA was attended by over 100 representatives from African national agricultural research institutes and universities, the sub-regional agricultural research organisations, the CGIAR and other international centres, advanced research centres from out of Africa, UN agencies, NGOs, African farmers organisations, the private sector, and national and intergovernmental agencies and foundations. It was another step in formulating an African-led programme that will draw together the diversity of contributors to agricultural research for Africa’s development.
A Drafting Committee, established at the workshop, has continued to address the issues and modalities of implementing the new multidisciplinary, multi institutional, approach to participatory research in which the communities will be fully involved in determining the remedies to their developmental problems. And, the supporting capacity building and information exchange components.
The first draft of the proposal will be presented at the FARA General Assembly in Dakar. After which it will be revised and finalised for submission to the CGIAR Science Council.
Monty Jones
FARA Executive Secretary
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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