April 2005
News from the other Stakeholders
Civil Society Organizations
NGOs Meeting announcement
Regional NGO Consultation Meeting, Entebbe, Uganda
The Global Forum on Agriculture Research (GFAR) and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) are organizing a regional NGO consultation meeting to be held during the FARA's General Assembly 6-12 June 2005 in Entebbe, Uganda.
The main purpose of the meeting is to launch a Sub-Saharan Africa NGO Consortium that would facilitate the NGOs participation in the regional (FARA) and Sub-regional Organizations ARD activities. For more information please contact .
You can download the meeting brochure here
Profile article: ANSAD
ANSAD: Developing a vision for cooperation in the field of sustainable agriculture among NGOs and assessment of the gap that exist between the interests of experts and expectations of farmers in the field of sustainable agriculture in Western Asia and North Africa�s Arabic speaking countries.
After 18 months of preparation and networking, twenty none-governmental agricultural organizations, eight distinguished farmers' organizations, and six researchers and experts in the field of agricultural development held a symposium in Tunisia in August 1998 to discuss the development of sustainable agriculture in the Western Asia and North Africa's Arabic speaking nations.
During the conference a thorough review was made about the conditions of sustainable agriculture programs and policies in the Arab world. The review was basically based on the experiences and initiatives made by individuals, organizations, and experts in agricultural development. In addition, the participants discussed the ability of agricultural systems and programs to achieve sustainability by presenting a set of analytical tools that are used in sustainable agriculture.
Conference outcomes were the following:
- Formulation of a common understanding of what sustainable agriculture involves and unifying the concepts used to describe sustainable agriculture as a way of improving communication and exchange of expertise as well as synchronizing the efforts of participating countries;
- Development of a program to assist some organizations in their developmental plans.
- Based on the recommendations of the participants, a committee of five NGOs was created to implement the recommendations of the symposium. The selection criteria for members of this committee were based on the geographic location and capacity of the NGO.
These five organizations are regarded among the largest organizations in their countries and have many years of experience in promotion of developmental efforts. Their committee will mainly target small farmers and rural communities in general, and will depend on community participation methods in assessing the needs of its target groups, and planning, implementing, evaluating and monitoring its programs. In addition, these five organizations will focus their activities on environmental issues that concern human development, land rehabilitation and animal wealth.
In order to take the decision to establish the Network this committee met in Jerash, Jordan in October 2000 with other Arab organizations to form the Arab Network for Sustainable Agriculture Development (ANSAD). These organizations include: the Egyptian Coptic Evangelical Association for Social Services; Agricultural Development Society (formerly known as The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees); Apel of Tunis; The Agricultural Cooperative Union of Yemen; ANDA Association of Morocco; the Jordanian Association for Bedouin Development & Combat Desertification and Noor AlHussein Foundation; Syrian Land Association; and Mauritanian Developmental Association.
During the Jerash meeting, many pressing issues raised the Necessity for the immediate involvement of all parties in the Arabic countries in the sustainable agriculture system. These issues include:
- the dramatic increase in the level of pollution in the Arab world and which is already costing Arab countries more than 13 billion dollars each year;
- the scarcity of water resources in which 24% (65 million) of Arab population do not have access to source of portable; and
- the agricultural resources available in Arab research centers and universities are not being utilized for sustainable agriculture development.
Based upon the fact that local communities always embraced values of voluntary work and providing assistance to one another and to the community as a whole. They also had a clear sense of stewardship towards their human and natural resources. Somehow, during the process of economic and technological development which the Arab world went through, this sense of stewardship was left undeveloped. Although it is still embodied in the culture, stewardship towards human and natural resources has played a very minor role in developing modern Arab communities. One of the main objectives of ANSAD is therefore to enhance and develop this sense of stewardship towards the environment.
ANSAD Objectives are
- to strengthening agricultural NGOs in Arab countries and enhance their ability of evaluating, monitoring agricultural practices and publish best practices in agriculture;
- to support farmers in areas of the Network's operation and enable them to use agricultural practices that lead to sustainable development;
- to encourage the establishment of communication channels among the different organizations and associations and their target groups on all local and regional levels;
- to encourage the establishment of specialized societies and bodies to support sustainable agriculture development in Arab countries,
- to create a directory of available scientific, technical, and practical expertise in Arab countries;
- to initiate advocacy efforts to formulate the necessary supportive legislation for sustainable agriculture; and
- to document the inherited skills and experiences in the Arab World that relate to sustainable agriculture development and facilitate the exchange of these experiences among the different communities
Mission: ANSAD's mission is to reinforce the acquired practices in the field of sustainable agriculture and introducing new techniques in this field in a manner that preserves the various agricultural environments in the Arab countries.
To address both its objectives and mission, ANSAD in collaboration with the farmers' organizations and other regional/sub-regional NGOs carries number of activities these include:
- Training and Capacity Building:
Depending on it's data and collected information specialized training courses in the fields of drip irrigation, Integrated Pest Management, community participation, farmers' management groups, were conducted in the needed Arabic countries and according to their needs assessment. - Education and Public Awareness:
To introduce the concept of sustainable agriculture and raise awareness and enrich the beneficiaries' information specialized publications and manuals in Sustainable Agriculture issued and published at the regional level. - Volunteers for Development:
Stewardship of both natural and human resources is enhanced through a well organized voluntary work campaign. Stewardship of human resources includes consideration of social responsibilities such as working and living conditions of laborers, the needs of rural communities, and consumer health and safety both in the present and the future. Stewardship of land and natural resources involves maintaining or enhancing this vital resource base for the long term. ANSAD through a well organized volunteers' mobilization program encaged experts, professionals and agricultural leaders to volunteer with NGOs in the member Arabic countries working in the agricultural field on a temporary basis. The topics identified and the experts allocated according to needs and acceptance of the hosting NGO/ country. Creating an information database about volunteers: The database managed volunteers' applications and post their information in an official site over the internet - Studies and Research:
To activate field research, that is connected to issues and challenges faced by farmers in their farms and to help in solving the emerging natural resources depletion problems, many studies and research were conducted in the fields of utilizing wastewater and gray water in irrigation, organic farming and practices, integrated pest management and proper use of available land and water for maximum production. ANSAD also conducts Needs Assessment studies to prioritize the needs of Arab NGOs and their target groups of farmers. - Advocacy and lobbying:
ANSAD established a lobbying and advocacy program for the issues faced by Arab Agriculture on local, national and global levels. - Establishment of local networks:
ANSAD by-laws included the procedures and steps towards the establishment of local networks for active organizations in the agricultural sector in the Arab countries. - National, regional and International Collaboration:
ANSAD is very much involved in some relevant national and regional programs and networks which contribute to the exchange of experience between farmers and experts in sustainable agriculture issues. Many training courses were conducted at the regional level in different Arabic countries for example: Regional Farmers training workshop on modern irrigation techniques (Jordan), organic farming (Yemen), Drip Irrigation (Mauritania), Composting (Morocco). Now ANSAD is in its way to making connections and joint projects with the (GEF) Global Environment Facility and UN Convention to Combat Desertification, World Bank Sustainable Development Group, and GFAR-FAO.
Nabeel Abu-Shriha
ANSAD Focal Point
CSOs Contribution to the global development community's efforts in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Five years ago, the world's leaders gathered at the UN headquarters, for the UN Millennium Summit, adopted the UN Millennium Declaration by agreeing to a set of eight challenging development goals to be achieved by 2015: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; Achieve universal primary education; Promote gender equality and empower women; Reduce child mortality; Improve maternal health; Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; Ensure environmental sustainability; and develop Global partnership for development.
Since the Millennium Declaration, some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) across the globe have been mobilizing their constituencies to participate and contribute to the achievement of the MDGs. Some of these CSOs have even taken a step further by acting as campaign coordinators of the MDGs in their respective regions. In the future issues of the Newsletter we will bring you some of the experiences of these CSOs. Among these CSOs is the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC), which in July last year convened a consultation symposium on "Regional NGO Consultation: Mainstreaming the MDGs in Aisa". Over 30 members and partners of ANGOC participated in the workshop to discuss how CSOs can participate and contribute in the attainment of the MDGs in the Asia Pacific region. The workshop was also attended by representatives from various agencies of the United Nations, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and UN MDGs Campaign Unit in Asia. To read the complete conference report, click here.
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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