Important steps are being taken this year to finalize the preparatory phase of a Global Partnership Programme (GPP) on the theme of Linking Smallholder Farmers to Growth Markets. Building on the consultations spearheaded by FAO-AGS and GFAR, and supported by the Post-harvest Action (PhAction) group of institutions, GFAR's Programmme Committee endorsed in their December meeting in Marrakech the process for finalising the formulation of a GPP proposal.

Global Partnership Programmes are a GFAR mechanism for fostering the development of collaborative efforts that address strategic agricultural research for development (ARD) issues of global relevance; they are jointly developed, carried out and owned by a set of diverse stakeholders and are inter-regional in nature. The purpose of Linking Farmers to Markets (LFM) GPP is to add value to, learn from and share experiences of on-going R&D initiatives that support the transition of smallholder farmers from near subsistence to greater levels of commercially oriented production, building their capacity to engage in supply chains linked to growth markets. As such, the Linking Farmers to Markets GPP is closely aligned with priorities set by GFAR's developing country regional ARD forums.

During 2006, AARINENA, APAARI, FARA and FORAGRO will establish ad hoc working groups to prepare regional proposals for their participation in the GPP (see news from AARINENA in this newsletter). The working groups comprise specialists and practitioners from different stakeholder groups. Their task is to identify concrete examples in their regions (programmes, projects, methods, tools) that they consider can provide the basis on which to build the global programme.

They will also define the specific needs that they would wish the global programme to fulfil in terms of helping the R&D community move from isolated cases of success to wide spread incorporation and institutionalisation of good practice. In September 2006 (11th-17th), delegates from each regional working group will meet during an inter-regional workshop to discuss their regional positions, reach consensus on a concrete inter-regional proposal and the establishment of an interim governance and management structure for the GPP. If the proposal that results from this workshop meets the expectations of GFAR's Programme and Steering Committees, start-up funds will be released in 2007 to initiate the implementation of the GPP.