GFAR Newsletter Issue 19, 04/2007
Newsletter date: 01/03/2007
]Editorial from the new Executive Secretary
2006 was a very active year for GFAR. A wide variety of programs and activities were conducted by its members and partner organizations. The highlights of the year were the Review of the Global Partnership Project, the 2nd External Review of GFAR and the GFAR 2006 triennial Conference at New Delhi. For 2007, GFAR has on its agenda the development of its 2007-2009 Business Plan. This is in addition to several continuing regional and interregional and partnership building activities of GFAR.
From March 30 till April 1 2007, representatives of GFAR stakeholders met and participated in a retreat at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt to develop the GFAR 2007-2009 Business plan. After carefully considering the changing environment for global agricultural research for development, GFAR’s strategy for the future was realigned to focus more on poor, small holder producers. The emphasis would be in promoting and fostering agricultural innovation systems for development. As its strategic objectives, GFAR would further strengthen its leadership role in strategic thinking and consensus building among ARD stakeholders on challenges faced by agricultural development and their possible solutions. It will continue to foster and promote partnerships on both North-South and South-South axis among its stakeholders for agricultural research for development (ARD). GFAR’s role in information and knowledge sharing and exchange related to ARD would be further reinforced, especially through the use of information and communications technology through EGFAR. In the Business Plan for 2007-2009, GFAR will take up specific activities that contribute to adapting agriculture to climate change, linking small holder producers to markets, reorienting agricultural research, education and extension and enabling innovative approaches for knowledge access by smallholder producers.
In this newsletter, we include the communiqué released at the GFAR participatory retreat to develop its 2007-2009 Business Plan. The final Business Plan, after approval of the GFAR Steering Committee, is expected to be ready for implementation by end of May 2007.
Abdelmajid Slama
News from the Secretariat
GFAR has a new Executive Secretary a.i.
The Global Forum on Agricultural research has a new Executive Secretary ad interim. Dr. Abdelmajid Slama, from Tunisia, was appointed on February 6th 2007. ...
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GFAR Retreat, 30/3 - 1/4 2007 - Communiqué
Communiqué after the GFAR Retreat in Alexandria, March 30th - April 1st 2007: "An innovation systems approach for ARD focused on poor, small holder producers central to future GFAR actions" ...
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DURAS Project
DURAS 2nd Project Leaders' Workshop held
The DURAS 2nd Project Leaders’ Workshop was held from 28 February to 2 March 2008 at Agropolis International, Montpellier, France. The event was attended by all the project coordinators and their European/French counterparts as well as two members of the DURAS Scientific Partnership Committee. ...
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News from the Secretariat - GPPs
PROLINNOVA
Updates on PROLINNOVA
The annual international Prolinnova partners meeting was held in Senegal. 40 people from about 20 countries exchanged their experiences in Promoting Local Innovation, building partnerships, integrating PID into curricula of universities and also developing plans for future joint actions. ...
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GFUUS
Updates on the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species
The "Who is doing what " service on the GFU website makes available the results of a survey conducted among organizations, institutions, networks and individuals in the public and private sector contributing and belonging to the "underutilized species community". ...
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News from the Regional Fora
News from the Regional Fora - AARINENA
AARINENA Executive Committee Meeting
AARINENA Executive Committee held its meeting in New Delhi, India on 8 November 2006. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Ahmed Al Bakri President of AARINENA. ...
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AARINENA ICT Steering Committee Meeting
In the framework of GFAR 2006 Conference, AARINENA - Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Steering Committee meeting was held on 10 November, 2006, and attended by representatives of AARINENA sub-regions and Network Coordinators. ...
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Expert Consultation Meeting for Establishment of Water Use Efficiency (WUE) Network
AARINENA in collaboration with ICARDA and GFAR held an expert consultation meeting at ICARDA, Aleppo-Syria during 26-27 November, 2006. ...
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News from the Regional Fora - APAARI
An update on recent activities of the Asia-Pacific Agricultural Research Information System (APARIS)
APARIS is focusing its attention on issues related to advocacy and integration of information resources. Accordingly, APARIS published a collection of success stories and best practices of ICT and ICM in ARD. ...
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News from the Regional Fora - CACAARI
CAC-RAIS: Workshop for Regional Agricultural Information System
A two-day workshop for elaborating the strategy and workplans to develop a Regional Agricultural Information System in CAC (CAC-RAIS) was organized by CACAARI in partnership with GFAR and ICARDA on 15-16 January, 2007 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. ...
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News from the Regional Fora - EFARD
In June 2007 George Rothschild will take over the EFARD presidency
In June 2007 George Rothschild will take over the EFARD presidency. Rothschild has a strong reputation and visibility in the international arena. ...
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ERA-ARD mid-term Conference "ARD in Europe: towards a shared vision"
The ERA-ARD conference will bring together around 150 key ARD stakeholders from the European Member States and Associated States, the European Commission and the regional and global ARD fora. ...
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"Dialogue on European initiatives and financial support to ARD" event at the GFAR Conference 2006
EFARD organised the event “Dialogue on European initiatives and financial support to agricultural research for development”, which was held on the 8th of November as a side event during the GFAR Conference in Delhi. ...
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Launch of EFARD evaluation - March 2007
The European Commission has launched an evaluation of EFARD. The review will assist in the identification of strengths and weaknesses regarding EFARD response to the challenges posed to ARD in Europe in its transcontinental dimension. ...
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Platform for African-European Partnership on ARD (PAEPARD)
EFARD initiated and now implements with FARA the new project Platform for African-European Partnership on Agricultural Research for Development (PAEPARD). ...
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News from the Regional Fora - FARA
Africa Agricultural Science Week and the 4th FARA General Assembly
The Africa Agricultural Science Week and the 4th FARA General Assembly will be held from the 10th – 16th June, 2007 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Sandton city, Johannesburg, South Africa ...
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News from the Regional Fora - FORAGRO
Infotec: invitation to share success stories in the use of ICTs
Infotec is launching an invitation to collect success stories in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) within agricultural research and technological innovation projects or programs. This INFOTEC project is a joint effort by IICA, FORAGRO and GFAR. ...
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News from the other Stakeholders
CGIAR
Knowledge Blenders: Toward more Dynamic Meetings on International Agricultural Research
During the GFAR Triennial Conference 2006, the CGIAR’s ICT-KM Program organized the “Blending Knowledge Systems for an Inclusive Approach to Innovation" working group, in collaboration with colleagues at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). ...
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CGIAR
CGVlibrary Team Recognized
The 2006 Outstanding Scientific Support Award went to the team responsible for the CGIAR Virtual Library, one of the ICT-KM Program’s most ambitious projects to date. ...
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CGIAR
CGIAR-CSI Joins UN Group
The CGIAR-CSI (Consortium for Spatial Information) recently scored a first when it received an invitation to become a full member of the United Nations Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG).. ...
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Farmers' Organizations
IFAP: Towards a breakthrough for farmer-centred agricultural research
The 3rd Triennial Conference of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) that took place in New Delhi, India, 9-11 November 2006 was an opportunity for farmers to lobby for this agenda – with significant success. ...
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News about YPARD
Following the launch of YPARD (www.ypard.org) during the GFAR 2006, YPARD was invited to particiapte in the 5th Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Science and Technology for ACP Agricultural & Rural Development organized by CTA in Wageningen, The Netherlands in December 2006. ...
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ICM Corner
Managing information on organizations, experts, projects and project outputs
Management Information Systems (MIS) in ARD provide information related to the management of projects and activities in ARD such as on organizations, experts, projects/activities and project/activity outputs. A strong need for such comprehensive and structured information services has clearly emerged in recent years. ...
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What's new on EGFAR?
GFAR is pleased to inform you that new features are available on the EGFAR website. Some of the new features, particularly the Open Site and the forums, are part of a communication plaftorm that we are now launching and in which we strongly invite everyone to participate.
...
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