Summary of Actions of the GFAR Secretariat from November 2010-March 2011

1. GFAR and GCARD Global Advocacy

• Finalized GCARD Roadmap through extensive consultation, editing and rewriting, firstly with GFAR Programme Committee, then GFAR Steering Committee and stakeholders. GCARD Roadmap was finalized in February and fully endorsed by GFAR Steering Committee, including CGIAR Consortium;
 
• Advocacy - keynote speaker for World Bank Agriculture & Rural Development Week, World Bank advisers and donor agencies, Washington DC. Led to increased donor commitment to GFAR linkage and to invitations to engage GFAR, APAARI & GCARD principles with large scale AR4D loan programmes in India and Indonesia;
 
• Keynote presentation at EIARD donor meeting of European donor representatives involved in funding research, Uppsala, Sweden. Led to specific new commissioning for GFAR from EIARD;
 
• Direct input to G20 paper on impact oriented research compiled by the World Bank and FAO (agencies tasked in G20 Seoul) and which directly includes the GCARD Roadmap action points;
 
• Secured invitation from FAO for GFAR to contribute to Rio plus 20 paper in regard to role of innovation institutions in agricultural sustainability;
 
• Constructive early discussions with Committee on Food Security and with nutrition programme of UN Secretary General on their direct linkages with GFAR actions;
 
• Represented GFAR in CGIAR Fund Council meeting, Washington DC. Presented on outcomes of GCARD and requested funding for GCARD 2012. Donors requested forward plan with CGIAR on what GCARD 2012 means for CGIAR reform;
 
• Follow-on discussions with CGIAR Consortium CEO Lloyd Le Page showed that GCARD 2010 was too distant a timeline for consideration compared with their more immediate concerns. Discussion with CGIAR consortium has now identified CGIAR representatives for the GCARD process;
 
• Worked with ASTI to identify needs in establishing investment baselines around the world.

2a. Support to Regional Fora 

• Sponsored and took part in AARINENA post-GCARD conference, establishing a framework for further actions arising from the GCARD findings and the AARINENA Executive Committee meeting, Aleppo, Syria;
 
• Co-sponsored and participated in APAARI International Symposium on sustainable development and use of agrobiodiversity and APAARI Executive Committee and AGM, Suwon, Korea;
 
• Participated in APAARI Executive Committee, Delhi, India and catalysed discussion with ADB on their further support to APAARI and partnership with GFAR;
 
• Took part in EFARD-FARA PAEPARD workshop, Florence, Italy;
 
• Sponsored participants, co-organized meeting and gave scene-setting speech in FARA-CAADP workshop, Zurich, Switzerland;
 
• Provided close support to CACAARI in their initiation of a process to develop a regional AR4D framework following the GCARD;
 
• Worked with all Regional Fora in articulating their programmes into common framework for funding through FAO letters of agreement.

2b. Capacity development 

• Co-sponsored and participated in GCHERA workshop, Rome, to establish Global Consortium on Higher Education & Research in Agriculture;
 
• Session Moderator for conclusions of RUFORUM Ministerial Conference on Higher Education in African Agriculture, Kampala, Uganda;
 
• Took forward discussion with Rwandan Minister of Agriculture, and with Regional and Sub-regional Fora in Africa, on proposed meeting on the role of agricultural knowledge and innovation institutions in post-conflict and fragile states;
 
• Developed and agreed programme with FAO, NGOs, SSA-CP and CGIAR for new ways of articulating innovation needs from women farmers, to be piloted in W Africa;
 
• Fully sponsored YPARD, including securing significant new funding from SDC and provided administrative support to the GFAR-hosted YPARD Secretariat.

3. Inter-regional partnership themes 

• Sponsored and led agrobiodiversity workshop among international research networks and national leaders involved in sustainable use of agrobiodiversity, with ITPGRFA, Rome. Led to mutual agreement on new collaborative action among all parties;
 
• Sponsored regional participants and led side-event on sustainable use of agro- biodiversity, Governing Body of International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Bali, Indonesia. Resulted in much interest in new outcome-based initiative and taking forward regional frameworks and in formal inclusion of GFAR as a partner to the intergovernmental ITPGRFA;
 
• Co-organized ARDD session and sponsored regional participants to attend UNFCCC Cancun climate change conference, Mexico. Resulted in further invitations for GFAR to be involved in actions such as a new Commission on climate change and sustainable agriculture;
 
• Took part in IFPRI Conference on food security, nutrition and health, Delhi, India;
 
• Developed links with Empowering Small Farmers into Markets (ESFIM) programme and promoted LFM proposal to Gates Foundation, World Bank and European Commission.

4. ICM4ARD 

• Took part in information workshop, CAAS and Chinese Agricultural Librarians Society Conference in Nanchang, China, leading to development of plans for GFAR-CIARD-CAAS international workshop on creating a global framework for data and information sharing, Beijing, June 2011;
 
• Arranged seconded placement of information officer from CAAS to GFAR Secretariat;
 
• CIARD RING launched and publicized. The RING has grown rapidly, with active participation now also from India and commissioned with CAAS, China;
 
• Developed discussion with Indian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other fast-growing economies on sharing knowledge gained from agricultural development in those countries;
 
• Participated in a special meeting on improving information and communication in Indian NARS and to build Indian involvement in CIARD RING;
 
• Worked with GFRAS management to clarify relationship and expectations between GFAR and GFRAS;
 
• Continued to support and help articulate RAIS initiatives in each region;
 
• Worked with FAO to develop and support innovation systems programme in CACAARI region;
 
• EGFAR webpage reviewed and modified, GFAR e-newsletter regularly issued on GFAR-related events;
 
• Took part in CABI Review Conference, London, established linkage with various information dissemination programmes;
 
• Presented a paper and participated in Workshop on Adoption in Agriculture and Agribusiness and conducted advocacy and promotion for CIARD and CIARD.RING at Asian Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture (AFITA 2010), Bogor, Indonesia. 

Staffing

• Terms finalized with FAO HR and relevant departments for civil society officer and ICT officer, external advertisements in process;
• Clerical officer advertisement issued;
• Secondment of Dr Harry Palmier as Senior Partnerships Expert from IRD in April 2011
• Secondment of Dr Robin Bourgeois as Senior Foresight & M&E Expert from the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs