In this issue

In this issue, the last for the year 2005, we share with you information on some milestones, activities and achievements during the year.

Early during the first quarter of the year, the Programme Facilitation Unit of the Under Utilized Species GPP with support from the Secretariat teamed up with IPGRI and the M.S. Swaminathan Foundation to organize an International Consultation on the role of agricultural biodiversity in achieving the Millennium Development Goal of freedom from hunger and poverty in Chennai India. The output of the consultation was a ten-point action plan which not only stressed the urgent need for nationally based actions, but also identified some areas of action that will contribute to meeting the MDG related to hunger and poverty. See here for further details.

Mid-way through the year, efforts to support a reorganization and strengthening drive by the Civil Society Organizations associated with GFAR reached a milestone. The Farmers Research Committee was constituted and had a first meeting to develop a forward looking programme of action it believes will ensure it achieves its goal of influencing the ARD research agenda at different levels (read here). At about the same time, the Sub-Saharan Africa NGO consortium was formally set up, and also immediately developed a programme of action followed by a multi stakeholder consultation, under the auspices of FARA, during which different stakeholders including researchers, farmers, the private sector and the NGO community came together under one roof to plan for future collaborative activities that will contribute towards the development of a research agenda for SSA. More details on this here.

Towards the latter part of the year, in October, three very important workshops in support of the advocacy and information communication management pillars of the GFAR business plan were carried out in collaboration with a number of partners. The first one under the advocacy and strategic thinking mandate of the Secretariat was the convening, in collaboration with the CGIAR Science Council Secretariat, of an action-oriented workshop on "How can the Poor Benefit from the Growing Markets for High Agricultural Value Products (HVAP)". The overriding goal was to contribute to developing a common understanding about how small producers can obtain the market linkages, technologies, organization and know-how they require to benefit from dynamic markets for high value products, and to form a platform for future action. Participants included strategic thinkers and knowledgeable practitioners from different stakeholder groups including CSO representatives. One of the interesting outputs was the formation of a group dedicated to promoting an initiative to work with farmer organizations to identify ways to build social capital for their organizations and the linkages that are necessary for them to realize the opportunities provided by emerging HVAP markets. More details on this here.

At about the same period of time in October, the Secretariat teamed up with FAO and other partners (CGIAR, CTA and INASP) to organize an expert consultation on International Information Systems for Agricultural Science and Technology. In this issue you will find details on this consultation here.

During the same month of October, the DURAS Project Leaders' Workshop was held in Montpellier. The workshop brought together 2 persons affiliated with each of the 12 funded projects. It was an invaluable networking occasion for these participants. Here you can find information on issues tackled during this workshop.

At the very end of the year, in early December, GFAR statutory meetings accompanied, as is now the tradition, by some other activities were held in Marrakech, Morocco.
One of the main highlights of the GFAR Steering Committee meeting in Marrakech was the final approval it gave to the new GFAR Charter. The Steering Committee in consultation with stakeholders had undertaken a review of the Charter which was last reviewed in 2000. More details on this and other highlights from Marrakech here.

One of the mentioned accompanying activities was the Youth Platform for ARD meeting. This brought together a number of young people involved in one way or another with the agricultural sector, and who are interested in and would like to contribute to ARD issues from a youth perspective. Some information on the genesis and activities including this first meeting of the platform which has requested to be under the GFAR umbrella are described succinctly in this issue here.

Another accompanying activity was a workshop organized by the GFAR Secretariat on Competitive Funding Mechanisms (CFM). The Secretariat was mandated by a group that discussed CFM during the FARA General Assembly in June 2005, to organize a more in-depth discussion on it with the objective of coming up with recommendations that will contribute to improving the utilization of this research financing instrument. Here you will find some details on the organization of this workshop, its outputs and recommendations.

Improving Communications. Some reflection within the Secretariat is on-going as to how to improve our communication strategy in order to extend its reach and impact. We share out thoughts and reflections on this with you in this issue (see here), and sollicit your input before we finalize the strategy, including a redesigned EGFAR (see here).

This issue of the newsletter, the last one for 2005, is rich in activities, milestones and achievements, on which we hope to build in the coming years.

Bonne lecture.

O.S.