Pope Benedict's 'Noahide Law' Commission Mocks Victims of Talmudic Economics

Updated

The theme of this the 11^th meeting of the bilateral commission [of the Chief Rabbinate of Counterfeit Israel and the 'Holy' See's Commission for Religious Relations with 'The Jews'] was titled "Religious perspectives on the current financial crisis: vision for a just economic order" ... Papers on the theme were provided by Dr. Meir Tamari, former chief economist of the Bank of Israel ..."

Here are some relevant writings from Rabbi Dr. Meir Tamari, former chief economist of the Bank of Counterfeit Israel, whose 'vision' the Vatican has turned to for direction towards 'a just economic order':

All Jewish sources, however, show that Judaism does not see anything intrinsically wrong with lending money at interest. On the contrary, it is a perfectly normal and beneficial part of economic activity, like the supply of other forms of capital.” (Rabbi Meir Tamari, With All Your Possessions: Jewish Ethics and Economic Life, p. 167

Perhaps the best proof that [according to rabbinic Judaism] taking interest is not regarded as being evil per se, but rather only forbidden because the Torah said so, is the rule that while one may not take interest from other Jews, it is permitted in regard to non-Jews. (Rabbi Meir Tamari, The challenge of wealth: a Jewish perspective on earning and spending money)

"... it is essential to remember that there exist a religious obligation to make interest-free loans available to other Jews ... [however,] one may lend money at interest to non-Jews." (Rabbi Meir Tamari, In the marketplace: Jewish business ethics)

Financial economists may find Meir Tamari’s treatment of interest and profits rather unsatisfactory, and his treatment of Scripture and the Mishnah may also be seen as controversial. One interesting point is the distinction between financial dealings between Jews, where interest is not permissible, and between Jews and Gentiles where it is, the justification for this being in Deutronomy. Maimonides interpreted the Hebrew word tashikh, you may charge a foreigner interest, as you shall charge a gentile interest. It was this that justified Jews becoming involved in moneylending throughout medieval Europe and instrumental in the development of modern banking practice. While relations between Jews and Christians were kept on a business footing, those within the Jewish communities were based on exchanging favours and mutual trust in the absence of interest based transactions. This discriminatory treatment of Jews and Gentiles may be criticised by non-Jews, but it served to strengthen bonds within Judaism and the feeling of a common identity. (Rodney Wilson, "Comparitive Religious Thought on Economic Behavior and Financial Transactions," Journal of the Association of Christian Economists)

http://christian-economists.org.uk/jour_23.pdf

The masses of Jewish migrants from Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries had neither the assets for collateral nor the personal history of financial activity necessary for recourse to the banking systems of their new host societies. Their astonishing economic development would have been totally different to what actually materialized, were it not for the existence of Jewish free loan societies in every country. (Rabbi Meir Tamari, "'Both a Lender and a Borrower Be:' The Challenge of Money)

http://www.ouisrael.org/tidbits/detail/BOTH-A-LENDER-AND-A-BORROWER-BE-part-one-THE-CHALLENGE-OF-MONEY

The corollary is that the astonishing decline in wealth and increase in indebtedness of non-Judaic nations and individuals which has accompanied the astonishing "economic development" of East European 'Jews' would have been "totally different" if it had not been for predatory lending practices which rabbinic teaching readily permits against non-'Jews' as Rabbi Dr. Meir Tamari explains above.

The Bilateral Commission of the Chief Rabbinate of Counterfeit Israel and the 'Holy' See's Commission for Religious Relations with 'The Jews' has issued a statement addressing the present world financial catastrophe. This bilateral commission recognized the unbiblical, talmudic 'Noahide laws' in 2007 according to which, Christian 'idolators' (believers in the Divinity of Jesus Christ and Trinity) should be executed by decapitation.

If you believe that a joint Vatican-Chief Rabbinate of Counterfeit Israel plan for economic reform will bring about any godly change in events, there's a dead 'Messiah' in Brooklyn they probably could also sell you.

The rabbinic canon provides the rationalization for the kind of financial predation witnessed throughout the world today. Moreover, as Thomas Jefferson aptly noted, the rabbis' tradition is practically void and valueless as a reference for ethics and morality.

As readers of symbols we note that the seventh bilateral meeting rolled out the so-called 'Noahide laws' and the eleventh meeting rolls out a so-called 'ethical economic order.'

COMMISSION FOR RELIGIOUS RELATIONS WITH THE JEWS

BILATERAL COMMISSION MEETING
OF THE DELEGATIONS OF THE CHIEF RABBINATE OF ISRAEL AND
THE HOLY SEE’S COMMISSION
FOR RELIGIOUS RELATIONS WITH THE JEWS

(Rome, March 27-29, 2012; Nissan 4-6, 5772)

Joint Statement

1. The Jewish co-chair Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen opened the meeting, giving thanks to God for the historic transformation in Catholic-Jewish relations since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and for the establishment of the bilateral commission of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Holy See, after the historic visit of Pope John Paul II to Israel.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, the new Catholic co-chair, responded paying tribute to his predecessor Cardinal Jorge Mejía and welcomed the delegations, in particular those who had just joined the bilateral commission. Cardinal Mejía together with Cardinal Cottier, as the former senior members of the Catholic delegation, accompanied by Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, visited with the delegations and expressed their joy at the continuity of this work as a blessing for both communities and for humanity.

2. The theme of this the 11^th meeting of the bilateral commission was titled "Religious perspectives on the current financial crisis: vision for a just economic order". The special guest on the first evening was Prof. Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, President of the Vatican’s Istituto per le Opere di Religione, who provided an analysis of the causes of the financial crisis and shared thoughts on possible ways forward. Papers on the theme were provided by Dr. Meir Tamari, former chief economist of the Bank of Israel, and Prof. Stefano Zamagni from the Economic Science Department of the University of Bologna.

3. Following from the presentations and discussion, the following points were highlighted:-

While many factors contributed to the financial crisis, at its roots lies a crisis of moral values in which the importance of having, reflected in a culture of greed, eclipsed the importance of being; and where the value of truth reflected in honesty and transparency was sorely lacking in economic activity.

4. At the heart of Jewish and Catholic visions for a just economic order is the affirmation of the sovereignity and providence of the Creator of the world with whom all wealth originates and which is given to humankind as a gift for the common good.

5. Accordingly, the purpose of an economic order is to serve the wellbeing of society, affirming the human dignity of all people, each created in the Divine Image. While this concept of dignity affirms the value of the person, it is antithetical to egocentricity. Rather, it requires the promotion of the wellbeing of the individual in relation to community and society, emphasizing human obligations and responsibilities accordingly and thereby affirming human solidarity and fraternity.

This posits the obligation to guarantee certain basic human needs, such as the protection of life, sustenance, clothing, housing, health, education and employment.

Particular attention must therefore be given to the vulnerable – the poor, the orphan, the widow the sick and disabled; and the stranger, which in today’s society is particularly relevant to migrant and foreign workers – whose condition serves as a measure of the moral health of society or lack thereof, and the degree of solidarity within it.

6. Furthermore, just as the Divine gift of wealth places obligations upon the recipient in relation to those less fortunate materially; similarly countries with developed economies have the obligation to recognize their responsibilities and duties towards countries and societies in need – especially in this era of globalization.

7. Concepts highlighted for the promotion of a more just economic order included:

- the universal destination of the goods of the earth; a culture of "enough" that implies a degree of self-limitation and modesty; responsible stewardship; an ethical system of allocation of resources and priorities; and the critical importance of honesty, transparency, gratuitousness and accountability.

8. Just as the crisis has required partial remission of debts on national and international levels, there is a need to extend this to families and individuals for their economic self-rehabilitation.

9. The members of the bilateral commission underscored the role that the faith communities must play in contributing to a responsible economic order and the importance of their engagement by government, educational institutions, and the media, to this end.

10. In addition to the ethical wisdom drawn from our spiritual heritages, religious communities are an integral part of civil society, which must play a central role together with politics and business, in ensuring the subsidiarity necessary for a just social and economic order.

11. Furthermore the crisis has revealed the profound lack of the ethical component in economic thinking. Hence, it is imperative that institutes and academies of economic studies and policy formation include ethical training in their curricula, similar to that which has developed in recent years in the field of medical ethics; and also ethical counselling to decision makers on a national and international level.

12. The meeting concluded with prayer to the Source of all blessing that the words of the Psalmist will be fulfilled

"Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed (each other).
Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Yea, the Lord shall give (that which is) good; and our land shall yield her increase.
Righteousness shall go before Him; and shall set (us) in the way of His steps"

(Ps 85,11-14).

Rome, March 29^th, 2012 – Nissan 6^th, 5772

Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen (Chairman of the Jewish Delegation)Rabbi David Rosen Rabbi Prof. Daniel Sperber Rabbi Prof. Avraham Steinberg Mr. Oded Wiener Msgr. Pier Francesco Fumagalli

Peter Cardinal Turkson (Chairman of the Jewish Delegation) Archbishop Elias Chacour Archbishop Antonio Franco Archbishop Bruno Forte Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo Msgr. Pier Francesco Fumagalli Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa O.F.M. Fr. Norbert J. Hofmann S.D.B.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/relations-jews-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20120329_commissione-bilaterale_en.html

Also see:

Lloyd Blankfein Says He Is Doing "God's Work"

Deepening the Judeo-Supremacist/'Noahide' Servant Relationship

Rabbi She'ar-Yashuv Cohen

Rabbi David Rosen

Meet the Wall St. Rabbi/Goldman Sachs VP

The "Church Militant" With Rabbis in Command

Review 2011 of the French e-commerce customer experience landscape, Feedbacks of over 9,000 e-shoppers on 65 major sites

Since 2009, YUSEO surveys each year the French e-commerce market through the customer experience involving large samples of e-shoppers to test the major French web sites. The “2001 White Paper” provides a definite milestone for any retailer aiming to enter or expand on the French market. Beyond the “basic” cultural, the review of the 65 major web

Funding new opportunities for microenterprise development in Colombia

Colombia videos highlight project successes, new trends in rural development

Click through the playlist above to see all 11 videos from the Oportunidades Rurales' Ruta Verde Program

By promoting competitive processes that inject funds directly into the hands of small businessmen and women, Colombia’s Rural Microenterprise Assets Programme – known locally as Oportunidades Rurales – is funding innovation, peace and sustainable development in the Colombian countryside one competition – and one campesino – at a time.

Targeting traditionally marginalized communities like indigenous peoples, youth, afro-Colombians and people displaced by violence, the Oportunidades programme focuses on funding technical assistance through competitions, providing financial services and capturing the lessons learned through their knowledge-management programme.

“One of the primary objectives is to finance innovations that will be relevant to rural people, especially in the areas of micro-credit, insurance and savings,” says Andrés Silva, Director of Oportunidades Rurales.

Made possible through US$20 million in funding from the United Nations’ rural poverty agency, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the project has a total price tag of some US$32 million and is slated to benefit around 50,000 people.
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Financiando nuevas oportunidades para el desarrollo de microempresas en Colombia
Con la promoción de procesos competitivos que inyectan fondos directamente a las manos de los pequeños empresarios y empresarias, el programa Oportunidades Rurales de Colombia (conocido como el Rural Microenterprise Assets Programme en inglés) está financiando innovación, paz y desarrollo sostenible en los campos colombianos, concurso por concurso, y campesino por campesino.

Al enfocarse en las comunidades tradicionalmente marginadas como los pueblos indígenas, jóvenes, afro-colombianos y las personas desplazadas por la violencia, el programa Oportunidades tiene como objetivo financiar la asistencia técnica a través de concursos. Así, ofrece servicios financieros y captura las enseñanzas aprendidas a través de su programa de gestión del conocimiento.

“Uno de los objetivos principales es financiar innovaciones que sean relevantes para la gente rural, especialmente en la áreas de microcréditos, seguros y ahorros”, dice Andrés Silva, director de Oportunidades Rurales.

Hecho posible gracias a US$20 millones en fondos proporcionados por la agencia contra la pobreza rural de las Naciones Unidas, el Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola (FIDA), el proyecto tiene un valor total de aproximadamente US$32 millones y se espera beneficie a cerca de 50,000 personas.
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Un inolvidable taller con mujeres afrocolombianas

Photo courtesy Paula Rodriguez.

Por Dinyer González 
Fueron cuatro días en los que 24 mujeres provenientes de remotos sitios del Pacífico colombiano se dieron cita en el CIAT para compartir sus experiencias, sus sueños y sus temores en torno al uso ancestral de las plantas aromáticas y medicinales, y recibir de los expertos en mercados herramientas que les permitirán mejorar sus negocios.

El taller “Aprendiendo juntos: compartiendo nuestros modelos de negocios” fue organizado por el Programa Análisis de Políticas (DAPA), y las participantes forman parte de tres organizaciones de Guapi, Buenaventura y Quibdó que trabajan con la Fundación ACUA (Activos Culturales Afro), con el apoyo del Fondo Internacional para el Desarrollo Agrícola (FIDA).

No se conocían entre sí y sus negocios son diferentes –parteras, productoras de jabones, cremas, ungüentos- pero las unía el mismo interés: el conocimiento en torno a las plantas medicinales, aromáticas y condimentarías.

De Guapi, en el departamento del Cauca, vino la Fundación Chiyangua, cuyo trabajo está orientado al cultivo de plantas condimentarías y medicinales en azoteas y patios y su posterior comercialización; de Quibdó, capital del Chocó, vino la Asociación Tesoro de la Selva, dedicada a la producción de jabones, cremas y ungüentos a partir de plantas medicinales; y finalmente, de Buenaventura, en el Valle del Cauca, llegó la Asociación de Parteras Unidas del Pacífico (Asoparupa), en cuyo oficio heredado utilizan plantas medicinales.

Estas tres organizaciones colombianas forman parte de las 20 que en América Latina reciben el apoyo de la Fundación ACUA, para preservar sus activos culturales, con recursos del FIDA. Si bien dichos recursos han sido administrados por el CIAT desde hace algunos años, solo hasta el 2010 se diseñó un proyecto que permitió al Centro vincular su trabajo de investigación con la labor de estas mujeres, por lo cual eligieron las asociaciones relacionadas con la agricultura.

Para el CIAT ha resultado muy motivador el trabajo con ellas, dado el dinamismo, la sabiduría y el interés en compartir y aprender. Por eso, el taller fue una enriquecedora experiencia para todos. Se trabajó con una metodología participativa en la que, una vez dados los modelos y las las herramientas, ellas mismas reflexionaban en torno a las fortalezas y debilidades en los negocios y diseñaron las hojas de ruta que quieren seguir.

Términos que al principio les sonaron extraño, se volvieron familiares: segmentos de clientes, propuesta de valor, canales de ventas, relaciones con los clientes, fuentes de ingresos, recursos, actividades, socios claves, estructura de costos.

“La importancia del taller radica en la oportunidad que tienen las organizaciones de profundizar el conocimiento de su actividad como tal y poder recibir retroalimentación de organizaciones que están desarrollando procesos semejantes o complementarios a ellos y que les puedan aportar experiencias que les sirven para su progreso”, afirma John Jairo Hurtado, coordinador del proyecto.

Además de actividades teórico-prácticas, las visitantes tuvieron la oportunidad de interactuar con otro grupo de mujeres con mayor experiencia en los negocios, pero que tuvieron que sortear muchas dificultades. Se trata de la Asociación Femenina Agropecuaria, con sede en la vereda Yumbillo, en las goteras de Cali, capital del Valle del Cauca.

La visita fue emocionante. Eso se pudo evidenciar en los ojos de estas mujeres afrocolombianas, quienes se sentían maravilladas al escuchar la experiencia de sus colegas y saber que el negocio no es fácil, pero tampoco imposible si se saben aprovechar las oportunidades y si se tiene convicción con lo que se hace.

Esa visita fue enriquecedora para las mujeres del Pacífico, y se sintieron más motivadas para continuar con sus proyectos. “Lo más importante no es solo recibir recursos económicos sino también la educación necesaria para poder adquirir las técnicas y habilidades requeridas para nuestros negocios”, afirmó Jenny Rentería, líder de Tesoro de la Selva.

Por su parte, Rosmilda Quiñones, presidenta de Asoparupa, admitió que no tienen dinero, tampoco todos los conocimientos técnicos para el cultivo de las plantas, “pero sí tenemos el conocimiento de nuestros ancestros, además de unas ganas inalcanzables de dar a conocer nuestros productos y servicios”.

Con conclusiones como ésta, quedaron en evidencia las motivaciones y anhelos de estas mujeres, de seguir trabajando en sus pequeños negocios, reconociendo los puntos claves en los que deben buscar el apoyo necesario para prosperar sus microempresas.

Al término del taller, todas las mujeres, sin excepción, se sentían más seguras, más confiadas y mejor orientadas hacia el camino que deben seguir y que las llevará al éxito de sus negocios, aún cuando además de empresarias deban seguir cumpliendo con sus roles de madres, esposas y encargarse del hogar.

“Me voy feliz, ¿y sabe por qué?”, expresó con una luminosa sonrisa Teófila Betancourt, líder de la Fundación Chiyangua, cuando el taller había concluido. “Porque aquí nos dimos cuenta de que nosotras no estamos solas en esto. Hay un proceso enorme que está en marcha y ya estamos metidos en él”.

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Growing food security in West Africa

Completion workshop of the IFAD EUFF Programme in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

When the European Union launched its Food Facility (EUFF) Programme in 2009, it chose IFAD as the implementing partner for West Africa. Building on existing IFAD-supported projects and working closely with ECOWAS and ICRISAT, our colleagues have successfully implemented the 20 Million Euro programme – in only 18 month! The programme activities helped to strengthen the value chains of the production of certified seeds of rice, cassava, groundnut, yam and maize. What has started as an emergency relief programme to help the countries with the food crisis that affected the sub-region in 2008, turned out to be much more than that: By increasing the availability of high quality seeds and by training smallholder farmers in innovative production techniques, the work of EUFF Programme helped to grow food security in West Africa, not only in the short but also in the long term.

Earlier this week, the implementing partners met in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, to discuss the final report and draw the lessons learned for future projects. While the final report and the capitalisation products will be available around the end of May, I have spoken to Ernest Aubee, Principal Programme Officer and Head of Agriculture at ECOWAS, Dr. Samba Traoré, who coordinated the implementation of the regional component at ICRISAT and Adriane Del Torto, Coordinator of the EUFF Programme in West Africa at IFAD, to give you a first assessment of the programme. Many thanks to the three for their time!

What are the main achievements of the EU Food Facility Programme in West Africa?

Ernest Aubee, ECOWAS:

Dr. Samba Traoré, ICRISAT:

The ICRISAT component of the programme was focussed on the production of higher and more stable grain yields of sorghum and pearl millet by smallholder farmers. We have increased the production of quality seeds, not only at the individual seed producer level, but also at the level of farmer organizations. As a result, more quality seeds are available which leads to higher yields. One farmer told me that he planted millet on ten hectares and sorghum on three hectares. With the quality seeds he increased his sorghum yields from about 1000 kilogram/hectare to two tons/hectare and is expecting similar results for the millet field. With the profit he made, he could solve his financial problems and send his children to school. And this is just one example of how we have improved the living conditions in the region. In general, the major outputs of the programme are strengthened skills and capacity of seed producers, farmer organizations and researchers through training and farmer field schools; an increased communication and stronger coordination among the different actors in the region; increased varietal options for sorghum and pearl millet for smallholder farmers and a strengthened monitoring and evaluation capacity.

Adriane Del Torto, IFAD:

What are the lessons learned of the EU Food Facility Programme in West Africa?

Ernest Aubee, ECOWAS:

Dr. Samba Traoré, ICRISAT:

There were several success factors that made it possible to implement this comprehensive programme in such a short amount of time. First, the strong engagement of producers and other stakeholders in the process. Second, the problem of bad quality seed was real and widely spread, so we could improve the yields within a short time. Third, capacity building helped to spread the knowledge, also beyond the direct beneficiaries. Fourth, we build on an existing project, which saved us the time of doing baseline research. And last but not least, the strong communication throughout the whole process was a major success factor. Because if you don’t communicate, you can’t scale-up.

Adriane Del Torto, IFAD:

What are the necessary next steps to sustain and build on the achievements made by the EU Food Facility Programme in West Africa, now that the programme activities have been completed?

Ernest Aubee, ECOWAS:

Dr. Samba Traoré, ICRISAT:

The sustainability of our work was very important from the beginning. This is why we used community technologies, supported the spread of knowledge and produced materials, such as training manuals or leaflets with descriptions of new varieties and their specific adaptive and quality traits. But now it is important to put a mechanism in place to enhance the region’s food security in the long term. We should not wait for a crisis to do that.

Adriane Del Torto, IFAD:

After a day filled with discussions, the workshop participants celebrated their achievements with some traditional Ivorian dance. And while the programme activities have been completed, everyone agreed that the issue of food security is still a timely one and that the work to grow food security in West Africa must continue.

Aura Alliance Delivers on Ambitious Global Agenda at Third Annual Conference

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Founded in 2010 and

MymCart signs deal with Affiliate Window as mobile commerce technology partner

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MymCart’s technology will allow Affiliate Window to open up a new sales channel. This will give its 1,500 advertisers and around 70,000 publishers sending traffic through to advertiser sites the opportunity to mobilise and monetise their

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Time is the biggest loss when fraud takes place, claims report

New research from CIFAS, the UK's Fraud Prevention Service, has revealed it is the time taken to sort out the problems caused by fraud that has the greatest impact on victims. In response Equifax, the leading instant online credit information provider, is urging consumers to use the tools available to them to prevent fraud occurring in the first place as well as act on it quickly if they

Magic Cassava

By David F. Paqui
When I was a little boy in Benin and I was hungry but my mother was not home to prepare something, my saviour was “Gari”, a food derived from cassava. I would put water on it and after waiting a minutes it would swell. I ate and drank until my stomach was full. My first week in China as foreign student, left me hungry too, since most Chinese food contains added sugar. The “Gari” I had brought with me was again my salvation. When I visited my relatives in Ogun State in Nigeria, one of my cousins, Matthew, had “Eba”, which is also made from “Gari”, as his favourite food. Whenever he demanded it he would shout: “Eba makes me strong, Eba makes me strong”.

Even though it has played a prominent role in my nutrition, I had no idea cassava was such a powerful, or dare I say magic crop, until I had the opportunity to join the President of IFAD, Kanayo F. Nwanze, in the field during his official trip to Cameroon from 29 February to 3 March 2012. I discovered that cassava is changing the lives of an entire community of smallholder farmers in Minkoa, where the Roots and Tubers Market-driven Development Programme was implemented. This programme is supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) with the contribution of two important research centres: the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the National Institute of Research for Agricultural Development (IRAD).

On 2 March 2012, the discovery of cassava as magic crop began during the visit to IITA and IRAD centres close to Yaoundé where I learned more about the continuing cassava revolution. In Africa, particularly in West and Central regions, each person consumes 80 kilograms of cassava each year. Cassava is also used for food, animal feed and industrial products, and requires less labour than other staple crops (21 per cent working days compared to maize, yam and rice). However, it requires considerable post-harvest labour because the roots are highly perishable and must be processed into a storable form soon after harvest. It is important to point out that IFAD has provided both centres with research grants. Mr Hanna of IITA said: “IFAD funding has helped researchers to develop and disseminate cassava varieties with multiple resistance and or tolerance to pest and disease constraints and to disseminate natural enemies under the IITA-biological control programme to tackle some of the pests.” The two research centres have supplied the beneficiaries of the programme IFAD supported Roots and Tubers Market-driven Development Programme with 4 million of news improved varieties of cassava.

I spoke to Immaculate Ngandje, a 50 year-old who is also a member of “Comité Villageois de Concertation (CVC)” of Batoke and a beneficiary of the IFAD-supported programme, she told me more about this magical crop. She said: “I used local varieties of cassava and produced only 23 to 25 trucks per hectare. From 2007, I started using the improved cassava varieties and I now produce 35 to 40 trucks per hectare. My income also has increased from CFA 90 000 to CFA 200 000 each month.”

When we arrived in Minkoa, a group of women were singing. The song was dedicated to cassava with the words: “cassava is food security, with cassava we can send our children to school, with cassava we can go to the hospital when we are sick, with cassava we can have a land and a house, with cassava we will have a car and with cassava we will have internet one day.” Many of those involved in the programme are women. Madame Susanne Nke, the President of CVC Minkoa illustrated the achievements of the IFAD-supported programme. She emphasized how the programme has improved the conditions of women through production, processing and marketing. She said that the CVC has used 64 hectares of land, among 16 in common and the remaining by village and individual members. The group has produced 430,000 cassava cuttings and sold 205,000 for the total amount of CFA 2.05 million and distributed 225,000 to the members. Thanks to the rehabilitation of rural roads, the members of the CVC Minkoa have access to markets and sold the cassava processed products for the total amount of CFA 15 million. But all this could not be possible without the contribution of research. Before, the cassava yield in Minkoa was 5 tonnes per hectare. Now with the improved varieties, the smallholder farmers produce up to 25 to 30 tonnes per hectare.
Madame Nke said, “the rural women of our villages must really reach full autonomy. The arduous nature of their work must be reduced. We want to move from the hoe to the tractor. To transform our lives we need modern equipment, water, electricity, telephone, and why not internet?” For me this visit was proof how through research, people are able to make a business of farming. And I think that these powerful women will be able to see the reality of internet one day. With the magic of cassava, anything is possible.

This field visit is a proof that agriculture can be a business and IFAD supported Roots and Tubers Market-driven Development Programme is making the difference in the like of the community of Minkoa. With the dynamism of the rural women of the area, I believe that magic cassava will really bring internet in Minkoa. CVC Minkoa keep up, you are the best!

Secure Connectivity with Reliable Messaging Infrastructure

Organizations today are crowded with number of challenges and threats to keep their business continued successfully and keep up consistent growth. Among those challenges data security issues assume pivotal area of focus as it’s a point of make or break for the organization. It is critically important for organizations to have a foolproof, and reliable messaging infrastructure in place that protects their critical data, proprietary and confidential information and provides absolute security against attackers and intruders.

Messaging infrastructure may include but not limited up to  internet and intranet emails, instant messages and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) that have now become necessity of every enterprise. No one would have ever thought about terms like spams, scams, viruses, hacking, government mandatory archiving and other such things when the email systems were first emerged. Now above mentioned factors have become a critical parameter while planning and designing communication system for an organization.

This evolution has led IBM WebSphere MQ becoming the backbone for an enterprise wide, mission critical messaging infrastructure. According to one figure 70% of the today’s world enterprises employ WebSphere MQ to initiate and finalize orders, convey and accept proposals and conduct many other such type of official and non official correspondence and business transactions every day.

WebSphere MQ provides a range of link-level security services, including support for the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) designed to allow the transmission of protected data over an insecure network. These systems offer an added benefit of written proof of communication between two parties which may be used later for any purpose.

Numerous research studies have shown that employees of an organization may surrender their liberty to use phone lines freely rather giving up access to their email accounts.

These days the use of IM system is gaining attention and popularity among most of the enterprises – particularly consumer IM – for business communications is growing on fast pace.  The typical user mostly spends two or more hours each day interfacing with some aspect of a messaging system.  In short, instant messaging has become a battery to the vast majority of enterprises for their functionality.

Your messaging infrastructure may be victimized by many unidentified errors and flaws during its implementation which may become threat to organizational security leading to performance collapse. Web Sphere MQ Guruis the best solution to such errors providing health check facilities to maintain integrity and security intact throughout communication channels.

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That's Food and Drink: Natural Food Show Exhibitor Highlights 2012

That's Food and Drink: Natural Food Show Exhibitor Highlights 2012: The Natural Food Show at Natural & Organic Products Europe returns to Olympia, London, on 1-2 April 2012, with over 300 exhibitors from all ...

Sceneric and hybris Help Stanley Gibbons Win Stamp of Approval

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Since opting for UK-based web consultancy Sceneric and multi-channel commerce software vendor hybris to build its online channel in 2010, famed stamp dealer Stanley Gibbons has seen a 72% increase in online sales in just under two years, announcing online sales of £4.3m (2010: £2.5m) in

npower employee organises fundraising music extravaganza

npower employee Lee Judge is organising Judgestock 2012, an annual, one day musical extravaganza that will feature students from the George Salter Academy Saturday School and out-of-hours performing arts playing with professional bands and musicians at The Public in West Bromwich on July 7.

Rus Smith, Extended Schools Manager, has some 200

Independent trustee services or DIY? Time to get sociable!

With such far-reaching changes taking place within the pensions world these days, it's small wonder many employees now feel a certain amount of bemused detachment, no doubt interspersed with a liberal dose of confusion, worry and perhaps moments of panic! 
Who can blame them given the drip-feed nature of 24-hour breaking news often adding

UK consumers react to the budget

- 8% say that the recession is building a community spirit and a “we’re all in it together attitude”
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Lessons learned from learning lessons

Third day of the IFAD-EUFF capitalisation workshop in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

The third day of the IFAD-EUFF capitalisation workshop is not only the final day of this workshop. It is also the end of a process that was initiated in September 2011 at the first capitalisation workshop in Bamako, Mali. The term capitalisation refers to a process to profit or benefit from a “capital” that we have, in the case of the IFAD-EUFF programme, the lessons learned and experiences of the colleagues working in the different projects. Over the last six month, the participants have worked on narrowing down a unique experience or factor in their projects that they want to share with others. Now it was time to draw the lessons learned and discuss the next steps.

Isaac Vifa, who has been working with the Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Programme in Ghana for the last two years, took some time to tell me about his experiences:

What is capitalisation and can you briefly describe the process?

You have participated in the IFAD-EUFF programme capitalisation process. What are you central learnings of these six month?

How can capitalisation increase the impact of development programmes?

A big thanks to you, Isaac!

Other points that were raised during the feedback discussions:

• Failures are a learning opportunity: By sharing difficulties, limitations and the way we addressed them, others can learn from the experiences and avoid having to face the same challenges.
• Exchange matters: Sharing knowledge among different projects and between different country teams creates synergies, helps everyone to improve the work and to sustain what has been achieved.
• An addition, not an alternative: Capitalisation products proved a valuable addition to formal reports and scientific papers.

Steps to integrate capitalisation in knowledge-management strategy:

• Capitalisation should be included in the project design.
• Everyone involved in the projects should receive training on knowledge sharing and capitalisation.
• Knowledge-sharing is not only for knowledge-sharing experts, everyone can do it.

No 'Robin Hood' Budget: Over Half Of Brits (53%) Say They Will Be Worse Off

Hopes of a so-called Robin Hood Budget were dashed, as many say the Budget has helped high earners more than low and middle income families, according to new research from uSwitch.com, the independent price comparison and switching service. While a third (36%) say that the Budget helps low and middle income families, many more (70%) believe that high earners got a reprieve. And the elderly appear

Consultation Announcement Oversight Expectations For Links Between Retail Payment Systems

The Eurosystem has established a harmonised single set of oversight expectations for retail payment systems to properly oversee the link arrangements between these systems. This document, entitled "Oversight expectations for links between retail payment systems", covers risks related to legal, financial and operational arrangements, as well as issues related to access, governance and efficiency.

Better seeds for higher yields

Second day of the IFAD-EUFF capitalisation workshop in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

I’m sure, all of you are familiar with the following situation: You write an article/report/letter and you think you have addressed every aspect, answered every question and structured the information in a logical way. Then you give it to colleagues and they come back with inputs and comments. And in the end, you have an even stronger document.

This is exactly what happened today, at the second day of the IFAD-EUFF capitalisation workshop in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. The different country groups from Senegal, Ghana, Benin, Mali and Côte d'Ivoire had prepared one or two articles in which they outlined experiences they made while implementing the projects. These documents will be published and will support other organisations working on similar issues, to gain new ideas or to replicate the successful approach. This morning, all participants came together in small groups and discussed the articles prepared by the other projects.ents where you ask yourself how you could have possibly not considered this. And in the end, you have an even stronger document.

The feedback was as diverse as the people in the room: “What kind of training was provided?”; “How many seed producers were selected?”; “You should insert subheads to make the document better readable.” and so on.

The result is a room full of participants who are working in their colleague’s comments in their paper. While this morning was dominated by lively discussions, now you mainly hear clicking of many keyboards. And while the workshop participants are working on their articles, I will share some of their experiences with you:

Senegal

Since it is the UN International Year of Cooperatives, I will start with Senegal, where more than 65 per cent of the population lives in rural areas. Most of them are engaged in agriculture, many produce groundnuts. A change in agricultural policies, the hand-over of groundnut seed production from the state to the private sector, let to a rapid decline in the groundnut production. Attempts to rebuild the seed stock failed. Together with IFAD and the World Bank, the Government of Senegal piloted the establishment of groundnut seed producer cooperatives . The pilot was a big success and with the additional funding by the European Food Facility (EUFF), cooperatives have been established in five more regions. In their article, the colleagues from Senegal share their experiences in establishing cooperatives, good practices for marketing, financial and administrative management and how to ensure the cooperatives’ sustainability.

Mali

Northern Mali is landlocked, has a fragile ecosystem and regularly faces drought. But at the same time, it is rich in natural resources and offers huge flood or non-flood plains – perfect to cultivate rice along the river Niger. Rice is not only the main cereal consumed in the region, but also offers an income source as a cash crop. With the support of IFAD, the Government of Mali established the Programme for Investment and Rural Development in Northern Mali (Programme d’Investissement et Développement Rural des Régions du Nord Mali, PIDRN). Supported with the funding by the EUFF, PIDRN increased the availability of certified seeds. The project developed small irrigated village seed plots which are managed by cooperatives. Traditionally rice seeds are produced in small plots within the rice paddies and are often exposed to drought periods. Producing rice seeds in village seed plots allows for better water management, better production monitoring and the scale-up of the production. The numbers of farmers engaged in seed production are increasing, but so is the demand for certified rice. In their article, the colleagues from Mali share not only a project outline and the lessons learned but also future steps to ensure the project’s sustainability.

Benin

In Benin, seed production is divided among a large number of actors. Without a joint platform, there was no dialogue, no joint approach and a lot of conflict about the different competences. The Government of Benin, together with IFAD and financial support from the EUFF, established a dialogue platform, to bring all actors together and create synergies in their work. The difficult undertaking was worthwhile. As a result, the availability of rice seeds and cassava cutting has increased significantly. Another experience the colleagues from Benin shared, was the use of biotechnology to ensure the quality of the cassava cuttings. A video documentary gives some background about the set up and results of this project.

Côte d'Ivoire

For Ivory Coast, the Project for Support to Small Scale Market Gardeners in the Savanes Regions (PPMS), shared the experience on the establishment of a process to produce certified rice and maize seeds. This process helped to ensure the use of quality seed and led to higher yields. With support of IFAD and the EUFF, the Project developed a four phase-certification process:

1. pre-inspection which includes the identification, accreditation and the training of seed multipliers as well as the choice of plots;
2. the field inspection to verify the quality of the pre-base seeds and the inspection of production conditions;
3. from the harvest of accredited farms samples were taken and analysed at the national seed laboratory,
4. depending of the results of the analysis, the producers receive a certificate of compliance or non-compliance by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Ghana

The Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Programme (RTIMP), initiated by the Government of Ghana and IFAD, developes the crop production through research and extension. With additional funding provided by the EUFF, the project’s efforts to sustainable increase the production of seed yam and cassava stems by small-scale growers could be scaled-up. Traditional methods of multiplying and distributing planting often come with low yields, the multiplication and spread of diseased planting material and a large input to produce seeds/stems. To ensure that farmers have high quality crops and higher yields, RTIMP introduced the minisett technology, a methods to produce yam seeds with less input and better results and established a sustainable system for the supply of roots to Good Practice Centres through the strategic multiplication and distribution of improved cassava planting materials. In their two articles, the colleagues from Ghana, describe how they spread the improved methods of producing planting materials, outline the different production methods and share their lessons learned.

All articles will soon be available on FIDAfrique.

RFID technology enables brands to link users’ real-life experiences with Facebook

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Next week’s Social Media World Forum Europe will be integrating LifeSynk, a revolutionary social media platform that uses enablers such as RFID, into the event to demonstrate how brands can harness a whole new level of engagement from their customers over social media.

The

Vibrant Queens Parade Re-opens In Willesden Green

This week, the Queens Parade retail space in Willesden Green is once again open for business with a vibrant collection of start-up businesses and projects. The parade of eight shop units and offices - which has not been in retail use for many years - is now home to thirteen creative enterprises that offer a range of goods and services, from home-wares and interior design, to an art gallery and a

PayPal™ Launches The PayPal Access Prepaid MasterCard®

PayPal™ UK has launched a new payment card that lets customers spend and withdraw money from their PayPal account on the high street and everywhere that MasterCard is accepted around the world.

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Budget News and Views of the business Community

Budget Impact On SMEs - Sage Comment
Lee Perkins, Managing Director, Sage's Small Business Division "The Chancellor introduced his Budget as one which "unashamedly backed business" and through cuts to Corporation Tax, simplifying the tax system for small businesses and providing increased support for start-ups and enterprise, the Government's rhetoric was justified."

"Commitments to developing

Pioneers for food security

Sharing knowledge for better development programmes at the IFAD-EUFF capitalisation workshop in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

How can we effectively introduce new seed production techniques? Which roles do farmer organizations play in helping smallholders to grow more food? How can agricultural research support seed production? These are some of the issues that the participants of the capitalisation workshop on the IFAD EU Food Facility project in West Africa discussed at today’s opening of the meeting – and you will find the answers below.

The EU Food Facility (EUFF) was created as an answer to soaring food prices in developing countries in 2007/2008. With the Facility, the European Union provided one billion euros for projects that:

• improve the access to agricultural inputs and services,
• maintain or improve the agricultural productive capacity and
• address the basic food needs in developing countries

and chose IFAD as one of the implementing partners in West Africa.

Since the programme has been launched one and a half years ago, much has been achieved. Building on existing IFAD projects, 20 million euros were used to support small farmers achieve higher yields, grow more food and earn more money. The projects in Mali, Benin, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ghana were implemented in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and reached more than 200 000 rural families.

Now, that the programme’s activities have closed at the end of 2011, project partners are coming together for a capitalisation and a closing workshop. During the next days (23-26 March), they will share experiences, draw lessons and discuss the way forward.

“The first meeting of all implementing partners showed, how beneficial it is, to exchange knowledge and experiences. It has been an important part of our collaboration since,” said Adriane del Torto, IFAD’s EUFF coordinator for West Africa. All participants have brought one or two examples of capitalization products – success stories, videos, posters or other materials – which will be reviewed by their peers to improve and enrich the products, before they are officially released. “The sharing of knowledge in this way has helped everyone involved in the projects. We all have learned how to properly identify and explain what works in our programs. This could potentially help to raise funds and to scale up our projects with relevant and efficient activities. From the experiences that will be shared here today, some have successfully been replicated in other settings. In the long-run this will lead to better and more sustainable results in development programmes. And this is why we have organized this capitalization workshop,“ explained Adriane in her opening statement (scroll down for the video).

Following the opening ceremony, every project presented their cases, followed by a short Q&A, and as promised, here are the answers to the questions raised above: How did the projects manage to spread new, more efficient seed growing techniques within such a short time, was one of the questions that came up. The answer came from the Ghanaian participants, who used a proven knowledge-dissmenination technique for their Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Programme (RTIMP): word of mouth. Many of the farmers, participating in the programme, produced their yam seeds on sites that were close to roads or other places with many people passing by every day . Soon, they realized that these farmers weren’t following the traditional seed production technique. They became curious. And learned from the farmers about the benefits of this new seed production technology – and how it works. In this way, the project reached a much larger, and growing group, who now uses the new technique.

The role of farmer organizations, was another issue, that came up frequently. All participants agreed, how important the organizations, such as cooperatives, are in enabling smallholders to increase their production. In some projects, for example the Management of Certified Groundnut Seeds Production in Senegal, cooperatives and their establishment were a constituent part of the project design.

And last but not least, how can agricultural research support seed production? The answer to this was given by Prof Corneille Ahanhanzo from Benin, who highlighted the need for strong links between agricultural research and seed producers: “Researchers help to find improved techniques and better seeds. We are pioneers for food security.”