IFAD's Near East and North Africa Division ends its annual 2010 Retreat in Tuscany, Italy

IFAD’s Near East and North Africa Division (NEN) ended its annual “Reteat” in Tuscany yesterday with an endorsement of its draft Divisional Management Plan 2011 and a debate on the bottlenecks facing the division in various areas. Divided into five groups, the participants discussed the most pressing needs in areas extending from project design and supervision to COSOPs, grants policy, knowledge management and staffing issues as well as possible solutions.

The discussions, which were orchestrated by the Regional Economist, Mylene Kheralla, touched upon some key issues that require more in-house interaction, particularly within the Project Management Department. Such internal exchanges and dialogue would help ensure that the views of NEN are taken into consideration when decisions are taken on key initiatives such as the new COSOP guidelines. The Division Director, Nadim Khouri, explained that some of these questions and suggested course of action required further post-retreat discussions, underlining the importance of internal communication to foster a greater understanding of such issues within both the division and the department.

Following this early morning debate, the participants moved on to visit the commune of Cetona, a few kilometres south of Chianciano Terme, where they were received by Mayor Fabio di Meo at the town hall. The Mayor welcomed IFAD’s visitors and briefed them on the various territorial development activities that his municipality has undertaken with the support of EU’s LEADER programme and with the involvement of LAGs. Municipality experts gave PowerPoint presentations on some of these development activities, including the establishment of an infant day nursery, Il Cucciolo, and implementation of an extraordinary maintenance scheme at the public Library of Cetona.

In his statement, the NEN Director Nadim Khouri briefed the Mayor and his staff on the purpose of IFAD’s interventions and investments in support of socio-economic development activities in the NENA and CEN regions. He underlined the importance of learning form the various territorial development experiences undertaken by local authorities, public institutions, communes and the private sector in the Tuscan “regione”.

A practical example of the success of public-private partnerships in territorial development was given by the 800 hectars (2500 acres) Spineto farm estate, Abbazia di Spineto. The estate combines agricultural development, environmental protection and biodiversity conservation activities with tourism, conferences, cultural initiatives, promotion of better nutrition, research and aid programmes. The Retreat participants visited the Abbazia di Spineto, where they were received by representatives of the Siena Province and the owner and General Manager of the Abbazia, Dr Marilisa Cuccia. Dr Cuccia is an investor from Milan who had purchased the Abbazia while in a state of decay and began renovation works in 1994 with a view to bringing the farm estate back to its former glory in the middle ages.

The Abbazia di Spineto was founded in 1085 and represents a fine example of Italian and Tuscan monasticism. It was first placed under the dominion of the town of Orvieto (1120); but later became a protectorate of the Republic of Siena until it became part of the New State ruled by the Florentine duke Cosimo de’ Medici. In 1627 Pope Urbano VIII took it over and entrusted it to the Cistercian Order. It remained under the control of the Order until the abolition of the smaller monasteries in 1783. From that date onward it survived as a farm taken care of by Cistercian lay brothers and became a private property and has had a succession of owners since then.

Besides the productive activities, such as the production of olive oil, legumes, vegetables and fruits, Dr Cuccia explained the various projects she initiated as an expression of social commitment and for which the estate received the support of the EU and the public institutions of the Tuscan “regione”. These include, among others, the Nutritional Education project, which aims to combat child obesity; the Theatre Workshops programme for young people with psychological problems; the Stem Cell Research project for scientific research in the transplant of umbilical cord blood stem cells as a cure for leukaemia; and the aid programme beyond Italy in support of the African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF) through three main projects in Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The Abbazia has also established and hosts the non-profit cultural association, Associazione culturale Abbazia di Spineto incontri e studi. It also promotes biodiversity conservation by protecting fauna species such as the red fox, the wild boar, the roe deer and the common pheasant as well as flora species such as the broom, the young oak, the mountain maple, the juniper, and cornelian cherry.

In his statement, Director Khouri thanked Dr Cuccia for the briefing and hospitality and, above all, the opportunity to learn more about the ways and mechanisms used in decision making processes from Brussels to Siena via Rome, which help the emergence of working pubic-private partnerships such as this one in Spineto. He mentioned the importance of seeing how the concrete results achieved by such partnerships in terms of territorial development are helping to boost the socio-economic advancement of the region’s population.

During the lunch break at the Abbazia di Spineto, the division’s CEN Country Cluster, lead by Abdelkarim Sma, gave a presentation on its achievements in 2010 and plans for 2011. The cluster, which is responsible for one third of NEN’s lending programme in 2010-2012, reported a large number of operational results, including the delivery of US$33.5 million in new projects and highlighted the challenges laying ahead and the way it intends to meet these challenges.

The lunch break was followed by a presentation on Abbazia’s nutritional education “Mangiocando” project by its coordinator and nutritional expert, Dr Georgio Ciacci. Dr Ciacci explained how the programme helps educate some 150 participating children and their families about unhealthy eating habits and healthy alternatives found in the traditional local cuisine, with emphasis on the use of olive oil, legumes and vegetables. He said the programme also underlines the importance of rediscovery of how different crops growing in different terrains give rise to different eating and tasting habits.
At the end of the visit, Director Nadim khouri thanked Dr Ciacci for the presentation and Dr Cuccia and the representatives of the Siena Province for all the efforts they have exerted in making the visit a very fruitful learning and knowledge sharing experience for the IFAD Retreat participants. He expressed hope that such exchanges and the acquired knowledge would contribute to strengthening their capacity to initiate similar successful territorial development initiatives and public-private partnerships in their respective countries. Such innovation, he concluded, can boost efforts to help their poor rural communities grow out of poverty and achieve higher levels of progress and modernity.

IFAD's Near East and North Africa Division continues its annual 2010 Retreat in Tuscany, Italy

The second day of NEN’s annual Retreat in Tuscany began with a visit to the headquarters of the Community of Amiata association (Communita Montana Amiata Gorssetano) in the mountainous village of Arcidosso, some 40 kilometres south-west of Chianciano Terme, where a number of territorial development (TD) projects supported by the EU are under implementation.

The President of the Community of Amiata, Dr Franco Ulivieri, welcomed the Retreat participants and briefed them on the planning process that governed the development of these projects with the involvement of both municipal public institutions and the private sector with the involvement of the Local Action Groups (LAG) of Maremma. He explained the importance of the seed financing provide by EU programmes, such as the Laison Entre Actions de Development de l’Economie Rurale (LEADER) programme, not only in the development of an integrated rural development strategy for the area of Monte Amiata, but also in attracting the engagement of all productive sectors. He said this was stimulating to the local economy, especially at these times of much needed efforts to counterbalance the effects of the financial crisis. “Being the first community in Tuscany to experiment since 1994 an innovative approach to TD based on the involvement of LAGs in the planning and implementation processes, the Community of Amiata has accumulated a wealth of experience, knowledge and lessons learned that can be useful to share with institutions like IFAD working to promote the concept of territorial development among poor communities in low income developing countries,” he said.

The Director General of the association, Dr Aldo Coppi provided the Retreat participants with a detailed explanation on the way the TD approach has been implemented bringing all stakeholders to work together in mutually beneficial partnerships. Other Community experts gave presentations on a number of projects, including the Protection of the Biodiversity of Chestnut project; the Environment Management Systems to Increase Competitiveness of Products and Services in the Territory of the Monte Amiata Community; the Revival and Re-qualification of Urban & Peri-urban Zones project; the Civil Protection project; and Flavours of Amiata project.

Nadim Khouri, Director of NEN, thanked President Ulivieri and his colleagues for the interesting presentations, indicating that IFAD invests about an average of 100 million dollars every year in the rural development of developing countries of the NENA and CEN regions. “In doing so,” he said, “It tries to learn from the way others have experimented innovative approaches to territorial development such as those of the Amiata Community." He said some of IFAD activities try to promote in remote mountain areas some types of activities similar to those of the association. Therefore, sharing the knowledge and lessons drawn from the experience of the Amiata Community, as part of the decentralization approach in decision making processes, was very helpful. He said: “IFAD is using a similar approach of participatory and decentralized decision making at the local community level; but, Tuscany has been able to do that at the higher level of the entire region,” which was interesting to see and learn from.”

Following the presentations, the participants were split into two groups to visit project sites and activities. The first group visited a site of the Valorisation of the Olive Oil programme, which is supported by the Flavour of Amiata project as means to promote the concept of “Slow Food”, where improvement in processing techniques and marketing approaches brought added value to the region’s produce and returns to olive farms.

The second group visited a Chestnut farm supported by the Protection of the Biodiversity of Chestnut project. The group was introduced to a number of post-harvest Chestnut processing activities before transformation to Chesnutt flour. The project helped establish the Association for Valorisation of the Chestnut of Monte Amiata (IGP) in 2000 to protect the germoplasm of native Chestnut varieties and improve cultivation techniques. Although IGP is providing protection to the genetic heritage of these varieties, more research was needed to be able to clearly identify the location of the origin of these species. Therefore, several scientific analysis were conducted by three field research units and subsequently information and didactic materials on the techniques of gauging, sacking, transformation and the use of fresh chestnuts were produced and communicated to producers in the context of capacity building and training efforts.

During the field visit to the Chestnut farm, which occupies few acres on a hill slope, the participant’s bus moved on to a humid spot off the road where its wheels got stuck in a muddy cavity preventing it from reversing back to the tarmac. The participants had to use their muscles to help the bus driver move it out of trouble.

During a lunch break at the guesthouse of the natural reserve of Monte Amiata, NEN’s Country Cluster II, lead by Mounif Nourallah, made a presentation on its achievements in 2010 and plans for 2011.

The group reported improved operational outreach in the three Maghreb countries of Morocco and intensified cooperation with partner institutions in these countries.
On their way back to Arcidosso, a group of the participants had the opportunity to stop by and visit the site of the Environmental Monitoring of the Siele Mercury Mine Reclamation project, which aimed to monitor and assess the effectiveness of the reclamation of this mining area.

The Mine which was closed in 1974, after almost two centuries of mining the liquid metal, had left the area with high level of toxic pollution, which was subsequently cleaned though various initiatives. The programme, which is part of a plan to turn the site into a museum and tourist attraction centre, reached its objective through hydraulic and static verification of mercury pollution at the dumping site. It included activities such as measurement of contamination and the piezometrical levels of both the air at the site and in the Siele torrent waters.

On return to Chianciano Terme, the participants engaged in a thorough discussion on Rural Finance following a presentation by Dr Omer Zafar, CPM for Yemen and Dr Thierry Mahieux. They highlighted a number of models for best delivery of rural finance for small and medium size rural enterprises in the NENA and CEN regions.

The discussants reviewed IFAD experiences in developing different types of mechanisms and approaches for increased capacity building to enable small holders and rural poor people improve their entrepreneurship skills.

The participants ended their second day with a “slow food” dinner at “Il Grillo”, an accredited restaurant of the Slow Food movement.

The Chef and owner of the restaurant, Ms Tiziana Tacchi, and Mr Alberto Baraldi, a Slow Food expert made a presentation to the participants on slow food concepts and progress in outreach made by the movement.

IFAD's Near East and North Africa Division holds its annual 2010 Retreat in Tuscany, Italy

Ancient Tuscany is hosting the annual “Retreat” of IFAD’s Near East and North Africa Division (NEN) this year from 3-5 November. The three-day retreat aims to produce the final draft of NEN’s 2011 Management Plan and to increase knowledge of three important operational themes, namely Territorial Development, Rural Finance and the Slow Food Movement. The Retreat also serves to review the achievements in 2010 and work plans for 2011 of the division’s various informal thematic clusters. It also provides opportunities for the participants to acquire more knowledge and develop write ups for knowledge products on the three themes.

The first stop on the road to Chianciano Terme, where the Director of NEN, Nadim Khouri, declared the Retreat officially opened, was the city of Grosseto. Along with four consultants, four guests from the Arab Gulf States Liaison Office (AGL) and a guest from the Ministry of Agriculture of Albania, NEN staff members were received by the local authorities at Sala Pegaso of Province of Grosseto.

The Head of the Agriculture Department of the Province (Assessore di Agricultura), Enzo Rossi, welcomed the participants and gave a brief description of the various on going rural and agricultural development activities in his province. The Assessore di Agricultura of the Region of Tuscany, Dr. Gianni Slavadori, also delivered a welcoming speech, in which he highlighted the various Territorial Development (TD) projects supported by European Union and GoItaly under the Rural Development Programme of Tuscany 2007-2013. Dr Salvadori explained the participatory bottom-up approach in preparation of regional development plans, which the programme follows through the Local Action Groups (LAGs).

Presentations on the on-going programmes, public-private partnerships models adopted in the process of value chain development and the TD approaches to community-focussed rural development were given by other officials of the Provinces of Siena and Grosseto.

Following these initial presentations the Retreat participants were split into two groups on simultaneous visits to the sites of farmers’ cooperatives. The first group visited the Maremma Milk Producers Cooperative, a project that has succeeded in optimizing the milk production chain. The processes of collection, processing, bottling, storage, distribution and marketing of the product have been improved through the automation of the collection, registration and usage of the data relating to milk production with the help of available software applications.

The second group visited the Grosseto Fruit and Vegetable Cooperative, which processes and markets a wide range of products, including biological fruits and vegitables. Luciano Marioni, the Director of the Cooperative, explained to the visiting group how his Cooperative has succeeded in improving both the production techniques at the field level and its packaging and commercialisation systems; thus realizing substantive increases in the earnings of 160 member farmers. Marioni also explained how the cooperative, which benefits from EU support, responds to the needs of it client supermarkets in the North of Italy efficiently and in real time. He also underlined that the Cooperative itself does not make profit since all returns after deduction of running expenses and a 4 percent Value Added tax, go to the member producers.

Following arrival and check it at the Villa Ricci Hotel in Chianciano Terme, Director Nadim Khouri underlined the importance if taking advantage of the hands-on opportunities the Retreat offers to participants to acquire deeper knowledge and benefit from lessons learned. The evening was concluded with a presentation by the guest speaker from Albania, Dr Shkeizen Marku, on his country’s experience in promoting TD approaches and establishment of workable solutions for promoting and valorising value chains and private-public partnerships with direct benefits to the rural producers.