Scaling up the fight against poverty and hunger in Africa #globalag

By José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) 

Agriculture is a powerful tool for reducing poverty and hunger. Events of recent years – such as food price increases, droughts, growing climate change impacts and other emergencies – have put agriculture high on the international agenda. We should be clear that agriculture is the solution. Economic growth generated by agriculture is more than twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors. Agricultural development is also an effective means of assisting developing countries in building capacity and infrastructure as well as introducing innovation and technology.

Future food and nutrition security and the eradication of poverty will be profoundly influenced by the steps we take today to support the 2 billion people in developing countries who depend on small-scale farms, herding, fishing and other forms of agriculture.

The past year has seen a food security crisis in the Horn of Africa and a developing emergency in the Sahel region of West Africa, where we are just entering the peak hunger season. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme have responded in a variety of ways, from immediate humanitarian relief to building the capacity of smallholders to grow more food, increase their livelihoods and feed their families and communities.

But it is clear that much more needs to be done at every level. Far-reaching partnerships, broader consultation in the formulation and implementation of country-led development processes, as well as long-term commitments, must be made and maintained. In order for development efforts to be successful, is essential to have the participation of civil society, farmers’ organizations and the private sector at every stage.

Beginning with the L’Aquila summit three years ago, the G8 has led a serious and sustained process to mobilize support for greater aid to food and nutrition security. At the L’Aquila Summit, US$22 billion was pledged over three years. The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) trust fund that emerged from the L’Aquila commitments is a new vehicle to ensure accountability in the implementation process for aid for food security and agriculture to some of the poorest countries in the world.

This financial commitment to support country-owned plans can help to make a big difference, but official development assistance alone has not and will not solve the problem. A favourable climate for investment must be created to attract other resources and partners in the framework of established development plans.
For example, in Africa, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), with its national compacts and investment plans, provides a key platform for public and private efforts  to converge towards agricultural development and food security.

Governments are primarily responsible for providing public goods and services that underpin and facilitate private investment, as well as the governance mechanisms that ensure socially and environmentally sustainable benefits from private investment. Farmers and their organizations must also be supported to benefit from increased investments, and they must be engaged from the outset in real, meaningful partnerships from public policy and programme design onward through evaluation.

Private sector investment, particularly through small- and medium-sized enterprises, is a critical factor for reaching the goal of a hunger-free Africa. However, the quality of this investment is of key importance. In this regard, Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, in the Context of National Food Security were endorsed earlier this month by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). Implementing these guidelines, which have been agreed upon by governments, civil society and the private sector, will help ensure that responsible governance of tenure contributes to responsible investment, enabling sustainable social, economic and environmental development around agriculture and towards food security.

The United Nations Rome-based agencies welcome the G8’s renewed commitment to keep food security high on the global agenda and the creation of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.
The New Alliance complements ongoing activities and processes, starting from the CAADP itself, and is a tool that can accelerate progress in eradicating hunger and poverty in Africa. These efforts can and will succeed if they support smallholder production and market integration. This includes ensuring that technologies and inputs are adapted to local conditions, and promoting environmentally and socially sustainable farming practices to boost local economies. Stakeholders at the national and local level must drive and own the process from the start.

The New Alliance should avail itself of the opportunities to build upon, and further foster, truly participatory processes involving the G8, African countries, and the private sector, including first and foremost agricultural producers. In this way, it will respond to the needs of rural families and communities, and to the broader needs of African societies.

At the same time, we need to ensure that environmental sustainability is squarely addressed in the type of agricultural investments that are promoted, and that safety nets are in place and emergency preparedness is sustained to protect vulnerable people from the consequences of drought and other shocks.

Together, our agencies have been working with national governments, non-governmental organisations and civil society to help build resilience in developing countries. This includes targeted productive safety nets, such as school meal programmes, and other efforts that ensure that when the next disaster occurs, poor people are better equipped to feed themselves and protect assets such as livestock and property.

We welcome that the New Alliance is promoting a set of enabling tools related to markets and finance, risk and insurance, and science and technology, that can address gaps and strengthen smallholders’ position in the value chain.

We would, however, like to draw particular attention to the need to support women’s empowerment. Women make up nearly half of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa but face disproportionate barriers in access to resources and markets. The New Alliance must also address the aspirations of rural youth, who are key to long-term sustainability and the viability of rural agricultural communities.

Ending hunger and achieving food and nutrition security for the people of Africa is a pressing issue that cannot wait. Smallholders and rural people, who face the daily threat of food insecurity, urgently require access to science, technology and the most basic tools and services that would allow them to invest in their farms and businesses. With these benefits and a renewed commitment across all sectors we have an opportunity to reduce poverty, solve hunger and strengthen food security.

Cross-posted on Food for Thought blog

President Obama keynote address

Rome UN agencies celebrate rural women and girls as agents of change

Yvette Azane Ngwemetoh, from north-
west Cameroon, speaks at IFAD on
International Women's Day.

At least two things are certain about the millions of women who work as smallholder farmers worldwide. First, they are among the hardest-working people on the planet, and second, they are woefully under-appreciated and under-compensated for their daily, uphill struggles.

For most of those women, and the daughters who work alongside them, yesterday was probably just another day of rising early and tending their fields or herds. But their achievements and challenges were in the spotlight at IFAD headquarters, where the three Rome-based UN food and agriculture agencies – IFAD, FAO and WFP – jointly celebrated International Women’s Day.

The event illustrated the complex dynamics of gender, food security and poverty. As various speakers pointed out, women and girls do more than 40 per cent of all farming and virtually all household work in rural areas. Yet they don’t share equally with men in the resources needed for productive agriculture. Research suggests that women’s crop yields would increase by 20 to 30 per cent if they had access to such resources. In turn, the number of hungry people in the world would decline by 100 million to 150 million.

Participants in yesterday’s event focused on how rural girls and young women figure into this global equation. The question at hand was how they can fulfil their potential as agents of change. In broad strokes, the answer was starkly simple: Give rural girls and women access to the right tools, and they will change the face of agriculture.

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze started off the discussion. Dr. Nwanze called gender equality and rural development “inseparable,” adding that “women hold the key to food and nutrition security” by virtue of their untapped capacity for higher yields. FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva followed, announcing the launch of his agency’s new gender-equality policy. He said the policy cuts across all FAO programmes and “underscores the organization’s commitment to addressing gender and women’s issues to eradicate hunger and poverty.”

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze (right) and FAO
Director-General Josè Graziano da Silva listen to
WFP Deputy Executive Director Sheila Sisulu.

The dialogue continued as a succession of influential women took the floor.

WFP Deputy Executive Director Sheila Sisulu weighed in with an appeal for the Rome agencies to take their lead from the grass roots. “The first thing we need to do,” she said, “is listen to rural women.” Sisulu noted that even in industrialized countries, women are the main processors and preparers of food for their families. Women’s voices, she said, are central to any discussion of food and agriculture policy.

South Africa’s Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, called for redoubled efforts to educate rural girls, who lag behind boys in school enrolment, especially after the early grades. Motshekga cited the “tremendous multiplier effect” of girls’ education, which generates far-reaching economic and social benefits. Once rural girls gain equal access to the classroom, “the world will never be the same,” she said.

Ertharin Cousin, US Ambassador to the UN agencies in Rome, echoed Motshekga’s call for parity. “A plant doesn’t know if it was planted by a woman or a man,” observed Cousin, who will become WFP’s Executive Director next month. But because rural women and women’s organizations start at a point of material disadvantage, she said, they need technical and financial support to enhance their productivity and to compete in the marketplace.

A lawyer by training, Cousin said history would judge the international community’s liability for continued gender inequality on the basis of three basic queries: “What did you know, when did you know it and what did you do about it?” She argued that the obstacles faced by girls and women in rural areas – such as poor access to land and credit, and a disproportionate burden of household labour – have been well known for years.

From left: Ertharin Cousin, US Ambassador to the UN
agencies in Rome; Angie Motshekga, South Africa’s
Minister of Basic Education; and youth representative
Yvette Azane Ngwemetoh.

“The question is, what are we doing about it?” she asked.

Of course, history is not the only judge. Young rural women themselves are obviously well positioned to assess the pace of progress on gender equality. Yvette Azane Ngwemetoh spoke yesterday on their behalf.

Originally from north-west Cameroon, the young woman just recently arrived in Italy to join her husband. She grew up in the countryside and worked on the family farm with her mother. Unlike many rural girls, she managed to complete her secondary education. She was unable attend university for financial reasons, however, and migrated to an urban centre, where she lived and worked for three years.

Ngwemetoh was soft-spoken but firm in her conviction that farming can and should be a viable livelihood for young women. Given access to machinery and modern technology, as well as adequate rural health and education facilities, she said she would welcome a career as an agricultural entrepreneur.

“The land has a lot to offer,” said Ngwemetoh. “You just have to improve on the land.”

Watch the recorded webcast: 
Part 1: Speakers
Part 2: Panel discussion
Part 3: Experiences from the field

#sfrome: Daily Corriere - Share Fair daily newspaper

Inspired by the Addis Share Fair, the organizers of the Second Global AgriKnowledge Share Fair committed to have a daily newspaper -- which we called the Daily Corriere. Here are the four issues - for those who may have missed them! Enjoy reading and let's keep the spirit of #sfrome alive! Thanks everyone for your participation, contribution, for sharing and your friendship! Hasta la vista!

Daily Corriere: The Second Global AgriKnowledge Share Fair daily newspaper

View more documents from IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development

Daily Corriere - issue no. 2 - Global AgriKnowledge Share Fair daily newspaper

View more documents from IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development

Daily Corriere issue number 3 - The Share Fair newsletter

View more documents from IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development

Daily Corriere issue number 4 - Share Fair Daily newspaper

View more documents from IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development

View Share Fair photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sharefair09/ or on IFAD's Facebook Page: http://on.fb.me/qYNt4R. Check out all related blogpost at http://ifad-un.blogspot.com/search/label/sfrome and http://blog.sharefair.net/search/label/sfrome

What does it take to make the ShareFair happen? Don’t ask ‘what’, ask ‘who’!

by Johannes Schunter


When walking through the IFAD corridors this warm Italian September week one cannot help but be amazed by the buzzing, vibrant energy that is felt in every part of the building. People chat in corners, engage in up to 15 parallel group sessions, share their thoughts with someone with a video camera or sit in the hallway with their laptop on their lap, communicating one of their many impressions through email, Twitter or a blog. Over 600 participants, 160 projects, 200+ scheduled group or plenary sessions, and one is left with an immediate question: How on earth did they pull this off? After all, there is no professional event management company involved here that pulls the strings. This event is done by the sponsoring organizations themselves, with a surprisingly low budget and mostly with staff who – if they are not helping plan and implement knowledge fairs – have other jobs to do.

I talked to some of the organizers to get a small glimpse of the machinery that made this event happen behind the scenes. Planning for this ShareFair started already in January 2011, with a one-day facilitated brainstorming workshop where the Rome-based stakeholders ( Bioversity International, CGIAR ICT-KM programme, FAO, IFAD and WFP) got together to determine the general direction and approach they wanted to take with this event, building on the first event that took place at FAO in 2009. After that a Steering Committee was established in February to plan the event.

As there is no general existing budget for Rome ShareFairs, the team members from the different host organizations had to raise funds for the significant logistical and programmatic requirements (which include necessities such as security, ambulance, infrastructure and communication expenses) as well as to fund travel expenses for proposals from participants who otherwise could not come to the fair and share their learnings. Yet, I was surprised to learn that this entire event is realized with notably less than $200,000 (actual and in-kind) accumulated resources overall.

Talking about proposals: roughly 300 proposals were submitted after the Steering Committee publicly announced the ShareFair through their website in May 2011. The submissions were reviewed and filtered down to about 160, the maximum capacity of content sessions that the IFAD building can accommodate during the three main days of the fair with up to 15 parallel sessions at a given time slot.

These sessions, however, are rarely self runners. If the thematic expert is not by chance also a communication professional, a facilitator is needed to help the presenter avoiding tiring PowerPoint slides and instead turn the presentation into an engaging, participatory learning session using knowledge sharing approaches. But where to get those versed facilitators from? Luckily, Knowledge Management staff in Rome are well connected with the Knowledge Management for Development Network (KM4Dev), a community of KM practitioners working in development. Additionally, a call was placed also within each of the participating organizations for facilitators. By calling on about 50+ volunteer facilitators, the ShareFair organizers were able to provide professional facilitation for almost all project presentations, drawing on a range of creative and participatory facilitation methodologies which were introduced in a pre-conference training day for participants interested in these tools.

The training sessions of this so-called “Training and Learning Day” included not only facilitation techniques, but also introductory sessions into a range of social media tools for knowledge exchange and communication, such as Twitter, Facebook, Photos, Blogs or Podcasts. That those sessions were not just theoretical exercises was demonstrated during the entire week by the social reporting team, a group of about 30+ social media enthusiasts who committed to report live from event sessions and interactions in between sessions through the full range of social media tools. This way, the immediate audience of a few hundred on-site participants could be extended to many thousands of interested practitioners that followed the event online, by reading blogs, viewing video interviews or responding to tweets posted during the event.


Finally, as a participant of the Fair, besides noticing some of the more visible faces of the fair that give announcements and introduce sessions, you will most likely run into one of the many volunteers who are supporting the logistics behind the scene at any given moment: as registration desk volunteers, as information focal points and helpful guides on each floor, behind the technology that provides meeting room infrastructure, WLAN access and live webcast, or as runners who help fixing the many little and bigger emergencies that we mostly don’t even notice as participants.

So again, what does it take to make such a ShareFair happen? It takes all those people, seen and unseen, and I think they deserve a collective tipping of hats for the astounding work they do. Or you just walk up to the next one you see and give that person a ‘thank you’. And if you bring them a cup of coffee they might even reward you with more interesting details on life behind the scenes of the ShareFair!

How can we make agriculture more attractive to young people in Africa?

by Anna Spiteri

Rob Burnet very aptly entertained the audience at the Fair Share this morning by weaving a well told story about the characters he helped create in the ever popular comic series in Kenya.

Searching for ideas in the media space amidst election tensions in the country, he realised that half of the Kenyan population of 39 million, were under 18 years old, and that nobody was reaching these youths. So the story of Boy or DJB evolved...a young man, clever, unemployed..without tertiary education..and living on the peripheral slums in Nairobi... Rob told us that ...DJB did not want to join his friends who left school and eventually turned into gangsters....because he had a secret...in his bedroom he had built an FM radio, called shu jazz. And every evening he broadcasted to other young listeners, all young, young girls and boys determined to make things better for themselves, rather than succumb to ganghood.

So together with DJB other characters were invented and a whole team came together to produce stories with a message in a comic format, 32 pages long on recycled paper...with excerpts appearing in the Daily Nation. The whole team of script writers and graphic artists are all young talented people from 18 to 23 years old, many of them coming from the slums..so they have first hand knowledge of the stories they portray. They also go and test their stories in the field..in spaces where the young people they are portraying actually live...The 10 million comics produced so far are very popular with young kids and are written in the new speak of the Kenyan youth....This success led to the setting up of a dynamic show ...where smses and phone ins and jokes are all part of the show with a record of 97 million contacts since last year and 45000 conversations a day. There are 20 FM stations every day reaching half of Kenya s youth with tens of thousands of sms messages streaming in .....creating this level of illusion in a cyber space where this young man and his friends live... a magical world...carried away with a good story..with a message...

Rob understood that young people are not interested in development talk..they are interested in having fun and making money.....as his encounters with groups of young people in rural spaces taught him...but he found a way...He showed excerpts from the comics where the story ends with a message inserted inside the story.....messages on planting seeds ; or how to vaccinate baby chicks against the Newcastle disease or how important it is to soak your seeds!

His final shot was a Chicken of Change...also a character in a comic ...giving the messge that more attention should be given to livestock..partly aimed at the government to do more about livestock. Rob messages were simple...but very important for anyone who wants to follow in his steps 1. It s not the what..it’s the how.....it s urgent and it needs to happen 2. Push does not work..it has to be Pull.. 3. Research must go all the way to the user 4. Need to communicate, it does not happen by accident...requires professional media people ; and money. One needs to invest to achieve impact.....

Two more days to #sfrome: You can be part of the #sfrome social reporting team. Here is how..

By Gauri Salokhe

As you may already know, we are counting down days to the Second Global AgriKnowledge Share Fair which is scheduled to take place at IFAD from 26-29 September. This event, jointly organized by Bioversity International, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and World Food Programme (WFP) brings together colleagues from Rome-based agencies as well as partner organizations to share projects, lessons learned and emerging trends in the areas of food security, price volatility, climate change, ICT4D, social media and green innovations.

The Share Fair promises to deliver a wealth of knowledge featuring over 160 presenters from all over the world who will share their creative and innovative experiences and knowledge. Participants will have an opportunity to learn, share, connect and influence future direction.

Check out the programme highlights and webcasting schedule and make sure you take part in this unique event.

We encourage all participants to use social media channels and report live from the event. Here is how you can engage:

• Tweet and Retweet content from Share Fair:http://sharefair2009.blogspot.com/search/label/sfrome
• Share your own photos and images from the event by joining the Share Fair Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sharefair09/
• Presentations will be shared via: http://www.slideshare.net/sharefair09/
• Follow our tweets: http://twitter.com/sharefairs/
• Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/sharefairs
• Blog from sessions you attend either through your personal blog or by sending your posts to share-fair@cgiar.org

When tweeting, please use the following hashtags:

• #sfrome

The organizational tags are:

• #ifad – Twitter account @ifadnews
• #unfao – Twitter account @faonews
• #wfp – Twitter account @wfp
• #bioversity

The draft agenda for the event is available from: http://t.co/KYK73dqp

For more information, contact us at share-fair [at] cgiar.org.

Originally posted on http://gaurisalokhe.blogspot.com/2011/09/you-can-be-part-of-sfrome-social.html

8 days to Second Global AgriKnowledge Share Fair at #IFAD HQ. The show is on the road #sfrome

Nine months ago, on a chilly January morning, the share fair steering committee and a group of other colleagues, met for a visioning session. At that meeting, we discussed the event's format, themes, audiences and agreed that we would organize an "out-of-the-box" event.

We did our best to live up to this commitment. And hopefully this is reflected in the share fair provisional programme.

Considering that the inaugural session is on the second day, the cocktail is on the third day and it finishes on a Thursday, I guess we can consider the second edition of the share fair an  "out-of-the-box" event!

But all kidding aside, as the saying goes, "the proof is in the pudding", and in 8 days time, we'll see whether we managed to live up to our vision. Rest assured that we put all our energy and passion into it.

Acting on learning and knowledge
In preparing for this event, we took stock of the learnings and experience of the First Global AgriKnowledge Share Fair and the various regional ones. So hopefully, we've built on their strengths and addressed some of the challenges.

One of the lessons learnt from the first edition was that we had to put in place a sound screening process to review the over 250 proposals that we received.

We divided up this task amongst the steering committee. We met regularly over the course of a month to review and discuss the proposals making sure that we were doing the selection in a fair and transparent manner. So kudos to the 160 proposals selected. You guys for sure went through the wringer!

Putting all our learning into action, we agreed that we would not have poster sessions nor booths. For this edition, we've introduced a tent which will have a chill-out corner and the speaker's corner. And we hope that many participants will use the speaker's corner to share their conversational or mainstream ideas, views and aspirations. 

We're looking forward for the chill-out corner to serve as a fertile ground for networking and connecting people.

This edition of the share fair has the luxury of having four keynote speakers. Etienne Wenger, Rob Burnet and Mark Davies will be at the share fair. Michele Payn-Knopfer due to competing commitments will not be able to be with us in person, but will do her session via skype.

Every day from 15:30-16:30 you can meet the keynote speaker of the day at  the chill-out corner.

Taking cue from the Addis share fair market place, we've introduced the show and tell session which will take place on 27 September from 17:00-18:00. This session will give participants an opportunity to showcase special activities and initiatives. If you are interested in this session, make sure you sign-up to secure yourself a slot.

This share fair like all the others, will also have a knowledge tree. You will have an opportunity to adorn the baobab knowledge tree with your pearls of wisdom, ideas, learnings and thoughts. We particularly ask you to share with us what do you think are the value and impact of events such as the share fair.

Share fairs are no powerpoint zone
We love the law or even better the edict of no powerpoints. Share fairs are no powerpoint zones. So, if you are one of the few presenters who are planning to come with your 50 slide shows, better change your plans and adopt a knowledge sharing method or TedTalk/AgTalk format for your session. Discuss this with the facilitator assigned to your session. If you are "self-facilitating" your session and need help, give us a shout and we'll dispatch th rescue team!


What does it take to organize a share fair?
The short answer is commitment, passion, dedication, cooperation, collaboration, coordination, teamwork, preparation, attention to details, empathy, believing in and practicing "the art of possibility"  and no prima-donnas.

And we had them all or almost all.

We were also blessed to have had the endorsement of IFAD management and the full support of our Chief Development Strategist who is also the KM champion.

What has struck me most in this adventure, is what I call the process of natural selection. That is to say, we acknowledged and respected each other's strengths and weaknesses. As a result we ended up taking on tasks that we were good at. And believe me this happened in the most seamless manner without anyone realizing that it was happening. Almost a miracle.

Next time you have to plan and organize a similar event, let the people on the team take on tasks and activities that they are good at. Do not force people to do things they are not good at - that is recipe for failure.

Share fair's web and social media presence
One of the trademarks of the share fair brand is social reporting. The share fair will have a contingent of social reporters who will use social media (Twitter, blog, Facebook, Flickr, Blip.TV, YouTube, podcasting) to report live from the various sessions. The facilitators will be sharing the highlights of their respective sessions via a blogpost. We'll be using #sfrome.

Thanks to social reporting methodology, we  engage with those who are not in the room and are able to share their thoughts, inputs and ideas with those "in the room".

We will be webcasting all the plenary sessions, keynote addresses and all the sessions held in the Italian Conference Room and the Oval room. We've integrated our webcasting with Twitter and Facebook - very much a la LiveStream - or dare I say even better!

An event about YOU and for YOU
Over the course of months we put the logistic machinery in motion. Colleagues have been diligently processing visa requests and we hope that the approved visa requests will get then on time to attend the event.

The last couple of weeks we've had meetings with the session presenters and facilitators, volunteers, administration, ICT and security colleagues. And we've learnt so much in this process. Now we know that for an event of this size, to ensure safety and security of participants and to make sure everything goes smoothly, we need to have extra guards, extra movers, have medical staff on the premises. This is why Willem was asked to "order an ambulance"!

While we've tried to cover all grounds, for sure there will be things that we may have forgotten and there may be some glitches. When you encounter a challenge, please put on your creative thinking hat on, smile and find a way to overcome the challenge.

We look forward to welcoming the participants from more that 70 countries to IFAD headquarters. Please remember registration starts at 8:00am on Monday 26 September and do not forget your identity card and/or passport. See you next week.

What is cooking for the Second Global AgriKnowledge Share Fair #sfrome: 26-29 September 2011 at #IFAD HQ

When I interviewed Willem Bettink - one of the co-organizers of the Second Global AgriKnowledge Share Fair just before he left for his well deserved summer holidays, I could not imagine that we would all have an intense working holiday.

As it turns out, those of us on the road and those in the office, have been glued to our computers, Blackberries and emails. And we've done so with gusto and pleasure!

So, you are wondering what the share fair steering committee is up to? Well, apart from being glued to our electronic devices, the organizing committee composed of colleagues from Bioversity, CGIAR, CTA, FAO, IFAD,and WFP,  is finalizing the share fair programme which promises to be an exciting four day event, taking place from 26-29 September 2011 at IFAD headquarters. 


We love suspense, so you need to wait a bit more to get the full-fledged programme, but in the meantime just to whet your appetite here are some of the highlights of this unique event:

• a number of prominent personalities will share their inspiring experiences and insights 
• colleagues from all over the world in over 150 sessions, will share their knowledge and wisdom on a variety of rural development and agriculture related topics such as: food security, climate change, environmental friendly innovations, emerging trends in use of ICTs, new technologies and innovative agricultural and farming practices, market access, water, livestock, knowledge sharing, networks and communities of practice
• participants can benefit from numerous training sessions on knowledge sharing methods, social media tools, emerging trends and lessons learnt 
• stunning art for AIDS exhibit
• lots and lots of social reporting - you will see knowledge sharing methods and social media tools put to practice.... We WALK the TALK!!

We'll be webcasting the plenary sessions and a team of social reporters will bring you live this four day event. We'll be using a number of social media channels, such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and more. Make sure you follow #sfrome. 

And we hope to see you all in Rome. If you do not want to miss this event, please make sure you register. For now goodbye and good night. A presto as they say in Italian!

Celebrating the International Women’s day centenary: keeping the momentum going to close the gender gap in agriculture

This year, in celebrating the centenary anniversary of the International Women’s Day we paid tribute to the achievements of women who for 100 years have inspired both men and women.

Over the last 100 years, women made a compelling case to achieve equality. While we’ve made great strides there is still lot to be achieved to close the gender gap on many fronts.

On Monday 8 March, on the occasion of the presentation of the“State of Food and Agriculture 2010-11: Women in agriculture – closing the gender gap for development” a joint FAO-IFAD-WFP publication, an international panel of experts discussed ways and means of closing the existing gender gap

BBC’s Zeinab Badawi moderated two lively panel discussions with:

• Bina Agarwal, Director of the Institute of Economic Growth- University of Delhi, India;
• Elizabeth Atananga, President de la Plateforme Régionale des Organisations Paysannes d’Afrique Centrale – Cameroon ;
• Smita Bhatnagar, Senior Coordinator, Self Employed Women’s Association – India
• Kevin Cleaver, Associate Vice President, Programme Management Department, IFAD;
• Hafez Ghanem, Assistant Director General FAO;
• Arlene Mitchell, Senior Program Officer Agricultural Development’s Market Team –B&M Gates Foundation;
• Thenjiwe Ethel Mtintso, H.E. Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa,
• Sheila Sisulu Deputy Executive Director WFP
• Ann Tutwiler, Deputy Director General, FAO and
• Hans-Heinrich Wrede, H.E. Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The panel discussed the role of women in agriculture and rural economy. During the discussion, time and again, both the panelists and the passionate audience - including numerous students, reiterated how women are more:

• innovative than men
• creative and can make ends meet with fewer resources
• consciousness in managing resources.
• productive than men if they are given the access to the same productive resources as men
• pragmatic than men

The panelists agreed that one of the reasons why the agriculture sector is under-performing is because women do not have access to the same tools and resources as men. The “State of Food and Agriculture 2010-11” reports that “more than 100 million people could be lifted out of poverty if women had the same access to productive resources as men”. One of the report’s main conclusion is that once women have access to fertilizers, seeds, land, credit, technology and education, they will give a boost to the agriculture sector and contribute to creating a vibrant and highly productive agriculture sector.

During the debate, Bina Agarwal, reminded the audience that “land is a key productive asset for women farmers but we have not moved far enough in ensuring that women have access to land”. Lack of access to land is a reality that thousands of women rural farmers are confronted with.

Elizabeth Atananga is just one of the thousands women who after years of hard working on her land (in her case 32 years), lost her rights to the land when she lost her beloved husband.

Despite the fact that millions of women in rural areas across the globe are responsible for growing, harvesting, storing, preparing food very few own the land. Why?

The whys are different from region to region, from country to country, from village to village. They may be legal or cultural. But regardless of the geographical and national peculiarities, one common element is the fact that women often times are unable to defend their rights simply because they are not aware of them!

“Food security cannot be achieved without empowering women,” said H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, and “success depends on the inclusion and NOT exclusion of women” said Arlene Mitchell

The panelists unanimously agreed that women need to be empowered and to do so, the development community, governments, men and women need to translate words into action by:

• involving women much more in the business sector
• involving women more in decision making processes and allowing them to lead the way
• changing men’s mentality and mind-set
• changing laws
• investing more in women and paving the way to grant women equitable access to the necessary resources

The participants agreed that there is no “one size fits all”, Kevin Cleaver reminded the audience that “solutions need to be tailored to the local contexts, and that solutions need funding as nothing can be done without money.”

There was agreement that all development actors, international institutions, private sector, governments and NGOs play an important role in the stride for more equity between women and men.

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State in her video message reminded the audience that “we must keep the momentum going. The International Women’s day should not be a one-time event.”

The day after the debate, IFAD President echoed Secretary Clinton’s words, reminding the participants that women’s day is not just an annual ritual. “Women are the backbone of society and this is particularly true of rural societies, where women are often responsible for farming and earning cash as well as extra chores such as gathering firewood, collecting water, washing clothing and tending to children and the elderly”, said Nwanze. “As a result, women frequently work 16 hours a day – far longer than most men”.

“At IFAD we have a duty to recognize the contributions that women make and to remove the obstacles they face, that is why we must remain focused on these issues, each and every day of the week”, reminded Nwanze.

At the IFAD event, we had the privilege of having more time with Elizabeth Atananga, a woman whose experience is helping, and will continue to help advance women’s cause. As Elizabeth said : “Les femmes doivent participer à la prise des décisions sur les sujets qui les concernent". Gender equality is the ultimate goal; empowering women and men is the way to get there.

A recent evaluation of IFAD’s performance on gender equality and women’s empowerment found that we had improved – particularly in our new projects” said the President. During the IFAD event, our colleagues gave a quick summary of the achievements of IFAD-funded activities to bridge the gender gap and create more equality between women and men. But we can do better and with the support of passionate women advocates dreams will come true

The social reporters through their work, will contribute to close the gender gap, by sharing nuggets of information and reporting live from related events. It was great to tweet together with our FAO and WFP colleagues the fervent calls for action, on the occasion of the International Women’s day. It’s amazing how through team work we can get our messages heard loud and clear in the Twittersphere Let’s join hands to achieve the common goals, of advocating for gender equality and translate these words into action!

Stay tuned and follow us on twitter. Still not a member of Twitterville? Do you think it is about time, you become a twitcitizen? Go to www.twitter.com and sign up!

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do"
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Finally a report on gender issues that does not exclusively focus on women and covers all gender dimensions

Allow me start this blogpost with a personal note. When you commit to do social reporting, you need to be alert and actively follow the conversation and exchanges.  This means, no daydreaming and no way you can check your emails. You are a reporter. You need to listen, concentrate and proactively follow what is happening in the room. If the topic is one close to your heart, you have a less of a challenge, otherwise, you can easily get drained.

When I volunteered to do social reporting for launch of the FAO-IFAD-ILO publication Gender dimensions of agricultural and rural development: Differentiated pathways out of poverty, I was not too sure what to expect. While I understand and appreciate the importance of gender mainstreaming and being gender sensitive, I have to confess that I would not describe myself as a“gender diehard”.

I found  this well-attended, well-organized and substantive event quite refreshing and this was mainly because the participants and discussants while acknowledging the gender fatigue managed to move away from rhetoric and telling the same things over and over again rather highlighted the challenges facing rural men and women from a different angle. Kudos to the authors and the organizers.

“Today we’ve come together to celebrate the fruit of two years of hard work which has resulted in this evidence-based publication”, said Rosemary Varga Lundius, one of IFAD’s gender advocates. And indeed a celebration it was.

Henock Kifle, IFAD’s Chief Development Strategist, in welcoming the over 80 development practitioners and the numerous member country representatives highlighted that this joint FAO-IFAD-ILO publication and the accompanying seven policy briefs address fundamental questions such as:

• what do we know about the gender dimensions of rural employment?
• what are the gaps in data and research?
• are there examples of good practice that could inform national policies?

The main purpose of this research was to gather information on:

• the different tasks carried out by rural women and men
• the challenges they face
• the policy responses needed to reinforce their role in agricultural and rural development

“The research combines empirical data and good practices based on national and international experiences. The publication presents an updated analysis of development issues that are crucial for addressing rural poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” said Kifle.

The report and the accompanying seven policy briefs provide evidence that rural women have the potential to lift their households and communities out of poverty. But they are hampered by persistent gender inequities. These inequities limit their access to decent work, which they need as a vehicle for economic empowerment, social advancement and political participation.

Loretta de Luca, our ILO colleague, said the a copy of this publication should be in the offices of all member states and policy makers. I think the bigger challenge is how will they use the findings of the report and what actions will they commit to take to overcome challenges such as:

• valuing the contribution of rural women in bringing about economic growth and reducing poverty
• recognizing the economic role of women as farmers, wage labourers and small-scale entrepreneurs
• recognizing women’s “hidden” economic role as caretakers of children and the elderly

Soline de Villard from FAO brilliantly described the policy briefs.  She said: “the accompanying policy briefings are grounded in rural reality. They are ‘down to rural earth.’”

I’m sure developing the policy briefs was more challenging than putting together the 210 page report. This is because practitioners have the tendency to want to cramp far too much cryptic information and fall into the trap of losing sight of their audience needs.

The policy briefs are for people who do not have time to read something cover to cover. So the challenge is to package the wealth of information in such a way that conveys the essential messages in a simple, direct and compelling manner, thus allowing the policy maker to make the right decision and act in a timely manner.

Well, the seven policy briefs not only are ‘down to rural earth’ they are informative and written in a way that clearly outline what action is needed and what policy options are required for:

• promoting decent work that is fair to both women and men
• investing in skills
• promoting entrepreneurship among rural women
• supporting agricultural value chain development
• investing in infrastructure
• making migration work for women and men
• eliminating child labour

Villard in sharing the concept of ‘time poverty’ said:  “rural women work fewer hours than men in productive work, but all together they work longer hours than men - this both for domestic and productive work.”

“Rural women are relegated to under-valued and under-paid work. They do not have access to infrastructure and child care remains one of the key constraints to women proactively participating in rural labour markets”, highlighted Villard.

She also highlighted the fact that rural employment and women’s employment in particular are characterized by:

• time constraints in domestic and productive work
• informal, unpaid working conditions
• risks and isolation, but women are risk averse

Talking about gender inequalities in rural employment, Villard highlighted this inequality is only partially because of difference in assets. “90% of gender wage gap remains unexplained”, said Villard. “This gap could be contributed to gender discrimination and/or risk aversion.”


This made me reflect that perhaps a challenge to achieve gender equality is for both women and men realize that inequality exists.

During the chat show, moderated by own Cristiana Sparacino - who is born chat show host and is now elevated to the ranks of Oraph Winfrey - FAO’s Eve Crowley pointed out that “to alleviate rural poverty and ensure food security, we need to dig in and understand the root causes of the 90% wage gap between women and men.”

One of the findings of the report that I personally found interesting is summarized in this graphics - namely how being female amplifies rural employment deficits.

This publications is one of the few that I’ve come across that touches upon all gender dimensions and not only women issues.  I think that is why I found it so refreshing. Villard in concluding the presentation of the main findings outlined the need for:

• compiling sex disaggregated data
• creating more and better jobs opportunities for rural men and women
• eliminating child labour
• putting in place effective policies

Talking about employment opportunities, Claudio Lenoci, ILO director for Italy reiterated that ”decent work means equal opportunity for both women and men”. FAO’s Marcella Villareal underscored the fact the without addressing gender inequalities we will not be able to achieve the targets of MDG1 and cannot effectively reduce hunger and poverty.

Crowely, echoing Villareal reminded the participants that “to reduce hunger and poverty and ensure food security, we need to power women economically, create greater autonomy for women and reduce social inequality.”

“We need to transform agriculture into a sector that not only provides employment opportunities but also provides a better livelihoods,”added Crowley.  ILO’s Loretta de Luca passionately advocated that we need to make women protagonist and made the case that investing in rural women is good business.

Let me wrap up this blogpost with one last personal reflection. We often talk about the disconnect between theory and practice. This causes some tension between the practitioner who “dirties his/her hands” and the academic who hypotheses, writes articles which are then peer reviewed and published in prestigious journals. Well, during the chat show, I saw this dynamics in action. It was interesting to see an academic such as Deepa Joshi from Wageningen University citing and quoting from books and academic materials, and Norman Messer - an on-the-ground practitioners - sharing concrete on-the-ground examples.

I was left with the question whether there was any room to bridge this gap? and wonder how big is this gap?

At the end of event, I was satisfied and happy to have spent my Friday morning attending the launch of Gender dimensions of agricultural and rural development: Differentiated pathways out of poverty. I am sure we’ll be hear more about this report. It surely has gone pretty viral on Twittersphere. A big thank you to all the wonderful people who are tweeting and retweeting about this report. And once again kudos and congratulations to FAO-IFAD-ILO colleagues!

An afternoon well spent at the agknowledge Share Fair market place!

One of the great things about the Addis Share Fair is how the organizers have weaved in the local culture in this event. We've now got used to drinking Bunna - Ethiopian coffee, have wonderful Ethiopian lunch. Tomorrow we'll have a special lunch - because it is fast day!!!

The market place was the "pezzo forte" of the day! In line with the underlying principle of sharing the local culture, the market place mimicked an Ethiopian market place. The idea was that everyone walks around the market place and share their knowledge.

The participants had a great afternoon walking through the ILRI complex and visiting the various stalls. At the merkato we found wonderful ladies selling typical Ethiopian garments, scarves, shoes, belts and jewellery.

The climate change stall used GIS maps to show the impact of climate change. At the Guilt we saw lots of knowledge sharing happening. The art exhibition and the Bunna station was a nice pit stop to replenish and where you could see some beautiful paintings and have a nice cup of coffee.

Since ILRI is hosting this wonderful event, all the organizers were equipped with a livestock head - a donkey. We used this means of transportation to share our knowledge within the market place. It was FUN!!!!

Everyone had a great time and found the use of this innovative transportation mean very amusing. We finished off the day with "tasting session" where we  we tasted different types of Ethiopian honey and were served local Ethiopian drink.

It was a great day! Now we are doing the after action review of the day and we'll be going out to celebrate PierAndrea's birthday.

Tomorrow the pathways will continues and we'll start with focus groups!!! So stay tuned.

A domani!

Agknowledge Africa Share Fair officially opens with a compelling talk by Owen Barder #sfaddis

At 8:50 on the dot, our Ethiopian horn blower - the official time keeper - called us to order and over 300 participants gathered in the big tent for the opening session of Agknolwedge Knowledge Share Fair. What a nice turn out!!!

For the opening session we had short statements from Bruce Scott ILRI's boss, followed by Lamourdia Thiombian, FAO representative, Koda Traore, CTA and I had the honour of representing IFAD.

Bruce talked about the how important it is for smallholder farmers to have the required knowledge to support and boost the agriculture sector in Africa. He talked about how smallholder farmers hold the key to transforming agriculture in Africa - something very close to IFAD's heart, mission and vision.

Mr Thiombian stressed the importance of informal gatherings, such as this very event to facilitate knowledge sharing across all levels. He also underscored the fact that people in Africa have a very good culture of sharing knowledge which has not necessarily been used for scientific purposes.

Mr Thiombian very succinctly shared the connecting and collecting dimensions of knowledge management, knowledge sharing in this soundbites: "Knowledge sharing is not only about sharing, it's about people networking and working together".

Koda representing CTA talked about how we should not confine knowledge in a box and highlighted the importance of sharing it and allowing knowledge to flow freely, horizontally and vertically.

I had the honour of representing IFAD and gave a bit of history of how this share fair came to be and how Share Fair 2009 co-organized by the Rome-based agencies has positively impacted our respective organizations and helped us to demystify knowledge management. No doubt, this Africa Share Fair will bring another wave of these changes.

I also talked about importance of putting local knowledge in the forefront and sharing it, sharing it and sharing it!

Owen Barder gave a compelling talk entitled "is agriculture the key to development". You can download at http://www.owen.org/wp-content/uploads/101019-Addis-Share-Fair.pdf. Owen is a very charismatic and compelling speaker, so I probably will not do him justice by trying to summarize the salient points of his talk, that is why I recommend you look at his presentation yourselves - especially the slide on

He talked about why knowledge is important for development. He talked about how through out history information and knowledge matters because it is a fundamental driver for economic growth. He then introduced the concept of wicked problems which are at the heart of development, and how we sometimes fail to understand these problems let alone even dreaming to coming up with a solution for them.

He showed a video to make the case that all successful complex systems are the result of evolution!!! What a concept, right?!!! And proceeded to make the point that development is "wicked problem" and has many complexities.

He made the case that we need to concentrate on making knowledge in development more evolutionary and the fact that we do not need authoritative answers, but diversity in answers. He said: "We need diversity, engagement and feedback process".

He underscored the importance of feedback loops as they drive performance in terms of service delivery and made the case that as change makers we need to build feedback loops. He proceeded to say that people get information in the context of something that they are doing and in the context of their daily life!

He made the case for publishing information in an open standard way to allow a seamless sharing of information.

His slide on shift of paradigm and how knowledge for development has evolved over time from secrecy to communication to being wired - or rather all the concepts that have expired, or are tired and finally the new paradigm of engagement is a gem!!!! One to live by!!

Thank you Owen for such a refreshing and unconventional talk. Much appreciated. I sincerely hope our paths will cross sooner rather than later, because all of us have a lot to learn from you!!!

So this was just a short summary of this morning. As I am writing this blogpost, the market place is well under way. I'll be posting the pictures shorty, so do not run away!!! Stay put. More coming soon.

Le FIDA aide les petits exploitants agricoles en Afrique

L'article de Joan Baxter publié dans le Monde Diplomatique de janvier (voir p.18) intitulé: "Un mouvement spéculatif mondial : Ruée sur les terres africaines" cite à deux reprises le Fonds international de développement agricole (FIDA), faisant référence à sa politique foncière et à ses activités en matière d'investissement. Je tiens à apporter quelques écaircissements permettant, je l'espère, de dissiper d'éventuels malentendus.
Le FIDA est une institution financière internationale de développement et une agence spécialisée des Nations Unies octroyant des prêts et des dons à ses Etats membres et à ses partenaires pour financer des programmes de développement et de lutte contre la pauvreté rurale. Les programmes soutenus par le FIDA visent à faciliter, promouvoir et dynamiser le développement de l’agriculture paysanne et des communautés rurales, souvent dans les régions les plus pauvres.

Ces programmes sont ciblés principalement sur les petits exploitants agricoles, les pasteurs, les peuples autochtones et en particulier les femmes et les jeunes en milieu rural. Un accès sécurisé à la terre – et en particulier aux terres cultivables – pour ces acteurs du développement est donc de première importance pour le FIDA. De fait, améliorer et sécuriser l’accès des ruraux pauvres aux ressources naturelles, terres et eaux, est le premier des six objectifs stratégiques du FIDA retenus dans notre cadre stratégique 2007-2010 facilement accessible sur notre site web. Par ailleurs le Conseil d’Administration du FIDA a approuvé en 2008 un document de politique sur l’amélioration de l’accès à la terre et de la sécurité foncière et en 2009 une politique d’engagement aux côtés des peuples autochtones. J'invite le lecteur à consulter ces documents de politique sur notre site ainsi que les nombreuses informations disponibles concernant les projets financés par le FIDA dans le monde et en Afrique en particulier.
On y peut constater qu’en aucune manière le FIDA n’est « tenant » d’une approche du développement agricole consistant à «installer en Afrique des fermes industrielles géantes pour y produire des denrées alimentaires et des agro-carburants entièrement destinés à l’exportation ». Cette approche n’a jamais été la nôtre, au contraire caractérisée par une préférence stratégique et systématique pour l’investissement dans les petites exploitations familiales et la microfinance rurale. Le dernier paragraphe de l’article de Joan Baxter (« Pourtant des solutions existent… ») décrirait parfaitement le type de programme que finance réellement le FIDA. Nous regrettons qu’un organe de presse de la qualité du Monde Diplomatique publie de telles informations ne correspondant ni au mandat ni aux activités d’une institution des Nations Unies travaillant depuis plus de trente ans pour le développement de l’agriculture paysanne.

Par ailleurs, il est vrai que le FIDA collabore actuellement avec la FAO, la Banque Mondiale et d’autres partenaires à la définition de principes directeurs en matière d’investissement dans l’agriculture (non pas d’un « code de bonne conduite ») ainsi que d’un manuel répertoriant les pratiques d’investissements responsables dans ce secteur. Ce faisant notre objectif n’est évidemment pas de promouvoir l’accaparement des terres paysannes par une agriculture industrielle d’exportation, mais de montrer que d’autres pratiques et partenariats mutuellement bénéfiques sont non seulement souhaitables mais aussi possibles entre investisseurs privés responsables, communautés rurales et petites exploitations familiales.

Enfin le FIDA soutient et participe activement à l’initiative de la FAO pour la préparation de Directives volontaires sur la gouvernance responsable de la tenure des terres et des autres ressources naturelles. Ces directives volontaires aideront les pays à améliorer la gouvernance de la tenure foncière dans une perspective de développement agricole durable et de sécurité alimentaire.

Jean-Philippe Audinet
Programme Management Department
Fonds international de développement agricole (FIDA)
Via Paolo di Dono, 44
00124 Rome, Italie
http://www.ifad.org
http://twitter.com/IFADNews
http://ifad-un.blogspot.com

Arid lands ecosystem and climate change: Livelihoods of more than one billion people are at stake

How can the impact of climate change on arid lands and on the poor people living in such areas be minimized and their sustainable livelihoods protected?

This was the subject of a UNFCCC COP15 side event organized by IFAD on 11 December, within the framework of the IIED Development and Climate Days.

The Dr Byen University setting, only two metro stops from the Bella centre where the Copenhagen Climate Change negotiations were taking place, provided a perfect setting for bringing together a large number of participants, observers from the negotiations and academicians from the University, and foster a constructive discussion on the implications of climate change in arid lands.

The panel consisted of members from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Mechanism (GM). The session was chaired by Rodney Cooke, Director of IFAD's Technical Advisory Division.

The event provided a unique opportunity to share IFAD’s own experience in integrating climate change issues in project portfolio through Country Strategic Opportunities Papers (COSOPs) such as that in Viet Nam and Chad as well as environmental screening of IFAD projects and the development of IFAD’s corporate strategy towards the mainstreaming of the climate change dimension in its project activities. The event also highlighted the relevance of drylands ecosystems with regards to rural development, and addressed the specific impact of climate change on these particularly fragile environments. Panelists discussed how climate change resilience can be promoted in arid lands ecosystems, through investments or otherwise.

Atiqur Rahman, Policy Coordinator, opened the session by providing a detailed overview of the magnitude of the problem, and addressed the adverse impact of climate change on the more than one billion people whose livelihoods largely or totally depend on arid lands ecosystems. He outlined four sets of issues which were then discussed in details by the other four panelists.

Peter Holmgren, Director, Environment Climate Change and Bioenergy Division , FAO, discussed the potential for mitigation in arid areas, notably through sustainable land management, afforestation, and agroforestry.

Ced Hesse, Principal Researcher, Climate Change, IIED, gave a vivid account of the crucial social and economic role played by pastoralists in Africa’s drylands. He emphasized their importance in ensuring economic development, sustainable land management and peace in a changing, increasingly unstable and variable environment.

Nadim Khouri, Director of IFAD’s Near East and North Africa Division, emphasized the need to build on vulnerable people’s own livelihoods strategies to devise efficient investments under harsh climatic conditions. He stressed the urgent need for better models to be developed in order to be able to predict the impact of climate change, specifically for arid areas, and for countries and rural communities to internalize such models in their development strategies.

In the concluding intervention, Alejandro Kilpatrick, GM’s Programme Coordinator for Latin America and for the Climate Change Programme, highlighted the value of drylands, to be seen in its economic, social , and financial dimensions. He gave a detailed overview of the current and anticipated sources of funding available to arid land ecosystems, and their relevance in addressing the adverse impact of climate change in these areas.

The presentations were followed by an interesting discussion with members of the audience. Issues were raised on the possibility of using local and indigenous knowledge and whether large scale investments could crowd out local initiatives which provided the backbone of autonomous adaptation for centuries, the need to adjust to increasing variability of climate both in terms of institutional development as well as using flexible project designs, the use of land rights and access to resources in innovative ways to overcome the ‘tragedy of the commons’, the developing early warning systems, and the reuse of wastes through anaerobic systems.

Most of the populations living in drylands are, in fact, amongst the poorest of the poor: investing in drylands is therefore crucial, and so is the recognition of the value of drylands ecosystems and traditional activities such as pastoralism.

The chairman concluded the session pointing out towards the opportunities to harness financing for climate change in support to drylands, both from the carbon market and from the funding for adaptation to climate change, but there is a need to better position the issues at stake into the development agendas of donors and governments. The UNFCCC COP might identify more opportunities that are emerging, such as REDD, REDD+ and adaptation funding.

Atiqur Rahman