EFARD Steering Committee meeting

Participants: André Stucki (YPARD, Switzerland) Substitute for Martina Graf Ann Waters-Bayer (ETC Foundation, Netherlands) Catherine Guichard (COLEACP, France, Chair) Christian Hoste (AGREENIUM/ France) David Radcliffe (EC/DEVCO; Executive Secretary) Francois Stepman (European Co-manager, PAEPARD) Observer George Rothschild (UK Forum) Hubert Wiggering (ZALF, Germany) Ignace Coussement (AgriICord, Belgium) Observer Jürgen Anthofer ((GIZ, EIARD Executive Secretary) Judith Ann Francis (CTA, Netherlands) Observer – only Wednesday Richard Hawkins (ICRA) Observer Stefano Del Debbio (IAO, Italy) Alex Percy-Smith (Consultant to Secretariat)

6th – 7th March 2013. Brussels. COLEACP. Steering Committee Meeting of EFARD.

At this meeting Ignace Coussement made an interesting presentation about AgriCord.

AgriCord’s core business is strengthening the capacities of farmer organisations (FOs) in developing countries. It is a development NGO that is a network of agri-agencies, i.e. NGOs that have structural links with FOs in a wide sense, including rural people’s organisations, young farmers’ organisations and agricultural cooperatives. Within AgriCord, the agri-agencies developed one common and comprehensive programme called “Farmers Fighting Poverty”. AgriCord is interested in EFARD because it would like to support FOs to become more involved in ARD. The mandate of the agri-agencies is to mobilise their farmer constituencies on issues related to development, and research is one such issue.

AgriCord has had some pressure from two sides to give more attention to ARD: a few requests from FOs in developing countries, plus some requests from FOs in the EU that are increasingly being asked to become involved in research in the EU. AgriCord seeks to strengthen FO capacities to engage more continuously in ARD processes and not just on an ad hoc basis, as is presently the case. FOs need representatives who can follow the ARD agenda, be well informed, make strong contributions and can also become implementing partners in ARD. AgriCord therefore needs a facility to coach leaders from FOs so that they can be better prepared for interaction with research and have mandated statements, and so that they are confronted with their own responsibility of being representatives.

However, because research is not the core business of FOs, it is difficult to get them together to discuss ARD. The research has to link in with the farmers’ main concerns. For farmers in Europe, this would revolve around issues of nutrition and food systems.

Interview with Ignace Coussement published on 1 Feb 2013 The first Forest Farm Facility Steering Committee - FAO HQ, Rome on 10-11 January 2013.

At this meeting PAEPARD interviewed Prof. Dr. Hurbert Wiggering of the German Agricultural Research Alliance.(DAFA)

•  Dr. Hurbert Wiggering answers following questions: What is the German Agricultural Research Alliance (DAFA) about? 
• Is research relevant for farmers?

The DAFA is a joint project of the German agricultural research. The network aims to improve the efficiency, transparency and the international visibility of German Agricultural Research.

Objectives:

• Identification of research topics that are relevant to target groups of agricultural research 
• Development of strategies for placing promising research topics in planning and tenders in national and international research programs.
• Networking of research institutions, pooling their expertise and preparation of consortia, which are capable of processing the identified research topics particularly.
• Providing updated information on structures and competences of German agricultural research institutions to enable interested parties from Germany and abroad to be contacted rapidly with competent partners.

To be involved in the development and refinement of thematic funding programs, the German Agricultural Research Alliance works with donors of research funding in Germany and at the European level.

Preliminary Announcement Final Conference for the ERA-ARD II project

5th June 2013. Egmont Palace, Petit Sablon 8, Brussels, Belgium. Brussels. International Conference – Preliminary Announcement. Better linkages between Agricultural Research and Development for greater impact on Global Challenges.

In recent years, significant progress has been made in improving European coordination of Agricultural Research for Development through ERA-ARD, an EC funded project addressing national programmes for Agricultural Research for Development (ARD) in Europe, as well as EIARD (European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development) targeting European support to global ARD initiatives like the CGIAR and SCAR (Standing Committee on Agricultural Research) targeting research programmes addressing primarily European concerns. 

Future coordination interventions are expected to focus on improved alignment of research and development policies, programmes and instruments both within Europe and between Europe and the South. This conference will bring together policy-makers, donors, programme managers, scientists, the private sector and other stakeholders from Europe and regions of the world concerned with the fields of agriculture, research and international cooperation.

Conference Objectives
This international conference will have a forward looking perspective building on achievements and existing mechanisms to identify concrete ways to improve coordination of agricultural research for development efforts in Europe, emphasising improved synergies between national and bilateral programmes, strengthened linkages between AR and ARD and stronger alignment between national and European programmes with global initiatives in order to address global challenges and to maximise the impact of European investments in AR and ARD, at national, continental and global level.

The outputs of the conference will include proposals for renewed linkages between European AR and ARD, further alignment between member state policies and instruments for a specific dialogue within Europe and between Europe and other regions of world.
Programme Topics

The programme is beginning to take shape, and will include elements of the following:

• The role of Europe in implementing the GCARD Road Map and addressing Global Challenges 
• Looking forward with lessons learnt and results from ERA-ARD 
• European Partnership with the South, including the South’s vision of collaboration with Europe 
• Linkages between agricultural research and research for development in Europe 
• The European ARD coordination set-up: possibilities for the future 

The Information platform of Switzerland on agricultural research for development

Presentation of EFARD by Catherine Guichard

8 October 2012. Bern. A joint meeting was organised between the European Forum for Agricultural Research (EFARD) and the Swiss Forum for International Agricultural Research (SFIAR) at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (HAFL).

• Presentation of HAFL as host of the meeting by HAFL Head of M.Sc. (Urs Scheidegger) 
• Presentation of EFARD by EFARD Chair (Catherine Guichard) 
• Presentation of SFIAR by SFIAR Chair or Secretary 
• Presentation of GFRAS by Executive Secretary (Kristin Davis) 
• Presentation of updates on ERA-ARD II by Manfred Kaufmann 
• Brief discussion of points of common interest e.g. GCARD II

The SFIAR has the following goals and objectives:

• Sharing information between the stakeholders involved in agricultural research for development (ARD) in Switzerland and encouraging dialogue within this community on different views, interests and perspectives related to ARD.
• Promoting the visibility of Swiss agricultural research for development in the international ARD community and in the public.
• Playing an advocacy role at both national and international levels by contributing to shape political decisions about ARD.
• Serving as a national partner in the European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development (EFARD) and the Global Forum for International Agricultural Research (GFAR), and supporting the aims of these organisations.
• Promoting collaboration, synergies and complementarities between different actors involved in international agricultural research in Switzerland.

Membership

• Membership in SFIAR is open to all institutions and individuals actively involved or just interested in agricultural research for development, especially:
• Research institutions
• Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
• The private sector
• Farmers' organisations
• Public agencies
• Private individuals

Participants of SFIAR to the joint meeting

Participants of SFIAR were: (** excused)

Surname, First Name	Institution
Becker, Barbara	ETH Global, ETH Zurich
Bravo Heidi**	Swiss Farmers Union
Bürli Markus (only joint lunch)	Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Crettaz, Marylaure **	Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Davis, Kristin	GFRAS
Dubock, Adrian **	Golden Rice Humanitarian Board / Golden Rice Project Manager
Egger, Paul	formerly Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Fried, Padruot	formerly Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station
Gantner, Urs **	Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture
Goethe, Tina**	Swiss Aid
Gsyin, Johanna	YPARD National Focal Point, Switzerland
Grant, Michelle	World Food System Center, ETH Zurich
Herrmann, Doris	Indo-Swiss Collaboration in Biotechnology, EPFL Lausanne
Hintermann, Felix	School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL
Huber, Beate	Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
Kaufmann, Manfred	Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Stäubli Dreyer, Bettina	School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL
Thönnissen, Carmen **	Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Wilhelm, Rolf	formerly Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Winzeler, Michael	Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station (ART)
Zhou, Yuan	Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture

EFARD Steering Committee Meeting

8th – 9th October 2012. Zollikofen (Bern), Switzerland. Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (HAFL).The European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development (EFARD) held it SC meeting.

Following issues were discussed:

• hosting the EFARD Secretariat, the position of Executive Secretary and the support provided to the Secretariat
• review of who will be EFARD’s representative on the CTA Advisory Committee. 
• Status of EFARD funding from GFAR and PAEPARD 
• Future ties with EIARD
• GFAR, GCARD and related matters
• Brief update of development of the website
• EFARD Publicity material
• Review of EFARD Governance 
• The Revised EFARD Action Plan and update on EFARD actions
• Update on the CGIAR SRF Action plan



David Radcliffe and Manfred Kaufmann

• EFARD’s role at GCARD

On the first day a Joint meeting was organised with the Swiss Forum for International Agricultural Research (SFIAR) at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (HAFL). This meeting was chaired jointly by Chair of SFIAR (Manfred Kaufmann) and EFARD’s Executive Secretary (David Radcliffe).

See blog post The Information platform of Switzerland on agricultural research for development

EFARD Steering Committee Meeting

8th December– 9th December 2011. Agropolis International. Montpellier, France. EFARD held it's Steering Committee Meeting during two days. EFARD’s main aim is to meet the following strategic objectives, referring to European, global and inter-regional perspectives:

1. To encourage dialogue between European ARD stakeholder groups promoting awareness, innovative approaches, and partnerships in order to build a more efficient and impact focused ARD.
2. To support global ARD initiatives within the framework of GFAR and the GCARD process
3. To promote inter-regional partnerships and collaborative ARD activities for joint research initiatives, capacity strengthening and greater impact, particularly in developing countries.

Action 1 Europe: Encourage dialogue between European ARD Stakeholder groups promoting awareness, innovative approaches and partnerships
a. Development of a new strategy
b. Development of a new EFARD Website
c. Development of publicity material
d. Broaden & strengthen EFARD’s stakeholder base

Action 2: Global. Support Global initiatives within the framework of GFAR and GCARD
a. Support the planning and implementation of GCARD II
b. Coherence in Information in ARD (CIARD & CIARD RING)
c. Strengthening RAIS/RAILS
d. Support the implementation of the GCARD Road Map
e. Support and participation to other initiatives e.g. European Rural Development Forum

Action 3 Inter-regional. Promote inter-regional partnerships and collaborative ARD activities for joint initiatives, capacity strengthening and greater impact
a. Partnership Platforms - PAEPARD
b. Partnership Platforms – FORAGRO and APAARI
c. Partnership Platforms - AARINENA
d. Partnership Platforms - CACAARI
e. Collective Foresight actions

Action 4 Management and Coordination. 
a. Management Team meetings
b. Steering Committee meetings
c. Maintenance of the new website
d. Advocacy

Action 5 Representation
a. GFAR activities
b. Representation at various meetings