Valentine's Freebie

Here's a little Valentine's Day freebie that I made last year - enjoy!

 

 

 

This 17 page freebie is available now.

 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

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Pastoralism and Development: Dynamic Change at the Margins

This book gives a view of ‘development at the margins’ in the pastoral areas of the Horn of Africa. Edited by Andy Cutley, Jeremy Lind and Ian Scoones, Pastoralism and Development In Africa highlights innovation and entrepreneurialism, cooperation and networking and diverse approaches which are rarely in line with standard development prescriptions.

Through 20 detailed empirical chapters, the book highlights diverse pathways of development, going beyond the standard ‘aid’ and ‘disaster’ narratives.

The book is part of the STEPS Centre's Pathways to Sustainability book series.

Related:

Book launch Pastoralism and Development in Africa: Dynamic
Change at the Margins, 13 February 2013, Jacaranda Hotel, 6-8 PM

Related:
Spaces of insecurity. Human agency in violent conflicts in KenyaKaren Witsenburg and Fred Zaal 
African Studies Collection 45
ISBN 978-90-5448-120-1
There are regions in the world where socio-economic deprivation, ecological marginality, political exclusion, poverty and violence all seem to converge. The cases presented in this book describe the various violent conflicts in rural Kenya and aim to understand spatial insecurity while searching for explanations beyond the mainstream narratives that blame poverty, ethnic diversity, resource scarcity or rapid cultural transition for violent conflicts.

"Spatial insecurity' is a societal context that people themselves shape, make use of, exploit and suffer from. The overall conclusion is that 'ethnic identity' can no longer be used as a refuge behind which violent conflict can be justified.

At least 7 chapters deal with violent conflicts and pastoralism.

Related:
ILRI clippings 30/01/2013. Livestock for Africa’s food security: Sydney launch of Australian International Food Security Centre

Announcement:6th Forum for the Future of Agriculture (FFA 2013)

5th March 2013. Brussels. 6th Forum for the Future of Agriculture. Following last year's successful event which saw over 1200 participants join distinguished speakers and interesting debates and discussions, the sixth edition turns the spotlight on Meeting the Food & Environmental Challenge and will focus on Africa. Last year the focus was on Brazil.

Themes will include Africa's new ways for food production and economic development, reform of the Common Agriculture Policy hanging in the balance, protection of the consumer, and the challenges around resource extraction, efficiency, and waste. 

Discussions will be moderated by BBC's Stephen Sackur, and Matthew Dempsey from "Irish Farmers Journal". 

International decision makers including as President Barroso of the European Commission, and Bob Zoellick, former president of the World Bank, headline the event. The debates seek to uncover how best to boldly reconcile crop production with ecological preservation.

As world population hits the seven billion mark on its way to 9 billion by 2050, and Africa approaches critical mass in its capacity to become an agricultural powerhouse, FFA panellists will examine what these issues and others mean for the future of EU agriculture and the balance to be struck between production, ecology and EU consumer well-being.
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How to Protect your PC by using Symantec Antivirus

There are Three Features of Symantec Endpoint Protection :

1.Antivirus and Antispyware

2.Network Threat Protection

3.Proactive Threat Protection

                      Antivirus and Antispyware

  This component is responsible for the virus protection by the major component involved in it called Auto Protect which automatically protects your computers from various infections present in the environment by performing a real time scan. 

                         Network Threat Protection

        Network Threat Protection is the firewall component that is responsible for handling network traffic and it is a replacement for the windows firewall .

                          Proactive Threat Protection

        This component is responsible for doing behavioral analysis of the virus through different modules received from Symantec through updates. There are separate virus definitions that comes periodically from Symantec which is weekly released or twice in one week depending on the virus infection outbreak in the environment.

The Economist. Feed the world debate

30 January 2013. Amsterdam. Hilton Hotel. The Economist. Feeding the world. A high-level audience gathered in Amsterdam to discuss how to accelerate progress in coordinating efforts to tackle the planet’s food security crisis.

Industry leaders, Government ministers, donors, aid agencies and representatives of the research community explored opportunities to collaborate in delivering improved nutrition and sustainable agricultural markets.

In the afternoon there were three expert working groups on the subject of:

1. Nutrition – what are the best ways to address the nutritional double burden of obesity and malnutrition?
2. Finance and risk management – what is the potential for microfinance and microinsurance to strengthen food security?
3. Science and technology – what is the effectiveness and potential of a number of approaches to boosting yield and productivity?

Workshop C: The enabling role of science and technology
Science and technology have a major role to play in meeting the global food security challenge. We debate the effectiveness and potential of a number of approaches to boosting yield and productivity through breeding and the use of biotechnology.

Dennis Rangi, Executive Director for International Development, CABI
Monty Jones, Executive Director, FARA
Amit Roy, President and Chief Executive Officer, IFDC
Erez Vigodman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Makhteshim Agan Industries
Jagresh K. Rana, Commercial Lead Row Crops East Europe, Monsanto

A selection of photos from this year's Feeding the World conference in Amsterdam.

13 / 30

Annual general assembly (AGA) of the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development

30-31st January 2013. The Hague. Over 34 donor organizations met at the annual general assembly (AGA) of the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development. The agenda of the 2013 AGA focused on 'food, farmers and markets'.

The AGA is an opportunity for members to meet, exchange experience and plan and agree on their joint initiatives for the forthcoming year. This year’s AGA focused on Food, Farmers and Markets and provided a forum for Platform members to discuss and plan ahead to address critical questions around food security, smallholder farmers, market access and the role of the private sector and international community.

Drawing participants from among Platform member organizations, partners, academia and the private sector, delegates reviewed challenges and opportunities, strategies and new developments. Specific working groups addressed challenges to finance for smallholder farmers, enhancing nutritional content of food, climate-smart agriculture and commodity markets and trade.

First drafts of the review of the Joint Donor Concept on Rural Development are to be presented in February 2013, after more feedback has been gathered at the Platform's Annual General Assembly.

An Africa That Can Feed Africa from Mark N. Hopkins on Vimeo.

First keynote Professor Tim Lang
What are the (international, regional, national) policy goals that countries, rich and poor alike, - and the global community - should adopt to strike a balance between food security and equitable economic growth? What are the longer term (sustainable) policy parameters and how can both donors and recipient governments respond?

Prof Lang, said "Resolving world food systems problems is a governance issue, companies are mainly concerned about their supply. Underproduction is not the problem - it is mal-distribution".

Keynote by Sir Gordon Conway

Early lessons from the forthcoming research by Agriculture for Impact and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) were shared. Based on an in-depth literature review and over 30 case studies, 'Leaping & Learning: Strategies for Taking Agricultural Successes to Scale' shows that there are specific approaches that governments -- including national governments, regional partners, or development donors -- can embed into their work to ensure that smallholder farmers are more effectively connected to markets at scale.

Initial findings from Dr Steve Wiggins and his team at ODI show that there are some positive ways that governments can support smallholders to flourish. For example, they need to create a conducive environment by exploring access to domestic and regional markets (not just export markets), focusing on returns for smallholders, embracing the use of smart subsidies in some circumstances, encouraging smallholder farmer groupings, and ensuring that the private sector is not just included, but has a central role in smallholder agricultural development. A commitment to training and capacity building is also key.

Lamon Rutten, CTA

Findings from the conference on value chains for transforming smallholder agriculture held 6-9 November 2012 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Lamon Rutten, CTA).

Mobilising Aid for Trade to Enhance CAADP implementation
and private sector initiatives - How to strengthen bridging between agriculture, trade and environment? (Sven Walter, Global Mechanism and Francesco Rampa, ECPDM)

Francesco Rampa

Weak coordination between agriculture and trade policymakers and the private sector poses a challenge to boosting intra-African trade and the development of regional agricultural markets. Continuous policy dialogue at the continental, regional and national levels could ensure consistent planning and more integrated action, a new joint Briefing Note by the Global Mechanism (UNCCD) and ECDPM recommends. It points to priority areas to leverage synergies and pool public and private resources channeled through the Aid for Trade initiative, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme and related private sector initiatives.
At the Platform AGA, Dyborn Chibonga, CEO of the National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi (NASFAM), stressed the importance of making African smallholders view farming as a business. Once this change in attitude is accomplished, market integration becomes the next goal.

Related:

More than 100 organisations have announced their support for the 'Enough Food for Everyone IF' campaign certainly hope so. The campaign is focused on getting politicians to tackle global hunger and malnutrition, calling on the G8 leaders to take the lead at the UK-hosted 2013 summit in June. The UK Prime Minister has promised a special event dedicated to food and nutrition security ahead of the G8 Summit, providing a critical opportunity to galvanise political engagement.

Think, Eat, Save: FAO, UNEP and partners launch global campaign on food waste

22 January 2012, Geneva/Rome - Simple actions by consumers and food retailers can dramatically cut the 1.3 billion tonnes of food lost or wasted each year and help shape a sustainable future, according to a new global campaign to cut food waste launched today by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and partners.

The Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint campaign is in support of the SAVE FOOD Initiative to reduce food loss and waste along the entire chain of food production and consumption - run by the FAO and trade fair organizer Messe Düsseldorf - and the UN Secretary General's Zero Hunger Initiatives. The new campaign specifically targets food wasted by consumers, retailers and the hospitality industry.

The campaign harnesses the expertise of organizations such as WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), Feeding the 5,000 and other partners, including national governments, who have considerable experience targeting and changing wasteful practices.


Think.Eat.Save. aims to accelerate action and provide a global vision and information-sharingportal for the many and diverse initiatives currently underway around the world.