ERA-ARD Workshop on Water Resource Management

11 - 13 March 2013. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. ERA-ARD together with FARA organised a workshop to develop a reference framework for transnational coordination of funding programmes for agricultural research within the thematic area "Water Resources Management in Agriculture".

Funders, regional policy makers, practitioners and researchers met to foster an alliance of investors and a network of innovators. The goal of this workshop was to develop a reference framework for transnational coordination of funding programs for agricultural research within the thematic area ‘Water Resources Management in Agriculture’.

The main output is a document that provides guidance with structural specifications for European joint funding and defined targets for research and capacity development. It is anticipated to use this mechanism for the coordination of investments in other thematic areas and regions beyond the ERA-ARD project.

Specific objectives

• establish a framework, shared by the various actors in research and innovation. This framework will consist of a crosstab of priority issues and common directives for the implementation of funding programs and research projects.
• foster an alliance to efficiently use resources and build synergies.
• establish an organizational structure for maintaining a network of "water resources management".
• develop recommendations for organizing similar meetings in other areas and other themes.

For more information please click here (EN) / (FR).

ERA-ARD2 Consultation

30 September, The Hague. This consultation was attended by all major countries of ERA-ARD2 network i.e. the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Tunisia, Belgium, Slovakia. Participants were managers in the Ministry of Agriculture linked with agriculture for development. 

The Southern and Emerging countries advisory group (SEAG) was endorsed. Memberships were from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caucasus. The SEAG is to provide advisee to ERA-ARD on regional priorities for European programming such as the SCAR taskforce on ARD and ERA-ARD future perspectives.

A stakeholder consultation is being prepared for 2013 in Burkina Faso within the theme water management systems in Africa.

The future outlook of ERA-ARD 2 were discussed with short term (10 months for project lifecycle and long term with more sustainability). Various options were tabled. The major decision taken was to invest more on coordinating more than 300 million euros investments of European countries in agriculture for development.

European commission through EIARD shared the newly opened discussions on Article 185. The objectives is for ERA-NET to align programs and financial and human resources. The main topic of discussion is ‘intensification pathways’ for African agriculture. They will assess pathways used for advice to policy makers. 

Background:

ERA-ARD is a project within the frame of the ERA-NET Programme of the European Commission.
The project seeks to improve synergies between the European national ARD programmes, increase the effectiveness and efficiency of European research planning, funding and implementation to fight poverty and hunger and to support a more rapid and sustainable development in the poorest countries in the world.

ERA-ARD kick-off meeting

The ERA-ARD II project was officially kicked-off with Consortium and Steering Committee meetings on 11-12 November 2010 in The Hague, The Netherlands. During this kick-off, project partners were able to network, interact with their European counterparts, Work Package leaders and others.

The Dutch coordination team hosted this meeting, which was dedicated to ensuring that detailed work plans were agreed towards full delivery of the ERA-ARD goals. Due attention was given to the general management of this ERA-Net in the context of national and European research policies for global food security.

Achievements of ERA ARD I are:

• ERA-ARD provided a shared vision and a strategic agenda on ARD in Europe
• ERA-ARD provided an analysis of collaboration models to the implementation of joint and transnational activities ;
• ERA-ARD realised increased involvement of Southern partners through the establishment of a Southern Advisory Group ERA-ARD implemented a transnational call on “Bioenergy”.

The areas for improvement are:

• Enlargement of the consortium by integrating new Countries (Portugal, Turkey, Finland, etc.).
• Expand joint and transnational activities initiated during ERA-ARD I
• Realise joint activities in the Thematic fields: Capacity development, Agri-Food Chain Security and Food & Energy , also related to climate change
• Involve the end users of the European ARD programmes in the design and implementation of joint and transnational activities
• Expend the Southern Advisory Group to include stakeholders from all continents

Members of the ERA-ARD II consortium are:

- Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality – Department of Knowledge, Netherlands
- Bundesministerium für Land- u Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt u Wasserwirtschaft – Division on International Cooperation for Food and Development, Austria
- Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food, Germany
- Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, France
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France
- Instituto nacional de investigación y tecnología agraria y alimentaria, Spain
- Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affair, General Directorate of Agricultural Research, Turkey
- Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
- Instituto Nacional de Recursos Biológicos, I.P., Portugal
- Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry - Department of General Affairs, Finland
- Lietuvos Respublikos Zemės Ukio Ministerija – Rural Development Department. Lithuania
- Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Belgium – DGDC, Belgium
- Istituto Agronomico per l’Oltremare, Italy
- Földmüvelésügyi és Vidékfejlesztési Minisztérium - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development – Dpt for Natural Resources, Hungary
- Federal department of Foreign Affairs/Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation – Department for Global Cooperation, Global Programme Food Security, Switzerland
- Department for International Development – Central Research Department, UK
- Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Department for Technical Advisory Services, Denmark