The sixth global meeting of the Farmers' Forum

15 to 16 February 2016. Rome. The sixth global meeting of the Farmers' Forum was preceded by a special session on Pastoralism on 12 February and followed by a number of side events on 18 February. See programme

12 February 2016. VSF International organised a Special Session of the Farmers’ Forum with Pastoralists and Livestock Breeeders Organisations at IFAD, in Rome.

18 pastoralists and livestock breeders representatives from Africa, Asia and Latin America participated to the Special Session in Rome, bringing messages from the regional consultations held in January. 

During the whole day they could exchange their views, concerns and experiences, but also propose solutions to promote a more favorable environment for the sustainable development of pastoralism

and livestock keeping.

Participants recalled that IFAD has a crucial role to play to improve the livelihoods of the hundreds of millions of pastoralists and livestock keepers worldwide. For this reason, they elaborated a series of recommendations to IFAD, regarding investment priorities, facilitation of policy dialogue, and improved partnership with pastoralists and extensive livestock breeders organisations.

All these key messages are included in the Statement of the Special Session with Pastoralists and Extensive Livestock Breeders, which was presented at the Farmers’ Forum and received by IFAD and all Farmers Organisations participating in the process.

• Presentation on the IFAD/FAO Engagement with Pastoral Development (2003-2013) - Joint Evaluation Synthesis by Mr Oscar Garcia, Director Independent Office of Evaluation and Ms Catrina Perch, Evaluation Officer.
• The global Statement of the FAFO Special Session on Livestock can be found here
• Regional statements: synthesis on the importance of pastoralism and livestock development in the five regions, by VSF 
• West and Central Africa (meeting in Bamako, Mali, 7-9 January)
• North Africa and West Asia (meeting in Hammamet, Tunis, 14-16 January
• Eastern and Southern Africa (Nairobi, Kenya, from 21 to 23 January)

Extract 15/02: 4 Parallel thematic working group sessions: 

1. Which markets work for smallholders? Learning from FOs and IFAD experiences in Connecting smallholders to markets 
2. Smallholders and Climate Change: How to mainstream agro-ecological approaches for CC adaptation and mitigation 
3. Working together to support and implement women and youth rights in agriculture development: Follow up of Special session on Women in Agriculture (2010) and Special session on Youth in Agriculture (2012) 
4. Preparing the Farmers' Forum process for future challenges

Extract 16/02: 5 Parallel regional working group sessions: operational partnership between IFAD and FOs at regional and country levels 

1. Western and Central Africa Regional working group session
2. Eastern and Southern Africa Regional working group session 
3. Near East and North Africa Regional working group session 
4. Asia and the Pacific Regional working group session 
5. Latin America and the Caribbean Regional working group session 

Extract 18/02:

• Side Event #1: The experience of Italian Cooperatives and the development of partnerships with farmers' organizations. Organizer: Coopermondo, FedagriAlliance of Italian Cooperatives and IFAD/ Italian Conference Room 
• Side Event #7 Back to the Future: Farmers re-envisaging the value and role of agricultural research for development and innovation. Organizer AFA and GFAR 
• Event #8: Economic activities of Farmers’ organisations: recent initiatives, approaches for support, complementarities between national and local organisations. Organizer: AgriCord (Farmers Fighting Poverty) 
• Side Event #9: Purchase from Africans for Africa (PAA)

Links

• Agenda English | French | Spanish
• Special session on pastoralism and livestock breeders English | French |Spanish
• Report of the Fifth Global Meeting of the Farmers' Forum
• Partnership in progress: 2014-2015. Volume I: Overview & Conclusions - Main report. English
• Partnership in progress: 2014-2015. Volume II: Annexes. English
• Farmers' Forum at IFAD: Output documents 2005-2012. English | French | Spanish

PAEPARD presentation by EAFF:

Background:

2016 marks the 10th year anniversary of the Farmers' Forum. The sixth global meeting provided an opportunity to assess the results of  this unique dialogue and partnership. It also set the stage for revisiting the Forum's purpose and modalities within the context of the evolving relationships between smallholder, family farmers and development actors and taking into account IFAD's new Strategic Framework and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

On 18 February 2016, the Farmers' Forum had an opportunity to share its messages with IFAD's Governing Council.