New tool will give communities a LIFT accessing finance for integrated landscape management

March 28, 2018

Lack of creativity is not among the barriers to investment in integrated landscape management, test of new Landscape Investment and Finance Tool in the Philippines shows. Investment ideas were sprouting quickly from the stakeholders of the Cagayan do Oro landscape (CDO) in the Philippines. Participants proposed, “What if we went for wind power? What if … More New tool will give communities a LIFT accessing finance for integrated landscape management

Modeling SDG impacts in Ghana’s Atewa landscape under different management scenarios

March 27, 2018

A stakeholder workshop reviewed future scenarios for the Atewa Range landscape, and formulated next steps for achieving the outcomes in the “Living Landscape” scenario. A Contested Landscape Everyone agrees that the Atewa Landscape is enormously valuable, but that’s where the consensus ends. There are a wide range of ideas about how the landscape’s ecological and … More Modeling SDG impacts in Ghana’s Atewa landscape under different management scenarios

IUCN Netherlands and EcoAgriculture Partners debut the Landscape Investment and Finance Toolkit (LIFT)

March 26, 2018

Toolkit uses participatory process designed to help landscapes connect their plans to achieve the SDGs with the finance and investment they need. Finance plays a critical role in implementing the diverse investments required for a sustainable landscape. There has been a considerable uptick in analysis, programs and investors designed to support sustainable land management. However, most … More IUCN Netherlands and EcoAgriculture Partners debut the Landscape Investment and Finance Toolkit (LIFT)

Join the FAO e-conference on “The Role of Small Farms Within a Larger Context of Food Security”

March 14, 2018

FAO is organizing an email conference on “The Role of Small Farms Within a Larger Context of Food Security” from 19 March to 9 April 2018. Why? This e-conference is intended to provide further feedback on what has been learned so far from the work in the EU-funded Horizon 2020 research project on “Small Farms, … More Join the FAO e-conference on “The Role of Small Farms Within a Larger Context of Food Security”

What is the Future of Agricultural Research and Innovations in Africa?

March 13, 2018

What is the future of agricultural research and innovation in Africa? That was the question on all our minds as participants in the training workshop on co-elaborative foresight on the futures of agricultural research and innovations, organized by FARA and GFAR. The training, which took place at the FARA Secretariat in Accra, Ghana on 12th … More What is the Future of Agricultural Research and Innovations in Africa?

Highlights of the international symposium on farmers’ access to data and full video recording

March 9, 2018

Issues around farmers’ rights to data, both in terms of access to data and ownership of data, are crucial to one of the key areas of activity of partners in GFAR: the opening of access to information systems for sharing, transforming and using agricultural knowledge, especially in light of GFAR’s overall approach to putting the smallholder … More Highlights of the international symposium on farmers’ access to data and full video recording

Shifting Down to the Human Scale: Lessons from the Territories approach

March 8, 2018

“Territories are spaces of coordination between actors in which new forms of governance are conceived that are conducive to development and to the strengthening of solidarity.” –from Living Territories to Transform the World, Editions Quae, 2017 The Living Territories International Conference held in Montpellier, France from 22-24 January 2018 was a multi-partner event addressing a … More Shifting Down to the Human Scale: Lessons from the Territories approach

Commemoration of International Women’s Day amidst unprecedented global movement for women’s rights

March 8, 2018

Coming on the heels of unprecedented global efforts for women’s rights, equality and justice, International Women’s Day, 8 March, will put a spotlight on the tireless work of activists who have been central to these extraordinary movements worldwide. Under this year’s theme, “Time is Now: Rural and Urban Activists Transforming Women’s Lives”, events around the … More Commemoration of International Women’s Day amidst unprecedented global movement for women’s rights

#Foresight4Ag: Empowering rural communities to determine their own futures

March 5, 2018

GFAR and FARA are leading the facilitation of a Collective Action embedding foresight into agricultural research and innovation in Africa. Climate change, population growth and migration are some of the challenges that face the future of agriculture. Caught in the middle of these challenges are smallholder farmers and rural communities who produce a substantial proportion … More #Foresight4Ag: Empowering rural communities to determine their own futures

Together is Better – Designing a Collective Action to make research participatory and accountable

February 28, 2018

What is participatory research? Who actually participates in what, and how? Is it only happening in individual countries, in certain projects? If so, how can it be scaled up? What kind of change is needed to make research processes participatory? Is it about attitudes, governance structures, policies, funding channels? What kind of partners and partnerships … More Together is Better – Designing a Collective Action to make research participatory and accountable

Just released: Farmers’ Right to Seed – Experiences from Guatemala

February 23, 2018

Smallholder farmers seldom have a direct voice in shaping policies and understanding of their needs. To celebrate the often unsung work of farming communities, GFAR has commissioned a series of short videos telling the farmers’ stories in their own words. In this second video in the series, farmers in Guatemala relate first-hand their challenges and successes as … More Just released: Farmers’ Right to Seed – Experiences from Guatemala

Four Ways to Incorporate a Gender Lens in Your Measurement and Evaluation Efforts

February 13, 2018

Across the social sector, we have seen growing interest in bringing a gender lens to social change—from foundations and nonprofits aligning to the Sustainable Development Goals to businesses looking to create shared value. As organizations deepen their gender-related programming and companies invest in gender equity, there is one question that is inevitably raised: how do … More Four Ways to Incorporate a Gender Lens in Your Measurement and Evaluation Efforts

Closing the webinar series on Farmers’ access to data

February 2, 2018

As part of our work on farmers’ rights to data and following up on the face-to-face course on Farmers’ Access to Data organized in Centurion in November 2017, GFAR organized 6 webinars to make the content of the course available to everybody. The webinars were co-convened with GODAN and CTA and were conducted by some … More Closing the webinar series on Farmers’ access to data

Collective Action on Family Farming that Values All Partners

January 31, 2018

GFAR Collective Action Design and Launch Workshop Enhancing participatory processes between Family Farmers, Civil Society/Rural Communities, Research Institutes 20 and 21 February 2018 Bilbao, Spain There are more than 500 million family farms in the world. These farms are owned and/or operated by a family and include many of the world’s poor and disadvantaged peoples … More Collective Action on Family Farming that Values All Partners

Will Brazilian Millennials Look to a Future in the Fields?

January 18, 2018

The rural workforce in Brazil is getting younger, according to recent research. Meet the Gen-Y agripreneurs changing the face of farming in Brazil. By Raphael Marques da Silva, on behalf of HarvestPlus. The economic crisis in Brazil has chosen millennials–the most apt generation for building the future of the country–as its main victim. According to a … More Will Brazilian Millennials Look to a Future in the Fields?

GFAR kicks off reform of the Regional Research Forum, AARINENA

January 15, 2018

The challenge of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) demands collective action among the many stakeholders concerned with agriculture and food research and innovation — whether as farmers or consumers or among those working for international and national research and extension systems, NGOs, higher education, Private Sector, youth organizations and other sectors. Such diverse partners … More GFAR kicks off reform of the Regional Research Forum, AARINENA

Multi-functional Landscapes: What is the right approach?

January 11, 2018

Eric Patrick, adaptation specialist at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), presented a new innovative pilot programme in a TED-like ‘Landscape Talk’ at the Global Landscapes Forum in Bonn in December.  Patrick began with an analysis of three past water-harvesting projects that seemed to have failed. Fences to manage grazing were removed. Many of … More Multi-functional Landscapes: What is the right approach?

To transform agricultural extension, give youth a voice

January 10, 2018

At the recent Africa Agriculture Extension week in Durban, there was a common refrain: “Demand for food in Africa is growing and expected to double by 2050.” This is why we see continued growth and employment opportunities in the agricultural value chain and why agriculture extension—or training– is more important than ever. So what exactly … More To transform agricultural extension, give youth a voice

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is going to be history, but how?

January 5, 2018

I got impressed by the virtues of collective actions while reading the GFAR blog post Remembering our collective actions: The unforgettable story of Rinderpest eradication. This infectious disease which was once thought very difficult to control, was nevertheless totally eliminated from the world, thanks to the collective actions. My institution, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, among several … More Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is going to be history, but how?