This page contains the archive of all SARD-related news items published for the months of January through March 2006, with the most recent at the top. Useful links are given at the end of each item and documentary resources are listed in the right sidebar.

For latest news from SARD Mountain, go to:
http://www.fao.org/sard/en/sardm/news/1240/index.html

March 2006

KENYA: Livestock Good Practice Workshop, 14-17 March 2006, Kaijado District. The Global Livestock Working Group launched by SARD Initiative Major Groups at the IFSA Global Learning Opportunity in October 2005, held a four-day workshop in Kaijado, Kenya for pastoralists and other national stakeholders to identify good practices, to assess resources and identify elements for training needs related to livestock based sustainable livelihoods and wildlife systems, as well as to raise awareness of programme and policy implications. Participants included members of the Samburu and Kajiado pastoralist communities, the SARD Major Groups in Kenya and international guests, government, UN agencies and the donor community. The planning committee, convened by the SARD Kenya national civil society focal point Mr. Michael Ojiambo, organized an interactive workshop and field trips to design a multi-stakeholder collaborative action plan for a food chain approach to livestock-based livelihoods good practice in the region.

For more information on this workshop contact Mr. Michael Kibue, SARD Livestock Self-Help Development Association: Business and Industry Focal Point, Kenya at:
sardlivestock06@yahoo.com

SOUTH AFRICA: Exploratory talks held with Government for development of a good practice documentation and training project, 6 March 2006, Pretoria. As part of a larger national effort to create employment opportunities and provide related training for unemployed university graduates, the Government of South Africa is considering developing a project to train 200 unemployed university graduates in methods used by the SARD Initiative to document and promote replication of good practices. A member of the FAO-SARD team met with government officials in Pretoria in March 2006 to suggest practical ways in which this idea might be implemented. The response of the government is now awaited.

International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD), 8th March 2006, Porto Alegre, Brazil. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Brazil held an International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) to review agrarian reform and rural development issues worldwide and to identify sustainable rural development options that can contribute to reduction of rural poverty and hunger.

For more information about ICARRD, go to:
International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD)

SARD Initiative Side-Event at ICARRD, 9 March 2006, Porto Alegre, Brazil. The SARD Initiative facilitated a side-event at the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) called From ICARRD to CSD: Lessons in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development. This group session allowed representatives from governments, civil society organizations, social movements, small farmer organizations and Major Group constituents to identify successes, trends, lessons, challenges, unfulfilled expectations and emerging priorities reported at ICARRD that need to be taken into account in the 10-year report on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development to the Committee on Sustainable Development (CSD) in 2008/2009 when progress related to agriculture, rural development and food security will be assessed.

February 2006

INDIA: Initial SARD Initiative brainstorming session, 10 February 2006, New Delhi. Ideas and approaches for implementing the SARD Initiative in India were the focus of a one-day brainstorming session involving a representative from the FAO-SARD Initiative team, representatives from the Farmers, Indigenous Peoples, NGOs, Science & Technology, and Women’s Major Groups, as well as representatives from the FAO and UNDP offices in Delhi, the UN Country Team’s Solution Exchange staff, and the GTZ Sustainable Agriculture Information Network (Sustainet) in India. The group carried out an informal survey of key problems from the perspective of each Major Group, and discussed the importance of mainstreaming SARD in the 11th Indian National Development Plan. A number of areas where multi-major group stakeholder initiatives might have high payoff, including inter alia the promotion of good practices through the newly-launched government Employment Guarantee Scheme, were also identified. Next steps for the SARD Initiative in India will be the identification of relevant Major Group organisations, and further refinement of possible action areas.

For more information about organizations represented at the Initial SARD Initiative Brainstorming Session in India, go to:
International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), Institute of Integrated Rural Development (IIRD), LEAD India, Sustainet , and The Environmental Resources Institute (TERI).