This page contains past news and events about SARD Initiative.

Tribute to Dr Alexander Daniel

21 December 2005. Maharashtra, India. The SARD Initiative is very sad to announce the passing of Dr. Alexander Daniel, a SARD Initiative stakeholder who throughout his life was dedicated to the causes of environmental protection, organic agriculture and rural development. The Institute for Integrated Rural Development, which he founded in 1987, will continue to work towards achieving his lifelong mission of bringing prosperity to India through the development of villages and environmental protection.

SARD Initiative Newsletter

20 December 2005. The first issue of the SARD Initiative Newsletter has been published online and sent to parties who have previously expressed an interest in the Initiative.

If you have not received the newsletter by email and would like to receive future issues, please contact SARD-Initiative@fao.org.

SARD Initiative Good Practices Workshop

2 November 2005. Rome, Italy. As part of the International Farming Systems Association’s Global Learning Opportunity (GLO) which was held over four days in Rome, a SARD Initiative workshop was held for the participants of the GLO. Over 60 participants worked in groups to discuss the issues, constraints and solutions of the identification, assessing, sharing and upscaling of good practices. The outcomes of these discussions have been posted here, and will also be used to inform the process of selecting and disseminating good practices through the SARD Initiative Resource Facility.

Linking Local Learners Workshop

30 October, 2005. Rome, Italy. In the course of the IFSA Global Learning Opportunity, 25 representatives from Civil Society took part in a training workshop on the Linking Local Learners Internet Learning Support Service. This internet service supports groups of local learners from around the world to share both their expertise and their challenges in a community of practice. Diverse groups pool their knowledge together to help each other produce new ideas for progress in establishing farmer demand driven agricultural services, developing market chains from producers to consumers, sharing SARD local practices among civil society actors, among others. Individuals usually work together in learning groups which meet face-to-face. Each group acquires a mailing address and there after becomes a member of a learning team. The learning team is a network of different groups that work on the same subject and exchange ideas across distances. Each learning team may exchange knowledge on a range of different subjects. All learning teams together share the Knowledge Pool. This learning support service functions like any other website.

SARD Initiative Business Meeting

29-30 October 2005. Rome, Italy. Six of the eight Major Group Focal Points (representing NGOs, Indigenous Peoples, Farmers, Youth, Women, Science & Technology) and the FAO SARD Initiative team met in Rome for a SARD Initiative Business Meeting. This provided an opportunity for SARD Initiative stakeholders to review the Initiative’s achievements over the past year, and discuss priorities and goals for the next twelve months.