GFAR’s mission is to mobilize the scientific community and all stakeholders in agricultural research for development (ARD) in their efforts to alleviate poverty, increase food security and promote the sustainable use of natural resources.
As a new stakeholder-led initiative, the Global Forum seeks to promote cost-effective partnerships and alliances among the key players in agricultural research. It provides a forum for the discussion of strategic issues among ARD stakeholders, thereby promoting a common vision that facilitates cooperation and concerted action. GFAR’s stakeholders are national agricultural research systems (NARSs), the centre and programmes of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), advanced research institutes, farmer organizations, non-government organizations (NGOs), private-sector companies and donor and development agencies.
The Global Forum operates at two levels. The first is defined by all the activities, projects and programmes that stakeholders agree to undertake jointly in the context of the Global Forum. Activities at this level constitute the GFAR Business Plan, which emerged from the GFAR-2000 Conference held in Dresden, Germany, in May 2000. The second level is defined by the support activities of the GFAR Secretariat. Laid out in the GFAR Secretariat’s Programme of Work, these activities facilitate the implementation of the GFAR Business Plan - through dialogue, exchange of information, capacity building and partnership facilitation. The recently completed GFAR First External Review endorsed the mission and objectives of the Global Forum and recommended that the Secretariat focus its efforts on four ‘lines of action’:
Facilitate the flow of information and knowledge among ARD stakeholders by providing a gateway to information resources and by building learning networks on concrete topics. This is being done through two main instruments: the Electronic Global Forum on Agricultural Research (www.egfar.org) and regional agricultural information systems (RAISs).
Develop a global strategic agenda for ARD aimed at facilitating the emergence of a new normative framework for agricultural research. This can be achieved by providing a forum for dialogue that lays the foundation for better understanding of global issues.
Facilitate networking and research partnerships among ARD stakeholders on topics of common interest, including the development, over the next three years, of a small portfolio of global programmes on issues of strategic importance. Criteria have been proposed for identifying such issues. Partnerships and global programmes are now emerging in the four thematic areas identified by stakeholders: genetic resources management and biotechnology; natural resources management and agro-ecology; commodity chains; and policy and institutional development.
Strengthen various constituencies of ARD stakeholders, paying special attention to those that play a central role in linking research to development, namely civil society groups (farmer organizations and NGOs) and the NARSs. This support can be provided through regional and subregional fora.
Since the Global Forum’s stakeholders are its principal actors, GFAR is not itself an implementing agency. Its organizational structure has therefore been kept lean: a small Secretariat, a Steering Committee to set policy and agree on programmes, a management team to assist with implementation, and a donor group to coordinate funding support.
Two basic documents provide the framework for the functioning of the Global Forum: the GFAR Charter, which defines its operational rules and procedures, and the Business Plan and Secretariat Programme of Work. The latter is approved by the Steering Committee for periods of three years. The Secretariat is hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) at its headquarters in Rome, Italy, and the Donor Support Group is chaired by the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
For further information, please contact the GFAR Secretariat: [email protected]. Tel.: +39 06 5705-3413.
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