10 October 2007
Rome, Italy

About fifty learning materials of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) are now available on the Education for Rural People (ERP) Toolkit for extension personnel, farmers, researchers, teachers, learners and the broad public.
The FAO led ERP Tool kit is the first interagency portal on agriculture education and training. The Toolkit contributes to strengthening the interaction between research, education and innovation - the “knowledge triangle”- which are key drivers of a knowledge-based society. A better link of these key development pillars is a key to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 1 and 7, for which FAO is the lead agency.

Ms Ewa Hermanowicz presented a selection of the CGIAR Centers' learning materials. Questions and debatefollowed to identify concrete examples of how research, by permeating the curriculum at different levels of the education system and non formal education (e.g. extension or literacy) transform itself in agriculture and rural development innovation.

The meeting was organized in collaboration with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Science Council Secretariat and the Education for Rural People partnership and was introduced by Mr Ruben Echeverria, the Executive Director of the Science Council Secretariat and by Ms Lavinia Gasperini, Senior Officer, Agricultural Education, Research and Extension Division, NRR.

Ms Hermanowicz wrote a Master dissertation on “Education for rural people: main policy issues” in 2007 and is presently working for Bioversity International (ex-IPGRI), one of the CGIAR Centres where she is based in the Regional Office for Europe.