The GFAR Steering and Programme Committees, as well as the GFAR Donor Support Group met from 26 November to 29 November, before the 2008 CGIAR AGM, to discuss important issues surrounding the future plan of action and course for GFAR.
A wide array of issues were discussed during the GFAR Steering Committee meeting, from GFAR’s involvement in the CGIAR Change Management Process and its proposed outcomes to processes for strengthening GFAR’s regional networks and engagement with the private sector and civil society. The Committee placed particular emphasis on Global Forum’s role in policy and advocacy work in areas such as climate change, support to the wider involvement of civil society in research planning and implementation and an expansion of information and communication management activities. Promotion of inter-regional learning and partnership also featured strongly, particularly in areas such as linking farmers to markets, where a new initiative has been developed through an inter-regional task force and is now awaiting external support.
The resources required for GFAR to deliver on the various roles expected of it over the coming years were requested from the GFAR Donor Support Group, who will be meeting again in February to firm up their commitments against the GFAR Plan of Work.
Following the GFAR Statutory meetings, GFAR and the Alliance of CGIAR Centers co-organized a day of plenary discussion and ‘world café’ roundtables around priority needs and behavioural changes required to create a more effective, impact-centred system. Several hundred participants finished the day making personal pledges towards achieving constructive change. Many participants were asked to identify one personal commitment to change, as well as a key change that they thought was necessary to improve output both within their own centres as well as within other institutions. Would you like to know what everyone said? Check the Global Forum’s website at www.egfar.org for these documents and others new additions to the Document Repository.
The CGIAR AGM later unanimously approved the proposed changes to the CGIAR. Among these recommendations was a proposal for a biennial Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development, to be organized through GFAR in collaboration with the Alliance and Science Council of the CGIAR. The processes leading to this Conference will review global research needs and determine future priorities, partnerships, and resources available to address these needs.
The first of these conferences is scheduled for February 2010, to be held in Montpellier, France. GFAR will now be establishing a multi-stakeholder task force to lead the design and programming of the meeting.
For further information about GFAR's involvement in the CGIAR Change Management Process, please click here or for a summary of CGIAR Business Meeting, please click here.
If you would like to know more about upcoming GFAR Statutory meetings or the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development, check back for updates here.