REPORT: Support to GAFSP CSO Asia (January – August 2017)

REPORT: Support to GAFSP CSO Asia (January – August 8, 2017)

Introduction and Background

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) such as farmer organizations (FOs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), outreach groups, and universities have varying roles in country-led strategic planning that GAFSP aims to support. Effective empowerment of farmers in country program implementation through producer organizations, for example, can help improve the relevance and effectiveness of agriculture services, and improve accountability of resource use.

The GAFSP Steering Committee, the Program’s decision-making body, has allocated three seats to Civil Society Organizations: a seat to represent the voice of CSOs headquartered in African developing countries, a seat for Asian developing countries, and a seat for developed countries. The Representatives are chosen through a self-selection process managed through their respective networks. The role of the CSO representatives is to inform/consult with their constituents on GAFSP, and represent and advocate their views on their behalf to improve the working of GAFSP. In Asia, the representative is Mr. Lyam Bahadur Darjee, Chairperson, Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA). The alternate representative is Mr. Raul Socrates Banzuela, National Coordinator of Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (National Confederation of Peasant Movements), a national farmers’ organization in the Philippines.

The Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) was tapped, as a support organization to the CSO Asia representative. The objective of the support organization is to provide technical, administrative, and logistical support to their respective CSO Representative of the GAFSP Steering Committee to facilitate:

1. consultation among constituency CSOs
2. dissemination of information to CSO constituencies
3. dialogue between the CSO Representatives and other members of the Steering Committee (including other CSO Representatives)
4. dialogue between CSOs, Supervising Entities (SEs), and governments at the national level