Introductory remarks:

• Ms. Isolina Boto, CTA
• Mr. Lluis Riera, European Commission
• Ms. Hélène Fiagan, ACP Secretariat (only available in French)
• Dr. Michael Hailu, CTA

Panel 1 – Aid targets and donor support for development

Discussant:  H.E.M. Abdou Abarry, Ambassador of Niger (only available in French)

-Sir Gordon Conway, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London

-Ms. Julie Howard ,Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa

-Dr. Marcel C. Nwalozie, NEPAD

-Mr. Luca Chinotti, Oxfam

-Debate

- Conclusion panel 1 (only available in French)

Panel 2 – Beyond Aid: new financing mechanisms

Discussant: Mr.  Ishmael Sunga, CEO, SACAU

-Mr. Gregory De Paepe, OECD

-Ms. Randiana Rakotomalala, Senior Investment Officer, African Development Bank

-Dr Harald Jahn,  European Investment Bank

-Mr. Rajesh Behal, International Finance Corporation, The World Bank

-Mr. Sean de Cleene, YARA Investment Facility

-Debate

Conclusions:

-H.E. Patrick Gomes, Chair of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors and Ambassador of Guyana

Read more about the Briefing: ”Financing rural development in ACP countries”

Ms. Julie Howard is Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, an NGO based in the USA. In her feedback, she presents the activities of her organization and gives insights about the increased attention of the US government towards African agriculture.

Sir Gordon Conway is a Professor for international development at the Imperial College in London. In his feedback, Sir Conway recalls the highlights of the discussions during the Briefing.

The 20th Brussels Development Briefing was on ‘Financing agriculture’ and took place on the 15th of  September 2010 at the Borschette Center . As an input to the UN Summit on MDGs to be held in New York on 22-26 September 2010, we discussed issues related  to financing development in the context of agriculture and rural development. This included issues such as Aid and ODA , taxation (Domestic tax revenues), private investment (new donors), revenue generation. Speakers included: Centre for Environmental Policy at  Imperial College in London, the  Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa in the US, CONCORD, OECD, African Development Bank, Caribbean Development Bank, YARA, African regional framers organizations.

• Programme
• Selected resources
• Concept Note
• Biodata of speakers and discussants
• List of participants
• Evaluation Form
• Reader
• Video material

The video recordings of the 19th Briefing session (“Youth and rural development in ACP countries”) are now available! (please click on the name of the speaker to watch his/her intervention):

Presentation:

• Mrs. Isolina Boto,  CTA

Introductory remarks:

• Mr. Marc Debois DG Development, European Commission
• Mr. Michael Hailu, CTA
• Margaret Wachenfeld, UNICEF

Peter Mwaura from the Young Professionals’ Platform for Agricultural Research (YPARD) participated in the Briefing on Youth and Rural Development in ACP countries as a speaker. He appreciated the interaction with a high level audience to promote the participation of the youth in agricultural research.

Antony Saina from the International Movement of Catholic Agricultural Rural Youth participated in the Briefing on Youth and Rural Development in ACP countries as a speaker. He came to share the success stories related to youth and rural development in Kenya. However, according to him the issue of youth and rural development has long been neglected by policy makers, therefore he found the topic of the Briefing pertinent.

Presentation:

• Mrs. Isolina Boto,  CTA

Introductory remarks:

• Mr. Jean-Claude Burguet, CTA
• Mr. Marc Debois, DG Development, European Commission

The 16^th Brussels Development Briefing on “Population growth and its implications for ACP  rural development” took place, at the Borschette Center, on Wednesday 27th January 2010 (8h30-13h00). The Briefing examined the current state and future projections of Population growth at global and regional levels and the main issues and challenges involved from a development perspective.  Future Policy responses to address the identified challenges were also part of the discussions.

Programme and Objectives of the Briefing: Isolina Boto, CTA

Introductory remarks: Jean-Claude Boidin,  Head of Unit, EC and Dr Hansjörg Neun, Director of CTA

 Panel 1 – Prospects and trends of population growth

This panel reviewed the major trends (current state and future projections) in population at global and regional levels, especially from a development perspective. It looked at the main issues involved in population growth in terms of impact on economic development, migration movements, pressures on environment and natural resources management. Discussions also touched the issue of gender and reproductive health.

Chair: Marianne Haslegrave, Director of the Commonwealth Medical Trust

Panelists:

- An overview of emerging global and regional demographic trends and statistical data, Carl Haub, Conrad Taeuber, Chair of Population Information, PRB, USA, [Presentation]

- Migration, remittances and development in Africa, Professeur Yves Charbit, Director, CEPED, France, [Executive Summary], [Presentation]

- Population growth and youth in rural areas: the case of Kenya and Uganda, Mona Herbert, country director DSW Uganda [Executive Summary], [Presentation], and George Ouma, country director DSW Kenya, [Presentation]

 Panel 2 – Policy options and actions needed to address population 

This panel discussed critical policy interventions needed to address the effects of population changes on public health, family planning, education, migration, trade and investment. A key topic was also the future of rural areas and the needed interventions in view of the increases urbanisations if nothing is done as to attract youth in farm and non farm activities.

Chair: M. Kahijoro Kahuure, First Secretary, Ministry of Health, Namibia

Panelists:

- Interactions between population and education as drivers of development, Wolfgang Lutz, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria, [Executive Summary], [Presentation]

- Investing in women’s empowerment  to boost economic development and reduce poverty, Sietske Steneker, Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Brussels, [Statement]

- Role of policy-makers in promoting gender equality and investment in rural areas, Neil Datta, Secretary, European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development, Brussels, [Presentation]

Conclusions

Presentation:

• Mrs Isolina Boto, CTA

Introductory remarks:

• Mr Philip Mikos, European Commission
• Dr Hansjörg Neun, CTA

Panel 1 – The domino effects of increased speculation in food markets

Discussant: Dr Hans R. Herren, IAASTD

Panel 2 – What realistic policy options can secure food supply and availability at global and local levels?

Conclusions

Read more about the Briefing “From Global Food Crisis to Local Food Insecurity”

The Briefing examined the domino effects of increased speculation in food markets (How has the global food and financial crisis affected food production and distribution and the food security of the poorest? Is global food production at risk in the medium and long term and will national food security and food sovereignty be the priority over global food availability? Is the small-scale farming more effective and resilient in times of crisis in least-developed countries?) and at what realistic policy options can secure food supply and availability at global and local levels.

Programme and Objectives of the Meeting:  Isolina Boto, CTA

Welcome remarks by the organizers: Philip Mikos, Head of Unity on Rural Development, DG Development, European Commission, Dr Hansjörg Neun, Director of CTA

Introductory Paper: Dr. Hans R. Herren, The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology (IAASTD), [Executive Summary] [Presentation]

Panel 1 – The domino effects of increased speculation in food markets
How has the global food and financial crisis affected food production and distribution and the food security of the poorest? Is global food production at risk in the medium and long term and will national food security and food sovereignty be the priority over global food availability?  Is the small-scale farming more effective and resilient in times of crisis in least-developed countries?
- From price spikes to future agricultures, Steve Wiggins, ODI [Executive Summary] [Presentation]
- What role for the smallholder farmers to ensure poverty reduction and food security? Ndiogou Fall, President, ROPPA [Executive Summary]
- Civil society perspective on the Food Crisis, Stuart Coupe, UK Food Group, Practical Action [Executive Summary]

Panel 2 – What realistic policy options can secure food supply and availability at global and local levels?
The amount spent in agricultural research and development has fallen dramatically (more than 50% over the last decade). How can we therefore ensure increased and improved agricultural productivity and innovation? How to develop agriculture without investment in rural infrastructure and in upgrading production and marketing facilities? What investments are targeting the poor and how private sector is investing in rural development? What social measures and safety nets can be put in place to protect the most vulnerable rural populations and to strengthen the livelihoods, security and future of small-holder farmers?
- Towards an agenda for global food security, David Nabarro, UN  Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition [Presentation]
- Towards a new EU Food Security Policy? Giulia Pietrangeli, Program Manager, DG Development, EC [EC Issues paper on Agricultural and Food Security challenges] [Presentation]
- Lessons learnt from agricultural successes: what future policy options, Rajul Pandya-Lorch, Director General’s Office, and Head, 2020 Vision Initiative, IFPRI, USA [Executive Summary] [Presentation] [Videomessage]

Conclusions: Dr. Hans R. Herren, IAASTD

Mr Kole Odutola is teacher at the University of Florida. He emphasizes the need to concentrate the attention of the media on the people working in the agricultural area as they need not only mainstreaming but also support for growth. Professor Odutola questions whether the causes of the weak relationship farmers-media are due to the education of journalists and brings up several solutions in this regard.

Mr. Ignatius Jean is the representative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture. His contribution during the first panel drew attention to the key role media plays in education, information, entertainment and the stability of ACP democracies. Mr. Jean underlines that bringing together media and technical personnel from ACP countries is the perfect opportunity to network these three regions and furthermore to create partnerships. Mr. Jean recalls the cultural aspects of communication and the great potential of local media by using the advent of new ICTs.

Mr. Modeste Shabani bin Sweni is in charge of the radio Santi ya Mkaaji, in the DRC. He considers media as having an important role in the development of agriculture, hence the need to support community media within the villages. He criticizes the fact that city-based media is the one to receive external support, even if it doesn’t pay attention to the problems of rural population. The agricultural development process is becoming difficult when facing all infrastructure problems (transport, processing etc.). For that reason, reinforcing local management capacities and community media to play a catalyst role in the development of rural populations is imposing.

Mr. François Stepman is Communication Expert for the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa. He gives an idea of the popularity of ACP agriculture, by presenting some statistics on the number of videos existing on Youtube on this particular topic. Judging by the figures offered by Youtube, the conclusion of our interviewee is that there is a long ways to go towards making agriculture ‘sexy’.

Read more about the Briefing “ACP Rural Development: why Media matters?”

Mr Alberto Portugal-Peres is an economist at the International Trade Unit-DECRG at the World Bank. He presents recent figures on the impact of the financial crisis on the world trade, which show a serious drop in ACP exports growth. He also gives us a view on the decline in FDI inflows to ACP countries mostly due to reduced profit margins, financing conditions and volatile commodity prices in the agricultural sector. He agrees on the fact that SMEs represent key actors for economic recovery and recognizes access to financing as a major challenge for SMEs in ACP countries. He identifies different policies to support SMEs (firm-specific policies, business climate policies) and their access to foreign markets and increase exports value for existing exporters.

Mr Vincenzo Galastro currently works as Programme Manager in the External affairs department of the International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD) based in Rome, Italy.  He presents a new funding opportunity – The African Agriculture Fund (AAF) – which is the result of the collaboration among several development actors (Agence Française de développement (AFD); African Development Bank (ADB); Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA); International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD), the “Promoters”). The aim of this fund is to improve the access to private investment funding for agricultural SMEs and in the same time to offer technical assistance to small-scale farmers in ACP countries.
Interview of Mr Galastro

H.E. Stephen Fletcher is the Ambassador of Grenada to the EU and Belgium. The ambassador considers this Briefing as coming at a suitable moment, a time when the international community and particularly the developing countries are confronted to three main issues (the financial crisis, the global energy crisis and the food crisis). Therefore, he underscores the multiple and crucial role the SMEs are playing in finding solutions to these crisis as they represent on the one hand an integral part of the economic development in ACP countries and on the other hand a major source of employment, foreign exchange earnings, innovation and technologies. He sees this Briefing as the perfect opportunity for SMEs practitioners and policy makers to share their experiences and develop policies that will further assist SMEs to upgrade. Mr. Denis Noel is the entrepreneur from Grenada that HE is pointing out as success story as he managed to overcome all challenges regarding the access to the international market.

Mr Denis Noel is the Managing Director of Noelville Ltd. a family owned Company in Grenada. He considers the Briefing a good opportunity to share his experiences of growing medicinal plants. The aim of his company was to try to avoid the situation when developing countries exported raw materials, as coco and nutmegs, and imported finished products at a higher price.  He presents a new use of the nutmeg, traditionally known as a food item, which his company is using to produce pain killers. He points out the success of his products in countries like Russia, Australia etc. and calls for assistance in his efforts to get access to the EU market.

Ms Juliette Newell is currently the owner and Managing Director of Tijule Company in Jamaica. She was particularly interested in the Briefing and in finding out more about the special funding opportunities that companies in developing countries could receive in order to get closer to the standards required by the developed world.

Ms Armelle de Saint Sauveur is the scientific manager of «Réseau Moringa et Plantes Ressources, Moringanews ». She was particularly interested by the Briefing for its focus and debates on the potential of regional and national markets. Working on the local plants, which have an important economic potential in ACP countries, she highlights the central importance of upgrading these products in order to make them competitive with imported products in the ACP countries. Ms de Saint Sauveur underlines as well the role of vegetable-leaves (manioc, moringa etc.), the plants which her society is working on, that represent a real source of income for the farmers and in the same time for the SMEs. The (competitive) advantage comes from the fact that these products are not expensive to produce and to process. Her society is benefiting from the support of the CDE in its efforts to standardize these products in order to integrate them into the formal market and into the processing food chains. The aim of these endeavors is to promote the local products.

(Interview in French)

Read more about the Briefing “Upgrading to compete in a globalised world: What opportunities and challenges for SMEs in agriculture in ACP countries?”

The video recordings of the 12th Briefing session (“The role of livestock for ACP countries: challenges and opportunities ahead”) are available (please click on the name of the speaker to watch his/her intervention):

Welcome remarks:

• Mr Marc Debois, European Commission
• Dr Hansjörg Neun, CTA

Panel 1 – The role of livestock for ACP Economies and the drivers of change

• Mr Eric Thys, ITMA
• Dr Carlos Seré, ILRI
• Dr Howard Batho, European Commission
• Dr Vittorio Cagnolati, AU/IBAR
• Debate

Panel 2 – Future policy challenges and opportunities for the ACP livestock sector

 Read more about the Briefing “The role of livestock for ACP countries: challenges and opportunities ahead”

Relationship between private standards and the WTO’s SPS Agreement
Mr Robson de Moura Fernandes (World Trade Organisation) presents the relationship between private standards and the WTO’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement. He mentions the development of discussions in the SPS Committee to date, how the issue emerged in the SPS Committee and is now being discussed in order to define what the relationship is between private standards and the SPS Agreement. He identifies ways for countries to overcome private standards by either complying or regulating them. He hopes to provide incentives for countries to get more information on the implications of private standards, either individually, regionally or as a group of countries, and to get more involved in the discussions taking place in the SPS Committee.

Concerns over the multitude of private standards
Dr. Andrew Graffham (Natural Resources Initiative, University of Greenwich) highlights that food safety and quality have now become major issues to be respected to access export markets. Public and private standards can become barriers to trade due to their lack of transparence and participation by ACP actors in setting these standards. Smallholders from ACP countries are likely to suffer the most from the rise of private standards.

Trends in private standards
Mr Steve Homer (BIOS Partners) presents the trends and the drivers behind the setting of new standards. He also sheds a light on how standards have evolved in the last decade and the trend for emerging combination standards, which are mainly food safety standards with environmental and sustainability criteria. He looks at how farmers in ACP countries can be affected and can cope with these changing trends.

Building quality and compliance infrastructure
Mr Steffen Kaeser is programme manager in the Trade Capacity Building branch at UNIDO and shares his experience on the development of quality infrastructure. Country programmes are run by UNIDO for particular commodities, as a result of an FAO inspection or report, when a deficiency is discovered. He highlights some of the challenges faced in setting up quality and compliance infrastructure. Some of these include the design of the programme, work with the regional economic commissions and technical challenges (such as selecting laboratories, developing harmonized standards within the region, etc.).

Cost of compliance should be shared between all parties
Mr Fred Kong’ong’o (African Cotton and Textile Industry Federation) highlighted the difficulties faced by small-scale farmers in developing countries to adapt to ever-changing and secretive private standards, set by every supermarket. He called upon the WTO to engage with the private sector in the developing world to set uniform standards which can be met by developing countries. He also insisted on the cost of standards to be borne by all the actors along the supply chain (including consumers paying a higher price), thus helping move towards achieving the MDGs.

Food safety to start at the farm level
Mr Jethro Greene is chief coordinator for the Caribbean Farmers’ Network Organisation and represents farmers’ organizations in over 30 Caribbean countries. He highlights the importance of farmers’ organisations’ involvement and of receiving a fair share for their products. He insists on changing mentalities so that the question of food safety starts at the farm level and applies to products for the domestic market as well as international markets.

Protection of consumers’ health and assistance to third countries exporters
Mr Jacky Le Gosles (European Commission) informs us that the EU aims to protect its consumers, without however harming smallholders’ production and exports in ACP countries. The EC offers technical assistance to producers, through inspections and training sessions organized in third countries. These training sessions enable a real exchange between European experts and ACP producers and aim to assist countries wishing to export to the EU, to reach the requirements in terms of protection of consumers.

Read more about the Briefing “Meeting food safety standards: implications for ACP agricultural exports” (11th May 2009)

The video recordings of the 11th Briefing session (“Meeting food safety standards: implications for ACP agricultural exports”) are available (please click on the name of the speaker to watch his/her intervention):

Welcome remarks:

• Mr Michael Scannell, European Commission
• Mr Guy Stinglhamber, PIP
• Dr Hansjörg Neun, CTA

Panel 1 – Meeting food safety standards and the challenges for ACP countries

• Mr Andrew Graffham, Natural Resources Institute
• Mr Jacky Le Gosles, European Commission
• Mr Robson de Moura Fernandes, World Trade Organisation
• Ms Morag Webb, COLEACP PIP
• Mr Steve Homer, BIOS partners
• Debate

Panel 2 – Learning from experience: what are the challenges ahead on standard-setting and compliance for ACP countries

Read more about the Briefing “Meeting food safety standards: implications for ACP agricultural exports”

The Briefing reviewed the main economic, social and environmental challenges that IUU poses at global and regional levels, especially in the ACP context, and the existing global and regional initiatives against IUU. Moreover the 2008 EC regulation which aims to prevent and deter IUU fishing has been discussed, along with the challenges for its implementation in ACP countries and the need for technical assistance to comply with the new requirements.

H. E. Barry Faure, Ambassador of Seychelles in Brussels and Chair of the ACP Ministerial Group on Fisheries explains the main issues on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU) of interest to the ACP group. He explains the impact of the Council Regulation establishing a European Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU and the challenges it poses to ACP countries exporting to the EU. He also gives us the background to the first ACP Council of Ministers on Fisheries to be held in Brussels in the first week of June.

Programme

Programme and Objectives of the Meeting:
Isolina Boto, CTA

Introductory remarks:
H.E. Barry Faure, Chair of the ACP Ministerial Working Group on Fisheries
Cesar Deben, Director of monitoring and implementation , DG MARE, European Commission
Ibrahim Khadar, Manager, CTA

PANEL 1 – What do we know about IUU and how it affects ACP countries?
This panel will review the main economic, social and environmental challenges that IUU present at global and regional levels, especially looking at the ACP context. It will review the existing global and regional initiatives against IUU and the role of the various stakeholders.
- Estimating the Worldwide Extent of Illegal Fishing: the economics of IUU Fishing and the impact of IUU Fisheries on ACP countries, David J. Agnew, Division of Biology, Imperial College London [executive summary] [presentation (ppt)]
- Closing the Gap Governance, Kieran Kelleher, Fisheries Team Leader, the World Bank [executive summary] [presentation (ppt)]
- Overfishing and pirate fishing: more effective action needed, Saskia Richartz, EU Oceans Policy Adviser, Greenpeace International [executive summary] [presentation (ppt)]
- The perspective of the small-scale fishermen, Samba Gueye, Secretary General, FENAGIE Pêche, Senegal

Discussant: H.E. Hanno Burkhard Rumpf, Ambassador of Namibia

PANEL 2 – The EC regulation and the challenges for its implementation in ACP countries
What is the substance of the Council Regulation establishing a European Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU and what is the potential impact for ACP countries? What are the views, experiences and feedback form the private sector? What will be the needs of the ACP sector as to comply with the new requirements?
- The EC community system to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU, Jean-Pierre Vergine, DG Mare, European Commission [executive summary] [presentation (ppt)]
- The impact of the EC regulation on ACP countries and ACP responses, Martin Tsamenyi, Professor of Law, Director, the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong [executive summary] [presentation (ppt)]
- Some views from the ACP private and public sector: Roy Bross, South African Deep Sea Trawling Industry Association (SADSTIA) [executive summary] [presentation (ppt)] , Pedro C. Celso, EVP- Managing Director of the RD Tuna Canners Ltd (Papua New Guinea) [executive summary] [presentation] , and Alois Kinol, National Fisheries Authority (Papua New Guinea) [executive summary] [presentation (ppt)]
- The role of the ACP regional organizations in fighting IUU, Terrence Philips, Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) [executive summary] [presentation (ppt)]

Discussant: H. E. Roy M. Joy, Ambassador of Vanuatu

Conclusions: Ndiaga Gueye (FAO) and H.E. Joseph Ma’ahanua, Chair of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors

• Programme
• Biodata of speakers and discussants
• Reader
• Evaluation Form
• List of participants
• Video material

Caribbean region concerns on fish exports
Mr. Terrence Phillips from CRFM, which associate CARICOM member states, underlined that Caribbean states have a specific interest in the EU Regulation on IUU fishing because of its possible effects on exports of fishery products not only to the EU members’ states, but also to the EU overseas countries and territories in the region, as Martinique and Guadalupe. The new Regulation requires new resources to ensure that fish to be exported is ‘IUU free’ therefore, while stressing the importance of the Regulation and Caribbean countries’ commitment to address the IUU fishing issue, Mr. Phillips expressed his concerns about its future impacts.

The dialogue among ACP countries and the EC plays a key role
Mr. Cesar Deben, Director at the EC/DG MARE, emphasized the importance of dialogue among ACP and EC administration in charge of fisheries in order to better prepare the implementation of the EU Council Regulation on IUU Fishing which deals with fundamental issues as to protect fisheries resources and facilitate the access to the EU market at equitable conditions? To this end, a joint work is necessary – Mr. Deben stressed – and the EC is ready to support ACP countries to build up their capacities.

(in French)

A call for raising fisheries communities’ awareness
M. Samba Gueye, General Secretary of the National Federation of Fishermen interests (FENAGIE Pêche) in Senegal emphasized the impacts of IUU fishing on fisheries industry and communities in developing countries. The damages to ecosystems, the non regulation and non surveillance represent major challenges for artisanal fishing. Extensive information and awareness raising, along with the possibility to build up again alietiques resources, are key efforts to undertake in order to let fishermen communities to resist IUU fishing.

(in French)

FAO role in the fight against IUU fishing
As Head of Service in FAO Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and Secretary of FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI), M. Ndiaga Gueye stressed that IUU fishing represent a global challenge and that international community is increasingly involved in what can be qualified as a curse of modern times. From its part, FAO play a key role in dealing with fisheries issues within the UN system and has established a set of measures to fight and eradicate IUU fishing: in view of this, international negotiations for a legally-binding instrument on port State measures are currently under way. FAO also undertook several national and international initiatives in order to build developing countries financial and technical capacities to address IUU fishing.

(in French)

Flexibility in implementing the IUU Regulation: a private sector’s key concern
Representing the South African Deep-Sea Trawling Industry Association (SADSTIA) – a non commercial trade organisation and industrial body – Mr. Roy Bross expressed its support for the objectives of the EU Regulation on IUU fishing. While realizing and accepting it would require increased costs, he stressed that the main trouble for South African fisheries industry relate to the possibility to continue developing business. In this sense, granting a certain degree of flexibility in implementing some aspects of the catch certification scheme foreseen by the Regulation represent, in his words, a critical issue.

Assessing the impacts of IUU fishing
Mr. David J. Agnew from MRAG synthesized the key results of a 2005 and a 2008 MRAG study on the impacts of IUU fishing: he estimated the overall loss for IUU fishing in 10 to 23 billion $ per year and stressed that there is no country, no fishing sector and no species which is not vulnerable to IUU fishing. In his opinion, the actions to be taken in order to fight the phenomenon should primarily focus around better control of fishing and licensing, as well as on banning fishing in areas where it could create economic damages to local communities or could hurt the local ecosystems.

What do participants to the 9th Briefing think about the discussions? We gathered some reactions

H.E. Mr Ibrahim Bocar Ba, Ambassador of Mali to the European Union, chaired the first panel, which focused on “Land tenure and rural development: key issues”. H.E. Ba shares with us his views on the theme of the Briefing.

(interview in French)

Mr. Al Hassan Cissé, program manager of Right to Food within Action Aid Senegal, stressed the need to implement land reforms.

(interview in French)

Mr. François Bimogo, editor of the magazine Éclat d’Afrique.

(interview in French)

Also Ms Cécile Broutin (GRET) pointed out the interlinkages between land issues and food security. Agricultural, land and trade policies should be coherently designed in order to promote a sustainable economic development with an efficient and equitable use of land and production means. In this framework, support to small scale farming appears to be key.

(interview in French)

Lorenzo Cotula from IIED stressed the surge of investment flows to sub-Saharan Africa notably in the agri-food sector, driven by commodities demand and enabling policy reforms.

From his part Paul Mathieu from FAO pointed out that climate change and carbon trading, production of biofuels, sovereign funds investment to produce food to be exported combine their effects to put new pressures and demands on land worldwide.

In order to better understand trends and drivers, FAO, IFAD and IIED are undertaking a study on land tenure and contractual arrangements, impacts on land access for rural people in recipient countries – with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. IIED is also participating in World Bank-led research to examine these issues in 30 countries worldwide. Both studies are still at an early stage.

Ambassador Brave Ndisale of Malawi chaired the second Panel of the briefing. She found the briefing very useful to provide clarity on policies and practices of new actors in development, especially China. She also underlined that Africa has a lot to learn from the experience of China and India. Further, she reminded us how coordination among donors can be fostered when the ownership of development processes stays at national level: her country represents a success story in this sense.

Lucy Hayes of Eurodad [see video] found the discussions on Africa and China particularly interesting. Moreover, the discussion on aid and agriculture is timely. It is time we made better use of the money now available, building from what is there and ensuring bottom-up solutions.

Amadou Diallo (NEPAD) stressed the relevance of the subjects covered in the discussions , these help us better understand the initiatives of different actors and the various drivers behind these processes. Further, he underlined the value of the Briefings in providing a platform for dialogue, exchange and debate for harmonisation and coordination of different development policies. He encouraged the organisers to continue this initiative in Brussels, perhaps also launching similar activities in Africa.

(interview in French)

Joseph Coompson [see video], Chief Agricultural Economist at the African Development Bank expained that the AfDB is coordinating a task force looking into the division of labour among donors to Africa’s agricultural sector.

See more from the 2 July Briefing

Mr. Diallo argued that agriculture needs to be at the centre of the development agenda. 85% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa depends, at least partially, on agriculture for their livelihoods. Agriculture is therefore key to poverty reduction and economic growth; making effective policies and aid in this area vital.

For these reasons, African leaders developed the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) as the NEPAD framework to revitalize the agriculture sector. NEPAD steers the process, providing guidance for policy, and raising awareness and international support for this African initiative.

(interview in French)

According to Mr. Diallo, CAADP constitutes the first common African project in agricultural policy and it offers important opportunities to improve the effectiveness of investments. African Heads of State have made significant commitments, pledging to ensure that 10% of national budgets are dedicated to investment in the agricultural sector. CAADP provides guidance on how to ensure that this spending at the national level is effective. In particular, the CAADP round tables process provides a tool for better harmonization and alignment of agricultural development efforts including aid.

Mr. Diallo concluded that African agriculture offers huge potential. Many positive new initiatives are underway and for the first time there is broad consensus on objectives, targets and partnership principles. However, long lasting results will only be possible if all stakeholders join in the concerted effort needed and “African countries put themselves as main actors, not just witnesses, of a green revolution in Africa.”

Read more about the CAADP process in the intervention by Angel Elias Daka of COMESA during the Briefing on ‘Advancing African agriculture‘, 17 October 2007.

See more from the 2 July Briefing

Dependence on public funding can drive NGOs away from their grassroots commitments and make them less radical in their advocacy for the poor, he said. All in all, the new multiplicity of financing for rural development is ambivalent: There is more money available and a new diversity of donors, this does not necessarily lead to more efficiency to reach the MDGs. Besides, many of the new players bypass the exsiting general consensus on aid effectiveness and transparency and follow their own objectives.

Mr. Buntzel continued with remarks on rural development, claiming that calls for the private sector to become more involved might shift the focus away from poverty reduction to economic growth. He argued that economic theories and models copied from past experiences of the industrialized countries or transferred from other continents were bound to fail. He questioned whether new donors were ready to engage in political conflict on the side of the people. For CSOs, the participation of the poor in their own development is key, they have to be in the driver’s seat. Researchers, investors, governments and experts on the other hand need to learn how to be co-pilots.

Mr. Buntzel concluded his presentation with an example of good practice- the ‘Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’ initiated by Kofi Annan. CSOs would like to see such models replicated to handle funds pledged by different players to alleviate the impact of the global food crisis.

See more from the 2 July Briefing

This briefing focussed on the theme: New Drivers, New Players in ACP rural development . In particular, the briefing looked at the agricultural and rural development sector in the context of ACP countries, the role of private foundations (Bill Gates, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Rockefeller Foundation etc) and the role of emerging donors (China, India, Brazil, Japan) in ACP countries. The discussions provided valuable input for the coming Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to be held in Accra on 2-4 September 2008.

View the programme, presentations and video material, speaker information, video interviews, and selected documents available online.

For more information please contact Isolina Boto (boto@cta.int) or Romano Purro (rp@euforic.org)

Convened by CTA and other partners, this first ‘Brussels Development Briefing’ discussed the macro-economic environment and its impact on the rural poor in ACP countries, regional integration processes in Africa, and issues of aid effectiveness and harmonization amongst donors.

Participants actively quizzed speakers on their assessments of the issues and on the promising directions to follow.

The good news is that agriculture and rural development look to be back on the international agenda. A key message was that we need to start by really looking at poor people as producers contributing to growth and prosperity – part of the ‘solution’ rather than the problem. Further, national governments need to put their pledges into practice and give support to rural development. Donors donors need to urgently address the coherence of the ways they provide development assistance, and pay closer attention to the needs of rural communities.

Download a report of the meeting (pdf)

More reports on the discussions, as well as substantial background information, interviews, presentations and video recordings of the presentations are accessible at www.brusselsbriefings.net.

The next briefing in October will discuss the European Commission’s recent communication on ‘advancing African Agriculture.’

WURTV uses Microsoft Windows Media services to deliver the content. Internet explorer 5.5+ and Windows Media Player 9+ are required to view the live broadcasts or the recorded events. [download instructions] Note, the audio track of speakers in French is the English of the interpreters.

The following sequences are available:

Opening

Isolina Boto
Hansjörg Neun
Peter Ballantyne
Ferdinand Nyabenda
Philippe Mikos

First Panel: The macro-economic environment and its impact on the rural poor

Marc Debois 1
Steve Wiggins
Marc Debois 2
Thomas Elhaut
Marc Debois 3
Al Binger
Marc Debois 4

DEBATE

Second Panel: Policy context – the African regional integration process

Hansjörg Neun 1
Mme Carolina Quina
Hansjörg Neun 2
Ramesh Jaura 1
Marcel Mazoyer
Ramesh Jaura 2
Michael Waithaka
Mamadou Cissokho

DEBATE

Third Panel: Aid effectiveness, harmonisation and alignment amongst donors

Errol Humphrey
Bernard Petit
Michael Wales
Denise Auclair

DEBATE

Conclusions
Hansjörg Neun

The third session on 4 July considered aid effectiveness, harmonization and alignment among donors.

Likening aid harmonization to a jigsaw puzzle, Bernard Petit, Deputy Director General for Development at the European Commission, argued that aid donors, between them, provide developing country governments with many ‘pieces’ of assistance (Tanzania alone has at least 600 health projects each year). However, it is almost impossible for anyone to see the entire picture of the finished puzzle.

Donors’ own efforts at monitoring and conditionality – to build up their own pictures – often do not help. They sometimes conflict with governments’ national strategies; in Kenya for example, 20 donors use at least 13 different purchasing agencies, by-passing the official government purchasing agency; and when a country fields up to 800 missions a year, day to day implementation of development projects is often held back.

the jigsaw puzzle for rural development

Through a little more coordination at country and international levels, the picture on the jigsaw puzzle could be clearer to all, and all the pieces can perhaps be found and fitted in their correct places.

With this in mind, the Commission approach has adopted two main measures to enhance harmonization of donor efforts:

It has introduced a ‘code of conduct’ that encourages donors to take account of national plans and ensure coherence with the efforts of other donors. The second approach is to encourage a division of labour so that a lead donor is assigned for each priority sector in a country. The role of the ‘lead’ donor is to be a single donor interlocutor on a sector with the national government, rather than having each donor build its own communication channels with, for example, each line ministry.

The idea is that European donors are each limited to 3 sectors in a country, that one European donor leads dialogues in one sector, that donors should not rush to their favourite countries, and they should not neglect fragile states.

By way of background, Mr. Petit highlighted the challenges the donor community faces today to match the promises made in policy statements with actual practice on the ground. Many donors have achieved the increased volume of development aid they promised by canceling debt. The challenge now is for European governments to find the budgetary means to meet the continued commitment, and also to ensure that aid is more effective and efficient.

Over his 36 year career with the Commission, Bernard Petit has seen aid terminology change and evolve in response to the latest ‘fashions’ – but what has actually changed on the ground?

It’s time for business ‘unusual.’

Visual Material

Denise Auclair – Donors can do better by listening locally

Michael Wales of the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development on these issues:

See more from the 4 July briefing