Revived regional agricultural policy network to promote agriculture policies sustainability
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| Published on Saturday, July 31, 2010 |
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PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad -- Given the void at national levels for policy formulation, implementation and evaluation, including the lack of data management systems for policy analysis, the Caribbean Regional Agricultural Policy Network (CaRAPN), which has been in pilot project mode for a number of years, was this week rebranded as a sustainable regional network.
Policy makers, planning officers from Ministries of Agriculture, professionals from development institutions, communications specialists and farmers representatives, spanning the 14 countries of the CARICOM community, met over four days, 27 July -30 July to determine the network strategies and mechanisms to support the agriculture policy development and sustainability in the region.
The meeting agreed that the core mission of the network is to stimulate networking that enables information exchange, capacity building and improvement of the policy process thereby enhancing the relevance and efficacy of national and regional policies.
Among the consensus reached as it relates to the strategic actions of the network are to:
-- Develop and maintain a web-based institutional database of partners/stakeholders in the region
-- Build capacity for policy making
-- Manage a virtual information repository
-- Serve as a policy technical resource and coordination mechanism
In implementing these strategic objectives, the network will serve the Ministries of Agriculture, NGOs, regional institutions, private sector and producers (farmers and fishers). The network will also facilitate the integration of other sectors such as health, education, environment and trade, in an effort to connect and integrate the development dimensions.
An agro-Matrix framework for the sustainable development of agriculture and rural communities is currently promoted through IICA. This mechanism is built on two axes-sustainable development and partnerships, with emphasis on four pillars, economic, ecological, socio-cultural human and political –institution. These fundamentals are in keeping with those defined under the Single Development Vision.
To this end, CaRAPN has a range of tested products and services which offer value to different levels of stakeholders and which are now more widely accessible on CaRAPN’s website: www.carapn.net
On July 29, an interim committee coordinated by Diane Francis, Regional Specialist in Policies and Trade Negotiations, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), was selected to manage the development of the CaRAPN until early 2011, after which, the network will operate as a fully operationalised network mechanism.
“Information is critical if the policy process is to happen,” stressed Ms. Francis, who added that the network will add value to policy formulation, implementation and monitoring and evaluation.
She reiterated that , CaRAPN aims at being inclusive and ensuring that a wide range of stakeholders are involved in and informed by the agricultural policy formulation process in the Caribbean.
Meanwhile with CaRAPN , agriculture will contribute to broader socio-economic goals of poverty reduction, food security, equity and competitiveness in the Caribbean. The wider impact of CaRAPN will be support to the development of policies that fuel the achievement of these regional goals. | | | | Reads : 651 | | | |
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