Primacy of policies

• Poverty is the result of policies. Both farmers’ interests and IFAD programmes are undermined by anti-poor policies. The farmer organizations’ (FO) top priority is to bring the interests of small farmers to bear on decision-making and reorient agricultural and trade policies to support family farming and rural livelihoods. It is the FOs’ responsibility to change the policy environment, but IFAD can provide support by helping them build their capacity to analyse, mobilize and formulate alternative proposals. This requires :
  • access to expertise
  • capacity to ensure 2-way communication with and involvement of the base

Structuring the partnership

• IFAD should not create new structures but build on existing ones.  At global level the Farmers’ Forum is a space for exchange, not a structure or a network
• It is important to carefully define the roles and responsibilities of all 3 parties in the partnership - FOs, government, IFAD – and extend collaboration to other actors. Recognized frameworks for partnership should be established at all levels: national, regional, global.

Building FOs’ capacity

• IFAD should respect the diversity of FOs and their right to self-determination and self-organization. As a first step, it should develop a knowledge base of what exists
• It is up to the FOs to define where they want to go and with what approach. IFAD should identify capacity building needs in partnership with FOs on a case by case basis, not adopt standardized packages. Needs can include lobbying, technology transfer, governance of FOs, accessing markets, etc. It is important to avoid seeking quick “results”: FOs need to develop at their own rhythm through practice, trial and error
• Support for national FO platforms is essential. IFAD can facilitate building links between national FOs and the local groups with which IFAD programmes traditionally work. It is useful to bring the full range of FOs in a country together to exchange in a single forum, but without imposing a unified framework on them. Space should be ensured for women and youth
• The regional level is increasingly important in terms of policy definition; hence support for regional networks is also critical

Opportunities for concrete cooperation over the next two years

• Opportunities within the context of IFAD activities include:
  • involvement in agricultural sector support programmes
  • participation in formulation and follow-up of COSOP
  • monitoring implementation of IFAD programmes, to be funded from programme budgets
  • service provision in the context of IFAD programmes
  • revision of regional strategies

• But IFAD should also position itself with regard to the strategic programmes of FOs and not limit itself to seeking FO engagement in its programmes. IFAD should listen more to what farmers are saying and support their agendas
• The work programme for the next 2 years should include the identification and institutionalization of good practices of meaningful participation and of effective structuring of partnerships
• It is also necessary for iFAD to reflect seriously on the tools required to enable it to be effective in partnership with FOs

 Evaluation

• All IFAD/FO cooperation should include a mechanism for the evaluation of the partnership in order to verify whether or not tangible results are being achieved