“Towards a Farmers’ Forum at IFAD’s Governing Council” – Concluding Statement

The participants in the workshop share with IFAD the fundamental objective of overcoming rural poverty through the economic, social and political empowerment of the rural poor themselves and their organizations.

They agree with and support the overall project of creating a Farmers’ Forum for consultation and dialogue on the ways to “enable the rural poor to overcome poverty’ and on IFAD operations.

The Farmers’ Forum will be:

• an ongoing, bottom-up, process – not a periodic event – spanning IFAD-supported operations on the ground and policy dialogue;
• a tripartite process involving farmers’ organizations, governments and IFAD;
• a space for consultation and dialogue focused on rural poverty reduction;
• an instrument for accountability of development effectiveness, in particular in the area of empowerment of rural poor people and their organizations; and
• an interface between pro-poor rural development interventions and the process of enhancing the capacity of farmers’ and rural producers’ organizations (including organizations of artisanal fishers, pastoralists, landless workers and indigenous peoples).  

The Farmers’ Forum will:

• be guided by the principles of inclusiveness, pluralism, openness and flexibility;
• build on existing forums where possible and avoid duplication; and
• respect existing organizations and create new spaces where needed.

Conditions

• The Forum process will start with national-level consultations that will feed into regional or subregional meetings. The latter will then shape the content of, and participation at, the Farmers’ Forum at the IFAD Governing Council;
• The Forum process should feed into IFAD’s governing bodies;
• The Forum’s success will depend on IFAD’s capacity to enhance country-level consultation with farmers’ organizations and contribute to their capacity-building needs; and
• Participants recommend, in particular, institutionalizing engagement with farmers’ organizations in key IFAD operational processes (projects, and country and regional strategies).