Changing the way the world thinks
At FARM-Africa, we use evidence from our projects to advocate change within governments and other organisations around the world.
How FARM-Africa is influencing policy
At national level, we help change policy by working in partnership with governments. We have improved policy in Ethiopia so that communities have rights over their forests. In Kenya, we helped to shape the veterinary legislation and set the standards for animal health worker training. In South Africa, we are helping the government look at options to improve land reform.
At international level, we use our experience to lobby donors for policy change, such as the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID). Donor support of agriculture has shrunk by 60 per cent over the past 15 years and this is reflected in the budgets of African governments too. While financial support to smallholder farmers has declined, donors spend increasing amounts on food aid.This creates dependencies and solves nothing over the long-term.
Reaching the poor - a call to action
That's why we have been working to change DFIDs attitude to agriculture. FARM-Africa recently collaborated with researchers from Imperial College London and Harvest Help to write a major policy paper called 'Reaching the Poor: A Call to Action'.This was launched in the House of Commons in March 2004.
The arguments FARM-Africa presented in this paper have since been picked up by several organisations and its influence is starting to be seen in their strategy documents. Dr Christie Peacock was called as a witness to the Inquiry on DFID's Agriculture Strategy (2004) carried out by the House of Commons' International Development Select Committee.
FARM-Africa will continue to raise the issues confronting smallholder farmers in Africa and the support that they need nationally and internationally. As part of the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign, we are lobbying through the G8 and the EU for more and better-targeted aid to support smallholder farmers over the long-term.
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