Posted on behalf of Peter Filius, Germany
Hi, there;
In terms of innovative funding sources I'd like to suggest a kind of "foster system", which means that european or OECD country inhabitants would foster a family of small scales farmers in a developing country. Similar to a "orphan's adoption system" they would exchange letters and experiences, photographs and emails, so share their daily lives. I am sure that the communication facitlities nowadays should offer many options for the partners. The partners will be able to invest into climate and food security programmes at a very low but efficient level on the farms, such as planting trees, water and sanitation projects (filters) and so on. Sponsors could benefit by sharing directly the positive impacts of the activities, planned together with their partners. Small scale individual credit schemes could be another option. Key players in the system to build up the framework will be rural banks and micro-credit schemes (transfer costs of money, accounts) and maybe churches and religious bodies as reliable and wide-spread organizations to facilitate serious partner contacts.
Pls discuss my proposal with your team and think it over - yours P.
FSN Forum Team