Following up on the policy dialogue training held in November in Cambodia, which focused on the process of influencing public policy, including how to organize policy dialogue events and prepare policy briefs, an orientation meeting took place on 28^th February between FAO and the Cambodia Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Intensification Consortium (CASIC). CASIC, which is comprised of representatives from multiple government and non-governmental institutions, including the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) and Swisscontact, among others, was established as a platform for promoting conservation agriculture and sustainable intensification towards agroecological transition in Cambodia.

During the orientation meeting, participants discussed a roadmap and timeline for the organization of subnational policy dialogue events that will take place in Battambang province and national policy dialogue events, which will take place in the nation’s capital, Phnom Penh. Key stakeholders for the policy dialogue events in Battambang province will include members of a newly formed, CASIC-led subnational innovation platform to support conservation agriculture in the province, which is also supported by the TAP-AIS project in Cambodia. A key result of the meeting was setting up the ‘core teams’ composed of representatives from CASIC, FAO and other partner organizations which will work on the organization of policy dialogue events in three topic areas: mechanization, markets and education for conservation agriculture.

The first of these policy dialogues, focusing on the important topic of mechanization of conservation agriculture, will be organized in March. Stay tuned and follow us on Twitter to receive updates on this and further policy dialogue events and the newly established innovation platform promoting conservation agriculture and sustainable intensification in Cambodia.