FAO holds virtual meeting ‘Towards the launch of the Arab Forum for Rural Advisory Services’

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Office for the Near East, in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD),  held a virtual meeting for the members of the Arab Forum for Rural Advisory Services (AFRAS) on December 6, 2023.

The meeting aimed to share highlights of the General Annual Meeting (GAM) of the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS), the umbrella organization of which AFRAS is part., which took place in Denver from 17 to 19 October and was attended in person by three members of the AFRAS community. The meeting also highlighted the outcomes of the roundtable discussion on AFRAS organized at the end of the GFRAS GAM with the leadership of GFRAS and of its regional networks to clarify key institutional and organizational aspects of the AFRAS establishment process.

In her opening remarks, May Hani, Senior Programme Officer and Lead on Rural Transformation and Inclusive Value Chains at the FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa (FAO-RNE), stressed the importance of this meeting as a critical milestone in the roadmap towards the launch of AFRAS, bringing together members of the community to deliberate on the core aspects of the Forum’s governance, institutional setup and membership, as well as relationship with GFRAS during the early incubation phase.

The AFRAS community currently comprises of 94 members from 14 countries of the region and beyond including RAS champions and experts from the public and private sectors, academia and research organizations, regional and international organizations, producer and civil society organizations.  

Nadhem Mtimet of IFAD commended the progress the community has made as it strides forward, with this meeting marking a real starting point that puts AFRAS on the right path towards the official inauguration in March next year. It is a continuation of the series of efforts put forth over the last two years with the contributions of the RAS champions, and the voluntary advisory group, supported by FAO and IFAD. The journey continues and the process evolves as the AFRAS Community grows to welcome new members along the way.

From GFRAS perspective, Ingrid Oliveira welcomed the emergence of AFRAS as a new regional network that is already at work and so full of life. “For us, while anticipating the launch of AFRAS early next year, we consider AFRAS already exists as part of GFRAS network, and we’ve held a conversation with representatives of our regional networks and the global secretariat who are all very passionate and enthusiastic to share with you their insights and possible elements for cross learning from the experiences of the networks that came before you,” she said.

 The virtual meeting was moderated by May Hani and featured as speakers and panelists the three members of our community who participated in the GFRAS General Annual Meeting, including Ms Wafaa El Dikah Hamzé, Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture of Lebanon for International cooperation and Policy Development, Dr Nizar Haddad, Director General of the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) of Jordan, Ms Valentina Sommacal, Rural Institutions and Services Expert at the FAO-RNE, Ms Ingrid Oliveira, Communication Coordinator at GFRAS, and Mr Rasheed Sulaiman, Director of CRISP and GFRAS focal point for South Asia. 

This meeting represented a further consultative effort toward the launch of AFRAS planned during the first months of 2024 with a dedicated web-platform to be available for members to network, share knowledge and practices. It brought together around 50 members of the AFRAS community, who reaffirmed their enthusiasm and commitment to AFRAS’ mission with passionate discussions to arrive at consensus on the viable institutional setup, role of focal points and expansion of membership in the coming months.

It is worth mentioning that AFRAS foundational meeting took place in Cairo in July 2023, engaging official representatives of Ministries of Agriculture in 14 Arab countries along with RAS champions and representatives of international and regional organisations, including GFRAS and its regional networks of Africa, North America and South Asia.