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Dear GFRAS affiliates,
We'd like to update you on the latest activities and upcoming events in rural advisory services (RAS) and GFRAS. Find more information at www.g-fras.org.
The GFRAS secretariat wishes you all the best for the holidays and a Happy New Year!
3rd GFRAS Annual Meeting
 The minutes of the meeting as well as the presentations, some pictures, and some interviews are available on the GFRAS website. There you find also the possibility to give us your feedback. The GFRAS secretariat would like to thank the host, the Asia Pacific Island Rural Advisory Services Network APIRAS for the organization of the meeting and all the participants for their commitment and collaboration.
GCARD2: The ‘New Extensionist’
 Under the title “Making Use of Knowledge and Advisory Systems” GFRAS successfully hosted a parallel session at the GCARD2 meeting in Uruguay. The session focused on the position paper ‘The New Extensionist’ and highlighted possibilities for strengthening capacities in knowledge and advisory services on different levels. Read the blog post at the GCARD2 website.
3rd RELASER Annual Meeting
With more than 100 participants from different sectors, the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Latin American Network for Rural Extension Services took place in Santa Cruz, Bolivia from 10-12 October 2012. During the meeting, the main strategic topics of RELASER were ratified: innovation, generation of evidence, and capacity building. The importance of the National Forums of RELASER were highlighted; Colombia and Paraguay presented their experiences and several new countries expressed their interest in building new forums. Additionally, a thematic group of academics from universities was built within the network, which aims to contribute from their perspective. Find more information (in Spanish) on theRELASER website.
Market-oriented Agricultural Advisory Services MOAAS
The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation FAO held three workshops on market-oriented agricultural advisory services: 8-9 October in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, 15-17 October in Amman, Jordan, and 22-24 October in Dakar, Senegal. All three events were attended by representatives from GRAS and promoted the existing RAS networks or the formation of new regional RAS networks. Find more information on FAO’s website.
RESCAR-AOC
In July 2012 RAS stakeholders met in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to harmonise strategies for the formal establishment of the West- and Central African Network for Agricultural and Rural Advisory Services (RESCAR-AOC).. Collaboration between RESCAR-AOC, and the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD), the African Forum for Rural Advisory Services (AFAAS), GFRAS and other important actors in the region was discussed, and next steps to establish structures and longer-term partnerships of RESCAR-AOC were designed. See the meeting report (in French) for more details.
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Upcoming Conferences
Political Economy of Agricultural Policy in Africa
What makes African governments invest in agriculture? This Future Agricultures conference brings together key figures from research, politics, donor organisations and civil society
18-20 March-2013, Pretoria, South Africa
Building Capacity through International Agricultural Extension and Education
The 29th annual conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education (AIAEE)
18-21 May 2013, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
APEN International Conference 2013
TansformativeTransformative Changes: Chosen or Unchosen Pathway to innovation, resilience and prosperity
28-Aug-2013 - 30-Aug-2013, Christchurch, New Zealand
Publications
Agricultural Extension: A Time for Change
 The first publication from the 2011 International Conference on “Innovations in Extension and Advisory" on "Linking Knowledge to Policy and Action for Food and Livelihoods” from CTA is now available on line.The policy pointer talks about the need for reforms in the four conference themes of policy, capacity, tools and approaches, and learning networks, and includes the Nairobi Declaration, a declaration of intent that calls on all those involved in extension and advisory services, from national governments to extension agents, farmers’ organizations to international donors, to work together to achieve a number of objectives.
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