Participation

Participants from all regions of the world working in RAS or in related fields are welcome at the 9th GFRAS Annual Meeting. Stakeholders from different sectors – public, private, and civil society – are encouraged to register for the meeting, including representatives of farmer organisations, private companies, research and education institutions, development agencies, media and others. In order to guarantee a participatory meeting with a focus on networking and exchange, the number of participants will be limited to approximately 150. If more people register, participants will be selected by the GFRAS Annual Meeting Organising Committee in a way to secure a best possible balance between regions, sub-regions, sector, gender, age and other criteria.

Limited funding is available to sponsor at least one representative per region to attend the meeting. Partner organisations are welcome to sponsor additional participants.

There will be a registration fee of USD 200 for all participants who attend the GFRAS Annual Meeting.

Allocation of Participants

In total, the maximum number of participants is set at 150 participants. This has financial, logistical, and particularly methodological reasons. A smaller meeting provides more occasions for exchange and the initiation of longer-term partnerships.Out of the 150 people, the GFRAS Secretariat expects to be able to sponsor 10 people. Partner organisations are welcome to sponsor selected participants that are not GFRAS sponsored and would need to come self-funded otherwise. The organising committee has allocated participants to the regions as follows.

Region	Total allocation	Allocation for self-funded participants	Allocation for sponsored participants	Total %
Total Asia	40	37	3	27%
Central Asia and the Caucasus	10	9
South Asia	10	9
South-East, and East Asia	20	19
Total Australia and the Pacific	20	18	2	13%
Australia, New Zealand	10
Pacific Islands	10
Total Africa	30	28	2	20%
Western and Central Africa	10
East and North Africa	10
South Africa	10
Total South America/ Mesoamerica/Caribbean	30	28	2	20%
South America and Mesoamerica	20
Caribbean	10
Total Europe, North America, Australia and International	30	29	1	20%
Europe and North America	10	9	1
International organisations	20	20	0
Total	150	140	10	100%

Procedure for sponsorship-seeking participants

Application and Selection Procedure for Sponsorship-seeking Participants

Sponsorship-seeking participants have to apply for sponsorship via the special sponsorship-seeking registration form. They will have to upload a CV, which covers their most important experience in RAS in the region, and a motivation letter, which shall explain their motivation to participate at the meeting, the value their experiences add to the meeting, and how they plan to contribute to the preparation activities and feed the results back into their region.

The decision on sponsorship will be made by the organising committee, based on the advice of the regional focal points[1]and according to the following criteria:

Knowledge of the regional RAS systems and its opportunities and challenges
Level of involvement in the regional RAS fora and GFRAS
Ability to represent the (sub-)regional forum
Plans to feed back the results into the region
Input to the meeting
General criteria for participants as outlined below

[1]Regional focal points will be identified by their respective regional or sub-regional RAS forum, based on their knowledge and experience of RAS and RAS actors in their region, as well as their knowledge of and active involvement in GFRAS (including Annual Meetings).

Procedure for participants not funded by GFRAS

Application and Selection Procedure for Participants not Funded by GFRAS

If there are significantly more registrations than the 140 seats foreseen for participants not sponsored by GFRAS, the organising committee will also be responsible for the selection of these participants, according to the criteria below. If a region does not use its full allocation, additional participants from nearby regions will be given the place. Participants will be selected according to the following general criteria:

Regional allocation (including equal distribution of countries)
Balance between gender
Balance between sectors (public, private, civil society)
Balance between age groups
Balance between newcomers and long-term GFRAS affiliates
Value added to strengthen the global and regional fora (e.g. new links to stakeholder groups, future contributions to activities)
Input to the meeting (presentations, etc.)

Timeline

Activity	Due date
Registration deadline for all participants	31 July
Confirmation of sponsored participants by GFRAS organising committee	7 August
For those sponsorship-seeking participants who received a negative answer: Deadline to apply as self-funded (or otherwise funded) participants	14 August
Confirmation of self-funded participants by GFRAS organising committee	14 August

{/div>