GFRAS through its host AGRIDEA, the Swiss Association for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome, Italy. The MoU follow various collaboration between GFRAS and FAO in the past and opens the road for upcoming activities, e.g. in the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF).
While in Rome, the GFRAS Steering Committee elected a new chair and co-chair for the next two years. Rasheed Sulaiman V., Director of the Centre for Research on Innovation and Science Policy (CRISP) in Hyderabad, India, and focal point for the Agricultural Extension in South Asia network (AESA), was elected chair. The committee elected Magdalena Blum, Extension Systems Officer at the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome as co-chair. We congratulate our colleagues and are looking forward to the activities we will tackle together. We also thank Francisco Aguirre for his valuble work in his turn as chair of GFRAS. (Photo: new Chair Rasheed Sulaiman, former Chair Francisco Aguirre)