Topics Small Producers Agency
Collective responsibility for sustainable livelihoods
The second launch of ‘Beyond Economics’ took place in The Hague on 11 December 2009 and was inspired by the third issue of Development Vol 52. The Hague seminar hinged on the question of whether economics itself has to change or whether the existing economic principles just need to be more efficiently put into practice perhaps with better, more people-centred and environmentally friendly policy.
Collective responsibility for sustainable livelihoods
The second launch of ‘Beyond Economics’ took place in The Hague on 11 December 2009 and was inspired by the third issue of Development Vol 52. The Hague seminar hinged on the question of whether economics itself has to change or whether the existing economic principles just need to be more efficiently put into practice perhaps with better, more people-centred and environmentally friendly policy.
Another economics borne?
‘There is another economics waiting be borne. It would take efficiency off the pedestal and stress theimportance of alternative measures’, Stephen Marglin, Harvard University. This is one of the quotes from the Beyond Economics Meeting in New York report.
KP “Smallholders Agency” lands in Africa
The initiating team of “Smallholders Agency” (from Hivos, IIED and Mainumby) went to Uganda and Kenya from 20 to 28 November. The aim was to find out how the knowledge program can become embedded in East Africa and to find African members for the Learning Network.
Value Chain Financing, a concept of consequence
I lived for some time among the farmers in the uplands of the Philippines. Most of them grew hybrid maize, destined for the pig industry around Manila. A major feature of dally life was the constant indebtedness of the farmers with the local traders that supplied the farmers with credits for the seeds and fertilizer, in return for a high interest rate and obligatory delivery of the whole yield to the trader. Some farmers were trying to escape from the debt trap by returning to white maize, a...
New! Participatory Guarantee Systems newsletter
The market for organic foods is an important opportunity for farmers in developing countries. But how can consumers be assured that what they buy is indeed organic? Certification systems exist to give the answer. Most of these systems are ‘top-down’; they define the conditions that farmers have to comply with and ensure external inspectors do the checking. This increases the costs of the products.
Learning groups can have big impact
The Knowledge Programme on “Smallholder Agency in the Globalised Market” is at present building a Learning Network as its core instrument. This network will be a group of some 15 persons from Africa, Latin America and Asia that will focus on the commissioning of innovative studies, the exchange of ideas and the diffusion of the results into the global debate and the capacities of civil society.
Accelerating sustainable trade
What will the world look like in 2050? The long-term trends of population growth, climate change and increasing consumption per capita are not likely to change any time soon, resulting in accelerating pressures on natural resources such as soils and forest. Current increases in agricultural production are mainly based on the expansion of agricultural area – a process that causes great damage already and moreover will have exhausted its possibilities in the very near future. Sustainable intens...
First actions of "small holder agency"
The knowledge programme Small Producer Agency in the Globalized Market made the first steps in the formation of its South-based Learning Netwok and the participatory design of its focal themes. Bill Vorley, the IIED chair of our programme, was interviewed by the El Comercio on August in Lima.Inclusive Improvement (5 June)
Hivos has been at the forefront of emerging intervention practices in the market approach for many years, moving from Fair Trade (since 1985) to Organic (since 1989) to micro-credit (since 1994) to Coffee Coalition (since 1999) to ISEAL (since 2001) to mainstreaming market access for smallholders (since 2004). This latest challenge has brought Hivos to showcase attempts to combine upgrading of quality and inclusion of smallholders in attractive market channels. The draft report of these colle...› read more...
Tags: Small Producers Agency
Date: 5 June : Location: ISS, Kortenaerkade 12, The Hague, The Netherlands
Tags: Small Producers Agency
Date: 5 June : Location: ISS, Kortenaerkade 12, The Hague, The Netherlands
MoU Small Producers Agency in the Globalized Market Programme signed
On 21 January a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Hivos and the International Institute for Development Cooperation for the Knowledge Programme Small Producers Agency in the Globalized Market. Explicit statements of demand from organisations across various sectors suggest that there is a distinct and urgent need to integrate and synthesise existing bodies of knowledge – both scientific and practitioner knowledge – produced and disseminated in a way that strengthens the capacity e...
Background
Three-quarters of the world’s 1.2 billion poor people live in rural areas. Many are small-scale producers who depend on agriculture and natural resources for their livelihoods. International markets have been seen as a way out of poverty and food insecurity for small-scale producers. These markets comprise traditional food and fibre commodities, but also new markets for quality products, biodiversity conservation and mitigation of climate change.
Partners
The Knowledge Programme will be implemented by IIED and Hivos in close collaboration with a knowledge network consisting of academics, policy makers and practitioners active in this field. The KP will link up with existing networks and like-minded actors/activities to ensure strong policy impact.About
The purpose of this three-year Knowledge Programme, a partnership between IIED and Hivos is to integrate knowledge, raise debate, and empower a new generation of opinion leaders. The KP will be implemented by IIED and Hivos in close collaboration with a knowledge network consisting of academics, policy makers and practitioners active in this field. The KP will link up with existing networks and like-minded actors/activities to ensure strong policy impact.« Previous 1 2 3