Kanchan Lama, WOCAN Core Associate, participated at the two day workshop organized by Agricord, Asiadhrra/CSA and Asian Farmers Association to share the lessons learned from ‘Supporting Inclusive Planning of Country Projects’ financed by the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program(GAFSP) on 9-11 Nov 2012 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The objective of the project is to support membership-based producer organizations representing small farmers to actively participate and provide an effective contribution to the national design phase of the investment projects financed under the public sector financing window of the GAFSP initiative in 10 countries in Asia and Africa. Member farmers and partners from Bangladesh, Belgium, Cambodia, Mongolia Nepal, Philippines and Senegal participated at the workshop.
The major lessons learned presented at the workshop were:
- Strengthened regional farmer’s network.
- CSO participation in GAFSP process is a new initiative but remained strong.
- Donors have realized that farmer’s involvement is highly important for designing a realistic program.