E-mail bulletin with news of the International Network of Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF).
For an overview of the partners in the RUAF network look at the end of this bulletin.
In this bulletin you will find information on: 1. THE NEW RUAF WEBSITE OF WEBSITES HAS BEEN RELEASED!!!!!!!!
Please visit www.ruaf.org for a complete new presentation of the global RUAF network. 2. RUAF-Cities Farming for the Future programme: progress made in the second
half of 2006 3. Recent and upcoming Events (co-) organised by RUAF partners - Study visit of Urban Producers Organisations from Latin America to Holland
- RUAF and Urban Agriculture in the UN Habitat World Urban Forum 2006
4. New Urban agriculture related projects initiated by RUAF partners: - Credit and finance
- Waste water Agriculture and Sanitation for Poverty Alleviation (WASPA
- Hyderabad as Mega city of tomorrow; Sustainable Urban Food and Health Security and Environment Resource Management
- Evaluation of Heifer North America Urban Agriculture Programme.
5. Recent and upcoming publications by RUAF - Urban Agriculture Magazine no. 15 on Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture
- Call for contributions UA Magazine # 16 on Policies, norms and regulations on Urban Agriculture
On www.ruaf.org you will find, next to the well known information sources like the Urban Agriculture Magazine and the contacts- and bibliographic databases, a complete new presentation of the RUAF network, a presentation of the Cities Farming for the Future programme (CFF) and description of the CFF activities and results in the various pilot cities, as well as other new features like the various thematic sections and a database with information on funding sources. Please visit us and provide us with your observations.
2. THE RUAF-CITIES FARMING FOR THE FUTURE PROGRAMME IN 2006 See the RUAF website www.ruaf.org for a description of the objectives, strategies and partners in the RUAF-CFF programme. Also the earlier RUAF-UPDATES can be found here. In the second half of 2006 the Regional RUAF centres have started their activities in the first 6 pilot cities: Villa Maria del Triunfo (Lima, Peru); Pikine (Dakar, Senegal); Accra (Ghana); Bulawayo (Zimbabwe); Hyderabad (India); and Beijing (China). Capacity Building
In each region a Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop was implemented varying from 6 to 10 days. Some ToT’s were regional in focus, while others focused more on one country and pilot city. Trainers were selected that have good knowledge on (certain key aspects of) urban agriculture and with some training experiences. During the training of trainers’ workshop, the design and modules of the planned training activities were discussed. Also their skills in participatory training were strengthened. Subsequently the trainers were actively involved in the adaptation of the existing RUAF materials and session plans (developed earlier this year) to the regional/local context and priority learning needs of the potential trainees (which had been assessed in advance) often followed by a rehearsal / practice run. For example: The regional RUAF partner MDP organised the Training of Trainers’ workshop held from the 14th to the 17th of November at the Quality International Hotel in Harare. It was attended by 12 trainers drawn from Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa and Uganda. Subsequently, the regional partners and trainers implemented in the 6 pilot cities a Capacity Building workshop on Multi-Stakeholder Policy formulation and Action Planning (MPAP) on Urban Agriculture with a duration of 10 to 15 days. Participants were drawn from Municipal Departments, Other governmental organisations, NGOs, Research institutions and Farmer Organisations, with in total 101 participants mainly from the pilot cities. In addition some representatives from 9 dissemination cities were invited in order to develop the linkages between pilot and dissemination cities. For example: The regional RUAF partner IWMI-Ghana organised in Accra a Capacity Building workshop with 27 participants from various organisations based in Accra with a duration of 10 days. Also participants from Ibadan, Nigeria and Freetown, Sierra Leone and Kumasi and Tamale in Ghana, RUAF dissemination cities, were invited to orientate them on the RUAF programme and MPAP-process. In addition, in some regions short duration Thematic training workshops were organised, in cooperation with local specialist organisations, to answer specific training needs that were identified during the above mentioned MPAP Capacity building workshop and other activities implemented in the pilot city. For example: in Beijing, on request of local communities the regional RUAF centre organised a training workshop on agro-tourism held on December 15-16, in cooperation with the Beijing Agriculture Committee (the main RUAF local partner institute in Beijing) and the Beijing Tourism Bureau. There were 63 participants (farm households that recently started agro-tourism activities). Results
The monitoring data indicate that the training activities were quite successful. Not only that the participants developed new capacities but most of them also started to apply these new skills in their work and many of them replicated parts of the training in their own organisation. In some countries, the training also made impacts at national level
For example: In Ghana, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, after having been informed on the results of the RUAF Capacity Building Workshop organised nation wide training for agricultural extension officers on urban agriculture and organised a one-day national policy seminar “Urban Agriculture; Contributing to the Millennium Development Goals”. After revision, the training materials will be made available on the global and regional RUAF websites. Also the preparation of a distance learning course on urban agriculture has started.
Participatory action planning
As a first step in the participatory planning process in the six pilot cities a local “MPAP-UA core team” (sometimes named “Urban Agriculture enabling team” or “technical support team”) was created, consisting of representatives of local organisations that are interested to participate in the multi-stakeholder planning process on urban agriculture and staff of the regional RUAF centres. Composition of the MPAP-UA core team includes normally one or more Municipal Departments and one or more NGO’s, research institutes and farmer organisations. The local teams implemented in each pilot city an Exploratory Survey including a Stakeholder analysis, a Policy review, Mapping of presence of urban agriculture in the city and available open spaces, and a Diagnosis of the situation regarding urban agriculture in the city (number and types of urban farmers, potentials, problems, constraints) based on literature review and rapid participatory diagnosis in selected zones. For example: In Accra (Ghana) the team was sub-divided in sub teams each taking responsibility for one component of the exploratory survey and led by a coordinator (with specific knowledge on that component). During monthly meetings of the MPAP-UA team, progress of the activities by each sub-team was assessed and interim results were shared and discussed. Also six Policy Awareness Seminars have been held: 2 at national level (in Zimbabwe and Ghana) and 4 at local level (3 in pilot cities and 1 in a dissemination city). In these seminars mayors, councillors, town clerks, senior staff Municipal departments and representatives of governmental organisations, etcetera participated in the analysis of the results of the exploratory survey (summarized in a “policy narrative”). This with the aim to enhance their awareness on the presence, potentials and problems of urban agriculture as well as to create a basis for the multi-stakeholder planning process on urban agriculture. For example: In Lima, the Regional RUAF partner IPES organized a Policy seminar that was attended by 20 participants mostly mayors, councillors and other policy makers from Villa Maria del Triunfo and some guests from neighbouring Municipalities: Villa el Salvador and San Juan de Miraflores. As a result of the seminar, mayors and representatives drafted and signed a municipal declaration that recognizes urban agriculture as a strategy for enhancing food security and creating more inclusive, productive and ecological cities and states the main municipal strategies for promoting urban agriculture to be developed, including: facilitate access to land through use of vacant plots and tax exemptions, enhance access to water through reuse of treated wastewater and gray water, improve access to inputs through re-use of organic waste, enhance access to capital through inclusion in existing micro credit systems and participatory budgets, and to strengthen and empower urban producers. In two regions study visits were realised in order to give follow up to the awareness created in the Policy seminars by facilitating contacts with counterparts in other cities that have gained already more experiences in policy development and action planning on urban agriculture. For example: Five participants of Villa Maria del Triunfo (Peru) visited Rosario in Argentina to exchange experiences on the integration of urban agriculture in municipal policies on urban agriculture and the design of urban agriculture projects with unemployed persons. In Beijing, representatives of surrounding districts visited Xinjiang district (all in Beijing) to discuss the development of agro-tourism as well as the establishment and functioning of cooperatives producing vegetables. Results
The above mentioned activities have yielded good results in most cities, while in one case (Hyderabad) the process is requiring more time to take off. In China, due to the specific political context, the planning process develops in a different way (but quite dynamic!). In four cities (Villa Maria del Triunfo, Bulawayo, Pikine and Accra) Multi-Stakeholder Forums have been established, consisting of representatives of a large number of stakeholders in urban agriculture. The Forums established one or more Working Groups that will develop a strategic action plan on Urban Agriculture and lead the formulation of Pilot Projects. In Beijing pilot projects are being formulated although a Multi-Stakeholder Forum is not yet established as is the case in Hyderabad. The Beijing city authorities included urban agriculture as one of the strategic themes for its next 5 year plan, which creates an enormous boost for research and action projects on urban agriculture in this city. Information and Knowledge Management
In all regions information Needs Assessments have been undertaken. This information is used to identify what kind of information, each type of stakeholders in urban agriculture is requiring and the best ways to bring this information to their knowledge. This forms the basis for the development of specific materials, including policy briefs, fact sheets, videos, guidelines, case studies, etcetera. Some of these materials are quite specific for each location and produced by one regional RUAF centre, while others are produced in close coordination between all RUAF partners, like the Urban Agriculture Magazine and thematic working materials. Example: The RUAF centre in Latin America produced a short video “Agriculture in the city: a reality” (of 7 minutes) as an important input for the Policy Seminar in Villa Maria del Triunfo.
Based on the experiences gained in the various regions, a RUAF working paper on “Gender in Urban Agriculture” is under preparation, including a conceptual framework, practical guidelines and case studies.
Each regional RUAF centre maintains a regional contacts- and bibliographic database (accessible through Internet) and the regional website. Results
The number of subscribers of the Urban Agriculture Magazine has grown with about 20 % this year and new versions (Arabic and Turkish) have been added to the existing English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese versions. The needs assessments and the stronger link between the production of the information materials and the training and local planning activities have greatly enhanced the effectivity of the information materials produced. For more information on the RUAF-CFF programme: see www.ruaf.org. The website contains information on the RUAF-CFF activities in each pilot city as well as linkages with the regional RUAF-websites which contain more specific information on the regional activities in local languages.
* Inter-regional Exchange and Action-oriented Research Project on Urban Producers’ Organisations
IPES- Promotion for Sustainable Development (Peru) and ETC Urban Agriculture (The Netherlands) are implementing an action-oriented research project denominated “Social organisation of urban and peri-urban producers; Management models and innovative partnerships for policy advocacy”. This project seeks to identify strategies, management mechanisms and innovative partnerships, implemented by Social Organisations of Urban and Peri-Urban Producers (SOUPP) of Latin America and Europe, which have allowed them to improve their access to resources (credit, land, inputs, markets, etc.) and/or to influence in the formulation and implementation of UPA programmes and public policies. Both local as international agenda(s) for action-oriented research will be developed that identify objectives and activities needed to further strengthen the urban and peri-urban producers’ organisations of Latin America and Eastern Europe. As part of the project, an inter-regional exchange visit of producers’ organisations took place in September 2005, which allowed a group of urban and peri-urban producers from Latin America and Eastern Europe to visit 2 producers’ organisations in The Netherlands (in Amsterdam and Brabant) and to share their own experiences.
Main lessons identified by the participants relate a.o to: - The importance of permanent and transparent internal communication on the organisations’ objectives (on short and long term), activities and successes. This is crucial to retain the credibility of the management and increase the involvement of the members (“that they understand why they contribute to the organisation and see that their efforts have a positive result”). This information and communication should be adapted to different types of members (in terms of language and media used, as well as in terms of frequency of communication).
- Organisations need to be flexible enough to change and adapt to new circumstances, such as is the case in Hungary where the organisation was first involved in providing information on organic agriculture, then worked to provide an organic certification system, while now their challenge is to respond to new demands like supporting marketing and search for funds.
- Partnerships among urban producers and other urban actors render (peri) urban agriculture more multi-functional and enables it to connect usefully with the rest of the city (food production, health care, recreational opportunities): a precondition for the longer-term survival of (peri) urban agriculture.
- Strong producer organisations are important to become valued urban actors, be listened to and be supported by the local government. In doing so, they must not only defend their own interests, but also speak “an urban language” and show they can help other urban actors solve their problems (for example by offering recreational opportunities to urban citizens).
A DVD will be made illustrating some of the experiences studied and will be showed on the upcoming World Urban Forum in Vancouver. The various cases study reports, local agendas and other project documents will soon be available on the IPES website: www.ipes.org In October 2005, FAO-PAIA Food for the Cities organised a workshop in Rome in the context of a sister-project to the fore-mentioned IPES/ETC project, that aims to generate knowledge that will help to better understand the types and performance of existing formal and informal urban and peri-urban producer organisations in cities of developing countries (mainly located in Africa and Asia), strengthen these and promote new organisations which will be more effective and sustainable. The project inception workshop denominated “Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture: Towards a better understanding of low-income producers’ organisations”, counted with participation of various RUAF partners, FAO staff and representatives of international organisations promoting UA and aimed at i) ensuring a common understanding of the FAO/IDRC project and its goals and ways and means of implementation ; ii) developing a common approach and methodology for city case study implementation; iii) finalizing the project work plan and defining respective contributions, roles and responsibilities for its implementation. Selected cities (Harare-Zimbabwe, Dakar-Senegal, Cairo-Egypt, Accra-Ghana, Phnom Penh-Cambodia, Hyderabad-India, and Caracas -Venezuela) will be starting their work in 2006. For more information contact: Cecilia Castro (cecilia@ipes.org.pe) * RUAF and Urban agriculture on the World Urban Forum (19-23 June, Vancouver-Canada).
Urban agriculture will feature in different networking events on the upcoming UN Habitat World Urban Forum (WUF). More information on the WUF can be found on the HABITAT website: www.unhabitat.org/wuf/2006, where one can also register for participation.
Although, unfortunately we cannot support you with funding for travel and lodging, we hope to meet in Vancouver with many interested city authorities and urban agriculture practitioners and researchers around the world!! During the World Urban Forum the following three networking events will be implemented: a. Cultivating Inclusive Cities: Multi-stakeholder Policy Making and Action Planning for Urban Agriculture and Food Security
This session is organised by RUAF and will consist of a panel presenting 4 experiences from the perspectives of different actors (NGO, research organisation, urban farmer leader and municipal councillor). The panel will be chaired by the acting Chief of Urban Development Branch UN-HABITAT and a brief introductory presentation will be made by the Coordinator of the RUAF-Cities Farming for the Future programme.
Panellists form Hyderabad, Villa Maria del Triunfo (Lima), Harare and Pikine (Dakar) will offer engaging accounts of their experience in local multi-stakeholder processes aimed at facilitating the development of policies and action plans for the legitimisation and benefit of urban farmers and vulnerable groups in cities of the South. The audience will be asked to share their own experiences related to the topics presented by the panellists and to take part in the action learning ongoing in the RUAF programme and to encourage local multi-stakeholder planning on urban agriculture in their own cities (and eventually present pilot projects to the competitive fund managed by RUAF). For more information contact: Henk de Zeeuw, RUAF coordinator (h.dezeeuw@etcnl.nl) b. Growing better cities to enhance food security, create jobs and protect the environment
This session is organized by IDRC, in cooperation with RUAF partners ETC-Urban Agriculture and IGSNRR.
In this panel local authorities from Beijing, Kampala, Rosario and Vancouver will share their experiences and discuss next steps in strengthening the contribution of various forms of urban and peri-urban agriculture to different “city visions”(e.g. the inclusive city, the productive city, the sustainable city). The panel will highlight how these innovative policies are already helping cities meet their development challenges. For more information contact: Marielle Dubbeling, senior advisor ETC-UA (m.dubbeling@etcnl.nl) c. Partnering with the poor: leveraging land for change
The session is organized by McGill University-Canada in cooperation with RUAF partner ETC Urban Agriculture and supported by IDRC. This panel is based on the experiences gained in the Making the Edible Landscape project, jointly implemented by the above mentioned organisations and local partners in Kampala, Colombo and Rosario.
It will explore how land can be utilized by local authorities for (1) low-cost housing for the urban poor (2) inclusion in low cost housing projects of urban food production and empowerment of citizens through participatory processes, commercialization and income-generation (3) public-private partnership for sustainable development. Four mayors, horticulturists, housing experts and community representatives from the above mentioned cities as well as from Montreal will present urban upgrading and new construction projects that include food production and where the community plays an active part in both the decision-making and the maintenance of public lands. For more information contact: Marielle Dubbeling, senior advisor ETC-UA (m.dubbeling@etcnl.nl)
* Credit and finance
Since April 2005, the RUAF partner IAGU in Francophone West Africa is coordinating the project “Alternative strategies to finance urban farmers in West Africa” funded by IDRC and implemented in cooperation with its partners in the Francophone Network in Senegal, Mali, Mauritania and Benin. The objectives of the project are: the analysis of the demand for credit and finance by urban farmers, the analysis of the credit and finance mechanisms available in the city and their accessibility for urban farmers, the enhancement of the capacity to apply for credit and finance, and influencing credit and finance institutions to improve their financial mechanisms in order to enhance their accessibility and relevance for urban farmers.
In July 2005 a methodological workshop on financing of urban agriculture was organised to harmonise concepts and tools for the study cases implemented in each target city.
The proceedings of this workshop can be obtained by sending a request to Moussa Sy (moussa@iagu.org), who can also provide you with more information. Moussa Sy * Waste water Agriculture and Sanitation for Poverty Alleviation (WASPA)
RUAF partners IWMI-Ghana and IWMI-India are participating in the WASPA project, that is coordinated by IRC. The project started in 2005 and is operating in Kurunegala (Sri Lanka), Rajashahi (Bangladesh), Mopti (Mali) and Bobo Dialossou (Burkina Faso). Initial contacts have been established in Lima (Peru). WASPA’s objectives are the alleviation of poverty through the better hygiene and environmental sanitation and improvement of nutritional status and income levels among poor urban dwellers through the productive use of wastewater in peri-urban areas of large towns and secondary cities. WASPA will focus on decentralized wastewater management approaches for peri-urban neighbourhoods in secondary cities and towns, by enhancing the skills and capacity to plan sanitation, regulate pollution and to implement agricultural and management practices to minimize risks to users and consumers, and propose strategies that will contribute to laws and regulations. For more information visit: www.irc.nl * Hyderabad as Mega city of tomorrow: Sustainable Urban Food and Health Security and Environment Resource Management
RUAF partner IWMI-India is involved in the preparation of a new research project in which urban agriculture constitutes a central issue that will have a duration of about nine years. The proposed project will be funded by BMBF (German Ministry for Education and Research) and is coordinated by the Humboldt University of Berlin, Resource Economics Department, Germany while several partners will implement the research and implementation activities. The project focuses on several aspects of development of mega cities including urban environment, food and nutrition, health and transport. The project is currently in a preparatory phase, during which detailed plans of action will be developed. A workshop will be held during the 1st week of March with all the stakeholders to discuss and design the pilot study projects. More details about the project con be obtained from the website: www.sustainable-hyderabad.in and from Rob Simmons (regional coordinator RUAF): r.simmons@cgiar.org * Evaluation of Heifer North America Urban Agriculture Programme
RUAF partner ETC-Urban Agriculture has been requested to work with Heifer International Programme (HPI) to assess the past ten year of experiences of the HPI Urban Agriculture Programme in North America, document lessons learned, and contribute to the development of Heifer’s strategy regarding supporting local Urban Agriculture initiatives in this region, as well as in an international context. HPI is supporting several community based projects in Chicago, New York, and in other cities in USA, Canada and Mexico in urban livestock, horticulture, aquaculture, vermiculture, etcetera. ETC-UA sees this activity not only as a service to HPI, but also as partnership building between ETC-UA and HPI and the organisations they are collaborating with and in building city alliances, like the recent inception meeting of the Chicago Food Policy Council. For more information on HPI: see www.heifer.org. More information on the evaluation study can be obtained from Rene van Veenhuizen (Email: r.van.veenhuizen@etcnl.nl)
* Urban Agriculture Magazine issue 15 on Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture
No. 15 of the UA Magazine on Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture (the English edition) has been distributed to our readers in January. This issue of the UA Magazine was co-edited by Leo van den Berg of ALTERRA – Wageningen University and contains 19 articles.
This issue presents examples of (combinations of) the different functions urban agriculture can have. It also includes contributions on alternative design of urban neighbourhoods, including space for urban agriculture, and how to value agriculture against the costs of the current food system or alternative urban land uses. It is argued that farmers should be aware of the “externalities” of their work and “internalise” these in the exploitation of their land. The positive externalities can provide them with additional income, while the negative ones involve costs. Several examples in this issue show that the parties concerned can work together towards a fairer sharing of the many different costs and benefits of this “multifunctional” urban and peri-urban agriculture. New forms of governance, institutions, and policies are needed, to be constructed by seeking synergies and involving multiple stakeholders in these processes. The electronic version of the UA-Magazine is available on the RUAF website (www.ruaf.org) * Urban Agriculture Magazine – Other languages
The Spanish edition of no. 13 and 14 of the UA-Magazine, no 12, 13 and 14 of the French edition and no’s 12 and 13 of the Chinese version have been distributed to their readers and are available at their website. Meanwhile no’s 1-10 have been translated in Portuguese and are available at the regional website. Three issues of the UA-Magazine have been published in Turkish, while the second issue of the Arabic edition of the UA-Magazine. For weblinks to the regional editions see below
* Call for contributions: No. 16: Policies, Norms and Regulations on Urban Agriculture
May 2005: Deadline for submissions is 15 March 2005.
The call for contributions for the Urban Agriculture Magazine No. 16 on Policies, norms and regulations on Urban Agriculture has been sent out. We welcome your contributions: - Describing examples of participatory and multi-stakeholder policy making and action planning on urban agriculture, and/or
- Describing and critically analyzing, the innovative policies, norms and regulations resulting from such processes.
In case you would like to contribute, please contact the editor: Rene van Veenhuizen (r.van.veenhuizen@etcnl.nl). For the full call see: www.ruaf.org.
The RUAF programme is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS, the Netherlands) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Canada) The partners in the RUAF programme are: - International coordination: ETC-Urban Agriculture, Leusden, the Netherlands.
Email: ruaf@etcnl.nl - Regional Coordination Latin America and the Caribbean: IPES (Promocion del Desarrollo Sostenible), Lima, Peru.
Email: gunther@ipes.org.pe | Website: www.ipes.org/au - Regional Coordination East and Southern Africa: MDP (Municipal Development Partnership, Harare, Zimbabwe.
E-mail: tmubvami@mdpafrica.org.zw
Website: www.mdpafrica.org.zw/urban_agriculture.html - Regional Coordination West and Central Africa (Anglophone): IWMI-Ghana (International Water Management Institute Sub regional Office for West Africa), Accra, Ghana.
Email: o.cofie@cgiar.org
Website: http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/africa/west_africa/projects/RUAFII-CFF.htm - Regional coordination West and Central Africa (Francophone): Institut Africain de Gestion Urbaine, Dakar, Senegal.
Email: moussa@iagu.org | Website: www.iagu.org/ruaf/ruafiagufr.php - Regional Coordination South and South East Asia: IAGU (International Water Management Institute India Office), Hyderabad, India.
Email: r.simmons@cgiar.org
Website: http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/southasia/index.aspnc=9106&id=656&msid=119 - Regional coordination China: IGSNRR (Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resource Research of the National Academy of Sciences) Beijing, China.
Email: caijm@igsnrr.ac.cn | Website: www.cnruaf.com.cn - Regional Coordination Northern Africa and the Middle East: AUB-ESDU (Environment and Sustainable Development Unit, American University of Beirut), Beirut, Lebanon.
Email: ziadmoussa@yahoo.com | Website: www.ecosystems.org/esduhomepage.php
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