Southern and East-Africa
Activities in Bulawayo, the first pilot city in this region, have progressed well. The draft City Strategic Agenda on urban agriculture was discussed at a workshop on the 3rd and 4th of September.  Policy makers endorsed the agenda and urged the speedy development of project proposals from the agenda, particularly those relating to water provision as the city has been affected badly by water shortages.

In Cape Town a core team has been established that will facilitate the Multi-stakeholder Policy formulation and Action Planning (MPAP) process and a workplan was agreed upon.

The activities in Ndola (Zambia) are progressing rapidly. The first contact visits were held in June. A core team has been established and a workplan has been agreed upon. A Policy Awareness Workshop for councilors and other key decision makers was organised in Ndola in August. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed. A Training of Trainers (ToT) was then held from 10-14 September 2007. The first MPAP training is planned from 29 October to 2 November.

Short reports on meetings, as well as information on all pilot cities, can be found at the RUAF-MDP website.

Anglophone West Africa
The activities in Ibadan (Nigeria) are progressing well. Part II of the training on Multi-stakeholder Policy formulation and Action Planning (MPAP) was successfully implemented in July. In addition, the results of the Ibadan exploratory study were presented and validated at the multi-stakeholder forum held in July, which resulted in the development of a City Strategic Action Plan on urban agriculture and an institutional arrangement for programme implementation. The exploratory survey report and short reports on meetings can be found at the RUAF-IWMI website.

In Accra (Ghana), the Accra Working Group on Urban and peri-urban agriculture (AWGUPA) developed an activity plan including amongst others support to the Accra Metropolitan Authority in reviewing bye-laws on urban agriculture. Also posters on good practices have been produced for public education.

In Freetown (Sierra Leone), members of Freetown Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture Programme (FUPAP) have resumed activities after a short break for election. At a recent meeting, the draft City Strategic Action Plan was validated and shared with strategic decision makers. A pilot project has been formulated and agreed upon by the team. The team has been revived after a short period of silence.

There are in total ten pilot projects under the RUAF-CFF programme in this region. For an overview see: http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/africa/West/projects/RUAF-CFF/ .

Francophone West Africa
In Porto Novo (in Benin) the Municipality has shown its support and commitment to the multi-stakeholder planning process and integrated urban agriculture in municipal planning and budget for 2007 (8 millions of FCFA is available for support activities).

MENA Region

Amman and San’a have been selected as Pilot Cities in this region and key partners have been identified. Agreements to establish enabling teams in Amman and San’a will be signed directly after Ramadan with the Amman Greater Municipality and the Sustainable Agriculture Association of Yemen who will act as respective focal points for the two countries. A Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop was organised in September. Next to representatives of these two cities, also two participants from the Ariana-Soukra Focus City project team in Tunisia joined this training.
A short report and materials in Arabic can be found at the new RUAF-MENA website. Also at this website you can find copies of the UA magazine in Arabic (issue no. 1-4).

China

IGSNRR, has started working in Shanghai, Minhang district and will organise the MPAP training in November 2007 (7-14). In this event representatives from all pilot cities and dissemination cities in China will participate.

In Chengdu RUAF China and the local partners are supporting and monitoring a number of initiatives related to agro-tourism and the formation of cooperatives (under the new law of cooperatives that came into being in 2007).

The pilot project in Huairou district, Beijing, provides support to a cooperative which develops horticulture production in greenhouses. The crops are irrigated by rainwater captured on the roof of the greenhouse, while excess water is used for aquifer recharge and a fish pond where Beijing citizens can combine the buying of produce with a day-out.

In the dissemination city of Lijiang, RUAF partner IGSNRR introduced the multi-stakeholder planning approach to promote innovation of agriculture in the peri-urban areas involving farmers, private enterprises and local government. Other local governments such as Yunnan, Kunming and Dali have shown interest in this approach.

Reports on these activities and materials (all in Chinese), information on the pilot cities and copies of the UA magazine in Chinese can be found at the new RUAF-IGSNRR website or you may contact zhangff.04s@igsnrr.ac.cn.

IWMI India
Regional partners from the RUAF pilot cities, Hyderabad, Bangalore (both in India) and Gampaha (Sri Lanka) participated in a regional MPAP training and networking workshop in Hyderabad. Among the participants was the Mayor of Gampaha.

In Bangalore a number of meetings were held with residents of selected areas (J.P. Nagar, Banahankari and Jayanagar) which may result in an initiative to allow urban gardeners to use the terraces, and in this way providing employment to the urban poor. In addition in Magadi, the exploratory survey is ongoing and the results will be discussed in a first Multi-stakeholder forum in this peri-urban area of Bangalore in November.

In Gampaha, an Enabling Team has been established entitled “Nagarika Haritha Balakaya- Gampaha