E-mail bulletin with news of the International Network of Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF).
In this bulletin you will find information on: 1. RUAF-Cities Farming for the Future programme in 2008 - Programme Coordinators Meeting
- Mid term Review RUAF-CFF
- Progress of RUAF CFF per region
2. Other Urban Agriculture projects by the RUAF Partners - Distance learning courses on urban agriculture
- New course on urban and peri-urban agriculture in Ghana
- Study visit to Cuba
- International seminar on urban agriculture in Bolivia
- Focus City project in Dakar
- Project on agriculture and urban design: the case of Diamalaye (Dakar)
- Micro credit and investment for urban agriculture
- SARNISSA - Sustainable Aquaculture Research Networks in Sub Saharan Africa
- Developing research-based policy briefs
- Use of rainwater and greywater in urban and peri-urban agriculture in Tunisia
- Initiative to create the North American Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture Alliance (NAUPAA)
- RUAF pilot city wins Eco Citizen Award
3. RUAF Publications
1. Urban Agriculture Magazine UA Magazine and RUAF website survey Urban Agriculture Magazine no 19 Urban Agriculture Magazine no 20 Forthcoming issues
2. Other Publications Overview of RUAF Partners
1. THE RUAF-CITIES FARMING FOR THE FUTURE PROGRAMME For a description of the objectives and strategies in the RUAF-CFF programme and of the RUAF Partners, please visit our website 1. Programme Coordinators Meeting The RUAF partners met in Doorn, The Netherlands, from 14 to 19 February for their annual meeting.
The meeting focused on the following:
a. Systematisation of experiences: A start has been made with the systematisation of the experiences gained with Multi-stakeholder Action Planning on Urban Agriculture in the 20 RUAF pilot cities. As a result of the systematisation a series of RUAF working papers will be produced. A draft version of the first two working papers can be found at http://www.ruaf.org/node/419. Working papers on other aspects of the MPAP process will become available during the remainder of this year.
b. Next phase: Initiation of the preparations for the next phase of the RUAF programme in which more attention will be paid to strengthening farmer organisations and improving urban agriculture farming and marketing systems. A short description of the next phase will soon be available on the RUAF website.
c. The Mid term review (see under 2. below)
d. Study visit: The RUAF partners paid a short visit to the Buurtschap IJsselzone, an agricultural area directly neighbouring the city of Zwolle and located along the river IJssel. Local farmers and concerned inhabitants of Zwolle in cooperation with the Municipality of Zwolle and the local Water Management Agency have started a joint initiative to develop this area, combining agricultural production with other functions like landscape and biodiversity maintenance, water management, recreation, ecological education, among others. An introduction to these plans by the chairperson of the initiative can be found here. 2. Mid term Review The RUAF CFF project has been reviewed between 7 and 29 January 2008 by an external team consisting of Dr Yves Cabannes (Chair Development Planning Unit, University College London and former Coordinator of the Habitat Urban Management Programme in Latin America) and Dr Margaret Pasquini (research officer CAZS-Natural Resources, University of Wales, Bangor, UK and Coordinator of INDIGENOVEG, an EU-INCO funded research project on indigenous vegetables in urban and peri-urban agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa). The Review Team studied the RUAF reports and visited RUAF regional and local partners in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Zimbabwe and China. The mission’s main conclusion is that RUAF-CFF is a successful, highly relevant, effective and efficient programme with high quality results beyond the set targets. The mission states that RUAF-CFF is laying foundations for more sustainable urban development by promoting participatory governance and empowerment of the urban poor. RUAF CFF also makes important contributions to social inclusion and urban poverty alleviation. The RUAF-CFF programme has introduced innovative approaches to urban planning and has put urban agriculture high on the city agenda in a large number of cities. Impressive contributions have been made to policy change at different policy levels (national and local sector policies, Municipal spatial plans and legal frameworks, a/o). Some critical observations by the mission include: - The link between the pilot projects and the Multi-stakeholder Policy formulation and Action Planning (MPAP) process is not always clear
- Pilot projects are small in relation to the ambitions of the City Strategic Agenda on Urban Agriculture developed
- Some pilot projects have encountered problems that should receive proper attention
- The impact monitoring system is too ’heavy’ in comparison with the size of the pilot projects
The mission formulated various recommendations to further improve the ongoing RUAF-CFF project in 2008, including a/o: - Reduce the number of pilot projects and use resources to solve problems in existing pilot projects or enhance the size of successful projects
- Better link the various programme components especially the relation between the MPAP process and the pilot projects
- Stimulate the partners in dissemination cities to go beyond the implementation of a pilot project
- Make more resources available for systematisation and wider dissemination of the full wealth of experiences gained and lessons learned
- Facilitate networking of partners in the various cities and make better use of these partners in the training of their peers in other cities
- Undertake a cross regional analysis of the factors that facilitated or hampered partners’ success of implementing the MPAP process as a basis for future dissemination to other cities
The mission also formulated some recommendations for the longer term, including a/o: - Develop a longer term strategy (-2020) including a number of priority programmes that link up with important urban challenges
- Specify on what type(s) of urban agriculture and what types of cities RUAF wants to focus its attention in future
- Develop a more strictly urban agriculture focus (rather than an ‘agriculture in the city’ focus) by linking with strong urban sectors (e.g. water supply, wastes and wastewater management, housing, etcetera)
- Consider to develop from an inter-regional into a global programme
- Consider to extend the regional coverage (e.g. Central Africa, East Asia)
- Define a membership policy (open to new members? Only regional partners or also inclusion of local partners?; also private sector?)
- Develop new strategic partnerships with donor organisations, cities and their networks, producer organisations and grassroots movements and their international allies
- Create a green and fair trade label for urban agriculture products
- Initiate an intercity urban agriculture seed and plant exchange programme
The full report will be made available on the RUAF website after it has been discussed with the RUAF partners and the donor organisations. 3. Progress of RUAF-CFF per Region Information on the RUAF pilot cities is regularly updated at the RUAF website. Please click here for an overview of all the RUAF pilot projects.
Latin America The City strategic Plan was published and presented officially in August, during the celebration of the First Week of Urban Agriculture in Villa Maria del Triunfo (Lima). 75% of the short term strategic actions were implemented with resources from the Forum members (approximately 195,000 USD). A new Coordination Committee has been elected for the year 2008, and the working groups continued their activities. The farmers organized into the Urban Farmers Network of Villa Maria (created in 2006 as a result of the MPAP diagnosis stage) participate actively in the Forum and in the implementation of the City Strategic Plan. The Network is legally registered with the municipality as a local CBO. More information about the MPAP in VMT is available in Spanish and English. The City Strategic Plan is available at: http://www.ipes.org/au/recursos/publicaciones_docpoli.html. In Belo Horizonte the final documents of the Participatory Diagnostic Assessment has been completed and validated. The Policy Narrative, which is based on this assessment and suggesting strategies for further action, is being printed by the Municipality of Belo. A working group has been formed to develop the draft Strategic Plan. The pilot project in Belo is the development of a productive park (of 3,200 m2), incorporating urban agriculture in the design and use of public spaces. More information about the MPAP in Belo Horizonte is available in English and Portuguese.
The pilot project in Bogota, called “Farming in my house,
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