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Special annoucements
The publication "Organic Agriculture and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa" is available in IFOAM's bookstore.
Free download of the study PGS in East Africa
Download the Song on Organic Agriculture in Kiswahili, "Kilimohai", here.
Contact of the Group:
Mionzi Dance Theatre
P.O. Box 90186
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Phone: + 255 713445832 or +255 754 376367
Email: mionziart@yahoo.com or mwanaima@yahoo.com
The Africa Organic online discussion forum is set up!
A public forum has been set up by IFOAM to enable African organic stakeholders and others interested in the topic of Organic Agriculture in Africa to exchange views and experiences, get to know each other through the Internet and perhaps start identifying possible areas of cooperation for future actions.
Anyone may view and read the messages posted on a forum but registration is required for posting and replying to messages.
All are invited participate in the discussion forums.
To access the Africa forum directly, click here.
The IFOAM Africa Office (IAO)
Recognizing the booming growth and potential of Organic Agriculture (OA) in Africa, IFOAM established its Africa Office (IAO) in 2004. The IAO is staffed with a coordinator and provided with specific resources enabling it to focus on supporting the African organic movement.
The IAO is currently mainly funded by Hivos (Africa Desk) in the form of institutional support. In short, the four objectives that guide the work of the Africa Office are:
1. Institutionalizing the organic sector in Africa
2. Promoting OA as a development option for Africa
3. Developing organic markets and standards
4. Fostering a supportive policy framework for the development of OA in Africa The IAO action plan focuses on targeted activities within each of these objectives. Essentially, the Africa Office focuses on networking and facilitating the exchange of information on different experiences from various parts of Africa. This is done through several activities that are in accordance with donor expectations, as the IAO is a funded
project that needs to fulfill the proposal agreed upon with the donor
during the funding period. The present IAO homepage provides useful general information on the organic movement in Africa, including online discussion fora. We are now discussing about Genetically Modified crops and Food Security in Africa.
The IAO also publishes a monthly electronic newsletter, Africa Organic News, featuring African organic news. The African Organic News is published in English and French and distributed freely.
The Africa Office establishes IFOAM Contact Points across sub-Saharan Africa to facilitate the information flow and networking activities within the African organic sector. For more information, please read the Call for nominations and download the application form. The application process is still open.
In addition to these targeted activities, IFOAM implements projects in cooperation with different partners and builds synergies between the projects. All these projects contribute to one ore more of the four objectives mentioned above.
These projects include, for example the I-GO Program for local marketing and promoting Organic Agriculture as a development option for Africa, the OSEA project for developing national organic standards, local and regional markets, and regional private and public cooperation, the FAO project for West and Central Africa on Organic Agriculture and fair-trade when it comes to export market development, the Rudolf Steiner Foundation project for linking producers and buyers (African Pavilion at BioFach 2008) and supporting the establishment of accreditation bodies in Africa, and the UNEP-UNCTAD CBTF project for developing best practices for organic policy.
The IAO is not able nor designed to “represent” the Africa Organic movement as such and is not intended to lead its path or determine its future. It is up to the African movement to organize itself and to speak with one voice through self-organized structures if they wish to do so. IFOAM with its Africa Office is happy to be able to provide a platform for information exchange and networking to all organic stakeholders in Africa. The IAO hopes that these information and communication tools will be intensively used by these stakeholders and will contribute to the further development of OA in Africa.
It is IFOAM’s objective that the IAO, through its targeted activities, will provide significant support to the African organic sector and will facilitate its institutionalization and the recognition of Organic Agriculture as a valid development option within African policy frameworks.
IFOAM publications about Organic Agriculture in Africa
IAO Email Contact: h.bouagnimbeck@ifoam.org
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