Policy - EIARD the European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development facilitates the coordination of European policy and support for Agricultural Research for Development (ARD).
Programme - ERA-ARD seesk to improve the coordination of national funding programmes of European countries in partnership with southern partners.
Project - AGRINATURA is a new alliance formed by 31 European universities and research organisations working in agricultural research, education, training and capacity strengthening for development.
Platform - EFARD provides a platform for strategic dialogue among European stakeholder groups in order to promote research partnerships between European and Southern research communities.
Partnership - PEAPARD is the the Platform for African European Partnership on Agricultural Research for Development and supports research collaboration between a wide range of organizations in Africa and Europe.
A changing and challenging context for ARD
Over the last decade, ARD has changed considerably from research which focused directly on reducing hunger and poverty alleviation to a broader focus encompassing the challenge of sustainable development for all, within the global context of climate change, rising food prices, etc. However, it is well known that these global challenges cannot be addressed without renewed commitment to focussed, determined and effective ARD.
Limitations: While ARD has a clear and recognised potential to help countries reach the MDGs and to contribute to resolving emerging global issues, there are a number of constraints.
- Lack of liaison between ARD and broader development efforts
- Lack of involvement of users of research results
- Weakness of research institutions in many countries and lack of researchers
- Isolation from research in other development areas (health, energy etc)
- Insufficient synergy in ARD at global, continental and national levels
Europe's role in ARD: Europe plays a dual role in ARD - as an active research and education provider for developing and emerging economy countries (DEEC), and as a major donor to ARD institutions at all levels.
Europe's comparitive advantage in ARD is its ability to couple 150 years of practical experience of ARD with a strong research and training capability and extensive engagement in rural development cooperation to address the problems and opportunities facing DEEC.