Support to Farmers Platforms in the Sahel 1997-2000
Project / Programme Summary

1. Objectives
   • Strengthening the capacity of farmers' organizations to contribute centrally to the definition and implementation of rural development sector policies
   • Support for farmers' organizations and their officials in acquiring the information and methods of analysis and lobbying that will enable them to assert themselves as essential partners in defining and implementing rural development policies
2. Activities / contents
   • Support for the acquisition of information and methods of analysis
   • Support for the introduction of negotiating opportunities for civil society in national processes for defining and implementing policy
   • Support for discussion of development strategies with other organizations in civil society, particularly entrepreneurs in the agri-food sector and local elected officials.
   • Support for discussion of the institutional forms that will allow more effective representation of farmers' interests, and discussion of lobbying techniques that will best present the farmers' viewpoint on the national political scene
3. Expected outcomes / impacts
   • Farmers' organizations are better informed about the issues and constraints of national development, and devise their action within that context
   • Farmers' organizations assert their experience in the decision-making process for rural development policy and aid agency practice, leading to the introduction of policies that allow for the needs and possibilities of farmers
   • Farmers' organizations work together on practical issues, leading to the gradual emergence of leadership at national level
   • Farmers' organizations clearly define their functions with respect to those of the private sector and local elected officials, and develop cooperation with these groups

Mr. Serge Snrech
OECD-Club du Sahel, 63 boulevard Beauséjour, 75016 Paris (France)
Tel. 33 1 44 14 69 13 - Fax: 33 1 44 14 69 19
serge.snrech@oecd.org