Activist Budget Monitoring

Monitoring the budgets of local and national governments is a key instrument in the toolkit of any accountability activist. Active budget monitoring can both prevent and expose corruption and can also lead to improved public services and infrastructure. See this free visual tool for sharing your graphs and data. Read more here.

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Women farmers can play big role in reducing world hunger

Investing in women smallholder farmers is the key to halving hunger in Africa and results in twice as much growth as investment in any other sector, a new ActionAid report reveals. Less than one per cent of the agriculture budget is targeted at women in the three countries researched by ActionAid – Malawi, Kenya and [...]

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Global security depends on tackling world hunger

A comprehensive framework for action on global food security is being updated. This includes a set of policy and action recommendations first developed in 2008 for responding to the food price crisis that year. That crisis pushed millions of people into hunger and sparked riots in more than 30 countries. Ireland and the US are [...]

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International Academic Conference on ‘Global Land Grabbing’ 6 – 8 April 2011

The Journal of Peasant Studies, in collaboration with the Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI) is organizing an international academic workshop on ‘Global Land Grabbing’ to be held on 6-8 April 2011 at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in the UK. The focus of the conference will be on the politics of global land grabbing [...]

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UN official urges responsible investment in agriculture in poorer countries

Responsible investment in agriculture can help developing countries to tap the potential of farming. The head of the United Nations trade and development recently called for both national and international efforts to ensure domestic economies benefit. Read more here.

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Tanzania’s agricultural drive – Kilmo Kwanza

Tanzania’s new agricultural drive, christened Kilimo Kwanza (Kiswahili for Agriculture First), is meant to inspire investment in agriculture as a catalyst for the country’s industrial revolution drive. Currently, agriculture contributes about 26 per cent of Tanzania’s GDP, while the manufacturing sector accounts for about 9.5 per cent. Read more here.

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Conclusions on an EU policy framework to assist developing countries in addressing food security challenges

Food insecurity, which affects over 1 billion people, is challenging the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The Council of the European Union supports a comprehensive approach aligned with the “Five Rome Principles for Sustainable Global Food Security”. The Council calls on the EU and its Member States to act [...]

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Making progress towards reducing hunger and poverty in Africa

In reviewing progress towards ensuring food security and reducing poverty on the African continent, recent trends across regions and individual countries showed that 10 countries had met the 6% agricultural growth rate in 2008. The decline in the average malnutrition rate was encouraging but was still high at 29%. About 13 countries were making progress [...]

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Comprehensive agriculture development: call for action on building capacity at country level

The 6th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Partnership Platform meeting has come to an end with African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Rhoda Peace Tumusiime emphasising the need for concrete plans and action to build capacity at country level. Read more here.

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Accelerating CAADP Country Implementation – Guide now available

The overall purpose of this guide is to strengthen the quality of Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) implementation at the country level. This guide is designed for all those – newcomers and veterans – involved in supporting and managing the CAADP process. Read more here or here.

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