E-discussions on Extension/advisory services and Young Professionals

Call for contribution!

The young generation plays an important role in extension and rural advisory services. It has to solve many of the current global issues and will face new ones. To rise to the challenge, young professionals working in extension and rural advisory services should be paid greater attention, provided an opportunity to share their experiences, voice their concerns and communicate the challenges and opportunities for youth in extension. 

We believe that there are many interesting and rewarding opportunities in this professional field that must be better communicated. The image of agriculture, and in particular advisory services, must be made more attractive to young people.

Therefore GFRAS: Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services and YPARD : Young Professional’s Platform for Agricultural Research for Development have joined forces to advance a joint mission of promoting the field of agriculture and extension among young people.

Youth and extension/advisory services e-discussions

We welcome your active participation to online discussions on issues surrounding youth and extension/advisory services, from 5th September to 30 October 2011 on the YPARD forum in preparation of the international conference on extension in Nairobi.

These discussions will specifically be on the challenges and opportunities in extension, related to youth:

• Share your experiences, challenges, and successes as a Young Professional in extension.  Share some of your questions and ideas on this topic.

• Share your testimony as an Experienced Professional (perhaps not a ‘youth’ yourself) and present key challenges and opportunities of working with young professionals in extension and rural advisory services.

We will launch two spaces for discussions on the YPARD forum. Please, contribute and feel free to propose your own discussion topics related to extension/advisory services and young professionals. The outputs will include a poster and document making recommendations based on the discussion to the international conference in Nairobi in November. Expected outcomes include increased and more rewarding participation of young people in agriculture and advisory services.

Bringing these discussions to decisions and actions

What’s your benefit in contributing to these discussions? The ideas, experiences and challenges you express will be brought to the table by YPARD, GFRAS and Young representatives at the international conference in Nairobi in November. Therefore your voice will be heard at a strategic level to inform for decision-makers on those topics that impact you!

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Do not forget: E-DISCUSSION on Extension/advisory services and Young Professionals

From 5th September to 30th October 2011 on YPARD Forum  

Take your chance, contribute, get a voice, make a change!

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Need some help to get started?

You would like to contribute but don’t know exactly how to get started? Please, contact us for advice and suggestions! We are glad to help and we are looking forward hearing from you! info@ypard.net

Note that you must be registered and logged in YPARD website to contribute (register here). It just requires some minutes; just follow the instructions! If you meet any issue, please, contact us!

More about the Organizers

GFRAS is the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services. Its purpose is to provide a space for advocacy and leadership on pluralistic, demand-driven rural advisory services within the global development agenda that promote sustainable rural growth and help the poor. This will contribute to the ultimate goal of reducing hunger and poverty worldwide.  GFRAS has three functions:

• Providing a voice within global policy dialogues and promoting improved investment in RAS
• Supporting the development and synthesis of evidence based approaches and policies for improving the effectiveness of RAS
• Strengthening actors and for a in RAS through facilitating interaction and networking

YPARD, the Young Professional’s Platform for Agricultural Research for Development, has a mission to serve as a global platform through which young professionals (under 40) can express their ideas and realize their full potential towards dynamic agricultural research for development. YPARD is a movement of young professionals. It creates spaces for deliberation and interaction.  At the heart of YPARD as a movement are its members, who are encouraged to become active in their area, spread the news about YPARD to other young professionals, encourage a stronger voice of youth in their own organizations and share their views and ideas with other young professionals in the network. 

In order to realize its vision, YPARD has the following strategic objectives,

• To facilitate exchange of information and knowledge among young professionals across disciplines, professions, age and regions.
• To broaden opportunities for young professionals to contribute to strategic ARD policy debates.
• To promote agriculture among young people.
• To facilitate access to resource and capacity building opportunities.

 Source: YPARD

Agriculture Research and Development: Questions for a better future!

We begin a food for thought series of 100 questions as published in a paper on "The top 100 questions of importance to the future of global agriculture". You will find all questions to be relevant to food production and food security.

The questions are intended for all .. from the Planter to Extension Officers / Researchers, Directors of Public and Private Institutions, Policy Makers and Households.

Each post will cover a particular area, with its own set of questions. We invite our readers to interact on this blog and leave their valuable comments. At the end of the 100 questions, we will try to compile the comments and publish them on this blog as an article.

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SERIES 1

Natural resource inputs: Climate, watersheds, water resources and aquatic ecosystems

1. What are the predicted critical impacts of climate change (e.g. changes in temperature, wind speed,humidity and water availability, storm intensity, crop water requirements, snowmelt and seasonal runoff, pests, waterlogging, agroecosystem shifts, human migration) on agricultural yields, cropping practices, crop disease spread, disease resistance and irrigation development?

2. What would be the global cost of capping agricultural water withdrawals if environmental reserves were to be maintained?

3. What is the effect of increased rainwater harvesting on local hydrological fluxes, and how do local changes combine and alter water resource availability at larger geographic scales?

4. How can aquaculture and open water farming be developed so that impacts on wild fish stocks and coastal and aquatic habitats are minimized?

5. What approaches (operational, agronomic, genetic, supplemental irrigation schemes, fertility management, winter rainfall storage) can be developed to increase water use efficiency in agriculture and what is the cost-effectiveness of these approaches?

6. What combinations of forestry, agroforestry, grass cover, water-collecting systems and storage facilities, drought-resistant crops and water-saving technology are needed in arid and semi-arid areas to increase food production, and to what extent can they become cost-effective?

7. How can the allocation of water be optimized between irrigated agriculture and environmental functions, and what innovative policies and technologies can minimize trade-offs between irrigation and healthy functions of natural ecosystems?