SWAC News - July/August 2007

• BRAINSTORMING ON THE SWAC’S WORK ORIENTATIONS 2008 -2012
• INTENTISIFICATION OF RESOURCE MOBILISATION EFFORTS
• FACILITATING A COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY
• CLIMATE CHANGE: MEETING WITH THE REGIONAL CENTRE AGRHYMET

>> download the SWAC's newsletter - July/August issue

Brainstorming on the SWAC's Work Orientations 

During the summer months, the SWAC launched a brainstorming process concerning the main areas of the SWAC’s 2008 – 2012 Work Plan. The SWAC team produced an information note for its Strategy and Policy Group (SPG) members. The note presents an overview of West Africa, the SWAC’s actions, results and challenges in 2005-2007, the specificity of the SWAC, its anchoring points, partnerships as well as budgetary constraints. This document will serve as a reference for the SPG meeting to be held at the SWAC headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux on 13 and 14 September 2007. To this end, this document proposes a framework for debate punctuated with questions. It is by no means a binding framework, as other issues may be raised by participants. The results of this joint, free and open debate will contribute to the development of a draft five-year Work Plan that will be submitted to the SPG meeting in January 2008 for review and approval.

> download the information note: “Contribution to Discussions on the Orientations of the 2008-2012 Work Plan”

> Contacts: normand.lauzon@oecd.org and laurent.bossard@oecd.org

Intensification of Resource Mobilisation Efforts

Following the recommendations of the SPG members in January 2007, the SWAC has intensified its resource mobilisation efforts. This includes promoting the SWAC to potential new funding countries and approaching private foundations. In this context, the SWAC Director, Mr. Normand Lauzon, met in New York in August 2007 with Representatives of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Clinton Foundation. As a result, opportunities to initiate a partnership between the SWAC and these Foundations have been identified. Follow-up will take place in the coming months.

> Contact: normand.lauzon@oecd.org

The launching workshop of the Regional Programme for Agricultural Investment (PRIA) aiming at facilitating the implementation of the ECOWAS Common Agricultural Policy (ECOWAP) and the NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme was held in Cotonou (Benin) from 7 to 9 August 2007. The action plan defines the following priority areas of work:

• (1) Improvement of water management
• (2) Sustainable development of agriculture farming
• (3) Improvement of natural resources management
• (4) Development of the agricultural sector and promotion of national, regional and international trade
• (5) Prevention and management of food crises and institutional capacity-building.

The SWAC, represented by Mr. Jean Zoundi, Head of the SWAC’s “Rural Transformation & Sustainable Development” Unit, will be responsible for the co-ordination of the priority areas 2 and 5, in collaboration with ECOWAS and the CILSS.

> Contact: jeansibiri.zoundi@oecd.org

A joint SWAC/FAO mission met from 25 to 27 July 2007 with the Regional Agrhymet Centre team (CILSS-CRA) in Niamey, the African “Météopole”, to prepare the next chapter of the Atlas on Regional Integration in West Africa on climate and climate change (forthcoming December 2007). The SWAC/FAO team also had an exchange of views with other institutions (ACMAD, FEWS NET, National Environment Council for Sustainable Development, UNECA) with particular interest in climate issues.

This chapter will take stock of existing knowledge on the impact of global climate warming, with a specific view to Africa and West Africa in particular. It will build on the work carried out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at the global level, and on the results of advanced research recently conducted by the CRA on climate change in the Sahel as well as on other West-Africa specific work.

> Contact: christophe.perret@oecd.org