Holistic Innovations in Agriculture Programming – April 2009
Monday 20 April 2009
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, DC
Donors and practitioners alike are recognizing the vital importance of agricultural development in poverty reduction. In order to meet the needs of the world’s poor, practitioners need to take this one step further and develop agricultural programs that leverage innovative linkages with other sectors; this includes linking agriculture with emergency response; health, water and sanitation, and nutrition; natural resource management and climate change adaptation; microfinance; learning and knowledge management; and ICT.
This timely symposium event is a unique opportunity to dialogue with leading agricultural practitioners and explore how agricultural programs can more effectively reduce poverty at scale through such holistic programming, in collaboration with local, national, and international partners.
The symposium program is influenced by CRS’ new Agriculture and Environment Strategy that will guide how CRS focuses its efforts and supports programming with its partners by developing projects in the following cross-sectoral areas:
- Agriculture for Emergency Response
- Agriculture for Health
- Agriculture for the Environment
- Agriculture for Income
Introductory remarks will be made by Ken Hackett, President, Catholic Relief Services
Keynote address will be delivered by Katherine Sierra, Vice President, Sustainable Development, The World Bank, and Chair, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
Key issues include:
- Market approaches to agricultural recovery from disaster: diverse uses of vouchers
- Agriculture and nutrition to improve the health status of vulnerable households
- Multiple uses of water for agricultural sustainability
- The role of finance in agroenterprise
- Mobile technology in agricultural development
- Partnering to reduce poverty: CGIAR and partners