Agricultural development foundations (ADFs)
The
ADF helps set up independent agricultural development foundations.
Below we explain why we do this and provide an example of a result of
this work.
The maintenance of dialogues
The nature of government administration and the changing make-up of
governments, creates practical difficulties for those who need to
maintain a sustained continuity of dialogue, on issues of importance to
them, such as agricultural and rural development issues.(see governmental cycles)
Agricultural development foundations are independent NGOs which are
able to maintain a continuity of informed dialogue, within the public
domain, no matter what the state of government. Agricultural
development foundations can prevent issues from 'evaporating' as the
result of an impending election or because some politician isn't
interested in, or does not like, an issue. Agricultural development
foundations have the purpose of sustaining public awareness of
important issues and therefore play a fundamental role in the
democratic process.
Promoting informed discussion related to sustainable project or policy proposals
For agricultural develoment foundations to assist farm and non-farm
rural constituencies identify actions, programmes, projects or even
policy proposals, they occasionally need to provide some form of
extension support (see extension services).
This often means practical guidance on methodologies for objective
needs assessment, solution option reviews, identification of 'best
practical' solutions and preparation of position papers or project or
policy proposals.
It is a fundamental principle of agricultural development foundations
that any such extension advice should be provided in a strictly
objective way and avoid influencing farmer or community motivations.
Such advice can be provided directly to farmers, communities or rural
actions groups (see RAGs - rural action groups) organised on a participatory forum basis, to help them make their own decisions.
An objective of this approach is to achieve a high level of commitment
by participants to raise the likelihood of the eventual attainment of
the objectives they desire. A common term for this important vector is
"ownership" (see project ownership).
An example of an agricultural development foundation
The ADF assisted Hungarian volunteers set up the Hungarian Agricultural
Development Foundation (AFA-Agrárfejlesztesi Alapitvány) in 1997 as an
independent foundation. AFA's legal formation dates from 1998. AFA is
Budapest-based.
The ADF provided foundation funds for AFA together with a Hungarian
bank and several Hungarian companies. Under Hungarian law, a foundation
remains independent of founders and operates through a board of
directors. AFA remains completely independent of the ADF but the ADF
remains on hand to provide voluntary advice and assistance, of a
technical nature, when called upon to do so.
An
important development being undertaken by AFA is the recent
establishment of a national, Internet-based agricultural extension
service to assist Hungarian farmers apply quantitative methods for farm
planning. This site, known as AFA-Agronet went live at the end of 2008.
To visit the AFA-Agronet site click here.
For further information on AFA click here.
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