When Indian plant researcher Balasubramanian Ramani attended a platform meeting last year for stakeholders in agricultural research for development (EFARD), he met mainly grey-haired men. And when the impact of research on farmers was discussed, he realized with a shock that during his 4-year PhD research, the reality of farmers was barely mentioned. These two realizations prompted him to lobby for the Young Professionals’ Platform for Agricultural Research for Development (YPARD). With success: from 2 to 5 May, a group of 25 international young professionals gathered in Wageningen, to come up with a vision, mission and concrete activities for YPARD.
Ramani’s ideas for a platform for young professionals in ARD were met with both enthusiasm and disapproval. He found support for working out his ideas from young professionals from various ARD-related professions. Senior researchers provided feed-back, and used their networks to link up with YPARD. The University of Hannover, Germany provided space and partial salary; the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Research for Development (IFAD) offered financial support for meetings; Wageningen UR offered facilities for a strategic meeting in May 2006; and CTA (Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation in ACP countries) sponsored 5 participants to that meeting. YPARD sees a clear link with the already initiated ‘African Youth Forum on Science and Technology’. All in all, Ramani’s ideas clearly did not stand alone. Ramani started working with a group of eager and enthusiastic young professionals related to ARD. After the initial exploratory meeting at the CGIAR annual meeting in 2005, and the recent meeting in Wageningen, they came up with clear objectives:
- To facilitate the exchange of information and knowledge among young professionals across disciplines, professions, age and regions
To broaden opportunities for young profressionals to contribute to strategic ARD policy debates;
To promote agriculture among young people;
To facilitate access to resources and capacity building opportunities.
During their strategic meeting in Wageningen, the platform finalized the vision, mission, guiding principles and objectives, and prepared for some concrete activities, including their official launch,planned for the GFAR (Global Forum on Agricultural Research) meeting in New Delhi, in November this year. Ramani: ‘We hope to be seen as serious stakeholders in ARD after this meeting, and we will discuss our plans with potential donors, like SDC( Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation) who already expressed a keen interest in the establishment of YPARD.”