Join this event to help determine how agri-food research and innovation can best meet the world’s development needs while reflecting Sustainable Development Goals.  Pre-registration for the Conference is now open: GCARD3 Global Event.

“To face the challenges ahead of them, farmers, foresters, food and bio-based industries need new knowledge that can be implemented on the ground. How do we improve competitiveness in an increasingly challenging economic environment, while securing sustainable use of resources and eco-system services? How do we contribute to food security? How do we empower rural people to boost and diversify their economy?“ (European Commission, Agriculture and Rural Development).

These are questions to which agri-food research and innovation can contribute in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Different stakeholders (scientists, researchers, farmers, civil society, rural women and youth, policymakers, education, business and investment agencies, etc.) of this participatory - and inclusive and dynamic - process need to have to step up their efforts, to turn knowledge into impact.

GCARD conferences are about promoting investment and building partnership, capacities and mutual accountabilities at all levels of the agri-food system.

The third ambitious  project of the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development GCARD3 - to be held in Johannesburg South Africa from 5-8 April, 2016 - will bring together science and society to promote the collaborative practice and global dialogue able to transform agri-food research and innovation around the world.

GCARD3 is organized by the Global Forum on Agriculture Research (GFAR) and the CGIAR, and it is part of a continuing, iterative reform process on what has gone before in (the previous two GCARDs: GCARD1 and GCARD2), and around. 

The GCARD3 Global Event is co-hosted with the South African Agricultural Research Council. The  GFAR Steering Committee and the CGIAR Consortium Board have assembled a GCARD3 Organizing Committee to provide tactical guidance and organization coordination of the GCARD3 process. The GCARD3 Organizing Committee has created a specific Task Force to prepare a program (that will be available in the coming weeks) for the GCARD3 Global aligned with a framework approved by the Organizing Committee. 

GCARD3 will encourage a two-year (2015-2016) consultation and conversation process for change in setting a new agenda for agricultural research for development and new pathways for uptake. 

Moreover, GCARD3 will take into account national and regional stakeholder consultations designed to help shape the strategy and future direction of international agriculture research and innovation, to promote effective, targeted investment and to build partnerships, capacities and mutual accountability at all levels of the agricultural system to ensure that today’s agricultural research will meet the needs of the resource-poor end user.

GCARD3 should ensure that national systems can be empowered through direct investment and the required capacities, to provide effective uptake pathways able to make use of the products of agricultural research.

GCARD3 is designed so that there are a multiple number of ways to stay informed on what’s happening during the GCARD process and be engaged in the conversations.

A major outcome of meeting will be the GCARD3 Pledge to Sustainable Development (in particular for family farmers and poor communities), in which GCARD stakeholders will commit to take action to deliver on the SDGs.  Like the GCARD1 Road Map, it will provide a touchstone for partners across public, private, and civil society sectors in developing their agri-food research and innovations programs and activities to 2030.

Be part of the GCARD3 global event to turn a challenge into an opportunity and to tackle some of the more topical issues emerging in agri-food research and innovation! Visit the  GCARD3 Global Event website  to register your interest.

For more information contact: [email protected]; [email protected]

Source: GCARD3 (2015-2016) - the third Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development

See also:Global Forum on Agricultural Research on Facebook
Senior CGIAR Researcher reflects on GCARD3 National Consultations and site integration

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