Rome, Italy – AsiaDHRRA, represented by its Secretary General, participates in the 6^th Global Farmers’ Forum held at the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) headquarters in Rome, Italy on 15-17 February 2016. This biennial forum is IFAD’s bottom-up process of consulting and having a dialogue with smallholders farmers’ and rural producers’ organizations across the world. It aims at strengthening effective partnerships and collaborations between IFAD and farmers organizations (FOs) in country programs, investment projects, and, at building FO’s capacity to engage in policy dialogue initiatives.
The Forum was followed by a number of knowledge management sessions organized by several IFAD’s partners. One of the side events was “Complementarities between Local and National Organizations,” which was hosted by AgriCord. AsiaDHRRA, as one of the presenters, shared the success story of Global Organic Wellness Corporation (GlowCorp)—a business venture with FOs, NGOs, and, individual supporters as incorporators/co-owners. Two of its FO co-owners are Pecuaria Development Cooperative (PDCI) and Cagayan Valley Organic Farmers’ Alliance (CAVOFA)—that are both members of PAKISAMA. AFA provided a perspective of the challenges confronted by smallholders in the Asian region.  The audience in the side event were impressed with Glow Corp’s experience and expressed interest to hearing and supporting more similar initiatives. AsiaDHRRA commits to support the economic development activities of its existing and potential partner-FOs, and, possibly linking them to Glow Corp and other similar ventures.