Extractions: SARD INITIATIVE: CALL FOR PARTICIPATION (LA TRADUCCION AL ESPANOL SIGUE, ABAJO) Greetings. This message is being sent to all of you through a number of Indigenous Peoples’ listservs and mailing lists, to urge your participation in the work of the Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD) Initiative. Facilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the SARD Initiative is a multi-stakeholder mechanism that aims to help implement Agenda 21, Chapter 14 on SARD. It will seek government and other support so that Major Groups of the CSD process can strengthen their cooperative working relationships and design SARD-related activities at local, national, regional and international levels to meet the following objectives: To improve the access of rural communities to productive resources (land, water, seeds, etc.) To promote good practices for SARD To promote fair conditions of employment in agriculture FAO has committed to work with Major Groups to clarify the roles of the stakeholders in the Initiative, and to design and implement activities for the next five years to serve local level needs. A multi-stakeholder workshop on program design and implementation is planned for sometime in 2004 so that all stakeholders can meet to discuss a five-year framework plan.
