NOTI C E OF UP C OM ING EVENT

CaRAPN Medium Term Strategic Planning Workshop

27-29 July, 2010, Trinidad

If you have an interest in participating in this strategic thinking and planning effort
for defining the evolution of CaRAPN please do not hesitate to respond, at your earliest
convenience, to Diana.Francis@iica.int. An indicative list of participants is included based on
past relationships. We welcome any new and non-traditional prospective partners.

Agriculture - an Economic Driver in the CSME

Agriculture is identified as an economic driver in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and is
simultaneously being called upon to deliver social welfare and environmental benefits for national and
regional societies. The need for a healthy and dynamic agriculture, from farm to table, is critical to
achieving the development goals of the region. This is well articulated in the 2001 Revised Treaty
establishing the CSME, the 2007 Single Development Vision for the CSME, and as well, promoted by civil
society and private sector movements, such as, the 2008 Healthy Caribbean coalition, a civil society
alliance to combat chronic diseases and the Caribbean Health Tourism that promotes a holistic approach
to wellness to capture part of the trillion dollar global wellness industry.

The above indications are a small subset of a myriad of other regional and national efforts in and around
agriculture that is testimony to the fundamental multifunctional role that agriculture still plays in the socio-
economic development of Caribbean countries. The need to promote and facilitate communication in
and on agriculture is critical to enabling agriculture to function efficiently in these roles, from the point of
view of the benefits that can be derived from public awareness, synergies between and among disparate
efforts, enhanced efficiencies in program and project implementation and follow-up, and accountability
at all levels.

Background
The Caribbean Regional Agricultural Policy Network (CaRAPN) is a project established by stakeholders in
the agricultural community in CARICOM in 2003, with external financial resources from the Technical Centre
for Agricultural and Rural Corporation (CTA) and technical and management support from the Inter-
American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Regional Policies and Trade program. CaRAPN was
established to provide a common platform for dialogue and information sharing in the agricultural
community. Its Vision was “in collaboration with national, regional and international institutions and other
networks, the Network will strengthen linkages at the national and regional levels and contribute to cost-
effective agricultural policy decision making”. This would be achieved through support to:
i. policy analysis, formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation;
ii. information dissemination, communication and advocacy;
iii. capacity building and policy networking.

Support for the development of CaRAPN has been continuous over the 2003 to 2010 period through
successive projects developed by IICA with financing from the CTA-IICA. In summary, these projects have
focused on generation of studies and other information products in contribution to regional dialogue and
decision-making processes, facilitation of regional consultation and dialogue, through workshops, seminars
and other methods of face-to-face engagement and the website www.carapn.net. The research (studies,
reports etc), regional dialogue (workshops, seminars) and the website (information dissemination) products
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of CaRAPN are fairly well established and provide a platform for developing the services aspect through
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stronger networking. Taking into consideration the importance of stronger regional collaboration and that,
up to this point, CaRAPN has operated as a project between the CTA and IICA, there is now need to revisit
the premise upon which CaRAPN will continue, and importantly, its operational form with a view to
providing a set of options for its role, type of entity, products and services and operational issues, including
its linkages with existing agricultural networks.

Current Environment
There is an expressed and widely held view that access to, the quality and frequency of information flows
within the agricultural community on agricultural policy and development programs, projects and other
initiatives are woefully inadequate. This is particularly so given the number of often disparate yet
complementary initiatives occurring that all seek to contribute to the same overall goal. Issues such as -
difficulties in obtaining information from member states, unawareness of the existence and/or purpose of
specific ongoing activities and information not forthcoming - have plagued decision making in agriculture
at the public sector level and hampered the pace and strength of public-private sector partnership for
agricultural development.

There are a number of ongoing and planned activities which are often not ‘public knowledge’, with
documentation labeled ‘Restricted Circulation’. These are built on policy and strategic decisions that
would impact and influence, with either positive or negative livelihood outcomes through either a marked
improvement in the conditions for efficient and profitable livelihoods and competitive business and trade.
Those which should be at least familiar to most stakeholders, particularly those who participate in the
Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) meetings, include:
i. Regional Strategy for Alleviating Key Binding Constraints to Agriculture in CARICOM, better known as the
Jagdeo Initiative;
ii. ‘Strengthening Market Access Opportunities for SMEs in the Caribbean Agri-Food Industry’, a CABA
project;

Those which may not be as familiar to most stakeholders are:

i. ‘Consultancy to Develop the CARICOM Community Agricultural Policy ‘(CCAP), managed by the
CARICOM Secretariat with EU financing, which effectively commenced activity on 23 April 2010.
ii. Feasibility assessment of establishing a CARICOM Agriculture Modernization Fund (CAMF), initiated in
April/May 2010;
iii. Articulation of a Regional Policy for Food and Nutrition Security (RPFNS) under the
FAO/CARICOM/CARIFORUM/Government of Italy Food Security Project;
iv. Developing value chain in agriculture under the FAO/CARICOM/CARIFORUM/Government of Italy Food
Security Project, The CARICOM Secretariat is also implementing an EU-funded Agribusiness
Development project that seeks similar objectives.
v. Articulation of a Strategic Plan for Regional Development (SPRD) launched in late 2008 as part of the
process for implementing the Single Development Vision for the CSME.

There are several other agricultural development projects being implemented. These include those under
externally funded programmes, such as the EU-ACP All Commodities programme, those that fall within the
work programmes of international (e.g., IICA and FAO), regional organisations (e.g., CARDI), Ministries of
Agriculture and NGOs at the national level and those of private consulting firms, such as, the Caribbean
Business Enterprise Trust (CBET) a model enterprise development fund that supports the development of
businesses and projects based on their potential to grow exports.

These are just among the evidence that points to the need for a ‘clearing house’ or common platform for
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information exchange, among other things.

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Defining a Renewed Role for CaRAPN
In its initial operations, CaRAPN has focused on narrowing the gap in terms of analytical studies, technical
discussion papers and other information products specific to the situation of agriculture in the Caribbean,
including a technical discussion paper on issues and options for implementing a CCAP. These products
include newsletters and public awareness and sensitization info products and are distributed in print and on
website. CaRAPN has also supported platforms for policy dialogue and media engagement in agriculture
through workshops, seminars and support to the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA).

There is an expectation that CaRAPN will evolve into an entity such as that which exists for the South
African region, i.e., FANRAPN: Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network, which is
very instrumental and influential in the agriculture policy discourse and formulation in that region. For
example, FANRAPN has been instrumental in developing a draft April 2010 COMESA (Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa) Regional Comprehensive Africa Development Program (CAADP). This effort is
akin to the process identified above with respect to the CCAP and the FANRAPN process should hold
lessons for CARICOM.

It is envisaged, that in the context of the CARICOM institutional environment, including the maturing and
integration of the various producer organizations, notably CaFAN, the basis and role of CaRAPN, and its
strategic direction from 2010 henceforth be determined by a more broad representation of stakeholders.
The Strategic Planning workshop is premised on the basis that the issue is not whether a network such as
CaRAPN is necessary, but rather, on how to redefine and strengthen CaRAPN in a manner that adds value
and yields benefits to the agricultural community, at all levels and between the agricultural community
and the general public.

Specifically the workshop seeks to:

• establish that the new context for agriculture in CARICOM requires a strong common networking
platform;
• get consensus from key strategic agencies involved in agricultural and rural development to establish
CaRAPN as their common information and coordination platform/centre;
• re-define the Vision, Mission, Strategic objectives and Initiatives for CaRAPN in the medium term;
• agree on the form of the CaRAPN entity and modes of collaboration among key strategic partners
piloting the common information platform;
• define processes and mechanisms for stakeholder and media engagement;
• develop a resource mobilization and network sustainability strategy.

It is because of these strategic objectives that the workshop will focus on existing institutions and networks in
the Caribbean. The intention is to ‘sell the idea’ of a common information platform which will provide
public knowledge on institutional mandates, specific areas of focus, work programs, requirements for
obtaining support and assistance and instances of inter-agency collaboration. This is being proposed
without prejudice to the fact that while most if not all of these institutions will have some inbuilt information
platform and website, the scope and content of same are limited to their scope and field of activity.
CaRAPN seeks to create the ‘bigger picture’, the inter-linkages and pave the way for more efficient inter-
agency collaboration and accountability.

The experiences from the recently initiated weekly ‘Agriculture Agenda’ which seeks to provide more than
just a calendar entry for an event is testimony to the difficulties in obtaining information on agriculture, even
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as activities are being planned, and the sometime reluctance to release information, including an agenda
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for the planned event.

Evaluation of the Environment for CaRAPN
A rapid SWOT (see below) analysis suggests that there are more strengths and opportunities, than
weaknesses and threats to move CaRAPN to the next level in order to contribute to regional integration
through networking, information exchange and other products and services to be defined through the
strategic planning exercise.

Strengths Weaknesses
1. is supported by three well-established organizations – 1. has no defined organizational structure outside
CARDI, IICA, CTA; of its project status;
2. has established technical competence through its 2. not well known/recognized outside these
information products; organizations;
3. has access to committed and competent team to 3. has no independent status to mobilize own
manage technical and other services; resources;
4. has access to technical persons who are familiar with 4. has no formal membership structure or
the key actors in agriculture in CARICOM, including platform for participation of interested
COTED processes and independent consultants; stakeholders;
Opportunities Threats
1. current high interest and involvement of 1. Limited capacity and mechanisms in the
government officials and private sector in regional region for agricultural policy networking
agricultural development initiatives and dialogue 2. CARICOM Secretariat and private
2. strengthened interest and position of NGOs (e. consortiums/ consulting firms expand internal
CaFAN) and civil society in participating in policy portfolio to include policy networking services,
dialogue and implementation; making CaRAPN redundant;
3. possibility of partnerships with other well established 3.
organizations (e.g. UWI, FAO), in the region;
4. possibilities of networking with similar networks in
other regions (e.g. FANRAPN, GRET) and selected
universities (FAMU) to enhance/expand range of
services/membership benefits;
5. international funding favoring regional as opposed
to national level initiatives
6. no similar umbrella network (public/private)
engaged in networking agricultural policy issues;

Future Options for CaRAPN

There are a various options that can and should be explored with regard to strengthening CaRAPN as a
regional platform for communication and information sharing in and around agriculture. Each of these
options recognize and emphasize that while CaRAPN to date, has been a project between IICA and the
CTA on behalf of the agricultural community in CARICOM, its continued evolution must be guided by
principles of regional integration, collective ownership, inclusiveness, cooperation, adding value and
sustainability. These are underpinned by the need to avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’ and hence reduce
duplication of efforts and resources. Among the various options for consideration include:
• Retaining its ‘project status’ embedded within an organization with a management ‘structure’ akin to
that of a Project Management Unit (PMU), through a group of committed individuals functioning
through a virtual ‘office’ for cost-efficiency;
• Registered NGO or CBO that provides the legitimacy for mobilizing own funds to ensure sustainability,
however with cost implications for institutional structure and operational requirements;
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• An Agriculture Policy Forum, defined by website based communication, information products and
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information exchange and strategic agricultural policy research and advisory services to public and
private sector agencies and NGOs;
Some potential Strategic Initiatives include:
- Topic Specific Training & Education, which are important as the environment becomes more dynamic
and the need to complement formal education systems becomes more in demand.
- Agriculture Awareness and Inter-Agency Coordination and Networking that offers a common
platform/portal for information on agriculture and institutions
- Strategic Agriculture Analysis and Outlook Reporting that will undertake the research and analysis of
global and regional trends and provide policy and other briefs to facilitate decision-making.

Goals and Visioning for CaRAPN

One of the critical elements towards defining a strategic direction for CaRAPN is agreeing on a Vision for
the CaRAPN and in that context defining its Mission, Goals and Action Steps. As indicated above, the
process and experience of FANRAPN could be instructive in this regard and a good base to open the
dialogue and broaden the perspectives. This information can be obtained from their website
http://www.fanrpan.org/about/.

How will the process be managed?

1. CaRAPN has already tested a survey for obtaining information in the perception and mood with
respect to networking, generally, and in particular, within the agriculture community. This survey will be
modified and uploaded to the website to elicit wider response.
2. CaRAPN has initiated process of review of its operations over the 2003-2010 period which will serve as a
base for moving forward;
3. CaRAPN has engaged the services of a Consultant to undertake ‘selective interviews’ with
stakeholders towards the articulation of a draft Strategic Plan for discussion at the workshop.
4. Circulating this concept note is the most recent action taken in respect to the planning process.

I ndicative List of Invitees

Externally Funded Participants Contact
1. Antigua & Barbuda Gilbert Agricultural & Rural Dev. Centre Gilberta St.Rose
2. Barbados MOA Delegate Barton Clarke??
3. Belize MOA Delegate ??
4. Dominica MOA Delegate ??
5. Grenada MOA Delegate Aaron Francois??
6. Guyana MOA Delegate ??
7. Jamaica MOA Delegate Stacey Clarke??
8. St. Kitts MOA Delegate ??
9. St. Lucia MOA Delegate Kerde Severin??
10. St. Vincent MOA Delegate Ruben Robinson??
11. Suriname MOA Delegate ??
12. Jamaica CABA Keith Amiel
13. St. Vincent CaFAN Jetro Greene
14. St. Lucia CANROP Christine Wilson
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15. Dominica CAFY ?

16. Barbados (CPDC) Caribbean Policy Development Centre Cecilia Babb
Externally Funded Participants Contact
17. St. Lucia OECS George Alcee
18. Jamaica Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) Lincoln Price
19. Guyana WINFA Rufina Paul
20. Guyana New GMC ??
21. St. Vincent Chamber of Food Security Ms. Shafia London
22. Dominica Pvt. Sec - DABA Jennifer Aird
23. Barbados UWI Sir Shridath Ramphal Centre ??
24. Jamaica UWI - Mona Clairmont Kirton
25. Barbados CDEMA (Risk) ??
26. Haiti PRODev Talot Bertrand
27. St. Lucia WINFA Rufina Paul
28. South Africa FANRAPN

Local - Trinidad
1 UWI - AgEconomics Lecturer Goving Seepersad
2 UWI - AgEcon/Biz AgriBusiness Student Association ??
3 UWI - CAES Lecturer Saronjini Ragbir
4 FAO F&NS Project Project Coordinator Robert Best
5 IICA-AgBiz Program International AgriBiz Specialist Robert Reid
6 CCS-IICA-Jagdeo.I International Specialist Vincent Little
7 CFNI Caribbean Food & Nutrition Security Christine Bocage
8 CABI/IAS group Scientist/Project Coordinator Naitram Ramnanan
9 CARDI Executive Director Arlington Chesney
10 CARDI Maurice Wilson
11 CARDI – CFCS Caribbean Food Crop Society Bruce Laukner
12 CARDI – Claudette DeFreitas
CAIS/Libraries
13 CARIRI - CFSC Caribbean Food Safety Centre ??
14 CANARI Caribbean Natural Resources Institute Nicole Leotaud
15 ECLAC ??
16 SBI/Carbon Focus Steve Maximay
Inc.
17 KAIRI Consultants Fredericka Deare
18 CAIC ??
19 CHBA ??
External - Pay Own Way
1 CCS- CCAP Project Gladestone Barrett
2 CCS-AgBiz Project Nigel Durrant
3 CTO(Tourism) Ena Harvey??
4 CRFM
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