Impacts of Urban Agriculture Annual Report.p65 - International ...

NetworkingLocal and global networkingFrom its base in Lima, Peru, Urban Harvest’s research anddevelopment program engages with partners andstakeholders in local and regional settings in Asia, Africaand Latin America through multi-sectoral platforms at citylevel, through regional networks of cities and throughregionally focused international organizations andpartnerships. Urban Harvest also participates in globalinitiatives and alliances to facilitate cross-learning amongdeveloping regions and between North and South.At the local level Urban Harvest’s stakeholder andpolicy dialogue platform (SPDP), described from theresearch point of view in previous sections, alsofacilitates communication, information sharing andlearning among and by local stakeholders in “anchorcities” – urban and peri-urban locations wherediagnostic studies, technical interventions and policyanalysis and development are undertaken with partners.The high level of complexity of urban ecosystems andthe great diversity of stakeholders and their needs putsan especially high premium on this communication andsharing and the formation of alliances. The involvementof municipal authorities in these local platformsisparticularly important, both to tap into their expertisein planning and policy, as well as to provide learningopportunities to them about integration of agriculturein urban governance.Local level networking also provides a means for formalcapacity development opportunities involving linkswith local universities and training organizations.At the regional level, through networking with regionalorganizations and linking agencies in anchor cities and“contact” cities – urban and peri-urban areas involvedin training and knowledge exchange creating learningpartnerships and build capacity. Thematic andknowledge sharing workshops have been co-organizedwith regional partners (for example, UN-HABITAT andthe RUAF Foundation in Sub-Saharan Africa and REDAGUILAR in Latin America) that have brought togetherpolitical and technical representatives from differentcities in each region. Cross-visits have also beenorganized between anchor cities and between anchorand contact cities, for example the sharing of gendermainstreamingexperiences in Kenya with Ugandanpartners, or the exposure of researchers and localgovernment officials in Western Kenya to policyprocesses in Nairobi and Nakuru.In Africa, with funding from IDRC, Urban Harvest linkedup in 2003 and 2004 with several CGIAR Centers (CIP,ILRI, IWMI, World Agroforestry Center), internationallyand regionally based organizations (RUAF Foundation,Municipal Development Program, Mazengira Institute)and national partners to implement a regional trainingcourse for multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral teamsfrom seven cities from East, Southern and CentralAfrica. After the course, these city teams later formeda virtual network as they sought to implementproposals and utilize methods developed andpresented as part of the course. As a way of drawingout the lessons and learning objectives of the realworld course for more general use, the materials of thecourse were later developed into a distance learningtool in the form of an interactive CD-ROM.In Latin America, Urban Harvest has been involved intraining and interaction among other CGIAR centersabout the use of Geographical Information Systems(GIS), especially with regard to its application to issuesof water quality monitoring and land use changes. In aneffort to build a region-wide platform on urbanagriculture technology and policy support severalnetworks have sought to harmonize their activities, andUrban Harvest has multiple representation on Advisorycommittees of these initiatives.43