Electronic consultation on the World Development Report 2008 “Agriculture for Development”April 9 through April 20, 2007

 

The World Bank is preparing its 2008 World Development Report (WDR2008) on “Agriculture for Development” to be published in September 2007 (www.worldbank.org/wdr2008). The World Development Report is a highly influential publication that will be used by many multilateral and bilateral international organizations, by national governments and by academic and civil society networks and groups, to support their decision-making processes. The last time the World Bank dealt with agriculture in a publication of this importance was one generation ago, in 1982.

 

 

Rimisp-Latin American Center for Rural Development (www.rimisp.org) has been asked to contribute to the preparation of the WDR2008, by organizing this electronic consultation, as the WDR Core Team prepares to submit its report to Bank authorities. Participants have been selected to be a representative segment of critical stakeholders on agriculture and rural development: academics, government officials, small producer organizations, business sector, NGOs, subnational government officials, social movements and project officers. We have tried to get a balance regarding their organizational background, but also their geographic origin: developed and developing countries, men and women, urban and rural. While every list is incomplete, we are sure that all asked to participate have an interest in the sector.

 

 

The discussion is organized around the WDR2008 Overview document (as of March 14, 2007) which will be posted in this web page on April 3. Discussions will focus on participant comments on: (a) the strongest positive points of the WDR, (b) the weakest points, (c) missing issues and gaps.  The purpose is to improve the WDR2008.

 

 

In order to participate, those that have not been invited directly should send a request to: majordomo@rimisp.org, with the following text:

 

 

subscribe consultwdr2008
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"We invite you to participate actively in this electronic conference. The conference's main language is English, but comments can also be sent in French, Portuguese or Spanish"