This is a list of sectors which are relevant:

  • Farmers' organizations
  • Food and agriculture authorities (parliamentary committees, ministries and related agencies vested with the management of crop genetic resources, including intellectual property rights)
  • NGOs
  • Research institutions and extension services involved agriculture and crop genetic resources
  • Seed industry


Seminars and/or workshops can be designed mainly with lectures, information sharing, in more interactive ways, or as a combination of these methods. Probably the effect is higher, the more the participants are involved in the seminars/workshops. Also, the effect is probably higher, if there are more than one seminar or workshop for each of the sectors, so that reflections on the topic can mature and the understanding be deepened.

You can read more about the contents relevant for such workshops and/or seminars here and about inspiring success stories illustrating Farmers' Rights here. Where to put the emphasis depends on the level of knowledge and awareness in the respective sectors. Central questions to rise in a workshop or seminar based on, and guided by, these contents can be:

  • What contents of Farmers' Rights are important in our country?
  • Why are Farmers' Rights important in our country?
  • What is the role of our sector in protecting and promoting Farmers' Rights?
  • What can the institutions in our sector do to ensure that this role is fulfilled?


Advantages:

  • This approach is useful to create awareness across the institutions in each sector and thus to clarify how the sector as such may contribute to the realization of Farmers' Rights.
  • It is a useful approach to improve the potentials for collaboration within the sectors in this regard.
  • The approach is instrumental in helping sectors such as farmers' organizations to develop joint perceptions and voice their needs and priorities in subsequent national consultation processes on Farmers' Rights. As such it might be an important precondition for the participation of farmers in the implementation of Farmers' Rights in the country.


Disadvantages

  • The number of participants from each institution will be lower than by an institution wise approach. To counterbalance this situation to some extent, the participants can be encouraged to disseminate the contents of the seminar/workshop in their respective institutions.
  • This approach can be demanding because it involves several workshops and seminars.
  • The approach does not contribute to broadening the perspectives across sectors.