Joint message from the Chairman and the Executive Director

Our theme for this year’s Review is the empowerment of rural communities to improve their livelihoods through small and medium enterprise development. We look also at the farmers’ more timely connection to markets and better access to technologies.

We have our own identity As a small organization, we must focus our efforts. We cannot afford to over-extend but we can play to our strengths, operating outside the constraints of the political and bureaucratic processes that hamper larger organizations and move quickly to affect change. We can also complement and enhance the work of our partner organizations, which are becoming more numerous, by providing specific expertise and experience. We are working to increase the impact of what we do We have had to spend time capacity building this year. There is no denying that often, in the areas in which we work, there are limited resources and therefore a lot of our initial efforts go into building relationships with organizations, finding the expertise that they require, and training and motivating communities and organizations This is essential to ensure that poor rural communities get the most out of the work that we support. We are also making transitions In many areas we are making shifts in emphasis. In Brazil, this is from capacity building through a greater emphasis on training; in Mali, from research towards applying the technologies that have been developed; in India and Brazil, towards income generation to improve livelihoods; and in East Africa, towards building local businesses. Environmental concerns are higher on our agenda Findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made the need to act against climate change more apparent than ever. This year we have made an important step in addressing this issue by joining the World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund. We are interested in the opportunities carbon finance can open up for rural communities in the regions in which we work. We must build on our achievements SFSA is a relatively young organization, but is beginning to realize its potential as an effective player in sustainable agriculture. We are working in new ways In many parts of the world in which we work, the lack of an effective private sector is one of the main factors limiting progress. It is very difficult for governments to establish small businesses because they do not have experience in operating and trading. Because we must not neglect the essential role that an effective private sector can have on rural communities – the creation of jobs, the buying and selling of inputs and produce, providing financial services, adding value – we are seeking to create opportunities for growing small and medium enterprises. We are finding new partners Traditionally, we have seen our natural partners as being outside of the private sector. Now we are starting to find common ground with organizations with whom we share similar experiences and goals. We welcome these new alliances. We are starting to pool expertise and resources with some of these organizations, and finding ways of working more effectively together as well as exploring the opportunities to build further partnerships.