Land reform-colonization and co-operatives 2001/1

Land reform and issues related to land tenure constitute (and every day awareness of this grows) key points on the road towards development. There are many ways to approach this delicate problem. This bulletin published by the FAO seeks to disseminate some opinions on the subject in the form of signed articles. The number of multi-lingual articles presented cover various experiences in different regions of the world, from the attempts at land reform in the Philippines to the example of alliances between merchants and sugar producers in Mozambique, and the land reform in Canada that provides land access to indigenous populations.

Inter-agency Experiences and Lessons from the Operationalizing Participatory Ways of Applying Sustainable Livelihoods Approaches

Two conclusions were drawn from the inter-institutional forum organized in Sienna (Italy) from 7 to 11 March 2000 by the Department for International Development (DFID) and the FAO:

- Rural poverty is not a problem of income but rather a means of subsistence. Therefore the development programmes should not be based exclusively on increasing resources but focus on the people, who should participate actively in their own development.

- The eradication of poverty is the common goal of numerous development actors, who must co-ordinate their efforts and share the lessons learned.

This paper on the different approaches to Sustainable Subsistence Means (SSM) contains part of the rich debate fostered during the Sienna Forum. It also points out some of the lessons learned and it identifies the themes that need to be addressed for continued advancement.

Distance education and distance learning - A framework for the FAO

Education and training for development are key elements in the drive to combat hunger in the world. Internet and the new technologies, on the one hand, and the innovative pedagogical methodologies, on the other, have made distance a progressively smaller obstacle for training. This publication, prepared by the service of Communication for Development of the FAO, reviews the parameters of recent experiments in long-distance education in developing countries, proposes a number of measures to make it more effective, and enumerates proposals for integrating this strategy into operative programmes of the FAO.

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