Background Information

The Forum hosted e-discussions in June-July 2003 on a range of topics representing key policy choices for rural growth and poverty alleviation in Southern Africa. Click on the links below for further information.

• What were the e-discussions for?
  
• What were the issues discussed?
  
• Posted messages for each themed discussion
• Feedback questionnaire - please complete if you registered for the discussion(s)
• Summaries of discussions
• Updated versions of theme papers
  

What were the e-discussions for?

The current crisis in Southern Africa is a symptom of the increasing vulnerability of the mainly rural population: the climatic variability of the last two agricultural seasons has been less severe than that which precipitated the last widespread crisis in the region in 1991/92. This vulnerability stems from more than a decade of failures in rural growth, affected by poor integration into input, output, finance and labour markets; the impact of HIV/AIDS; deteriorating institutional accountability; and the limited availability of relevant agricultural technology options. In addition, donor support to agriculture and rural development has declined. The immediate crisis may abate in 2003, but the underlying inability to cope with shocks will remain until the vulnerability of the population is addressed.

The Forum for Food Security in Southern Africa supports strategic thinking on food security issues in Southern Africa by facilitating a forum of specialists and key policy stakeholders from the international and regional research community, governments, donors, NGO, civil society and private sector with identified specialist knowledge of the issues and the region. Thus far, the Forum has contributed to the production of locally authored Country Issues Papers and Thematic Papers. The next stage for the Forum was, based on these papers, to facilitate a dialogue between key stakeholders. To this end, the Forum co-ordinated a series of six moderated electronic discussions, in the form of an e-conference, on the key policy issues. Exploring policy options across the region provided two important opportunities. First, it provided an opportunity for stakeholders in one country to learn policy lessons from elsewhere. Second, it offered a forum in which the interlinkages across the region can be better understood to support a regional understanding of food security policy options.

What were the issues discussed?

The six thematic issues in the e-conference were as follows: (click on the links for further details on each discussion, to view the theme papers, questions and messages posted)

• Policies, Politics Governance and Accountability
  
• Options for Market-based Development
  
• Human Vulnerability
  
• Social Protection
  
• Regional Food Security Issues
  
• Uptake Pathways into Food Security Policy

Process

The e-conference took place between 2nd June and 5th July, 2003, and considered the above six thematic areas. The discussion on each theme ran for 10 days, though it was recognised that there would be some overlap between different themes.

Participants were invited to send comments on the content of the Theme Papers and/or provide additional information based on their own experience or published sources. Contributions were distributed to list members automatically, along with daily summaries by the Moderators. All participant's contributions and the Moderator's summaries were posted daily on Theme Comments Pages.

A summary of the discussion of each theme was circulated to all list members and is posted on the web site (click here to view Summaries). These summaries and comments will be incorporated into final Policy Options Papers.