1. How does the network benefit your organisation?
Food security and agriculture has been on the agenda of ZOA for years, but now it has become a spearhead issue, next to water & sanitation and primary education. Our main target groups are refugees and people who return to their homeland after a conflict. We support them in building up their life again, for example by agricultural training. Yet, we will need to pay more attention to improving access to markets for these people. The Agri-ProFocus network could help us with that.

So far, ZOA has been involved in the Agri-Hubs in Uganda and Ethiopia, and has already worked with members such as Wageningen University, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cordaid, ICCO and Agriterra.

2. Please give an example of a joint action, in which the APF network played a visible role.
We are new to the partnership, so let us first see what the network will be able to do. First priority for us is cooperation in the field.

3. If you were in charge, what should the APF network look like in 5 years’ time?
It might be interesting to see if Agri-Hubs could have a broader perspective than just Dutch interest. The Americans, for example, might also have a network and activities like those of Agri-ProFocus. Exchange could be very interesting. Cooperation should not be limited to Dutch and local parties; it might also involve Australian or Asian parties. Having a very strong network is important.

We cannot tell now what should be better or different in the Agri-ProFocus network, as our membership just takes off.

4. How will your organisation contribute to the APF network in the next 2 years?
We want to exchange expertise and knowledge with the partnership. ZOA could share its own knowledge, in particular about working in fragile states. A specific contribution could be our experience with foreign NGOs and local and national governments. We also have a lot of experience with farmers and farmers’ organisations. ZOA is good at training farmers that sometimes have to start from scratch up until the point where they can be incorporated in a cooperative. Possibly, we could come to cooperation on this with some of the other members.

Contact: Leendert Bos

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