National Agricultural Policy Center (NAPC) Rural Development Division (RDD)

1. National Agricultural Policy Center (NAPC)Rural Development Division (RDD)

2. Presentation Structure • RDD concept, roles, objectives and composition; • RDD workplan and main activities; • The workplan adjustment: reasons and modifications; • Carried out and currently processed activities; • Issue of concern. By Firas Yassin

3. What is RDD • NAPC Division • RDD Mission Focus on:people livelihood; rural-other sectors’ relations. RDD Approach: Sustainable Livelihoods (DFID) analyzing assets (pentagon capital); analyzing people strategies. By Firas Yassin

4. RDD Members and Topics • Samira Al-Zoughbi: rural poverty and inequality in rural areas; • Wedad Shhadeh: migration and rural-urban relationships; • Raid Hamzeh: non-farm activities in rural areas; • Firas Yassin: natural resources and the environment; • Firas Haydar: Infrastructure and otherinvestments; • Samira Subh: women’s role in agriculture and related gender issues; • Abeer Manla Hasan: sustainable livelihood approach to rural development. By Firas Yassin

5. 2005 RDD Workplan Supervision of Prof. Donato Romano Objectives • Organizing the RDD and start its activities; • Developing staff skills, enhancing their competence and knowledge, facilitating the formation of a homogeneous research team; • Carry out the institutional and research activities pertaining to RDD as per the NAPC 2005 workplan. By Firas Yassin

6. Skills Development Activities • Personal readings; • Synthesizing selected readings; • Reconstituting the research process behind a paper; • Evaluating Internet resources for research purposes; • Drafting of policy notes, briefs and review papers; • Personal work program; • Organization and conduct of research work. By Firas Yassin

7. Outputs of Personal Readings one each member for a total of • 7 Review Papers, due by February 2005; • 7 internal Seminars, due in March 2005; • 7 Rural Development Briefs, due by March 2005; • 7 Policy Briefs, due by April 2005; Plus: • 1 or more Policy Notes, due by May 2005. By Firas Yassin

8. Research and Institutional Activities • Periodic reports (no specialized periodic reports) • SOFAS – The State of Food and Agriculture in Syria, 2006; • SAS-MTR – Mid-term Review of the Syrian Agriculture Strategy, 2005. • Thematic studies • Non-Agricultural Activities in Rural Areas and their Impact on Agriculture, May 2005; • Poverty and Migration Trends in Rural Areas: Determinants, Indicators and Policies, September 2005; • Farming Systems Study individual Working Papers. By Firas Yassin

9. Workplan Adjustments Recognizing time needs and other contraints, the following adjustments have been agreed: • Non-Agricultural Activities in Rural Areas and their Impact on Agriculture, Sep 2005; • Poverty and Migration Trends in Rural Areas: Determinants, Indicators and Policies, 2006; • 1 rural development briefs, 1 policy briefs and 1 policy note comparativereviewfromFSstudy By Firas Yassin

10. Activities Carried Out • Finalization of the FSS individual reports; • Evaluation of internet resources for research purposes; • Outline and drafting of review papers; • Four internal seminars of the review papers March 2005, the rest three will be presented during next September. By Firas Yassin

11. The Current Processing Activities • SAS-MTR : the mid-term review of the Syrian Agriculture Strategy; • Completion and finalizing the review papers; • Preparing for the national workshop, Jun 2005: preliminary discussion of the SAS-MTR; • Publishing the Farming System individual reports. By Firas Yassin

12. Issue of Concern • Weak internet connections; • Lack of related study and data for Syrian context for most RDD’s topics; • Insufficient data for SAS and the needs for more efficient connection with MAAR. By Firas Yassin

13. Thank you for your attention By Firas Yassin