MARCH 2021
ISSUE 2021-01
NEWSLETTER
Further Partnership Growth in Canada In June 2020, IICA Canada signed an agreement with the Société de
coopération
pour
le
développement
international
(SOCODEVI) aiming to support small rural indigenous agri-food cooperatives, women, climate resilience and food systems. Then in July 2020, an agreement with the Compost Council of Canada (CCC) was signed to strengthen organics recycling and compost industries
and
organizations
to
advance
their
sector
performance and sustainability, with a focus on the Caribbean in addition to their high-profile annual international organics recycling conference which IICA Canada co-hosted a session with the World Food Prize winner Dr. Rattan Lal on soil health. Also, in July, IICA signed an agreement with Cannexion, a private
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture Canada Office 1002—130 Albert Street Ottawa, ON K1P 5G4 Tel: 613-230-1044 Fax: 613-230-1951 iica.ca@iica.int “Our mission is to encourage, promote and support Member States in their efforts to achieve agricultural development and rural well-being through international technical cooperation of excellence.”
Canadian firm, to strengthen agri-food businesses, cooperatives, pursue gendered market analysis, trade and development. By
iica_canada
December, IICA signed an agreement with the University of Guelph and secured the participation of the university’s Dr.
iica.int/Canada
Silvia Sarapura-Escobar, Assistant Professor in Rural Planning and Development, originally from Peru, as part of IICA’s highlevel hemispheric Advisory Committee on Food Security in the Americas, in which IICA Canada’s Country Representative, Dr. Jean-Charles Le Vallée, serves as a subject matter expert. In March 2021, IICA Canada signed two additional partnerships with (1) Dimitra @ Calgary’s Blockchainguru, to explore education platforms, data driven and digital solutions in LAC; as well as (2) Développement International Desjardins (DID), Canada’s largest cooperative financial group, to collaborate on innovative finance, inclusive finance, microfinance among other tools that fit the such needs of disadvantaged communities.
procinorte.net @procinorte Visit our virtual art museum: AGROART.IICA.INT
MARCH 2021
IICA CANADA
ISSUE 2021-01
IICA Celebrates its 78th Anniversary! IICA was created in 1942, during a time of war, with the aim of creating progress and prosperity for rural areas and mindful that agriculture, as a synonym of peace, would be the route and instrument to achieve these objectives. IICA has been headquartered in Costa Rica since it was established, and it operates through its 34 Delegations in the Americas and a Permanent Office in Spain. “It is imperative that we protect and shore up the sector that ensures the food supply of our societies. This will call on us to continuously increase and improve our technical cooperation to tackle this unprecedented socioeconomic situation, in which agriculture has emerged as a key strategic sector for recovery,” stressed Dr. Manuel Otero, IICA’s Director General, while on an official visit to Costa Rica’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as part of the 78th anniversary celebrations. See a celebratory video in Spanish here: https://youtu.be/ihmNZXh_52w
IICA/FITT Launch Online Training Courses to Strengthen LAC Agri-Food Exporter Capacity In partnership with Canada’s Forum for International Trade Training
(FITT),
the
2021
edition
of
the
virtual
course
“Preparing to Export Agri-food Products” is now available in Spanish and English on IICA’s e-learning platform. The course is geared towards export preparedness, in order to facilitate successful negotiations and reduce export risks. The objective is to strengthen participants’ capacity to export agri-food products and to raise awareness of the importance of being prepared to successfully capitalize on the opportunities afforded by trade agreements and regional integration processes. There are six modules: (1) preparing to export, (2) business plan for exporting, (3) assessing export opportunities, (4) how to adapt your product to the destination market, (5) payment methods, and (6) how to finalize a business deal. The training course, which costs US$50, will be available during the first half of the year with a 25% discount. See https://bit.ly/3rWGndX
IICA CANADA A JURY MEMBER OF CANADA’S #FOODWASTEREDUCTIONCHALLENGE IICA Canada is honoured to have been selected as a jury member for Canada’s food waste reduction challenge hosted by Agriculture and AgriFood Canada and Impact Canada. We are delighted to be part of such a prestigious group to judge such amazing innovation in Canada’s food sector from upcycling, to circular economies, organic waste, food loss reduction, food recovery, food innovation and food security. See https://bit.ly/30ewGLA
MARCH 2021
IICA CANADA
ISSUE 2021-01
Exchanges with Global Affairs Canada Field Offices across LAC As part of IICA Canada’s larger outreach effort, the delegation organized multiple virtual sessions with Global Affairs Canada (GAC), in the field and in headquarters, for the benefit of local IICA and GAC personnel in-country to share intelligence, raise awareness and establish relations on the ground, exchange on development priorities, and define opportunities for partnership. Numerous exchanges were held across the Caribbean, Jamaica, St-Lucia, Guyana, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, as well Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.
IICA Canada Engages with Ottawa’s Diplomatic Core for Latin America IICA’s COVID-related activities were shared with the Diplomatic Core Group of Latin American Embassies in Ottawa, Canada (called GRULA), during a meeting with their Ambassadors where IICA Canada presented IICA’s current efforts to address food insecurity across the Americas during the pandemic, including IICA’s valuable food security monitor, blog, hemispheric fora, regional seminars, two continental agricultural ministerial meetings, and its food supply platform. On March 24, IICA Canada will be meeting with the Heads of Mission of the CARICOM group of countries.
Joint IICA/CFIA Safe Food Canada Training for the Eastern Caribbean Last November, IICA Canada co-facilitated with IICATT (Trinidad and Tobago) and ExporTT, an introductory ‘Safe Food Canada’ webinar led by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (the CFIA, Canada’s regulatory authority dedicated to safeguarding food, animals and plants). Pitched to exporters across the Caribbean/CARICOM who are HACCP-certified, the webinar helped clarify the import regulations for agrifood products into Canada, the role of the CFIA, and requirements of importers and exporters, a rare opportunity for exporters to hear first-hand from the CFIA, exactly what requirements need to be met to access the Canadian market. IICA Canada is looking repeat the same training with the CFIA this year in Spanish across the Americas.
MARCH 2021
IICA CANADA
ISSUE 2021-01
CATCH IICA’S RURAL WOMEN EXHIBIT CURRENTLY ON SHOW IN OTTAWA AT CANADA’S AGRICULTURE AND FOOD MUSEUM UNTIL END OF MAY IICA Canada, in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada, showcased IICA’s photographic exhibition in their reception space entitled "The Soul of the Rurality in Latin America and the Caribbean." The exhibition compiles over 28 images and statistics offering visitors the opportunity to explore the reality of rural women in Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala and Jamaica. The photographic exhibition is part of IICA's commitment to stimulate and contribute to the creation of solid and long-term public policies that benefit the women who live in rural areas. Developed through a joint effort with VOGUE Brazil and IICA, the travelling photographic exhibition has been shown successfully in San José, Costa Rica; São Paulo, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Madrid, Spain; and Washington D.C., in the U.S. In commemoration of International Women's Day, the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum began hosting the exhibition in its Learning Centre from March
8,
2020,
and
is
on
show
until
May
31,
2021.
See
https://bit.ly/3lvFTJe for details and directions.
IICA, a UN Food System Summit Champion for the Americas Agnes Kalibata, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General to the Food Systems Summit 2021, nominated IICA as a member of the Food Systems Summit Champions Network – one of the four main support mechanisms for a global event that will aim to lay the foundation for positively transforming the way in which food is produced and consumed, slated to take place in late September. During the preparatory phase, and as a Summit Champion, IICA will represent the agriculture and rural sectors of the Americas and is actively engaged in numerous hemispheric, national and independent dialogues across the hemisphere. With a focus on Food System Transformation, the summit, convened by UN Secretary General António Guterres, is expected to foster new agreements and bold actions to further the achievement of the 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), each of which will require healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems.
MARCH 2021
IICA CANADA
ISSUE 2021-01
IICA Co-hosts a 2-day Sustainable Agri-Food Systems Seminar to Mark Mercosur’s 30th Anniversary The pandemic brought the issue of food policies to the forefront and reinforced Mercosur’s presence on the global stage, thus revealing the key role played by the body’s member countries in addressing the matter of global food security and nutrition. The seminar brought together representatives and specialists from the trade bloc’s four plenary members - Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – and associate countries Chile, Mexico and Peru - to discuss the challenges and opportunities the pandemic poses in relation to food
policies. According to Mercosur Secretariat Director, Luiz Coelho Júnior, the issue of food and nutritional security has become increasingly front and center on the negotiation agenda, spanning the past 30 years of the Mercosur integration process. “Agriculture has contributed greatly to the development of our territories through the effective use of production and supply processes, job creation and involvement in sustainable development practices.” See https://bit.ly/3tEEzXD
IICA Webinars, Hemispheric Dialogues and More Over the last few months, IICA Canada has co-hosted numerous virtual regional and continental seminars which included the participation of Canadian speakers on the challenges and needs as a result of the current pandemic. Leading Canadian speakers included Shawn Hayes, Senior Gender Equality Specialist from Global Affairs Canada, sharing information on Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) during the Forum on Rural Women and Equity During the COVID-19 Pandemic; and Brett Rumpel, a young farmer and member of 4-H Saskatchewan, speaking at the Rural Youth Forum on Building a New Agriculture Post COVID-19. IICA Canada also ran a dialogue series of 5 hemispheric webinars with the participation of various Canadian universities along with other leading academics from across the Americas, focused on the continent’s future for food systems and food security.