Background

FRP Phase II seeks to protect farmers' rights in five South Asian countries - Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The project will address farmers' rights issues related to biotechnology, intellectual property right (IPR) rules and use of biological and genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge. Advocacy, Research, Sensitisation, Capacity Building, Information Dissemination, Networking and Alliance Building are the major focus of FRP Phase II.

FRP Phase II was launched in June 2004 and will be completed in July 2007. The project is an extension of the three-year Farmers' Rights Programme (FRP Phase I), which focused on farmers' rights to seed in the context of globalisation and IPR.

Partners

The project is funded by the Ford Foundation, New Delhi and Novib (Oxfam Netherlands), The Hague.

The project-implementing partners are five member institutions of SAWTEE - Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association (BELA) in Dhaka, Bangladesh; Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) in Calcutta, India; Forum for Protection of Public Interest (Pro Public) in Kathmandu, Nepal; Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Islamabad, Pakistan; and Law & Society Trust (LST) in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Mission

Protecting farmers' rights to livelihood by facilitating the process of creating a favourable policy environment in the project associated countries.

Objectives

• Sensitising key stakeholders including policy and lawmakers, non-governmental and community-based organisations, farmers' groups, private sector and decision-makers at inter-governmental organisations such as South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
• Advocating and lobbying for the protection of farmers' rights.
• Complementing the initiatives of the governments of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the process of preparing ABS and PIC related policies/laws and closely evaluating their implementation aspects for devising future advocacy strategies.
• Documenting and disseminating the information on national, regional and international issues related to farmers' rights.
• Encouraging debates and discussions at various national, regional and international platforms.
• Expanding and strengthening the networks established at the local, national, regional and international levels.

Kamalesh Adhikari, Research Director, kamalesh.adhikari@sawtee.org