From November 1, 2012 to June 30, 2015, Michigan State University subcontracted Washington State University together with the University of Rwanda (UR)  in order to deliver a gender sensitive Masters of Science in Agribusiness program at UR. The project had three specific objectives, to strengthen the human and institutional capacity of UR in teaching and applied research in agricultural sciences; to promote and support women's access to graduate education in agricultural sciences; and to extend UR's knowledge about, and women's expertise in, agricultural sciences to the community.

The rural space is home to 53 percent of Nigeria's population and more than 70 percent of its poor. While it is well understood in Nigeria that financial exclusion of the rural population stunts development, still fewer than 2 percent of rural households have access to any sort of institutional finance.

Emilio Ruz, executive secretary of the Cooperative Programme for Agri-food and Agroindustrial Technological Development of the Southern Cone (PROCISUR), presented the PROCISUR’s frame-work of innovation management at the 3rd GFRAS Annual Meeting, "The Role of Rural Advisory Services in Agricultural Innovation Systems", 26-28 September 2012, Philippines. His presentation has been prepared with Julio C. Catullo,
Extension Group Coordinator of PROCISUR.

The Establishment of the Rahad Scheme in Eastern Sudan in the 1970s established an agricultural innovation system where formal actors such as extension, research, finance institutions and informal actors such as agro pastoral organizations are networking to provide better livelihoods within the irrigated scheme area. This investigation focuses on the roles and interactions of agro pastoral organizations and finance institutions in relation to extension work in Rahad Scheme.

The youth crisis has recently received much attention from the global community, particularly in how it intersects with the future of agriculture. Causes of the youth crisis include univeral youth disinterest in agriculture, deskilled youth populations, lack of access to resources, gender disparity and lack of reliable data regarding youth in agriculture.

Working with women in the agriculture sector in Pakistan poses a challenge as agricultural extension and development staff are predominantly male and interactions for women with men outside the family are culturally not acceptable. At the same time, women in Pakistan play an equal role in agriculture as well as taking responsibility for household chores, including cooking and taking care of the nutrition of the family.

The Farmer Business School (FBS) is a participatory, action learning process focused on product and business development, and like the Farmer Field School, is a complex, multi-dimensional innovation with the potential to benefit large numbers of farming households economically, socially and institutionally. Scaling this approach requires rethinking both innovation and scaling.

Upon a request from Jimma University, IPMS conducted four days Training of Trainers Workshop on Results-Based Monitoring & Evaluation to the University staff. The training workshop was organized jointly by the University and ILRI-IPMS from January 16-19, 2012 at the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine campus, Jimma. Thirty one participants drawn from different departments (Animal Science, Economics, Accounting, Information Science, Statistics, Epidemiology, Management, Rural development & Agricultural extension etc.) have attended.

This report brings the experience of an Sharing Evend and Police tour held in eastern africa by FAO and the Rwanda agricultural board. The Field School study tour was organized by FAO Rwanda in collaboration with the Rwanda Agricultural board and involved participants from Kenya and Ethiopia. The participants from Ethiopia were 2 (Government and FAO) and those from Kenya were 9 (FAO, MOALF, University, Research). The tour was focussed on two districts namely Rulindo and Rubavu. On the first day the group visited FS facilitator training in Rulindo and later a visit to FFS facilitator group.