Agriculture & Trade

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Agriculture & Trade

It is part of DENIVA's Poverty Reduction and Livelihood Improvement Programme (PELIP) to promote the effective participation of CSOs in influencing pro-poor and gender-inclusive poverty eradication policies and processes. This entails influencing trade-related policies and rules (such as under the WTO agreements, the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, the East African Customs Union, and national trade policy frameworks) and agriculture-related policies and strategies (such as the PMA and NAADS) in favour of the poor.

Agriculture

Under this thematic area, DENIVA supports efforts aimed at increasing the incomes of the poor through their participation in influencing PMA policies and PMA implementation. It achieves this through facilitating CSOs involved in agriculture to strengthen the effectiveness of farmers' groups as viable institutions for farmer empowerment and poverty eradication; by mobilising CSOs to contribute to PMA reviews and relevant fora; through documentation and publication of CSO best practices in agriculture for poverty reduction; through the facilitation of CSOs to engage with district and parliamentary committees on challenges of PMA implementation; and by facilitating CSOs involved in cotton growing to campaign for conducive policies and laws on cotton farming and marketing .

Trade

Furthermore, DENIVA strives to help enhancing the capacity of CSOs to engage policy and decision makers on domestic trade issues. It achieves this through increasing CSO understanding of domestic trade and its implications on poverty eradication; the facilitation of CSOs to campaign for a pro-poor National Trade Policy; and the facilitation of CSOs to effectively participate in national and regional meetings and fora on national and global trade issues.

Moreover, DENIVA aims to increase awareness among CSOs of the potential impact of global trade on development and poverty. It does this through strengthening the capacity of CSOs to understand, and participate in influencing, key trade negotiations, e.g. on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) and under the current WTO negotiation round; by facilitating CSO participation in national, regional, and international fora on trade, development and poverty reduction; and through the production and dissemination of publications on global trade issues highlighting policy concerns and needs of the poor.