Report of the Rwanda International Farmers' Dialogue which took place 19-21 November 2011 in the Musanze district in the North of Rwanda.

Thanks to the international farmers’ meeting organised by the Rwandan Initiatives of Change team, in November 2011, I was able to make a third trip to Rwanda and meet with people who are warm-hearted, generous, hard-working and forward-thinking despite the ever-present traces of the past.

On 19 November, the Director General for farming from the Ministry of Agriculture for Rwanda officially opened the international farmers’ meeting, Farmers – men and women – working together for food security

Initiatives of Change Rwanda – UBUPFURA in partnership with Farmers’ Dialogue International invite you to an INTERNATIONAL FARMERS’ DIALOGUE 19 – 22 NOVEMBER 2011 at Notre-Dame de Fatima / Ruhengeri Parish, Musanze District (89 kms from Kigali) - Rwanda

The Rwanda Farmers Dialogue in conjunction with the international Farmer’s Dialogue with great pleasure, invites you to the International Farmers Dialogue Conference which will take place from 19-22 Nov,2011 at Notre Dame de Fatima/ Ruhengeri Parish at Musanze District 89kms from Kigali.

One of the Farmers' Dialogue management team shares his thoughts, following his visit to Rwanda for a Capacity building course in March. The experience there made it clear that for Rwandans and her neighbours to feed themselves on a permanent basis, divisions, most of which have their roots in the past, have to be attended to or they can quickly flare up again and undo all the good work done.

Bob Doherty, head of the business school at Liverpool Hope University, told how social enterprises are transforming the lives of farmers in developing countries, when he addressed a Greencoat Forum on ‘the role of social entrepreneurship in tackling poverty’ on 17 May. He was speaking in IofC’s London centre alongside Gavin McGillivray, head of the Private Sector Department at the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), and Tania Ellis, a specialist in social business trends and author of The New Pioneers.

Thirty-one members of Farmers’ Dialogue from fourteen countries (East Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia) met in Kigali (Rwanda) in an informal and stimulating setting to consider the various missions of the programme and the team's commitments as a result of their missions. This diverse group of people took time to think about the roots of their programme and the impact it could have on their way of thinking and their commitment.

Claude Bourdin, coordinator of the International Farmers’ Dialogue, and Fiacre Sengati, project manager, spent one week in Rwanda in December 2010, to coordinate with Rwandan colleagues preparations for two events.

The Farmers' Dialogue is running a Capacity building course from 12 - 19 March in Kigali, Rwanda, for 30-40 people (from 20 countries) in charge of Farmers' Dialogue.