Adaptation of PGS materials for project countries

Among the accomplishments within this activity, the project team mentions the following: the publication of the PGS Policy Brief during Q4; the translation into Portuguese and the revision of the PGS Self Evaluation Form also during the fourth quarter; the introductory brochure on PGS and the “IFOAM Policy Brief on How Governments Can Support Participatory Guarantee Systems” that were translated into Portuguese so that they can be used by stakeholders in STP; the partial translation of the IFOAM Norms to serve as the main reference for the PGS initiative; the preparation of a draft questionnaire, based on the summary of the Norms was tested in a pilot peer review in Q6. At the same time, in Ghana, it was decided during the PGS training in June 2018 that among the first steps of building PGS in the country some basic PGS materials and templates should be drafted including an Organic Standard for Ghana. For this purpose, a PGS committee was formed and meets regularly to work on the relevant documents. Among the most relevant accomplishments of the Committee is the drafting of the Ghana Organic Standard and organisation of a broad consultation process with all the stakeholders. Other documents revised by the committee in Ghana were the adaptation and drafting of basic PGS materials and templates, a first version of the PGS Basic Manual and some simplified versions of the various sections of the Ghana organic standard. Also, a PGS logo was developed and agreed upon. It is foreseen that a further revision will take place in year 3 with larger participation of stakeholders to adapt them based on the learnings from the initial phase and to make them practical for application. Posters and brochures were developed and printed as promotion/information material on PGS Ghana. In Togo the PGS coordinator started his support to the various PGS stakeholders Togo with a first follow-up mission in March 2019. This support included a first review of existing documents developed by the initiatives and individual discussions with each initiative on how to move forward. Adaptations are done for each initiative individually, with involvement of producers/stakeholders but the organic standard used as bases for adaptation is the same (the East African Organic Products Standard). In Sao Tomé and Principe the project team worked on drafting the organic standards and other documents used by the PGS initiative (e.g. farm visit checklist, application form). Formalisation of the participation of about 40 producers in 6 different communities is ongoing, with signature of farmer’s pledges and development of farm management plans for each participant. Copies of the standards for organic agriculture developed by the PGS Working Group have been distributed to 130 producers. In Germany a Revision of the IFOAM PGS Guidelines is ongoing and expected to be finalised (including layout) for publication at the beginning of 2020. This activity is conducted and co-financed in the framework of this project and the EC-funded intervention implemented by IFOAM – Organics International EatingCraft.