Support at least 4 PGS Initiatives per country

In Ghana, the groups in the Upper East (December and January 2018) and Tamale (January 2019) were visited in order to introduce PGS to the potential farmers and discuss with them how PGS could be applicable to their context. the first peer-review trainings will be carried out in the coming months and the first PGS-certified products are to be expected after harvest in 2019. Therefore the PGS advisor is carrying out some coaching on the standard requirements and PGS processes to group leaders. However some local stakeholders feel that more intensive training and capacity building is needed. Consequently it was decided that the PGS advisor may carry out regional trainings as needed/requested. These trainings are for capacity building, but also aim at enforcing the participatory aspect in PGS Ghana and to bring producers, consumers and market actors together to discuss. The first such training took place in the Upper East region on 22 May. In Togo the new PGS advisor started his work in January 2018 and a mission was organised with the IFOAM - Organics International expert Cornelia Kirchner to visit the most promising initiatives in order to collect information from them, discuss the next steps as well as to introduce the PGS advisor. During the 7 days of the mission (20-26 January) about 13 potential initiatives/PGS stakeholders were visited. On 20 January there was also an PGS gathering organised to bring the main stakeholders together and discuss how to move forward and cooperate. It was agreed that each PGS group should be supported in their existing dynamic, but that coordination and joining forces is equally important and that regular communication and coordination between the stakeholders should take place (facilitated by the PGS advisor). At the conclusion of the meeting a WhatsApp group “Initiative SPG Togo” was launched. In the 6th quarter, 4 initiatives (Experta, CFAPE-AMAP, Tropi-Techno and Label d’or) have been identified are the ones that have the best potential and are also most motivated and engaged. Therefor the support in the coming months will focus on these four groups, but is open also to other previously identified groups if they show interest and motivation. In STP a PGS working group has been formed, composed mostly of stakeholders who joined the initial PGS Training, including representative of producers groups of Amparo II. The PGS working group is meeting once every month. The IFOAM Norms have been discussed and there is an agreement to use these as the reference for a common PGS initiative. Some members of the PGS working group volunteered to translate parts of the norms into Portuguese, while others have identified new communities to bring into the initiative (currently: Amparo II, Bom Sucesso, Sao Carlos, Santa Teresa, Pinheira and Monte Café). The first peer review to test the questionnaire under development is planned to take place in June 2019, in the community Pinheira. In Burkina Faso support to CNABio continues to strengthen and expand their existing PGS activities. In December 2018 5 new PGS sites were visited. During Q6 several related activities were implemented, including: planning and strategic discussion on PGS activities for the coming months, formation of new PGS Coordinators, annual visits to groups in Ouagadougou, Koubri, Loumbila, Bilanga-Yanga and Eastern Region, exchange/learning visits for 26 producers involved in the PGS (both certified or not-yet certified).