The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Association of Community Radio (AMARC) and the "Sosyete Animasyon Kominikasyon Sosyal" (SAKS) are joining the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of the Environment to announce the realization of the first National Seminar on Rural Communication Services for Family Farming and Rural Development in Haiti on 31 May 2017, and on 1 and 2 June the first National Workshop on Rural Communication for Resilient Family Farming and Sustainable Rural Development.

The main objective of the Seminar is to lay the foundations for a collaborative platform in Communication for Development between the participating entities and to stimulate debates on communication in rural and family farming, based on the results of a study carried out by SAKS between November 2016 and March 2017, in 15 rural communities in 8 departments that shows :

• The role and importance of means of communication for rural communities in meeting their information and knowledge needs ;

• The types of use of community media and information and communication technologies (ICTs) of state agricultural and environmental entities and non-governmental initiatives to support family farming, as well as the bottlenecks faced by community radio stations in the support for farmers and family and community groups ;

• The need to strengthen the community radio network and to promote the actions of the various entities working with farmers and peasant organizations in order to promote rural communication services that could benefit from the opportunities offered by these radios and the rapid expansion of ICTs in the development of family farming.

The workshop, on 1 and 2 June, aims to provide a forum for exchanges, learning and collaboration between institutions, farmers' organizations and community radios, with a view to improving extension and advisory systems focusing on family farming in the country.

IH/ iciHaiti