Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
FAO’s office of knowledge exchange, Research and Extension has a Research and Extension Branch. It supports the organization and management of national agricultural research systems to strengthen their abilities to generate, adapt and transfer appropriate technologies; provides assessment, policy advice and assistance to reorienting extension services toward creating pluralistic, demand-led and market orientated systems, new financing mechanisms, the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and monitoring and evaluation; and facilitate and promote FAO’s participation in international initiatives and efforts in agricultural research and extension.
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD):
IFAD is an international financial institution and specialized United Nations agency based in Rome, the UN’s food and agriculture hub. Their vision is Inclusive and sustainable rural transformation. IFAD invest in rural people and empower them to increase their food security, improve the nutrition of their families and increase their incomes and help them to build resilience, expand their businesses and take charge of their own development.
Centre for Research on Innovation and Science Policy (CRISP):
The major objective of CRISP is in understanding the process of agricultural and rural innovation by exploring the innovation process through action research, case studies and mentoring organizations and networks involved in experimenting with new approaches for promoting rural innovation. CRISP has also been actively involved in lesson learning, capacity strengthening, organizing policy dialogues and promoting new perspectives on rural innovation through policy-relevant publications. Extension and Advisory Services is an important theme of CRISP.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB):
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. It assists its members and partners by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development. The major functions ADB does in the region are, addressing remaining poverty and reducing inequality, accelerating progress in gender equality, tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability, making cities more livable, promoting rural development and food security, strengthening governance and institutional capacity and fostering regional cooperation and integration
The Asian Productivity Organization (APO):
It is a regional intergovernmental organization.The APO is nonpolitical, nonprofit, and nondiscriminatory organization which aims to contribute to the sustainable socioeconomic development of Asia and the Pacific through enhancing productivity. The vision of the organization is to be the leading international organization on productivity enhancement and enabling APO economies to be more productive and competitive by 2020
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI):
IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. It is a research center of CGIAR, a worldwide partnership engaged in agricultural research for development. The goal of this organization is a world free of hunger and malnutrition and Its mission is to provide research-based policy solutions that sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. Five major strategic areas of the organization are fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply, promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for All, Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry, Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies and Strengthening Institutions and Governance
Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services (MEAS):
The objective for MEAS is to define and disseminate good practice strategies and approaches to establishing efficient, effective and financially sustainable rural extension and advisory service systems in selected countries. It is implemented by a University of Illinois Consortium and it has three components.Training-disseminating modern approaches to extension through user- friendly training materials and good practice notes and good training programs that promote new strategies and approaches to rural extension & advisory service delivery.Research-Analyzing and documenting lessons learned and good practice through success stories, case studies,evaluations, pilot projects and action research. Advisory services- designing modern extension, information, and advisory services projects, programs, and institutions in the public and private sectors
Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services (INGENAES):
INGENAES is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the prime awardee and partners with the University of California-Davis, the University of Florida, and Cultural Practice, LLC. They collaborate with agricultural extension, gender and nutrition experts worldwide, supporting extension providers in focus countries to Integrate service delivery mechanisms that better reach women farmers and promote nutrition sensitive agriculture, Assist stakeholders in designing and implementing gender-transformative, nutrition-sensitive activities, Partner in innovative learning exchanges, Carry out needs-based assessments and applied research, Create mentoring programs and strengthen networks, Support farmer organizations and Hold regional technology fairs and virtual marketplaces
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD):
The Government of Nepal is a founding member of ICIMOD, along with seven other member states. Nepal has been a partner of ICIMOD since its inception and has been helping to meet its major objectives of poverty alleviation and environmental conservation in the Hindu Kush Himalayas. The Government of Nepal contributes to core support to ICIMOD. National Planning Commission (NPC) is the designated nodal agency.
Wageningen University:
What was founded in 1964 as ‘Extension Science’ has grown into Communication Science, consisting of two groups: the Communication and Innovation Studies Group and the Communication Strategies Group. The Communication and Innovation Studies Group analyses communication within and between knowledge and policy networks, to gain a better understanding of innovation and policy processes.The Communication Strategies Group studies the way people communicate in order to accomplish goals.
Royal Tropical Institute(KIT):
The Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam is an independent centre of knowledge and expertise in the areas of international and intercultural cooperation, operating at the interface between theory and practice and between policy and implementation.KIT aims to improve the livelihoods of vulnerable producers in developing countries and supports, among others, through policy advice, capacity development, workshops and training courses. Some of its key research themes include Rural decentralisation and local governance, sustainable markets and value chains; agricultural services for rural development, Gender and ICTs
SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC):
SAARC Agricultural Centre: Located at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) complex, Dhaka, Bangladesh, the SAARC Agriculture Center is the first regional centre of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Its goal is to promote agricultural Research and Development (R&D) as well as technology dissemination initiatives for sustainable agricultural development and poverty reduction in the Region. It has organised several consultations on strengthening agricultural extension services in South Asian countries\
Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security in South Asia (CCAFS):
Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is a 10-year research initiative of the CGIAR and and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP). CCAFS seeks to overcome the threats to agriculture and food security in a changing climate, exploring new ways of helping vulnerable rural communities adjust to global changes in climate. It has four interlinked research themes, namely, adaptation to progressive climate change, adaptation through managing climate risk, pro-poor climate change mitigation and integration for decision making. For more details on its programmes in South Asia.
LIRNREasia:
LIRNEasia is a regional information and communication technology (ICT) policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific. LIRNEasia’s research in agriculture explores the following broad thematic areas: Information and knowledge gaps in agricultural value chains; Inclusive strategies for greater integration of smallholders into global value chains and the effects of the constrained allocative domains of smallholders on their incentives for achieving higher productivity.
AIT Extension:
AIT Extension based at Thailand offers continuing professional education, short-course training and consultancy services. It provides a broad array of capacity building programs and services and its short courses on Sustainable Land Management and Extension Techniques, Sustainable Livelihoods, Value Chain Management in Agricultural Marketing, Gender and Development etc would be of interest to extension professionals in the region. They also provide services for organization of conferences, seminars and workshops.
Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA):
It is regional alliance of national federations and organizations of small scale women and men farmers and producers. Based at Philippines, its mission is to create a forum where Asian small farmers can lobby for farmers’ rights and development, genuine agrarian reform, and main- streaming sustainable agriculture in regional and national policies and programs. AFA invites national farmers’ organizations as members and works with NGOs in facilitating the formation of national farmers’ organizations and in continuously building their capacities.
Access Agriculture:
Access Agriculture is an international NGO which showcases agricultural training videos in local languages. The video & audio tracks can also be downloaded by farmers, extension professionals, radio stations etc. This is a platform for agricultural R&D staff, service providers, extension agents, communication professionals and representatives of farmer organisations to see what training videos are available and request new language versions. The videos are all designed to support sustainable agriculture in developing countries. For maximum impact in improving opportunities for farmers explore Access Agriculture
The Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP):
CIRDAP is a regional, intergovernmental and autonomous organisation. Its 15 member countries include, Afghanistan, Bangladesh (Host State), Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. It promote research and organises training programmes on various aspects of Integrated Rural Development (IRD) in the region. It also serves as a clearing house and data bank for information on IRD in the region and promote the dissemination of information through publications.