In this Issue

• Forthcoming events
• Training opportunities
• New in the library

From the Editors

The Rural Finance Learning Centre will continue to aim at sharing both academic and practical information and data on rural finance and related topics. Yet, there is one important aspect of information sharing that often get somehow neglected due to the large quantities of available written documents and publications and that we therefore would like to remind you of, namely that of dialogue and exchange of views. As we all know too well, one cannot always find time to actively participate in the many on-going debates and on-line discussions that have emerged thanks to advanced computer technology. At the same time, there are instances when one would want to refer to or check something that was discussed and debated in the past. For this reason, we believe that it is important to archive, to the extent possible, on-line discussions and debates. Digging into such archives can serve as a “reality check” that could prove to be very useful in determining, for example, priority areas for research. A discussion forum can be both permanent and time-bound but, both types carry value. One of the most prominent and most often cited in the field of rural finance is undoubtedly the Development Finance Network hosted by the Ohio State University. In the RFLC, you can read archived exchanges and debates of the Development Finance Network in the Devfinance MailingList Archive.

Bearing this in mind, we would like to remind you that you can still, for a few more days, participate in the GAIF e-forum of the Global Agro-Industries Forum (GAIF) that takes place in New Delhi from 8 to 11 April 2008. The event is jointly organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the Government of India. The e-forum aims at taking the roundtable discussions of the GAIF to the public in an effort to identify issues and experiences to be brought to the attention of the round table panellists and to highlight areas of interest and priorities for the regional workshops that are expected to follow the Global Forum. The RFLC will make an effort to provide easy access to the archived results of both the GAIF and the e-forum. We will come back to this topic in the forthcoming Newsletters.

Best wishes to all
The RFLC Editorial Team