On 7 November, in the presence of the local District Agricultural Officer (DAO), Mr Joseph K Mutuma and in front of an audience of 100 people, the 'Farmers’ Dialogue [1] International' association was officially announced in Kenya.

This follows a year of discussions and preparation and strong support from the Initiatives of Change International Council. Ten people from 10 countries signed a document to support this creation, based on a constitution which will be soon registered in Switzerland.

This official meeting took place near Nyahururu – Kenya, at the end of a Training of Trainers. The aim of the five-day session was to train and equip people responsible for Farmers’ Dialogue in order for them to be able to run sessions to mobilise farmers. They came from Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, RD Congo, France, Sweden, Britain and Australia. The target was more on Eastern Africa where Farmers’ Dialogue has been developing strongly lately. Two trainers from Foundations for Freedom [2] ran the session, and three people from Creators of Peace - Kenya [3] were involved.

The official meeting on 7 November was an occasion to gather 60 farmers from the area, all involved in farmers’ groups, mostly women, and to give some evidence of the work done by Farmers’ Dialogue, in the region and beyond. A lot of exchanges continued after the meeting, and two days of farm visits followed this day.