Please circulate widely!

Table of Contents:

1. Three New E-learning Courses Released!
2. The New Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) Workstation
3. New Publication: The Economic Effects of Land Reform in Tajikistan
4. Burkina Faso's Food Security Dynamic Atlas
5. Luca Alinovi, Programme Manager, on protectionism, free markets and the need for investment in agriculture (video)
6. RSS News feeds now available

1. Three New E-learning Courses Released!

Three new courses and training resources have been released:
- Food Security Policies - Formulation and Implementation
- Targeting
- Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis

For more information about the courses see: http://www.foodsec.org/DL/dlcourselist_en.asp

Resources for trainers are available at:
http://www.foodsec.org/tr_res.htm

All the courses are free, open to all interested learners and can be started anytime.



2. The New Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) Workstation

Making the most of collaborative “Web 2.0” technologies, the new workstation encourages users to add their own data and even directly modify the workstation to suit their own needs.

Read Article:
http://www.foodsec.org/news_08_09.htm

Read about how the GIEWS Workstation is being used to monitor high food prices in Armenia:
http://www.foodsec.org/news_08_06.htm

Try out the new workstation:
http://lprapp08.fao.org:8080/fenix-web/org.fao.fenix.web.modules.core.Fenix/
Fenix.html



3. New Publication: The Economic Effects of Land Reform in Tajikistan

This study analyzes the economic effects of land reform policies in Tajikistan on rural households and the agricultural sector.

Although the majority of Tajikistan's rural population live in poverty and many are food insecure, a scientific evaluation of the effects of land and farm policy reform has yet to be conducted. This study attempts to fill this void by offering a description of land reform and an analysis of its economic consequences in Tajikistan.

Download Publication : ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/aj285e/aj285e00.pdf



4. Burkina Faso's Food Security Dynamic Atlas

The Dynamic Atlas helps policy makers draw together and visualize different types of food security information in an easy to understand way. Three training workshops were organized by FAO and the Burkina Faso’s “Direction Générale des Prévisions et des Statistiques Agricoles.”

In October 2008, the Dynamic Atlas was officially handed over to the government of Burkina Faso (read article in French):
http://www.foodsec.org/news_08_05.htm

More About the Training Events:
http://www.foodsec.org/tr.htm#oth

Prototype of the Dynamic Atlas for Burkina Faso:
http://www.foodsec.org/tr/bk/prototype_pres.pdf

What is the Dynamic Atlas?
Dynamic Atlas is an information management and publishing suite of tools that enables organizations to integrate spatial (maps), tabular (spreadsheet), and unstructured (document) data and metadata.
Read More:
http://www.fao.org/gtos/doc/FAODynamicAtlas.pdf



5. Protectionism, free markets and the need for investments in agriculture (video)

Luca Alinovi, FAO, reflects on the issue of ‘Rising food prices: an opportunity for change?'. He advocates for a 'policy space' that has a good balance between protectionism and free market.

See video: http://blip.tv/file/1369592



6. RSS News feeds now available

RSS news feeds are an easy way of keeping up to date with programme news such as the release of new e-learning courses, training events, etc.

To get started, paste this address into your RSS news reader:
http://www.foodsec.org/news.xml

What is RSS?
The BBC has published an excellent guide for getting started with RSS news feeds:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/help/3223484.stm



This newsletter aims at keeping you up-to-date with the latest news, activities and events related to the EC-FAO Food Security Programme. Share your own news and comments by sending a message to:
information-for-action@fao.org

This newsletter is available on-line at: http://www.foodsec.org/nl_1108.htm