A workshop on the activities of Development NGOs based in the South West will be held at Bicton College, near Budleigh Salterton on Wednesday 7th June 2000 organised by the SW Region.

The background to this workshop is that NGOs make an important contribution to grassroot activities in agriculture and rural development in the developing world. At the same time, there are UK based NGOs active in the area of advocacy and development education. Both these topics overlap with the work and experiences of the membership of the TAA. The dual aims of the one day workshop are to provide information on the current range of overseas activities supported by UK NGOs, particularly those based in, or with a strong presence in, SW England, and to investigate how interested professionals from the South West TAA membership could contribute to these efforts. The role and use of the proposed Development Learning Resource Centre to be set up by the Bicton Overseas Agricultural Trust, BOAT and housed in the library of Bicton College of Agriculture will also be discussed. Three of the Trusteesof BOAT are TAA members.
The morning sessions will consist of contributions from international,national and local development NGOs that are working overseas explaining their activities and constraints. It is hoped that this will provide a national overview as well as later focus on the activities of a selection of NGOs based in the West of England. This will include case studies on particular projects and presentations on home-based activities. In the afternoon, there will be presentations from two NGOs concerned with development education in SW
Schools. This will be followed by splitting into four groups to have structured discussions between the participants to identify if there are opportunities for closer collaboration between NGO management and interested members of the TAA. The provisional topics for the four groups are: technical advice and support for overseas programmes; mutual support or information exchange on fund raising; supporting development education programmes in schools; the role and use of the BOAT Development Learning Resource Centre. In the wind-up plenary session after the reporting back and subsequent discussion, there will be an opportunity to identify proposals for future contacts and joint activities. Any comments on the proposed seminar will be welcomed by the organisers: John Russell

(tel:01392-876066;email:jfarussell@compuserve.com)

and Jeremy Groome (tel:01749 860358, email:jeremy.groome@btinternet.com).

Morning Programme

10.00 Arrive and coffee

10.30 Welcome by the Principal, Malcolm Florey

10.35 Introduction by Morning Chairman, John Russell

10.40 Presentation by British Overseas NGOs for Development, BOND

11.00 Presentation by Send a Cow Representative, David Bragg

11.20 Presentation by Action Aid, Sarah Tyley,International Training and Support Officer

11.40 Presentation by FARM Africa Devon "Friends of FARM" representative, Philippa Langdon

12.00 Presentation by Bicton Overseas Agricultural Trust, BOAT, Chairman, Bill Vellacott

12.20 Discussion

12.45 -1.40 Lunch

Afternoon Programme

1.40- 1.45 Introduction by Afternoon Chairman, Jeremy Groome

1.45 - 2.05 Presentation by Global and Development Education,GLADE, Project Coordinator, Tony Smith

2.05 - 2.25 Presentation by Devon Development in Education

2.25 - 2.30 Break into Groups

2.30 - 3.20 Group discussions on agreed topics

3.20 - 3.40 Groups report back

3.40 - 4.25 General discussion in plenary session

4.25 -4.30 Conclusions by Chairman

4.30 Tea and Depart