Every season, MESA receives inquiries and applications from around the world seeking collaboration opportunities in farmer-to-farmer exchange to promote sustainable agriculture. This year, MESA is thrilled to announce a new partnership with the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC).

CEDAC was established in 1997 and is the largest NGO in Cambodia focused on sustainable agriculture research and training. They have helped over 100,000 rural farm families in over 3200 villages improve production practices and socio-economic conditions by means of professional training, resource distribution, and connecting producers to markets and farmers' networks.

For MESA's future, we are excited to announce the nascent partnership development of a 2012 program with Haiti! This partnership will be part of MESA's Professional Networking Program (PNP) targeted towards urban and small-scale market garden production and the raising of small livestock.  By concentrating on municipal communities and urban fringe areas affected by natural disaster we aim to improve access to nutritious and affordable food and generate new sources of income for developing market gardeners.

MESA's selection criteria for new Global Partners include : length of organization establishment and track record, connection and integration with rural producers and especially women farmers, existing synergy with MESA's mission, programatic relationships with other likeminded organizations, ability to address ecological production and access to market challenges for the agrarian population and the capacity to provide material resources and networking support to post-program participants. New Global Partner agreements are based on a careful assessment of the proposed partnerships regions and the potential impact MESA's exchange and training program.

MESA will sustain its longstanding partnerships with the alumni-formed NGO Huayra Causay in Ecuador, the Horticulture Department of La Molina National Agrarian University in Peru, REVSODEP in Ghana, and the EarthNet Foundation in Thailand. We are ever grateful for the friendships and continuous cooperation between the Global Partner coordinators that make this program succeed. Thank you, gracias, fi jiam jiam, คุณขอบคุณ!