ANNEX 3
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR PARTICIPANTS IN
THE SUBREGIONAL WORKSHOP
Objective
The aim is to strengthen the institutional capacities (both public and
private) of the Southern Cone Latin American countries to implement
programs for food safety and quality assurance in the area of fresh fruits
and vegetables, using the GAP, GMP and HACCP approaches.
Invitation
Government agencies, research organizations, cooperation agencies,
capacity building and technology transfer institutes, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), production and trading boards and centres for
technology promotion are invited to participate in the subregional
workshop on quality assurance and safety of fresh fruits and vegetables.
They are also invited to multiply national courses for trainers and to lead
working teams in the country to assist in the implementation of quality
assurance programs in horticulture.
Participants’ commitments
1. Participants, as inputs to the workshop, will:



produce a concise country frame of reference for the horticultural
sector (including recent growth rates, export markets, export
volumes, outline of producers, relations between producers–
exporters);
identify country
quality assurance
activities
and related
governmental, institutional and/or entrepreneurial policies underway
for the fresh fruits and vegetables sector;
describe briefly the assets and liabilities in implementing country
quality assurance programs in horticulture.
The participants selected will forward the completed questionnaire before
……………….. to: food-quality@fao.org; fax number +390657054593 (FAO,
Rome).
2. Once the regional workshop is concluded, participants are committed
to:

design a plan to multiply the training received in each country, (with
dates, beneficiaries, impact assessing strategies, etc.);




coordinate this plan with the relevant private and public agencies in
each country;
complete the training courses and assess the impact;
prepare a final report evaluating process and results;
design a draft “Action Plan” to enforce a quality assurance
programme for fresh fruits and vegetables.
Institutional commitments
Each participating institution should sign a letter of commitment, agreeing
to support, within the established period, the training program activities.
Costs and financing
FAO will cover the costs for lodging and meals for the public sector
participants, attending national and subregional workshops.
Selecting the participants
Five participants from each country will be selected. Selection will be
based on institutional alignments with the objectives of the workshop and
the endorsement of the required commitments.