Poised just off the south-eastern coast of India, Sri Lanka gleams like one of the many gemstones for which it is famous.  This small country, less than one-fifth the size of Newfoundland, is home to the second longest-running project in AIC's International Twinning Partnership Program (ITPP).  Established in 1995, SRICANSOL has become a model for international scientific cooperation and a leader in agricultural development that produces results where they count most - on the farm and in the lives of farmers. With this stellar track record, project leaders from the Soil Science Society of Sri Lanka (SSSSL) were well qualified to host the 2009 ITPP International Partners' Meeting, which took place July 29 to August 2 at Amaya Lake, Sri Lanka.
 
Delegates attended the meeting from Canada and the four other countries where ITPP projects are located -- Vietnam, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Ghana. Whether through the adoption of better land management and soil conservation methods, the introduction of new crops, or the integration of crop and livestock production, these projects share the goals of improving agricultural production, food security, and human health in poor, rural regions, while reducing the environmental risks posed by and encountered in farming.  
 
During the opening ceremony, delegates were invited to join in lighting a traditional oil lamp, a fitting symbol of the cooperative spirit that marked the whole conference. Dr. Ajantha de Silva, SSSSL President, welcomed the group, and Tom Beach, AIC's International Program Coordinator outlined the IPM program. Following the presentation of written greetings from the Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka's Minister of Agriculture, and the Minister of Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services, Dr. WMADB Wickramasinghe, Team Leader of SRICANSOL II, introduced a session on project summary reports, which focussed on successes upon which new ITPP programming will be built.
 
Subsequent sessions identified approaches to ensure viable and strong professional organizations for the future, presented tools for measuring results in such areas as poverty alleviation and food security, and advanced the development of goals and objectives for ITPP 2011-2016. A particularly helpful session offered by Nihal Atapattu, CIDA Development Officer in Sri Lanka, coached delegates in how to frame future work to meet the goals of development agencies, partner states, and international agreements. Threaded throughout the sessions was discussion of the continuing need to promote gender equality and engage youth for the future, both in academia and scientific societies and in the agricultural setting.  Another theme that received serious attention was the integration of agricultural adaptation to climate change into program and project goals.  
 
Meeting time was interspersed with driving tours of the varied agricultural landscapes in Sri Lanka, from the pineapple-growing belt along the west coast to the rice fields of the central north and the high-elevation tea plantations in the hill country.  During project site visits, local farmers and their families gathered to meet the delegates and recount first-hand how new methods introduced by the project - perhaps a simple composting technique, a different crop variety, a new horticultural technology - have improved their yields, boosted their income, improved their living conditions, and burnished their reputations as successful farmers.
 
Delegates left the IPM with a renewed vigour for the work on their own projects, as well as new ideas and technologies to tailor to their project needs.  They also left encouraged that the ITP

P is having positive results in every partner country - successes that will form the building blocks as the next phase of ITPP programming is developed.
 
Joan Gregorich, Observer, 2009 IPM