PAN Africa is an information and action network and a member of Pesticide Action Network International, a global coalition of voluntary groups, non-governmental organisations, civil societies, research institutes, scholars, and citizens working towards the adoption of sound ecological practices to replace the use of hazardous chemical pesticides.

PAN Africa members act together independently in order to :

	further inform and raise awareness on the hazards and problems related to pesticide use in agriculture and disease vector control
	work towards the understanding of complex questions and issues related to the indiscriminate use of pesticides
	at all levels of the society, to work towards the consolidation and wide dissemination of methods, techniques and adapted local technologies as alternatives to hazardous and expensive chemical pesticides
	promote protection of the environment and sustainable agriculture based on sound management and development of local resources.
	PAN Africa Regional Centre is at the service of its members and governmental, intergovernmental and international institutions working towards the objectives defined below

ORIGIN

PAN International was set up in 1982 in Malaysia during an international meeting on Pesticides World Trade sponsored jointly by the International Organisation of Consumers Unions (IOCU) and Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth - Malaysia). Participants at this historic meeting, African organisations, among them, decided to set up PAN which is a global information and action network. PAN is also a framework for implementing concrete activities in order to cope with network problems posed by pesticides.

Today PAN involves more than 400 groups and organisations and is present in over 60 countries throughout the 5 continents.

 STRUCTURE

PAN is represented by 5 Regional Centres worldwide : for Asia and the Pacific it is based in Malaysia, for Latin America in Peru, for North America in the USA, for Europe the central activities are coordinated by PAN UK (formerly The Pesticides Trust) based in London, England and for Africa in Senegal. The USA regional centre based in California, coordinates the activities of 5 regional centres. The Regional Centre coordinators meet once a year in California in order to define the network’s main thrust of action. However, each Regional Centre retains its autonomy and acts according to priorities defined by regional members.

The African Regional Centre, the latest of the PAN Regional Centres, has been based in Dakar since May 1996. It coordinates members’ activities throughout the continent. Three times per year the African Regional Centre publishes  a journal "Pesticides & Alternatives", on issues related to pesticides and alternatives to chemical pest control.

PRIORITIES & ACTIVITIES

Communication

	setting up a system for the collection of information through research and collaboration ;
	publishing the journal "Pesticides & Alternatives", leaflets, written and audiovisual documents to raise people's awareness of pesticide issues ;
	organising workshops and training sessions ;
	providing the Regional Documentation Centre with information and data on pesticides and issues related to pesticides (Integrated Pest Management, sustainable agriculture, organic agriculture, natural crop protection, pesticides and health, pesticides and environment preservation, legislation on pesticides, etc.) ;
	setting up of a public computerized data bank on pesticides, sustainable agriculture and agroecology.

 Legislation on pesticides

	making regulatory and legislative texts more understandable for pesticide users and the general public ;
	Supporting consumer associations to help them take account of issues related to pesticides ;
	working with authorities and interested individuals for the adoption, implementation or the strenghtening of legislation in Africa and the circulation of the FAO code on pesticide distribution and use ;
	informing the public opinion, notably NGOs and farmers, on banned or restricted hazardous pesticides.

Promotion of alternatives to pesticides

	organising training sessions, workshops, field visits and exchanges of information on alternatives, notably Integrated Pest Management (IPM), biological control, organic agriculture, natural crop protection,
	listing IPM methods and techniques in agriculture that can be safe and cheap alternatives to pesticides and disseminating them widely among its members.

Today PAN Africa involves organisations and individuals in Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali , Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe