Enhancing information exchange within a region and with a sectoral focus can facilitate both improvements in individual project outputs and also enhancement of the effect of the programme through enabling dissemination and scaling up of outputs. Exchange of lessons will better enable improvements in quality of project design, management, and monitoring with sustained impact on Latin American institutions, if national staff take the lead. The critical mass of the project activity will be enhanced, better enabling DFID's limited resources to influence policies of governments and other donors (such as the EU and IDB), as well as improving the effectiveness of our own programmes.

There are a number of professional networks already operating in the region of varying effectiveness, and DFID's projects have sponsored a number of study tours and exchanges between project personnel within the region. This will continue as a matter of good practice, funded from within project resources as far as possible. This linkages allocation is intended to complement project level links and existing networks, by focussing primarily on RNR policy and institution leaders in the region, and broadening their exposure to the issues and experiences of DFID financed projects. It will also augment current project links by improving the quality of, and access to, information on DFID projects.

Target groups will thus be governmental RNR policy and decision makers, counterpart national project managers, and those not directly involved in DFID funded projects. Also, NGO leaders, and key RNR and environmental institutions in the region, including the international agricultural research centres (CIP, CIAT, CATIE, CIMMYT). RNR specialists, those involved in cross cutting disciplines (social development, economics, institutional and human resource development) and non-specialists should be involved.

Policy makers and project staff associated with DFID natural environment programmes and projects in Latin America better informed about current development and policy issues through improved exchange of information.

• Decision makers and organisations and institutions involved in natural resources management, better informed about current project management and social, economc and technical issues, in particular pilot initiatives funded by DFID in Latin America.
• Improved dissemination of information and linkages between DFID projects and programmes, with those supported by other donor agencies and with policy development in the region.