FAO PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY
Venera Zakirova, Regional Partnership
Development Officer. FAO-REU
Budapest, 4.12.2013
Why partnership
FAO acknowledges that eradicating hunger, malnutrition
and poverty is a fight that can only be won by joining forces
with different stakeholders.
Partnerships make it possible to mobilize the best available
knowledge and capacities and provide the most effective
services in working toward common goals.
"Ending hunger cannot be done by any individual
organization alone".
FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva
FOOD SECURITY IS PARTNERSHIP
MAIN GOAL
• The main objective of the Strategy is to enhance
collaboration aimed at further increasing delivery of FAO’s
objectives of eliminating food insecurity and reducing
poverty.
• Overarching priority thematic areas for FAO partnerships:
• food security
• and
• protection of human rights, and dignity of farming to
support and encourage rural youth, capacity building of
food producers, gender equality and women
development/empowerment.
What is Partnership
• The FAO Organization-wide Strategy on partnerships
defines as,
• “...cooperation and collaboration between FAO units and
external parties in joint or coordinated action for a
common purpose.
• It involves a relationship where all parties make a
contribution to the output and the achievement of the
objectives rather than a solely financial relationship”.
Areas of collaboration.
• CSOs/NGOs, Private sector, Academia play a
crucial role in food security and poverty reduction is
several areas:
• from policy dialogue and discussions on substantive
matters
• to programme and project design and implementation.
Areas of collaboration. How.
The strategies identify six main areas of collaboration:
• Policy dialogue. To ensure the involvement of NGOs in policy
dialogue on issues related to food and nutrition security
• Normative activities. To ensure the involvement (participatory
approach) of CSOs in the design and implementation of codes of
conduct and regulatory frameworks in areas related to FAO’s mandate
• Knowledge sharing and capacity development. To promote the flow
of global knowledge on agriculture and nutrition issues, while also
capitalizing on the knowledge CSOs have from grassroots levels and
regional contexts
• Advocacy and Communication. To jointly reach grassroots audiences
and support raising their interests and concerns to decision-makers,
while also informing public opinion of these issues
• Joint use of resources. To jointly mobilize and use the wide human,
physical and financial resources available at different levels
• Field programme. To strengthen local capacities and project outreach
in a cost-effective manner
WHO ARE THE PARTNERS?
• Partnerships include main stakeholders: UN agencies,
funds and programmes, academia and research
institutions, international financial institutions (IFIs) and
inter-governmental entities.
• FAO partners with Governments, Civil society including both people’s organizations and NGOs,
Producers’ organizations and cooperatives, and the
private sector.
Food security – is shared goal in
partnership
• Successful partnerships result from different
organizations working towards
shared goal – food security
• Partnership activities must be consistent with FAO’s
mission and should enhance the effectiveness of its
work programme.
• An important element of the strategies ensures that key
stakeholders in the field of food security are identified
and involved at global, regional, and country levels in
support of FAO's work.
FAO vision
In partnership, FAO can more effectively contribute to
global efforts to eradicate hunger and reduce poverty,
improving food access for the poor and vulnerable by
working together with its partners.
FAO Vision:
A world free from hunger and malnutrition where food and
agriculture contribute to improving the living standards of
all, especially for the poorest, in economically, socially, and
environmentally sustainable manner.
How to partner
Mutual Principles
• a) A partnership is a voluntary association of actors sharing a common
interest; based on mutual respect and acknowledgement of each
organization’s capacities; built upon the comparative advantage and
knowledge of each organization, and not compromising the position, opinions
and nature of any of the partners.
• b) Respect for UN principles, human rights and dignity, gender equality and,
in particular, the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the
context of national food security.
FAO principles.
• a) FAO Membership and Governance: FAO is an Organization accountable to
its Member States. The nature of the Organization entails agreements and
adoption of standards of other UN and intergovernmental bodies.
• b) Neutral forum: FAO can provide a neutral forum for dialogue and debate.
• c) Knowledge organization: FAO is a knowledge organization, not a funding
institution. In those cases when the Organization funds a CSO, FAO’s rules
and regulations apply.
FAO’s five Strategic Objectives.
1.
Help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.
Why: Still 870 million people still suffer from chronic hunger including
171 mln children under age 5.
2.
Make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive
and sustainable.
Why: The world’s population is predicted to increase to 9 billion people
by 2050 that would require growth in agriculture sector.
3.
Reduce rural poverty.
Why: Most of the world’s poor live in rural areas.
4.
Enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food
systems.
Why: make sure that smallholder farmers and agricultural producers
are not excluded from value chain.
5.
Increase the resilience of livelihoods from disasters.
Why: make sure that people have access to food during disaster or
crises.
CSO/NGOs – who are they
Civil society organizations (CSOs) are those non-state actors that fit within three
main categories:
1) member-based organizations (MBOs);
2) non-governmental organizations (NGOs); a
3) and social movements (SMs) that work in areas related to FAO’s mandate.
Member-based organizations (MBO) are locally-based organizations made up of
stakeholders (e.g.small farmers, fishers or forest dwellers) who want to work
towards a variety of common goals, such as managing common resources,
lobbying their Member States on certain issues, or helping to satisfy local needs by
providing goods or services.
NGOs are formally constituted, legally registered, free from commercial interests,
non-profit organizations that provide services, information and expertise, sensitize
public opinion, and conduct advocacy activities.
Social movements (SM).This category includes platforms, committees,
mechanisms, federations and networks of advocacy-based and policy-oriented
organizations related to FAO’s mandate on food security and nutrition, which
promote claims or rights of specific constituencies (e.g. land-holding farmers, fishers
and fish workers, pastoralists and herders, forest dwellers, rural landless workers,
urban poor, indigenous peoples).
CSO mechanisms include
1) balanced representation by CSOs that considers 12 constituencies
• small farmers,
• landless,
• agri workers,
• fishers,
• pastoralists and herders,
• forest dwellers,
• ethnic groups and indigenous people,
• urban poor,
• consumers,
• NGOs,
• women and
• youth,
• 2) geography
• 3) gender
• 4) member-based groups such as farmer associations
Private sector.
• The private sector includes enterprises, companies or
businesses, regardless of size, ownership and structure. It
covers all sectors of the food, agriculture, forestry and
fisheries systems from production to consumption,
including associated services: financing, investment,
insurance, marketing and trade.
• Two billion smallholder farmers live and work in the
developing world. They are crucial in the fight to reduce
poverty and to feed a growing global population.
HOW TO PARTNER
Facilitate partnerships for food security and nutrition,
agriculture and rural development between governments,
development partners, civil society and the private sector.
Collaboration may start at the grassroots level in a bottomup approach that builds on well-established local
relationships.
One of the roles of governments is to create enabling
environments for the CSO/NGOs and Private sector to
optimise their role in rural development
How to partner – needs assessment
Summary of Kyrgyzstan case study:
1.
National platform to provide discussion, advocacy and learning platform, to
bring together CSO/NGOs to share their experience, practices, successes, peer-topeer exchanges and access to policy making processes.
2.
Capacity building to CSO/NGOs to address current challenges in food
production: technical capacities on new methodologies, up to date knowledge and
skills, best practices, knowledge sharing. This could be facilitated through trainings,
workshops, conferences.
3.
Capacity building on more effective partnership with local/national
stakeholders, including governments such as participatory approach, leadership,
project proposal development, promotion of community advocacy initiatives, tender
participation. This could be facilitated through trainings, workshops, conferences.
4.
Enhancement/inclusiveness of CSO/NGOs voice into policy debate through
civil society body at national/local governments and parliaments. (Similar bodies
exist in Ukraine – Civil society advisory committee at Ministry of Agriculture, Public
Chamber in Russia).
5.
Analytical center that would provide continuing flow of practical knowledge
transmitted to educational programs and vocational trainings, hence providing
access to information to most remote groups of agricultural workers, including
farmers.
6.
Vocational education center that would provide continuing flow of up-to-date
knowledge and skills needed for agricultural workers.
Web-links
Strategy for Partnerships with Civil Society Organizations,
English: http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3443e/i3443e.pdf
http://www.fao.org/partnerships/civil-society/
Russian: http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/027/mF999r.pdf
The FAO Strategy for partnerships with the private sector
http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/028/mg311e.pdf
The Principles and Guidelines for cooperation with the
private sector .
• ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/x2215e/x2215e00.pdf