FAO: PARTNERING FOR A HUNGER-FREE WORLD

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©FAO/Giulio Napolitano

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FAO: PARTNERING FOR A HUNGER-FREE WORLD

Eradicating hunger is a challenge that FAO cannot—and should not—face alone. During the

period 2012-14, FAO has shifted its approach and consolidated its collaboration with civil

society organizations, the private sector, the media and other key development partners.

The Organization is now actively pursuing an open FAO approach: open to working with

others, and open to evolving and adapting to the changing development environment for

the fulfilment of its mandate: a world free of hunger.

regular access to enough high quality food to lead active, healthy lives.

The Strategies for Partnerships with Civil Society Organizations and the Private Sector identify six main areas of collaboration: policy dialogue; normative work; technical and field programmes; advocacy and communication; joint use and mobilization of resources; and knowledge sharing.

Since the approval of the Strategies in April 2013, FAO has formalized more than 60 agreements with key non-state actors in support of the Strategic Objectives and Country Programming Frameworks.

FAO’s commitment to work with partners is reflected in key agreements such as those described in the following pages.

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FAO AND PARTNERSHIPS

FAO recognizes that partnerships are crucial for assisting member countries in their efforts to eradicate food insecurity in the world. As a result, FAO has renewed its commitment to strengthen the Organization’s relations with key non-state actors, which include four main groups: civil society organizations, private sector, academia and cooperatives.

FAO proactively identifies, develops and strengthens strategic partnerships with these non-state actors and engages in inclusive partnerships that can add value by mobilizing the best knowledge, capacities and human resources available to create a meaningful impact at the field level. These partners can effectively assist member countries in their efforts to ensure that people have

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BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

In collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, FAO is involved in a number of projects in the field of agricultural statistics and policies. Bangladesh is currently receiving support to improve its agricultural market information systems, using innovative methods and digital technology. This initiative was designed in the context of the Agricultural Market Information System established at the request of the Agriculture Ministers of the G20 to enhance food market transparency and encourage coordination of policy action in response to market uncertainty.

EATALY

FAO and Eataly—an Italian food retailer operating in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia—are supporting cooperatives in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region. The Tsega and Nyara Cactus product cooperative, run by Ethiopian women, is already engaged in homemade cactus pear marmalade production, and will commercialize their cactus pear marmalade internationally through Eataly. This is an example of how FAO is empowering female farmers by helping them generate extra income and thus improving their livelihoods, which in turn increases food security and nutrition and contributes to local development in the region.

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FAO’S FAMILY FARMING KNOWLEDGE PLATFORM

FAO coordinated the 2014 International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), focusing specifically on raising global awareness and political commitment to family farming by emphasizing its vital contribution to food security and nutrition, poverty eradication and sustainable rural development. The IYFF drew attention to the importance of family farming through events held around the world by a broad range of partners. The IYFF multi-stakeholder dialogue process identified policy priorities on family farming and launched FAO’s Family Farming Knowledge

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and Editor-in-Chief of Thomson Reuters Foundation Belinda Goldsmith sign an agreement outlining joint activities.

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Platform. The Platform will provide the world’s largest high-level digital collection of quality and up-to-date materials related to family farming. The gains made through IYFF also bolstered FAO’s own commitment to family farming in its agenda of work.

PEER-TO-PEER PARTNERSHIP IN BURKINA FASO

An FAO-brokered partnership between producers organizations (Confédération Paysanne du Faso), the Association pour le Développement International Agronomique et Industriel des Protéagineux et Oléagineux (Agropol), and the Union des Producteurs Agricoles du Québec – Développement International (UPA-DI), has led to improved small producers productivity (tripling of production yields) and access to markets through contract farming with processors, increased incomes and reduced dependency on imported products in the sunflower value chain. FAO provided the technical assistance. The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WEAMU) has shown interest in upscaling the approach at the subregional level in West Africa. The initiative is now included as a priority in the National Programme for the Rural Sector of Burkina Faso.

RABOBANK FOUNDATION

Smallholders’ access to credit in Africa is being improved through the combination of Rabobank’s financial know-how and FAO’s technical expertise and local networks. In Tanzania, the organizations are helping 520 smallholders become eligible for formal lending, which allows them to finance and develop agro-value chain activities and turn them into profitable ventures. In Kenya, preferential rate loans are being provided to farmer groups that are practicing conservation agriculture. In Ethiopia, Rabobank and FAO are working with 41 leaders of cooperative unions, producer cooperatives, and governmental leaders in the region to develop capacities on agricultural financing for cooperatives and small-medium enterprises.

SLOW FOOD

Within the context of the International Years of Quinoa in 2013 and Family Farming in 2014, FAO and Slow Food joined efforts to raise global awareness on the important roles that quinoa and family farming play in sustainable food production and the eradication of poverty. Activities included publishing “Quinoa in the Kitchen”, a collection of quinoa based

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recipes from top chefs, and the organization of the Family Farming Expo in June 2014.

WORLD VISION INTERNATIONAL

In March 2014, FAO and World Vision International jointly distributed 3 000 emergency fishing kits in Unity State, South Sudan, reaching around 9 000 people. Additionally, joint distributions of emergency crop, vegetable and fishing kits took place in Upper Nile State reaching beneficiaries in Fashoda, Manyo, Melut and Renk.

COMMUNICATINGFAO’S WORK

The effectiveness and credibility of the Organization as a policy-making forum and unique multilingual centre of excellence, knowledge and technical expertise depends to a considerable degree on its ability to communicate its work.Communicating with the public is essential for a technical entity such as FAO. In the age of information, having access to a variety of communication tools (for both niche and popular audiences) enables FAO to share with the world its commitment to the fight against hunger.

Launched at the beginning of 2014, the new FAO Corporate Communication Policy is a key instrument to ensure effective communication in support of the achievement of the Organization’s priorities. A major undertaking in FAO communication was the launch of the renewed FAO.org in 2013. At the same time, key partnerships in the communication area have been established with EFE, IFAJ, the National Geographic Society and Thomson Reuters Foundation.

EFE NEWS AGENCY

FAO and the Spanish news agency EFE are collaborating for the dissemination of information and joint initiatives on issues related to FAO’s mandate, including the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals. Activities currently underway include information exchanges and the organization of interviews and reports. FAO and EFE are also training journalists in FAO activities and information related to its Strategic Objectives to facilitate the liaison with EFE for the distribution and dissemination of content.

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INTER PRESS SERVICE

The primary purpose of FAO’s agreement with the Inter Press Service (IPS) is to enhance the public’s understanding of the broad range of topics related to food and agriculture through the unique network of IPS correspondents and partners in developing countries. As an independent news agency reporting on global issues and development, IPS informs international debates with reports both from the field and from conference rooms to contribute to balanced coverage of food and agriculture issues. Over a 12-month period from mid-2014 to mid-2015, IPS will increase its flow of communication focused on major food and agriculture related challenges for developing countries. Twenty major feature stories with extensive reporting from the field will be issued to a broad range of media and institutional partners to maximize global visibility.

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURAL JOURNALISTS

The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) is a not-for-profit independent professional association that affiliates more than 3 000 journalists from 32 national associations. FAO and IFAJ have joined forces to promote wider global sharing of agricultural information and better highlight FAO’s activities in specialized agricultural media worldwide.Under the terms of the agreement, FAO information is disseminated among IFAJ members to help journalists raise public awareness on the necessary actions to end hunger. This agreement also features jointly organized events and the opening of an FAO news section on IFAJ’s website with extensive information on food and agriculture issues and trends. A joint FAO/IFAJ award will be created to recognize the work of journalists who significantly contribute to these efforts.

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY AND LIBERA UNIVERSITA DI LINGUE COMUNICAZIONE

With the common interest of promoting coherent global action for poverty alleviation and ensuring food security for all, FAO, the John Cabot University (JCU) and Libera Universita di Lingue Comunicazione (IULM) are collaborating to organize two separate summer courses on communicating about food security, nutrition and global development, to be held during the second half of 2015. The two courses will be offered to English-speaking international students and will comprise two weeks of ©FAO/Sia Kambou

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lectures on JCU and IULM campuses in Rome and Milan respectively, with a select number of lectures organized by the latter at media houses in Milan. The curriculum will cover food security issues, emphasizing the development of critical thinking, communication and research. By expanding human understanding through enhanced knowledge and communication, the courses will make a positive difference in societal well-being, food security and poverty alleviation, locally, regionally and globally. FAO’s information materials will be made available on both sites and the students will receive a certificate on completion of the course, to be issued by JCU and IULM independently, indicating that the course was delivered “with the assistance and technical support of FAO”.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

FAO’s collaboration with the National Geographic Society enabled the publishing of an eight-month series entitled “The Future of Food” in 2014, focusing on food security and related themes such as resource sustainability, food waste, land grabbing, drought, soil, and the evolution of diets. The series was launched in time to raise awareness on the International Year of Family Farming and its goal to reposition family farming at the centre of social policies in national agendas. The series was the subject of a dedicated

exhibition displayed at FAO headquarters during World Food Week, the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) and FAO Council. In addition, National Geographic and FAO have collaborated on other types of events that highlighted the importance of agriculture, food and nutrition security and sustainable development, including a joint exhibition displayed in museums in Rome, Geneva and Lima.

THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION

The agreement between FAO and Thomson Reuters Foundation, the corporate charity of the world’s biggest news and information provider, aims at improving global information and awareness on hunger and food-related issues. A new section on trust.org, the Thomson Reuters Foundation portal, entirely dedicated to delivering news content on these issues is the main output of this agreement. Stories are produced and sourced by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and made available for free usage globally in order to spread information about food security as widely as possible. Topics covered include food production, food security and safety, food waste, agriculture and land use, undernutrition and malnutrition, and food affordability, among others. The agreement was signed in July 2014.

Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations

Viale delle Terme di Caracalla00153 Rome, ItalyTel: (+39) 06 57051Fax: (+39) 06 570 53152e-mail: FAO-HQ@fao.orgweb: www.fao.org

“Ending hunger cannot be done by any individual organization alone.”

José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General

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RADIO TELEVISIONE ITALIANA

In the beginning months of 2015, FAO is hosting Italian state television, Radio Televisione Italiana (RAI), in the Sheikh Zayed Centre to film a documentary series. The six episodes, which will air at prime time on Saturday evenings on RAI3 channel, consist of ”TED-like talks” covering topics from climate change, pollution, melting glaciers, rising seas to migration, land grabbing, fracking, resilience and recycling. The programme builds on FAO’s data and research and prominently features FAO projects in different countries through footage and interviews realized both in the field and at headquarters. Leading experts and global

thinkers are participating in the series, including FAO’s Director-General. This specific collaboration is expected to pave the way to similar future engagements with Italian and global media and television networks. For the UN presence at EXPO 2015, FAO is functioning as the coordinating agency in a partnership with WFP, IFAD and RAI to raise awareness about food security and nutrition issues under the “The Zero Hunger Challenge: United for a sustainable world” theme.