189.     The programme groups complementary entities aimed at leveraging resources for the benefit of Members. It comprises:

• assistance to both technical and decentralized units in project identification and formulation and joint programming under new funding modalities at country level, with particular attention to the development of unilateral trust funds (UTFs), emergency and post-crisis programmes, strategic partnership agreements, programmes funded under the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and initiatives from G-8 members (the main scope of 3AP02);
• FAO’s advocacy role in support of financing of agricultural and rural development in countries, including assistance in the identification of funding opportunities, facilitation of high-level dialogue/negotiations, as well as harmonisation with the efforts of other development partners (essentially through 3AS08);
• formulation of comprehensive national and regional food security programmes that address both the production and access dimensions of food security, and formulation of tripartite South-South Cooperation (SSC) agreements (3AP03);
• constituting the bulk of resources under this programme (i.e. all the other TS entities), work on investment generation carried out by the Investment Centre (TCI) in collaboration with international financing institutions (IFIs), in particular the World Bank, regional banks (AfDB, AsDB, IDB, IsDB) and the UN Rome-based agencies (IFAD and WFP) helping to target loans and grants to agricultural growth, poverty reduction and the eradication of hunger. The Investment Centre ensures: a close dialogue and collaboration between FAO, IFIs and recipient countries; and that IFIs, bilateral donors, governmental and non-governmental bodies give priority, in their strategies and lending programmes, to food security and poverty reduction. It also seeks enhancement of national investment planning and project formulation capabilities so that the countries in greatest need are able to attract more investment in agriculture, especially through the investment officers to be placed in the Subregional Offices (3AS16).

190.     Programme 3B brings together in two groups the key activities which provide for the analytical underpinning of policy work and the provision of policy assistance (including field programme development).

191.     The first grouping covers analytical work for better understanding of the impact of agricultural, rural development and environmental policies on poverty and food security, and on the relationship between agriculture, hunger and poverty. It explores policy options to take into account those linkages. The programme also covers the preparation of The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA), servicing of the Committee on World Food Security and monitoring of the implementation of World Food Summit commitments. It will give due emphasis to the establishment of networks among centres of excellence in countries to foster exchanges of experience on policy work on agriculture, rural poverty, food security and on the interface between the agricultural sector, including agro-industries, with secondary and tertiary sectors and its role in stimulating economic growth.

192.     Preparatory work will be initiated on a new long-term perspective study World Agriculture: Towards 2050, while publications on thematic topics of global significance will continue to be issued. The programme includes a well-established interdepartmental entity, FIVIMS, aiming at strengthened action to address food insecurity, malnutrition and vulnerability within the context of poverty reduction. The FIVIMS entity supports better targeting of food insecure, malnourished and vulnerable groups, assessing where the food insecure are located and why these population groups are suffering from food insecurity. The programme also ensures global monitoring of WFS, MDGs and Maputo Declaration commitments on government expenditure on agriculture and formulates estimates of food deprivation to appear in SOFI and SOFA. Entity 3BP11 takes account of the role of livestock in economic development and poverty alleviation, supported by the extrabudgetary-funded Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative.

193.     The second grouping covers a range of policy advisory services involving various layers of the organizational structure aimed at:

• establishing an enabling legal and regulatory environment and proper institutional arrangements for agriculture and rural development;
• supporting the formulation, implementation and harmonisation of agriculture and rural development policies in the framework of poverty reduction strategies and other national initiatives;
• strengthening the capacities of countries and their Regional Economic Integration Organizations (REIOs) in policy analysis, formulation, implementation and evaluation;
• translating the analytical work of FAO into the adoption of innovative approaches and improved methodologies, based on lessons learnt and dissemination of good practices; and
• supporting field programme development at country and regional level, through active participation of policy officers in the formulation of national medium-term priority frameworks (NMTPFs) and other national, regional or subregional planning exercises, the identification and design of cost-effective projects, and methodologies for post-emergency strategies.

194.     Programme 3C covers FAO's ongoing trade and commodity market analysis work contributing to better formulation by Members of commodity policy and trade strategies compatible with their overall development objectives. The programme will also support policies for diversification and value-addition in both domestic and export markets. Analyses will be carried out of national and international food supply and demand, and commodity markets' developments in support of GIEWS and trade issues in terms of their impact on national and household food security. With respect to international agricultural trade policy, the programme will include: analyses, technical assistance to countries and capacity-building to support effective participation in international trade negotiations and implementation of multilateral trade arrangements. Entity 3CP06 also addresses global and regional assessments of the livestock sector and livestock commodities to guide priorities in development, research and investment; and entity 3CP07 deals with transboundary animal diseases and food safety hazards in value chains and the costs and economic impacts of animal diseases and of their control.

195.     Programme 3D collects, analyses and disseminates statistics on resources, production, prices, agricultural trade and its flow by origin and destination. Domestic supply utilisation accounts are maintained for crops and livestock products, as well as resources. Agricultural trade, output, input, price and productivity indexes are prepared. The programme compiles and analyses food consumption and demographic data and derives indicators pertaining to the food and nutrition situation. In addition to FAOSTAT, it maintains specialised databases on food security, investment in agriculture, assistance to agriculture, government expenditures on agriculture, macro-economic indicators and census of agriculture.

196.     The programme manages and maintains FAOSTAT, which is FAO's corporate database for substantive statistical data, and sets and monitors quality standards for food and agriculture statistics. It promotes participation of countries in world agricultural census programmes, including scope, coverage, concepts, definitions, classifications, methodology and proposed tabulations. It assesses and responds to country needs for technical assistance in planning and conducting agricultural censuses and surveys, including data processing, analysis and dissemination of results. It also develops, manages and promotes CountrySTAT as an integrated system of food and agriculture statistics at the national level and its outreach programme. Programme 3D conducts methodological studies, expert consultations, seminars, workshops and participates in international fora to promote food and agricultural statistics.

197.     The programme includes support to the International Alliance Against Hunger and National Alliances at country level, coupled with essential advocacy and public awareness-raising activities such as World Food Day, FAO Ambassadors and TeleFood. They involve a major outreach effort to civil society and private sector partners and promote advocacy campaigns with other organizations on substantive messages regarding hunger and poverty. In addition to its awareness-raising component, TeleFood includes a fund-raising component with the private sector and the general public. Donations received are directed to the TeleFood Special Fund to support hunger-fighting grassroots projects.

198.     Entity 3EP01 covers the work of the two Liaison Offices in Yokohama (Japan) and Washington, D.C. which also play a key role in awareness-raising among national constituencies interested in FAO's mandated areas and seek to mobilise resources in the fight against hunger and malnutrition.

199.     The Right to Food Unit will develop materials and methods and will pursue other measures to strengthen capacity at the national level in order to implement Right to Food principles (3EA01).

200.     Entity 3EP03 will continue to promote FAO's Partnership Programmes which make important contributions to: i) enhancing the Organization’s capacity to serve its Members in responding to national problems; ii) strengthening FAO as a centre of excellence; and iii) technology exchange among countries in a cost-effective manner.

201.     A new entity (3EP04) is to focus on increased cooperation with the European Union, including the Liaison Office in Brussels. The EU provides more than half of the world’s official development assistance (ODA). In addition, the EU is stepping up its efforts to ensure prioritisation of agriculture and food security in its development cooperation with ACP countries. Implementation of the strategic partnership between the European Commission and FAO will be supported through active dialogue and interface with the Commission, Council, Parliament, the European Investment Bank, as well as with the Secretariat and members of the ACP Group and related committees.

202.     This programme comprises two major substantive entities dealing: on the one hand, with the impact of human diseases on agricultural productivity and household food security; and, on the other, gender equality and social equity issues. The programme contributes to the reduction of poverty and hunger by promoting social development. In particular, it provides policy advice, technical assistance, capacity-building and training services to Members and a variety of stakeholders in mainstreaming gender, social equity, education, employment and communication for development aspects into agricultural, environmental and rural development policies, legislation, programmes and projects. The programme supports the implementation of the Organization-wide Gender and Development Plan of Action (2002-2007).

203.     The programme is to address strong demand for policy advice and technical assistance to analyse the constraints caused by HIV/AIDS and other human diseases on agricultural production. It will develop appropriate strategies of multidisciplinary character for the agricultural sector to address and mitigate the impacts of such diseases on food security and rural livelihoods, taking into account the gender-differentiated nature of such impacts. The programme continues to promote the application of traditional and new information and communication technologies for effective knowledge exchange between people and institutions, and puts a special accent on the needs of underserved and vulnerable rural groups.

204.     Programme 3G is geared to assisting countries in their rural development policies and programmes by strengthening rural producer, cooperative and community-based institutions. It supports improved management and service provision and the use of participatory processes to foster livelihoods and employment for poor and vulnerable rural groups. It will produce policy materials and methodologies in support of institutional mechanisms. The ultimate aims are: to promote rural employment and livelihoods, enhance resilience of vulnerable groups in response to risks and reinforce the capacity of public sector institutions to respond to the needs of small producers. Programme 3G will facilitate mainstreaming of livelihoods-based approaches and rural development policies into other programmes, as a follow-up to ICARRD.

205.     The WAICENT corporate framework (entity 3HP01) will include new knowledge exchange services (Ask FAO) to respond to the needs of policy-makers and professionals in real time. It has strong links to the new programme entity 3HP07 aimed at supporting knowledge networks to exchange expertise in the form of best practices in the Organization’s principal disciplines. Complementary entities cover: the development of digital agricultural knowledge management and information dissemination standards (3HP02); capacity-building and technical advice at national level in accessing, managing, and disseminating information to support the programme on Bridging the Rural Digital Divide (3HP03); and capacity-building including fellowships and internships as well as training for high-level policy-makers in agricultural and rural development policies and strategies (3HS02). The programme also ensures the maintenance of FAO’s own explicit knowledge base of information collections, including the full range of library services for FAO staff and Members, and develops specific collections for developing countries such as Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA) (3HP04). A new entity (3HP06) specifically focuses on increasing knowledge assets in electronic format through acquisitions of new books and journals and digitizing of existing materials.

206.     It may be noted that the FAO Country Profiles and Mapping Information System has been consolidated into entity 3HP01, while the World Agricultural Information Resources network (WAIR) has been assimilated under 3HP07.

207.     The programme covers the well-established Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS) to provide Members and the international community at large with timely information on commodity market developments affecting food security at the global, regional and national levels, as well as early warning on impending food crises.

208.     In full complementarity with Programme 3H, this programme is to provide a wide range of IT systems concepts, planning, development and application, as well as the computer and telecommunications services underpinning FAO’s role as a Knowledge Organization. In particular, 3IP07 will ensure that information systems (IS) and information and communication technology (ICT) are put to full use to serve knowledge sharing and explicit information collection, analysis and dissemination. The latter will also rely on the provision of communications services within and outside the organization (3IP05), as an essential dimension of the work.

209.     The other three entities are geared to: making available effective management information systems for senior management’s decision-making and for internal management and control processes (3IP08); developing clear and accessible IT systems concepts, IS/ICT plans, standards, policies and methodologies, as well as effective IS/ICT services delivery (3IP02); assisting users in relation to IS/ICT services, with service levels established through agreements to be regularly monitored (3IP06). Working under the resource constraints of the PWB 2006-07, the Information Systems and Technology Division has prioritised its services as follows: those required to support key organizational initiatives; those supporting core services; and others.

210.     Programme 3J seeks to raise the level of understanding and awareness of FAO’s priority areas of activity and its comparative advantage. Its outreach work is to secure public and financial support for the Organization, as well as the fulfilment of national and international commitments to the World Food Summit and Millennium Development Goals. The programme also covers strategic planning of the Organization’s publishing activities, ensuring an appropriate mix of print and electronic production and dissemination, the use of publishing workflow and content management systems, and recourse to decentralized short-run printing and global print-on-demand.

211.     While consolidating previous entities, the Information Division (GII) is being restructured, including relocating senior and experienced information officers from headquarters to work more closely with target constituencies in developed countries. As regards media relations, the FAO Newsroom Web site is used as a prime tool for dissemination, recognising the increasing power of the Internet in communication. News items are distributed through e-mail, using the multiplier effect of global, regional and national news agencies to ensure the widest possible outreach in both developed and developing countries. The programme will also seek to enhance, update and increase recognition of the FAO “brand” worldwide, through partnerships with the advertising industry, development of core campaign materials, establishment of design and photography guidelines and standards, rosters of external service providers, and advisory services to FAO units in all locations.