FAO leads a training in Paraguay on the "Hand-in-Hand Initiative’s Territorial typologies" tool

Paraguay is preparing projects for the second Global Investment Forum to be held in Rome in October.

With the aim of training technical capacities on the tool "Territorial Typologies of the Hand-in-Hand Initiative" of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), a specialization course began on Monday with the participation of working teams from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), the Technical Secretariat for Economic and Social Planning and Development (STP), and the National Public Investment System (SNIP).

The course is held from Monday, May 29 to 31, as part of the plans and projects preparation process, that Paraguay will present at the second Global Investment Forum, which will take place from 17-20 October 2023, under the framework of the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative. The event will aim at attracting impact investments, promoting sustainable development and generating opportunities for economic progress worldwide.

During the training in Paraguay, the fundamentals and methods for the elaboration of typologies maps of territories are being carefully addressed. The training’s objectives are to know the sources and types of geospatial and statistical data; understand the process of collecting and analyzing geospatial data to generate geographic and climate indicators; the process of collecting and analyzing microdata (household surveys and censuses) to generate indicators of production, income, prices, etc. More objectives include knowing the fundamentals of the stochastic frontiers model, its estimation and prediction of potential and efficiency; the process for preparing typology maps based on potential, efficiency and poverty data; and the use and applicability of typology maps. The course is being delivered by the experts Jorge Ortega and Maribel Elias, who came to the country from the headquarters for that specific opportunity.

“We hope that this course will help us build capacities so that the Hand-in-Hand Initiative tool will be truly sustainable. For FAO, this initiative- that was promoted by the Director General is very important- and it is giving very good results in what it is intended to do”, said FAO representative in Paraguay, Agustín Zimmermann.

While highlighting FAO's support for innovation processes, the acquisition of new tools and new knowledge, MAG Director of Planning, Leticia Torres, indicated that the challenge for the institution will now be to know and apply the tool. "There are many opportunities for improvement," she said, adding that new knowledge will be acquired with the training "to provide a better service, which is the objective of the administration of Minister Moisés Bertoni."

The Officer in Charge of the FAO Office in Paraguay, Fabiola Alcorta, welcomed the opportunity and efforts of all the participating institutions and officials, and stressed that  "we need to strengthen capacities to improve the service we provide, with adequate information and new tools”, such as the ones presented by the Organization.

Investment plans of Paraguay

The MAG, with FAO technical support, is currently preparing two investment notes that it intends to present at the FAO Forum. During the visit to the country of FAO Director General, QU Dongyu, in January 2023, FAO and the MAG committed to prepare together national plans with the participation of the private sector to present at the Forum in search of investment. With that perspective, Paraguay is preparing to present investment plans that will benefit the milk and banana production sectors, for which it has carried out a round of consultations that included field visits.

Global Investment Forum

The first edition of the Global Investment Forum was held in 2022 with the direct participation of 20 countries and different actors of the more than 60 major stakeholders that are already part of the initiative. As a result, the event managed to identify important investments in strategic sectors.

The Global Investment Forum is carried out within the framework of the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, bringing together governments, companies, civil society organizations and local communities to promote investment, encourage sustainable entrepreneurship and generate employment. It focuses on key sectors, prioritizing territories where poverty and hunger are more prevalent.

According to Cristian Morales Opazo, senior economist at FAO, "the Hand-in-Hand initiative aims at empowering countries to deploy their full agricultural potential, by identifying territories in which investment in the agricultural sector would reach very high impacts in the overcoming of hunger and poverty, as well as the reduction of inequalities”.

“Using economic, biophysical and spatial methods, the initiative aims at working together with governments in the identification of territories, value chains and agri-food systems where investments can have better returns, especially for small farmers”, he added.