Town Hall Meeting Address

Dear Colleagues from all over the world,

Good morning! Good afternoon! Good evening!

Welcome to our now regular Town Hall Meeting – the first for this year and the first of my second term as FAO Director-General.

I wish to begin by wishing all of you a Happy New Year!

The Chinese Spring Festival will be celebrated this Friday and will mark the start of the Year of the Dragon.

The dragon is a symbol of strength, dynamic, and good fortune. It carries with it the promise of positive beginnings and prosperity; it is a symbol of courage and wisdom; and of harmony between humanity and nature.

May these spirits of the dragon inspire us all as we embark on new journeys in the coming year.

My first four years as FAO Director-General were characterized by the “4 Es V1.0” – Efficiency, Effectiveness, Extraordinary and Excellence.

These guiding principles have laid a strong foundation for the Organization, and I express my gratitude to all of you for your support, dedication, hard work, and passion.

As I started my second term in August 2023, we progressed towards the next phase guided by the “Four Rs” – Recovery, Reform, Rebuild and Renaissance - based on the “4 Es V1.0”.

The FAO Renaissance is our collective commitment to shaping a brighter future for the Organization and the communities we serve.

In the journey ahead, the FAO Renaissance will become a reality only if we are determined to think together, learn together, work together, and contribute together.

Dear Colleagues,

It gives me great pleasure to speak to our global FAO family once again.

The ongoing global challenges, including wars and conflicts, the climate crisis, and economic downturns in many parts of the world, have cast a long shadow over our work.

Conflicts have disrupted critical food corridors causing interruptions in production and supply chains. The adverse effects on food supplies and prices have placed unprecedented pressure on FAO and emphasize the ever more urgent need for us to continue to deliver and provide support under challenging conditions.

We are called to do more and better!

We must be prepared to respond to the needs of Members, mobilize resources efficiently, and adapt to the changing situations on the ground.

Successful examples of how FAO scaled up its delivery during challenging times include Afghanistan, Yemen, and Sudan, which provide a blueprint for the way forward.

Our colleagues in the Country Offices play a crucial role in this work, and your commitment is the foundation on which we can build a more certain future, with the invaluable support of colleagues based in headquarters, and donors.

During 2024, we must continue to speed up and scale up our efforts to continue improving our organization and our collective commitment to the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

During my second term, I am focused on the five key dimensions set out in my Manifesto:

One: further increase resource mobilization and scaling up of both traditional and new partners.

Two: fully leveraging FAO’s potential and advancing innovation-driven transformation combined with traditional knowledge. In this regard, we will be establishing a global food and agriculture museum and network, which will include the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Sites (GIAHS).

Three:  The World Food Forum will continue to assist in promoting tailored investment plans of Hand-in-Hand countries to provide solid support for less developed countries; promote science ad innovation as the key accelerators of transformation; and to mobilize the global youth as agents of change.

Four: strengthening FAO’s capacity and capability to serve Members. We need to be fit-for-purpose, agile and modern to support efficiently and effectively our Members, and the farmers of the world by strengthening the decentralized offices.

And Five: improving human resources development and attracting talents from all corners of the world.

Dear Colleagues,

Let’s continue to walk our talk!

To support and facilitate our work coherently, many initiatives were established during the past four years. 

We now have a new Learning Framework streamlining the processes for staff development planning, access, and use, and supporting your professional development. 

In 2023, we achieved gender parity for staff in the P1 to P5 categories globally, and focused on successfully appointing FAORs and senior managers, ensuring that key leadership positions were filled.

We conducted many health awareness events dedicated to improving the use of and access to medical and insurance services, including mental health, with global virtual participation.

The Committee on Workplace Conduct and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Authority continues to support an inclusive and respectful workplace and prevents discrimination of all kinds.

We now have new team-based action plans as part of the Employee Satisfaction Survey action planning process, along with one at the corporate level that prioritizes improving workplace conduct and wellbeing.   

Employees continued to be recognized through the Employee Recognition Awards (annual solidarity appreciation event), and participation in the Women and Youth Committees.

The establishment of the new Office of Youth and Women will continue strengthening our capacity, both internally and externally, by supporting women and youth career enrichment at FAO, and by gathering innovative ideas and approaches from youth and women, in line with FAO’s mandate.

Our leadership development and career development training courses provide important support for career development, while our Young Talent Programmes will ensure a regeneration of the workforce.

Our focus is to ensure we have the best people in the right jobs to ensure FAO is operating at its fullest capacity to deliver at its full potential.

Dear Colleagues,

We are focused on enabling you to exploit your potential and deliver effectively.

A strengthened framework for career development will also look at creating possibilities for staff to serve temporarily in locations outside their current duty stations to promote mutual growth, learning and a broadening of technical capacities – a true ONE FAO approach!

The FAO Regional Ministerial Conferences taking place in the first half of this year are a key part of the programming cycle and reflect a new forward-looking and more agile business model, promoting science, technology, and innovation.

In preparation, I convened for the first time in FAO’s history a meeting of all FAO Representatives from all five FAO Regions and offices back to Headquarters in Rome in mid-December 2023, to develop a concrete action plan to strengthen the network, to share the experiences and improve the overall capacities for the effective implementation of FAO’s programme of work and the thematic strategies.

During the coming biennium, we will continue to focus on ensuring fit-for-purpose and fit-for-the-future FAO Country Offices to ensure improved country delivery and impact on the ground where it is most needed!

To support Members to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, ensure rural development, and for landing the Four Betters at the country level.

FAO’s flagship initiatives such as the Hand-in-Hand, the One Country One Priority Product, Digital Village Initiative, and the Green Cities Initiatives, among others, are key instruments to assist countries achieve their objectives by an All-in-One approach.

Dear Colleagues,

FAO’s professional and technical leadership and credibility are key to having a strong and authoritative voice, and to ensuring the food and agriculture are kept at the top of the international agenda.

In the post-pandemic world, it is critical that FAO maintain and improve its attractiveness for top-level food and agriculture experts, and to regularly renew its human capital.

Global Youth engagement in the World Food Forum has shown that FAO is able to attract and motivate the younger generations.

We all have a role to play in making our organization dynamic, attractive and inspiring by showing our passion and dedication in everything we do. We must be proud to work for FAO!

Dear Colleagues,

Going forward, the PWB 2024-25, with the historic budget increase, will allow us to move forward on building a dynamic and modern FAO for a better world.

We will continue to strengthen partnerships, including through the establishment of regional knowledge hubs through joint programmes. 

Agrifood systems transformation is a fundamental prerequisite for wider sustainable development transformations.

We need to continue working collectively as One FAO to change the narrative about the centrality of agrifood systems at all levels of governance, and at all stages of development, in combatting food crises, ensuring social justice, promoting peace, and accelerating climate action.

Eradicating hunger and ensuring food security will not be possible without collaboration with traditional and new partners, especially to harness science, technology, and innovation. We need to work with the private sector to accelerate the transformation of agrifood systems.

We will continue to build on the notable restructuring at headquarters and in Decentralized Offices, including continuing to implement the Corporate Environmental Strategy to reduce FAO’s footprint, to minimize hard copies, and to reduce food waste.

We will continue to strengthen inter-agency collaboration and engagement across the UN – working as One UN Family.

From 2024, we have a corporate target in the PWB to support 80 million people a year with emergency and resilience activities. 

As we observe limited funding in the humanitarian sphere, we need to strengthen FAO’s comparative advantage - we have a unique role to play in attracting investment in emergency agriculture and livelihoods so millions of people can put food on their table every day.

The past two years have been record-breaking years in FAO history for resource mobilization - we passed the USD 2 billion mark in both years!

This was achieved by the efforts of the entire Organization – by leveraging our technical and operational skills, our broad field presence, and our growing reputation for excellence in all the areas of our mandate.

Despite these two years of growth, we need to be even more proactive!

One of the most critical elements for future resource mobilization success will be through accelerated programme delivery.

Dear Colleagues,

It is great to have so many colleagues from the field joining us today for this Town Hall Meeting– and it gives me the opportunity to thank all of you for taking “concepts” and translating them into “concrete actions” on the ground with tangible outcomes.

For example, it is thanks to your hard work and dedication that we have 83 countries joining the OCOP Initiative.

We also made history last year by bring mechanization, digitalization, and industrialization at the core of our discussions, to unlock even greater potential across our agrifood systems.

Through the Green Cities Initiative, we have provided support to over 100 cities globally.

During this biennium, I would like to count on each one of you to support the implementation the Biennial Theme, as endorsed by our 43rd FAO Ministerial Conference in July 2023: “water resource management for the Four Betters, for the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs”.

Dear Colleagues,

FAO’s Renaissance requires a joint effort to revive the fundamental principles set out in the FAO Constitution and Basic Texts, to recognize achieved milestones, and to surpass the current ways of thinking and acting.

The renewed and revamped FAO acknowledges and reflects the importance of transformation.

There are still many uncertainties for the future, but we have seen that FAO is resourceful.

We have shown that boldness and initiative can be strong allies and that, when necessary, we can embrace change and take risks.

We need to engage with the youth because the younger generations can inspire and be inspired by new trends and opportunities that agrifood systems transformation brings.

Let us continue to renew our work culture, building a conducive and safe environment based on trust, mutual respect, innovative thinking, and shared learning.

Let us forge ahead together into this new era of possibility and progress.

The challenges are immense, but our collective dedication is stronger.

Together, we can build a world-class, modern FAO that leaves a lasting impact for generations to come.

The future is in your hands when you are willing to change yourself first!

Once again, I wish all of you a Happy New Year – a Year of the Dragon filled with great energy, great fortune, and great prosperity!

Thank you.