Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Re: How can FAO and Civil Society Organizations engage better?

Dear All,

God bless. Please find attached my contributions .

Best regards,

Foluke O. Areola, Director(Rtd),

Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nigeria.

  1. How can FAO and CSOs work together to regain the momentum lost and work jointly to "leave no one behind”?
  1. To improve on the success of SDGs in reducing socio- economic inequality within and between countries, the FAO and CSOs must establish a line of coordination. This must take into consideration the quality of expertise being brought to fore by the CSOs and respect such and the opinions expressed. There is also the need to rebuild mutual trust and respect between FAO and the CSOs. 
  2. There is a need to gather relevant information and data on CSOs within a country and periodically review the capacities and capabilities to carry out activities that enhance the success of SDGs in reducing socio-economic inequality within countries. FAO, within the context of the SDGs, must have indices to measure performances for comparison between countries. A network of CSOs in countries within a region can also be established.
  3. There must be some levels of flexibility in partnering together that recognizes local and country's peculiarities. The opinion of experts in an organization should be considered along the wealth of experience of local stakeholders in achieving the expected outcomes. This affects transparency in the process and working to a prepared answer.
  4. There is the need for multi-dimensional and transdisciplinary approach in arriving at the interventions being proposed. These should be social, economic, technological, and ecological interventions.
  5. The major issue in achieving the plans is to have reliable data to develop meaningful plans
  6. There must be transparency in the partnership that would ensure the needs of the target groups are met.
  7. They must especially focus efforts more at those “who must not be left behind”-countries and individuals. 

2) What and how can CSOs contribute to such transformation to boost impact on the ground? 

  1. There must be collaborations and linkages on agrifood systems.
  2. It is important to strengthen the weak linkages depending on food system.
  3. It is important to identify the area of strength of the CSOs, leverage it and carry out capacity training and enhancement for improvements, and better efficiency.
  4. Actors along the agricultural value chains must be accordingly supported to reduce food wastage.

3) What FAO and CSOs could maximize collective impact to adapt and/or mitigate climate change? 

a) Develop a catelogue of existing adaptation and mitigation strategies.

b) Sectorally determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the strategies, e.g, Fisheries. Aquaculture, crops, livestock

c) Recognise the limits of CSOs to influence policies and programs of a country or region.

d) Partners with relevant CSO.

e) They must collaborate with the relevant agencies in charge of climate change for information.

4) Based on your partnering experience, can you share a good example of meaningful engagement with FAO or another UN agency/development partner? 

a) A good partnering example is the MSME project on best practices in the catfish industry in Nigeria. It was a training for fish farmers in Nigeria carried out by the World Bank and MSME in Nigeria.

b) It worked because the selection process for the different professional bodies and farmer associations/companies was very open and transparent. 

c) All the participating bodies were brought together, each with their different mandates. This created a positive comptroller and collaboration between the participating entities.

d) There were predetermined conditions for the release of the grants in tranches based strictly on benchmarks and performances. 

e) The crop of World Bank officers was professional in their interactions and, where necessary, approved changes to the original plan after detailed request and explanation.

e) There was flexibility of engagement, knowledge sharing, and the willingness to learn on all sides.

f) There was adequate monitoring, control, and participation by the World Bank. 

g) The CSOs were brought together periodically to share ideas and were trained periodically to improve on their capabilities to carry out the assignments.

At present, what are the most significant challenges CSOs face in their engagement with FAO?  What could FAO do to address some of those challenges? 

a) Professionalism of CSOs

b) Adequate funding