Social inclusion

In NENA countries, poverty is predominantly rural. With small scale producers – including fishers and pastoralists – and landless rural workers facing growing marginalization, rural communities are left increasingly vulnerable to economic, political and environmental shocks. This and the high prevalence of gender disparities, youth unemployment, child labour and other forms of exclusion constitute a significant barrier to more equitable agrifood systems in the region.

The imperative to Leave No-One Behind requires more concerted efforts at country and regional levels to ensure that those in situations of vulnerability or marginalization are equitably included in the agrifood system and their rights protected.

In-depth

Poverty and food insecurity in the NENA region are on the rise due to increased political instability, climate change effects, conflicts, and mass displacement, as well as deepening economic crises such as those triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently by the war in Ukraine.

The world bank estimates that by 2021 just over 39% of the MENA population was living below poverty. In countries like Syria and Yemen, more than three quarters of the population is below the poverty line. This echoes closely the growing rates of food insecurity. An estimated 36.6 percent of the region’s population was experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity in 2022. This figure is severely aggravated by the current crises in Gaza and Sudan.

Exclusion and marginalisation within agrifood systems exist not only on the basis of income but also gender, age, migrant status, disability, ethnicity, religion or living in a rural or remote area, among other factors. These categories often intersect, further compounding the effects of exclusion on these individuals or communities.

Social protection systems in the region have expanded over the last decade but coverage remains less than 40 percent of the population. Social protection coverage tends to be even lower in rural and remote areas where it is more difficult to reach the poor. In order to improve coverage governments will need to commit significantly more resources toward expanding adequate social protection systems. Presently, public spending on social protection in the NENA region is, on average, just 6.2% of GDP compared to the OECD average of 21.1%.

To address this the region is in need of coherent, evidence—based and complementary policies and programmes including the expansion of adequate social protection that address the needs of the most vulnerable groups and those experiencing intersecting drivers of exclusion within agrifood systems. This is critical to ensuring resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of shocks including climate change and conflict which are particularly acute in the NENA region and act as multipliers of vulnerability.

FAO has adopted inclusivity as a cross-cutting theme in its strategic framework to ensure that all people benefit from agrifood system transformation and are engaged as partners in the development process. This is mainstreamed in the work of the Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa through the following workstreams:

Generating data and evidence on who is vulnerable and what are their needs
Strengthening access of marginalized or vulnerable populations to decision making structures, rural organizations, services, decent employment and resources
Expanding coverage, adequacy and comprehensiveness as well as gender sensitivity and shock-responsiveness of social protection systems especially in areas affected by conflict, crises or climate change.

Activities

High quality data disaggregated by gender and age is lacking in the NENA region especially when it comes to assessing socio-economic vulnerabilities and adaptive capacity to climate change. The lack of information and robust evidence has affected the design and targeting of both FAO and non-FAO projects and programmes that aim to combat poverty and food insecurity while reducing marginalization and vulnerability within agrifood systems. To better understand who is vulnerable and how to ensure interventions that address their needs. FAO’s Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis tool is being updated and piloted in Egypt and Jordan. The effort will produce an updated methodology for use in the region as well as will inform region’s farmer registries.
Strengthening digital registries and information systems for better management of agricultural services and social protection for farmers. The COVID-19 crisis demonstrated the potential of data exchange between information systems serving the agricultural and socio-economic sectors. FAO supported the governments of Lebanon and Jordan to design the farmer registries, including socio-economic criteria, which are used to formalizing employment, extending social protection and agricultural services to small-scale farmers.
Building on a year-long series of regional dialogues on extending social insurance to agriculture workers in the NENA region, FAO in collaboration with IPC-IG/UNDP and ILO published in a series of three in depth policy reports. The reports provide guidance for governments in the NENA region on how to design and implement adequate social insurance programmes that are inclusive of small producers and agriculture workers. FAO and ILO will launch a regional policy incubator in 2024 to foster knowledge generation and regular exchange among food system actors at national and regional levels and provide dedicated support to governments requesting assistance in improving social insurance coverage to rural and agriculture workers.

Facts & figures

3.8 million refugees and 15.6 million IDPs, more than any other region
39% of the NENA population is below poverty & twice as high in rural areas.
36.6 percent of the population experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity
Unemployment: 11% total, 18.5% women, 25% youth
Internal renewable freshwater at 529 m3/capita/year compared to global average of 5,555.

FAO impact

In Jordan and Egypt, socio-economic data, from at least 3000 farmers in total, has been meticulously collected by FAO, with consideration of gender, farm activity, and migrant status. This process, adapting the FAO RIMA methodology, will significantly inform government policy and programming.
The governments of Lebanon and Jordan have launched farmers' registers, with technical support from FAO, to support agricultural sector management, enhance access to related services, as well as extend social protection coverage and used as an effective tool for shocks and emergencies response. Currently, 45,000 farmers are registered in Lebanon, with 50,000 registered in Jordan.
FAO, in partnership with the ILO, is establishing a “Policy Incubator on Social Security Expansion for Agricultural Workers in the NENA Region”. This initiative aims to advise key country stakeholders, such as Ministries of Agriculture, Labour, and Social Security Institutions in policy formulation.