Regions

The OCOP is a five-year programme (2021-2025) with strong coordination mechanisms established at the global, regional and national levels. An effective organization and coordination mechanism is being established for implementing the OCOP at three levels:

1. at the global level, a Steering Committee (SC) has been set up at FAO headquarters to oversee the implementation;
2. a Regional Organizing Group (ROG) will be established for each region to coordinate the implementation within the region; and
3. a National Task Force (NTF) for each participating country will be formed by each country for implementation of activities at the national level.

The OCOP has been launched in all FAO regions: Africa (RAF) on 11 March, Asia and the Pacific (RAP) on 10 May, Latin America and the Caribbean (RLC) on 25 May, the Near East and North Africa (RNE) on 20 June and Europe and Central Asia (REU) on 28 July. All five launch events were well attended and had the participation of high-level government officials and a wide group of stakeholders. Ministers, Senior Government Officials, private sector, donors and FAO partners attending the Regional Launch events provided keynote addresses and expressed their strong support for the initiative also requesting FAO’s technical support to increase productivity, connectivity, competitiveness and profitability of their agrifood systems through the OCOP.

Each country is characterized by its unique farming practices, traditions and variety of plant species of agricultural products. Many of these selected SAPs have great potential to enhance nutrition, diversify diets and improve livelihoods in a sustainable way.

The OCOP Secretariat is closely working with FAO Members, development partners, research institutions, universities, farmers’ associations and cooperatives, civil society and the private sector to scale up efforts and impact.