A new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between FAO and URGENCI, an international network that supports community agriculture, is poised to deepen the UN agency’s collaboration with global civil society.  The agreement, to be signed on 30 October 2017 by FAO Deputy Director-General for Programmes Daniel Gustafson and Judith Hitchman, President of URGENCI, will formalize the partnership between the two organizations by joining their efforts to map and promote short food-supply chain initiatives in all world regions. By documenting existing practices, methods and good experiences on local and solidarity-based food distribution systems between consumers and producers, the...

Rome - FAO and Consumers International, a global federation of consumer rights groups, have agreed to intensify their collaboration to help end hunger. The agreement recognizes that consumers around the world can be a powerful force for change towards more sustainable and equitable food systems.Key areas of mutual interest for FAO and CI include the right to food, consumer protection, nutrition and food safety.The partnership aims to enhance Consumer International's access to FAO's wealth of knowledge and information while FAO can work more closely with the network of CI's member organizations who communicate with and advocate...

FAO and Caritas Roma have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide assistance to people facing food insecurity in the Italian capital. Thanks to the agreement signed today by Daniel Gustafson, FAO’s Deputy Director General (Operations), and Monsignor Enrico Feroci, Director of the Rome-based branch of Caritas, the UN agency will donate excess food and other basic products coming from its headquarters,in the Italian capital to the charity for distribution around Rome.. Every year, about one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption is either wasted or lost - an amount that...

21 June 2016, Rome. A network of Civil Society Organizations around the world, with the technical support of FAO, has just issued the The People’s Manual on the Guidelines on Governance of Land, Fisheries and Forests in an effort to further the implementation at grassroot levels of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT). People’s Manual This manual is a pedagogical and didactic guide to ease people’s understanding of the Guidelines and to provide a practical approach on how to use them. The People’s Manual is based on the precepts...

27 May 2016, Rome - FAO said today it will engage in a strategic partnership with India's Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in order to optimize its efforts on the empowerment of rural people, women in particular, which are key to eradicate poverty and hunger and to promote nutritious and healthy food systems. The partnership will be signed later this year.