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This brief presents the main features of the Migration and Rural Development Handbook, based mainly on the guidance materials developed in the framework of the Rural Youth Mobility Project (RYM). The RYM Project was launched in 2015 in Tunisia and Ethiopia to address the drivers of rural out-migration of youth - such as poverty, food insecurity and unemployment - while at the same time harnessing the development potential of migratory movements. The RYM had a strong capacity building component, as one of the main objectives of the Project was to strengthen governments' capacity to better address migration issues in the context [...]

This document provides guidance to support the utilization of the “Rapid Capacity Assessment Tool: Empowering youth to engage in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems”.  The guidance document contains two distinctive, yet interrelated parts: • Guidance notes for organizers of the capacity assessment, which provide relevant information on planning, designing and conducting the capacity assessment; and • Guidance notes for facilitators, which contain concrete suggestions on how to prepare and facilitate multi-stakeholder discussions on the questions outlined in the tool.

This rapid capacity assessment tool aims to help practitioners (such as government agencies, youth organizations, or development partners) to carry out a multi-stakeholder assessment of existing and needed capacities to engage and empower youth to carry out and benefit from responsible investment in agriculture and food systems. It is designed to support the application of the CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI), with a particular focus on principle four (“Engage and Empower Youth”). The tool addresses the different systemic dimensions of capacity development and focuses on: the institutional set-up for agricultural investment related policy processes; policies, [...]

Eliminating hunger by 2030 will require appropriate legislation backed up by the necessary budgets and proper monitoring, allowing a just and long-lasting legal framework to be created. The following are ten ideas for areas where members of parliament could direct efforts aimed at achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2): to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.

La FAO ha desarrollado una iniciativa de Comunicación para el Desarrollo (CpD) orientada a informar y documentar experiencias relevantes en tema de gobernanza y reconocimiento de tierras comunales en Guatemala, con fines de acceso y uso sustentable de los recursos naturales.  Se ha producido un Módulo de Comunicación y Capacitación sobre Tierras Comunales que incluye: un video didáctico, cinco cortos documentales realizados con comunidades indígenas y campesinas donde existen buenas prácticas y casos exitosos, una cartilla para los usuarios y una guía metodológica para los facilitadores, además de microprogramas radiales en idiomas Maya (Chorti’, Mam y Q’echi’). La iniciativa busca facilitar procesos [...]

Social protection is the set of policies and programmes aimed at preventing or protecting all people against poverty, vulnerability, and social exclusion throughout their lifecycles, particularly the most vulnerable groups. This poster will serve to demonstrate the efforts - and advancements made - in reducing rural poverty and increasing resilience through FAO strategic programmes, such as SP3 and SP5 in recent years. It aims to provide to donors, partners, and policy-makers with the information they need to gain awareness of the impacts of social protection initiatives, and to invest in social protection as a valid pathway out of poverty and [...]

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) make a significant contribution to growth and socio-economic development in countries and regions around the globe. The widespread adoption and integration of ICTs has reduced information and transaction costs, improved service delivery, created new jobs, generated new revenue streams, and helped conserve resources. ICTs have also transformed the way businesses, people and governments work, interact, and communicate.  ICT innovation is also revolutionizing the agriculture and food sectors. In developed economies, innovations such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, data analytics and block-chain are changing the way agriculture does business. Remote sensors collect data on soil [...]

When poor rural people are part of an organized group or network, it multiplies their chances of escaping the poverty trap for good. Through cooperatives, producer organizations and networks, they can improve their bargaining power and access to markets. They can also participate in and influence decision-making processes and the formulation of national policies that affect their livelihoods. By working closely with countries, FAO helps to empower poor people, including women and youth, and strengthen rural organizations, such as cooperative and producer organizations. FAO firmly believes that by increasing poor people’s access to resources, services and markets, and by giving [...]

Setting nutrition guidelines and standards has been recommended internationally to ensure that school meals are in line with children’s nutrition needs and adequate to their context. This report provides a descriptive overview of the situation of school meal nutrition guidelines and standards in 33 low and middle-income countries as reported through a global survey. The report identifies key aspects to consider for stakeholders who are planning to develop or update their guidelines and standards in the context of school meal programmes.

This manual is designed for a four-day training course on climate-smart agriculture that would take the learner from the basics of climate science to the impacts of climate change and the linkages among climate, agriculture and food security. It contains four modules, each addressing a particular aspect and consisting of several sessions that are held either in plenary, as one group, or in smaller work groups. The content and structure of this manual has been developed and tested through fieldwork involving extension agents and agricultural producers in Zambia, Malawi and Viet Nam.