Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Q1. How have the COVID-19 pandemic and the current food, energy and financing crises changed the priorities of your organization?
FAO has been instrumental in framing the food and agriculture-related response to the global food crisis, as a provider of neutral and timely information on markets, food security and nutrition, as a reliable partner in the global food security governance, and through targeted policy proposals as well as a set of concrete emergency and humanitarian response measures in countries.
After partially recovering in 2021 from the COVID-19 pandemic-induced contraction in 2020, the global economy has been experiencing a renewed slowdown in 2022 fuelled by a series of overlaying crises, including the continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global fallout from the war in Ukraine, the soaring food prices and overall inflation and tightening financial conditions in most regions.
The FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031 has a direct connection with the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs and was developed to address the implications of multiple global crises and COVID-19 recovery while accelerating progress towards SDGs through agrifood systems transformation.
FAO shifted priorities and adapted ways of working, to address the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and current food, energy and finance crises by directing support where and when it was needed most, while ensuring full implementation of its Programme of Work and meeting the targets of its Medium Term Plan and Strategic Framework.
FAO co-leads the work stream on food of the UN Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance. The group supports decision-makers in identifying solutions and developing strategies to help countries address the interlinked crises related to food, energy and finance. Three technical briefs have been developed and are publicly available.
FAO’s policy proposals to address the current crises:
Food Import Financing Facility (FIFF). Already in April 2022, FAO proposed to establish a Food Import Financing Facility (FIFF) to support countries to shoulder the soaring costs of food imports and improve access to food at country level. Based on a comprehensive technical assessment, the FIFF covers 62 countries with a total population of 1.78 billion people.
Fertilizer assessments and policy responses. As part of the assessments of the risks of the war in Ukraine on global agrifood markets and world food security, FAO has also addressed the issue of availability of, and access to, fertilizers. FAO has developed a Fertilizer Trade Tracker, an online tool which allows countries to gauge remaining import needs and/or unrealized export availabilities for the current crop and calendar year.
In response to rising import prices and growing difficulties in accessing international fertilizer markets, FAO has developed a methodology to prioritize the allocation of international fertilizer supplies to countries in Africa. The methodology and results have already been made available to the Global Crisis Response Group and the Sustain Africa Initiative.
Soil nutrient maps. The status of soil health varies around the world and the impact of soil nutrient availability on crop yield depends on current soil condition, water availability and crop requirements. Decisions on sustainable soil management, including the application of all types of fertilizers, should be based on soil analytical data. To this end, FAO promotes the adoption of the International Code of Conduct for the Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers.
One Health and Zoonosis. Disruption of supply chains, animal and plant health services and surveillance impacts early warning, prevention and control of high impact animal, zoonotic and plant pests and diseases. Left uncontrolled and unchecked, pests and diseases can exacerbate the strain on food production, security and safety as well as ecosystem services and trade, thereby threatening One Health – animal, plant, human and ecosystem health. FAO is working together with the Quadripartite partners through the One Health Joint Plan of Action.
Social Safety Nets and Social Protection. In many countries, the price shocks in the cost of food, fuel and fertilizer have squeezed household budgets already depleted by two years of pandemic-induced job and income losses. Humanitarian and social protection responses will be needed to cushion the negative impact of these developments on the food security and nutritional status of people around the world. To inform these responses, FAO has led the drafting on an interagency statement on the Social Protection Response to the Food Price Shocks, which was released by the Social Protection Inter-Agency Cooperation Board (SPIAC-B) in August 2022. FAO, along with other international agencies, recommends that countries expand their social protection programmes, either by expanding the coverage of existing programmes or increasing the level of their benefits, or by introducing new measures to sustain households’ purchasing power and food consumption.
The FAO response to the global food crisis goes beyond the specific interventions outlined above. FAO’s support to transforming agrifood systems to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable, leaving no one behind, integrates short-term and long-term measures and brings the full strength of FAO’s Strategic Framework to bear in the current crisis.
Q2. How has your organization supported Member States to accelerate their recovery from COVID-19 and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda? How has your organization cooperated with other UN system organizations in these efforts to achieve coherence and synergies?
In 2020, at the initial phase of the COVID-19 outbreak FAO launched its COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme, in close consultation with national stakeholders. This comprehensive Programme enabled partners to leverage the Organization’s convening power, real-time data, early warning systems and technical expertise. It consisted of a flexible and comprehensive approach to demand-driven support for addressing the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and providing a humanitarian response. The programme was designed to proactively address the socio-economic impacts of the Pandemic, in line with UN approach to “build back better” and to achieve the 2030 Agenda, with the aim to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 on livelihoods and the resilience of the agrifood systems.
The Programme includes seven key priority areas of work where actions were needed and support was requested by Members: economic inclusion and social protection, data for decision-making, trade and food safety standards, boosting smallholder resilience for recovery, preventing the next zoonotic pandemic; and food systems transformation.
Interventions ranged from humanitarian action to longer-term development priorities, including focusing on a “One Health” approach, making data available, using data and digital technologies and boosting farmer resilience through innovations to assist smallholders, empower women, and link social protection to rural-based livelihoods. Offices adjusted their programmes and resources, and leveraged new funds in alignment with the Programme.
FAO has been working very closely across the UN system, with IFAD and WFP in undertaking more than 20 policy-oriented analytical studies of the impact of the pandemic on the agricultural and rural sectors in selected countries, and closely with UNDP and UNIDO among others on specific and mutual areas of assistance in the context of the Pandemic and in support of Members.
Through the expansion and scaling-up of social protection policies and measures on tenure rights, FAO promoted inclusive economic recovery and rural employment, and mitigated the impacts of the pandemic on gender and the use of child labour. Cash interventions and training on good agricultural practices for vulnerable households boosted smallholders’ resilience.
In monitoring the impact of COVID-19, FAO made available quality data and analyses for decision-making through rapid data collection based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale and provided information on the impact of the pandemic in the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021. In addition, data collection in 25 Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries assessed recent evolutions of food insecurity at national and subnational levels, and the FAO DataLab’s interactive Big Data Tool published daily food prices, tweets and news to analyse the impact on food chains.
Humanitarian response plans addressed the impact of COVID-19 and other pre-existing shocks and stresses in an integrated manner, reprogramming resources to reach 24 million people in situations of acute food insecurity. Increased safety measures at livestock markets, sensitization activities among food workers, dissemination of risk communication and community engagement materials, and contingency planning for pastoralists’ safe transhumance to winter pastures addressed direct and secondary effects.
FAO early warning systems and the Tripartite Alliance monitored the global COVID-19 situation at the animal-human interface, sharing information through Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture while advancing a comprehensive One Health approach and seeking to prevent the next zoonotic pandemic.
At national level, FAO contributed to UN Socio-Economic Response Plans (SERPs) in 117 countries. Conducting joint country-level assessments with partners on the ground , such as with the Humanitarian Country Team, UN agencies, governments and civil society organizations enabled the pooling and leveraging of expertise, resources and networks for a wider coverage and a more timely and inter-sectoral assessment and response. This helped inform programmes in terms of geographical targeting, household targeting, particularly women.
Collaborating with external actors for the development of COVID-19 related knowledge products and data services contributed to build a shared understanding about the impact of the crisis and was very effective in disseminating key messages and supporting their uptake.
Whilst the COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan was designed as a standalone global programme, the integration of the GHRP to the specific country’s HRP of the Humanitarian Country Team and/or the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster enabled the joint planning and alignment of strategic interventions to leverage synergies and complementarities. Specifically for the project locations, the coordination of work ensured identification of gaps, avoidance of duplication and optimizing the sequencing of interventions.
Please highlight up to three high-impact initiatives, especially those that address interlinkages among the SDGs and involves interagency collaboration. Concrete initiatives might be selected to be spotlighted during relevant intergovernmental meetings.
| Initiative | First Hand-in-Hand Initiative Investment Forum |
| Partners | FAO, IFAD, African Union, Rabobank, AfDB, ECOWAS, G5 Sahel, CILLS, World Bank, Akademiya 2063, GEF, GCF |
| Relevant SDGs | SDG1, SDG2, SDG10 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | 54 countries (Africa: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, South Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe; Asia and the Pacific: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Lao PDR, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu; Europe and Central Asia: Tajikistan; Latin America and Caribbean: Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haití, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru; Near East and North Africa East: Sudan, Syria, Yemen) |
| Description |
Under Hand-in-Hand Initiative (HIH), FAO technical task teams work with national counterparts to apply innovative analytical methods that help identify territories and populations where programmes and strategic investments can unlock market-oriented opportunities for inclusive and sustainable growth which have the real potential to eradicate poverty, end malnutrition and reduce inequality. The First Hand-in-Hand Initiative Investment Forum was held in October 2022 during the World Food Forum at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, in which 20 countries actively participated and presented their Investment Plans. Governments’ participation included six Heads of State, 15 Ministers and high-level officials. A number of international financing institutions, regional banks, investment and impact funds and private sector also attended and there was a strong participation in matchmaking meetings. The Sahel Regional Initiative, Dry Corridor in Central America and Panama Food Hub were launched during the Hand-in-Hand Initiative Investment Forum. |
| Website | https://www.fao.org/hand-in-hand/en |
| Initiative | High Level Food Security and Nutrition Conference |
| Partners | African Union Commission (AUC), Department of Agriculture Rural Development, Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy (DARBE), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the African Development Bank |
| Relevant SDGs | SDG1, SDG2 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | 55 members countries of the African Union |
| Description | The high-level Food Security and Nutrition Conference was organised in October 2022 in Addis Ababa to advocate for scaling-up efforts to meet the humanitarian imperative across the continent while also investing in addressing the longer term needs as outlined in the global and regional commitments. The conference drew from and built on the extensive work being done at a policy, practice and programmatic level by AU, through the Commission, the Regional Economic Communities as well as Member States and development partners. It also leveraged the work of the AU Champion on Food Security & Nutrition, H.M. the King of Lesotho & Patron of the Lesotho Red Cross. To mobilize requisite institutional and political commitment to get to scale required for the current and long-term food security needs through increased investments in solutions at all levels. |
| Website | https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20221010/high-level-food-security-and-n… |
| Initiative | Asia-Pacific Symposium on Agrifood Systems Transformation |
| Partners | Governments (12 Ministers), private sector, civil society, academia and development partners including the World Bank |
| Relevant SDGs | SDG1, SDG2, SDG5, SDG8, SDG10, SDG17 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | Asia-Pacific countries |
| Description |
The Symposium aimed to unpack the economic, environmental and social elements and impacts of agrifood systems transformation in the Asia-Pacific region and identify priority triggers of change; propose system-wide and sector-specific actions, responding to common and unique circumstances of agrifood systems in the region and enrich transformation pathways; highlight the role of science, innovation and digitalization and how they can contribute to accelerating the progress of leaving no one behind; identify institutional and partnership mechanisms for accelerated financing and delivery; provide a platform for knowledge and community building among stakeholders. The Symposium also tapped into overlooked solutions and tailor discussions to the Asia-Pacific context to catalyze and accelerate the pace of the change initiated by the UN Food Systems Summit, highlighted in the national pathways. |
| Website | https://www.fao.org/asiapacific/events/asia-pacific-symposium-on-agrifo… |
Q3. Has your organization published or is it planning to publish any analytical work or guidance note or toolkits to guide and support recovery efforts from COVID-19 while advancing full implementation of SDGs at national, regional and global levels?
As a knowledge-based organization, FAO creates and disseminates critical information, in the form of global public goods. FAO’s knowledge products and services, such as publications, databases, networks and learning resources, are core elements to fulfil the Organization’s mandate to “collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate information relating to nutrition, food and agriculture”. In its work as a knowledge organization, FAO also plays a connector role, through identifying and working with partners who bring in other levels of expertise, and establishing a dialogue between those who have the knowledge and those who need it.
FAO’s flagship ‘The State of the World’ publications, the State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA), the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI), The State of the World's Forests (SOFO), The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) and The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO) provide a comprehensive overview of the most pressing global issues and challenges each year. These global reports primarily target policy-makers and decision-makers, but are also relevant to experts, academia, students, the media and the general public.
The 2022 Flagship publications, in addition to integrating SDG based data and analysis, addressed the impacts of COVID-19.
The Regional Overviews of State of Food Security and Nutrition provide region specific trends and analyses.
FAO also has a revised Policy Support and Governance Gateway that supports the 2030 Agenda call for a bold, transformational change to achieve a world that is more inclusive, fair, sustainable and resilient. This corporate portal is a gateway to FAO’s policy and governance support work to build sustainable agrifood systems that can help countries achieve the vision of the 2030 Agenda, through promoting policy dialogue, and evidence-based policy making from national to regional and global levels as countries prioritize challenges, implement decisions and monitor their effectiveness.
FAO has published data, analysis and policy briefs during the first months of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Organization has also implemented an array of tools to support policy analyses and assess the impact of COVID-19 on food and agriculture, value chains, food prices, food security across the globe.
Please select up to three high-impact resources to highlight, especially those that address interlinkages among the SDGs. Selected resources will be highlighted to inform relevant intergovernmental meetings.
| Resource | The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022 (SOFI) |
| Publishing entity/entities | FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, WHO |
| Relevant SDGs | SDG2 |
| Target audience | Policy-makers, international organizations, academic institutions and the general public |
| Description | The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World is an annual flagship report jointly prepared by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO to inform on progress towards ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition and to provide in depth analysis on key challenges for achieving this goal in the context of the 2030 Agenda. This year’s report first presents the latest updates of the food security and nutrition situation around the world, including updated estimates on the cost and affordability of healthy diets. The report acknowledges the current recessionary context and the related challenges to the agrifood systems transformation. It then takes a deep dive into how governments are supporting the food and agriculture sector through policies and provides evidence-based recommendations to ensure more efficient, sustainable and inclusive agrifood systems. Lastly, the report explores the complementing policies and political economy factors to support repurposing efforts. |
| Website | https://www.fao.org/publications/sofi/2022/en/ |
| Language | English, Arabic, Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese |
| Resource | "FAO and the Sustainable Development Goals - Achieving the 2030 Agenda through empowerment of local communities" |
| Publishing entity/entities | FAO |
| Relevant SDGs | 1,2,3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,15,16,17 |
| Target audience | FAO partners, international organizations, academic institutions and the general public |
| Description | “Conscious of the indivisibility and integrated nature of the SDGs, FAO’s new Strategic Framework and work attests to our complete commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We accelerate the SDGs through more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind” FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu. This publication aims to illustrate FAO’s work under the four betters to support the implementation of the SDGs. It provides a variety of highly exemplifying stories of FAO’s actions, results and impact and how they connect to SDG Targets and Indicators for scaling up from local results to global impacts leaving no one behind. It demonstrates how FAO and partners continue to work for the achievement of the SDGs, project by project, field by field and country by country. |
| Website | https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc2063en |
| Language | English, be available soon in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish |
| Resource | Tracking progress on food and agriculture-related SDG indicators 2022 |
| Publishing entity/entities | FAO |
| Relevant SDGs | 1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 12, 14, 15 |
| Target audience | FAO partners, international organizations, academic institutions and the general public |
| Description | Seven years into the 2030 Agenda, there is an urgent need to understand where the world stands in eliminating hunger and food insecurity, as well as in ensuring sustainable agriculture. FAO's new report, “Tracking progress on food and agriculture-related SDG indicators”, offers analysis and trends on indicators across eight SDGs (1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 12, 14 and 15), highlighting areas of progress and areas where further effort is needed. Available in digital format, this year’s edition also discusses selected indicators for which FAO is a contributing agency and/or have key implications for food and agriculture across these Goals. These additional indicators provide valuable information on agricultural losses due to disasters, the distribution of land tenure rights, and the impact of international trade policies and regulations on agricultural trade, especially in developing and Least Developed Countries. |
| Website | https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc1403en/ |
| Language | English, Arabic, Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese |
Q4. How has your organization engaged with stakeholder groups to support SDG implementation and COVID-19 recovery at national, regional and global levels? Please provide main highlights, including any lessons learned. For example, what has worked particularly well as a model for effective stakeholder engagement?
FAO engaged with a diverse group of partners and stakeholders groups in the context of COVID-19 recovery.
To reduce the risk of virus transmission and save lives, FAO supported a series of awareness raising and sensitization campaigns among food workers in collaboration with a range of partners. Under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded global project, FAO has developed context-appropriate messages on food chain safety best practices with diverse stakeholders across countries, including women’s groups, Dimitra Clubs, community radios, Farmer Field Schools (FFS) and government services. In Pakistan, FAO, together with partners, delivered both physical and remote sensitization messages to people who are the most vulnerable and food insecure affected by the immediate impacts of lockdown measures, complemented with remote communication technologies. This includes harnessing FFS platforms to disseminate crucial information on virus prevention and COVID-19 mitigation practices through regular remote and field based training sessions. In particular, Pakistan’s female breadwinners have been able to master new income-generating farming activities while keeping clear from the virus. Besides, FAO organized webinar series on RCCE for COVID-19 prevention along the food supply chain. The efforts ranged from addressing gendered impacts of COVID-19 in Pakistan, to the use of radio emissions to safeguard rural livelihoods in Colombia.
The preparation of a report on the impact of COVID-19 on agrifood trade in the Commonwealth, prepared jointly by FAO and the Commonwealth Secretariat; a synthesis report, in the final stage of publication, based on the assessments conducted at country level in Africa; and training activities in Central America on trade, food security and international trade agreements. In addition, the launch of the African Union (AU) Framework for Boosting Intra-African Trade (BIAT) in Agricultural Commodities and Services in support of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been followed by dissemination efforts across the continent in collaboration with the AU Secretariat.
FAO has strengthened and extended the One Health approach to avert animal-origin pandemics (PNP). PNP is now firmly incorporated into FAO’s Strategic Framework 2022-31. FAO has developed a multilateral funding mechanism to pool resources and attract partnerships to flexibly support key activities at global, regional and country levels as response to COVID-19 Pandemic. FAO’s close collaboration with partners, in particular as part of the Tripartite (with the World Health Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health) plus UNEP. This comes with heightened political commitment from the G7, and the G20 deliberations.
Multistakeholder partnerships with research Institutions: In October 2022, FAO signed a Memorandum of Understanding n transforming agrifood systems with three French research organizations: the Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development, the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, and the Research Institute for Development. This Partnership aims at co-developing research and innovation to tackle the challenges of climate change, biodiversity, sustainable management of natural resources and the transformation of agrifood systems.
Engagement with Academia: Collaborating since the 1970s, FAO and the Wageningen University & Research (WUR) have a long-standing partnership and share common objectives to promote and carry out innovative and sustainable approaches for improving lives while safeguarding natural resources in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The renewed agreement puts innovative collaborations and enhanced coordination at its center. It sets a new joint vision with the two organizations bridging the science-policy interface, linking research staff and policymakers, and working through agile actions to tackle challenges in a rapidly changing world efficiently.
FAO-WUR joint projects are demonstrating a successful modality of implementing this partnership. In order to increase the outreach of this transformative partnership, FAO has been engaging with WUR in a series of high-level events to inform the global audience about the impact of this collaboration, and WUR was selected as the first Institution from Academia to receive the FAO Partnerships Awards in June 2022.
If your organization has established multi-stakeholder partnership(s) in this regard, please describe them (name, partners involved, relevant SDGs, Member States benefiting from the partnership) and provide links to relevant websites for more information.
| Partnership | World Food Forum 2022 |
| Partners | major youth groups, influencers, companies, academic institutions, non-profits, governments, media and the public at large |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs 2, 3, 4, 5, 13, 14, 15, 17 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | All-Global |
| Description | The World Food Forum (WFF) is an independent, youth-led global network of partners facilitated by FAO. The WFF gathers major youth groups, influencers, companies, academic institutions, non-profits, governments, media and the public at large to drive awareness, foster engagement and advocacy, and mobilize resources in support of agrifood systems transformation through youth-led action, as a prerequisite for the achievement of the SDGs. In 2022 the World Food Forum's flagship event comprised the WFF Global Youth Forum, the FAO Science and Innovation Forum and the FAO Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum. These three interlinked fora advanced bold and actionable solutions to catalyze the transformation of our agrifood systems in light of the current challenges and crises, highlighting the importance of collaboration between the current and next generation and their combined ingenuity in science, technology and innovation – and investments in key areas of food and agriculture. |
| Website | https://www.world-food-forum.org/ |
| Partnership | Global Network of Digital Innovation Hubs |
| Partners | Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of ICT, and local stakeholders (e.g. universities, research institutions, public agencies, etc.) |
| Relevant SDGs | SDGs: 1,2,9,17 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | Morocco, Ethiopia, Dominica and Grenada |
| Description | The initiative aims to establish a Global Network Digital Agriculture Innovation Hubs in countries to mainstream digital agriculture innovation while promoting the digital transformation of agrifood systems. In each country, the respective Digital Agriculture Innovation Hub will be designed considering the national strategic priorities, digital maturity in the country, and local needs. Then various national Digital Agriculture Innovation Hubs will be interconnected to share knowledge, experience, and expertise. |
| Website | https://www.fao.org/flexible-multipartner-mechanism/projects/project-de… |
| Partnership | Cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union |
| Partners | International Telecommunication Union |
| Relevant SDGs | 1,2,4,5,8,9,10,17 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | Global |
| Description | FAO and ITU assisted a few member countries to develop National Digital Agriculture Strategy, contributed to Smart Villages Initiative in Niger, organized several events as co-organizers and published knowledge products, such as “Status of digital agriculture in 47 sub-Saharan African countries” to improve the current understanding of sub-Saharan Africa’s digital agriculture landscape. The report is composed of 47 desk-based country case studies against six thematic focal areas, the aim of which is to present a snapshot of the status of digital agriculture in each country. This is followed by highlights of the main findings of the analysis of the country profiles with suggested steps for future action. |
| Website | https://www.fao.org/3/cb7943en/cb7943en.pdf |
| Partnership | Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection, known as USP2030 |
| Partners | FAO, ILO, WFP, UNICEF, World Bank |
| Relevant SDGs | 1.3, 17 |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | Global |
| Description | Global alliance that brings together governments, international and regional organizations, social partners and civil society organizations, in a shared commitment towards ensuring social protection for all. |
| Website | https://usp2030.org/ |
| Partnership | Integrated Policy Practitioners Network |
| Partners | FAO, UNDP, UNICEF, ILO, UNFPA |
| Relevant SDGs | All SDGs |
| Member States benefiting from the initiative | All-Global |
| Description | A global knowledge network brings together development practitioners to address multidimensional development challenges and accelerate progress across the 2030 Agenda by linking existing efforts on SDG integration, and enable cross-pollination and learning, to enhance capabilities of development practitioners to deliver high-quality integrated policy support. |
| Website | https://sdgintegration.undp.org/IPPN |
Q5. In the 2019 SDG Summit declaration (GA Resolution 74/4), Member States outlined ten priority areas for accelerated action in SDG implementation. Please highlight any major integrated and innovative policies or initiatives that your organization may have adopted in these ten priority areas:
5.1 leaving no one behind
Leave No One Behind (LNOB) is a fundamental aspiration in both FAO’s Strategic Framework and in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In cooperation with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), FAO is developing regional guidelines to support Member States in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) in integrating LNOB in policies and programmes in the area of food systems transformation.
In close collaboration with regional civil society networks, such as Schola Campesina FAO is supporting farmers’ and women’s organizations in the ECA region raising their awareness on LNOB principles, better understanding and use of the disaggregated data for better informed and evidence-based local solutions.
Under the ECA regional initiative funded through FAO Turkiye Partnership Programme, FAO is developing capacities of policy-makers in the ministries of agriculture and forestry to understand and use the LNOB principle and related concepts in agricultural practice, policy formulation, implementation and monitoring in Tajikistan, Turkiye and Uzbekistan. Similar work has been carried out in Albania with emphasis on assessing SDG5.a.1 and a.2 reporting and monitoring bottlenecks.
5.2 mobilizing adequate and well-directed financing
The Hand-in-Hand (HIH) Investment Forum (IF) was held in October 2022 during the World Food Forum at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, in which 20 countries actively participated and presented their Investment Plans. The IF was considered very successful, partly due to the high-level presence of the member countries that had, for the first time, the opportunity to present their prioritised investment cases based on the support provided by the Hand-in-Hand team.
Governments’ participation included six Heads of State, 15 Ministers and high-level officials. A number of international financing institutions (IFIs), regional banks, investment and impact funds and private sector also attended and there was a strong participation in matchmaking meetings.
With a total estimated investment of USD 3 billion, this generated significant interest and resulted in a number of commitments and investments for follow-up.
The Sahel Regional Initiative, Dry Corridor in Central America and Panama Food Hub were launched during the HiH Investment Forum.
5.3 enhancing national implementation
FAO continues to support countries in the ECA region to follow up on United Nations Food Systems Summit commitments and implementation of National Pathways, direct tailored advisory support is provided to Albania, Armenia, Serbia and Tajikistan. Working through the Issue-based Coalition on Sustainable Food Systems (IBC-SFS), a number of regional webinars have been implemented in 2022 to foster discussion, and continue to raise awareness on key food systems issues in the region, and the role and benefit of holistic food systems approaches.
5.4 strengthening institutions for more integrated solutions
FAO provided capacity development to enhancing policy coherence and integrated solutions as part of the country support work in Armenia, Tajikistan, Serbia and Albania bring together different ministries and stakeholders.
5.5 bolstering local action
In cooperation with UNDP and IISD, FAO is developing regional guidelines to support Member States in the formulation of local and sub-national development strategies and plans in the context of SDG localization. The aim is to ensure that sub-national policy making processes and actions contribute fostering synergies among sectors and bolster local action, in line with SDG implementation and LNOB commitments.
5.6 reducing disaster risk and building resilience
5.7 solving challenges through international cooperation and enhancing the global partnership
Since 2020, FAO has been co-chairing and providing Secretariat to the Issue-Based Coalition on Sustainable Food Systems (IBC-SFS), ECA regional inter-agency UN mechanism aimed at supporting UNCTs in the area of food systems. The IBC SFS has 9 members: FAO, WHO, UNICEF (three Co-Chairs), and UNECE, WFP, UNDP, WMO, IFAD, UNEP. The IBC-SFS has been recognized as an effective mechanism to strengthen advocacy and capacity development on food systems as well as to promote knowledge and experience exchange. The work conducted by the IBC SFS is available here: https://uneuropecentralasia.org/en/issue-based-coalition-sustainable-fo…
On partnership with non-state actors: 3 consultations have been held at the regional level in 2022 – in April with the civil society organizations, in May with private sector entities and in October with academia and research institutions with a view to align positions on priority areas and support to each other's initiatives, including SDG acceleration initiatives at the regional level.
At the country level, several partnerships have been established with the private sector, civil society and academia, contributing to various projects and programs, such as food loss and waste, smallholders support and gender mainstreaming. In Turkiye and Azerbaijan there has been a number of new partnerships established to support country programs, for example in Turkiye in relation to food loss and waste program and in Azerbaijan in relation to sustainability of hazelnut sector and capacity-building of farmers). Digitalization and innovation, being one of the primary focus areas, has also accelerated cooperation with the private sector at the country level (Uzbekistan)
5.8 harnessing science, technology and innovation with a greater focus on digital transformation for sustainable development
FAO presented its regional strategic priorities for digital agriculture for Europe and Central Asia region (REU) as defined in its “Digital REU 2022-2030” strategy. The “Digital REU” approach is grounded on the FAO Regional Initiatives, with a focus on empowering smallholders, family farms and youth through inclusive rural transformation, digitalization and innovation. People-centric, field-first, with a particular focus on ensuring affordable and equitable access for rural communities and smallholder farmers, “Digital REU” sees technology as a lever for accelerating the sustainable transformation of agrifood systems and it aims at embedding digitalization in all programmatical interventions. It proposes two overarching strategic priorities: (1) fostering the enabling environment for digital agriculture to thrive across the region (includes assessments, good practices collection, strategy support, digital literacy initiatives, etc.) and (2) accelerating the development and uptake of digital agriculture solutions, services, and data, as digital public goods to be scaled up across the region.
In 2022 FAO started the roll out of the corporate Digital Villages Initiative (DVI) in Europe and Central Asia. The DVI initiative seeks to address the challenges of agrifood systems at community level, capitalizing on the rich European experience with Smart Villages and FAO’s longstanding experiences and practical knowledge in rural development. With a vision to make every village and rural community in Europe and Central Asia smart, green, digitally connected, and interconnected, the initiative stimulates community-led action and fosters linkages between villages to exchange knowledge, good practices, and technology transfer ("village-twinning"). In Europe and Central Asia region, to identify and select candidate villages to be revitalized through DVI, FAO developed a DVI Readiness Assessment tool, which was piloted in 20 villages across the following countries: Albania, Kosovo [under SCR 1244], Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkiye, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. In addition, twinning activities were initiated among Permet, a village of Albania, Rahovec, a village of Kosovo, and Lormes, a Smart Village of France, also named the “village of the future”. Twinning activities fostered the establishment of linkages and cooperation among villages, and the exchange knowledge and good practices.
FAO has supported multiple countries with their national digital agriculture strategy development. In January 2022, Turkiye launched its dedicated national strategy and action plan for the digitalization of the agriculture sector, developed with the technical assistance of FAO. In the same year, an assessment on the status of digitalization among rural women and men was conducted in Kosovo [under SCR 1244]1, which provided the basis for the elaboration of a set of policy and programme recommendations. A similar work was undertaken in the Republic of Moldova, whereby a Programme on Digitalization of Agriculture was proposed to the Ministry of Agriculture. In addition, FAO is supporting Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the development of respectively a roadmap and programme of action for the digitalization of the sector.
5.9 investing in data and statistics for the SDGs
As of March 2019, all 21 SDG indicators under FAO custodianship had international established methodologies, endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission. Since then, FAO's methodological work in support of SDG monitoring has increasingly focused on building countries’ statistical capacity on selected under-reported SDG indicators, as well as on the development of data disaggregation methods, progress assessment techniques and complementary indicator frameworks for monitoring private sector’s and project results’ compliance with the SDGs.
Activities in support of building countries’ capacities in data collection and reporting have shifted from larger, regional trainings, to more targeted technical assistance at country-level on underreported indicators. Regional Roadmaps to accelerate country-level support on SDG Monitoring have been drawn up and are beginning to be implemented, with the objective of strengthening the capacity of UN country teams and FAO decentralized offices to engage with national authorities on SDG monitoring, mainstreaming statistics and SDG monitoring support in UN country-level programming, and scale-up country-level technical collaboration with national statistical authorities and relevant stakeholders.
Thus, capacity development activities have focused on collecting nationally-representative information by upgrading official national survey instruments, adopting new data collection tools, and leveraging new or alternative data sources such as Big data and geospatial data. This multi-pronged approach has been decisive in continuing to raise – even amidst the pandemic – the average reporting rate for countries with respect to the 21 SDG indicators under FAO custodianship, which went from 46 percent in 2020 to 53.7 percent in 2021, and then to 59.6 percent in 2022.
In addition, in order to ensure universal access to training material on the SDG indicators, FAO has introduced innovative learning methodologies and delivery solutions involving multiple stakeholders, such as experience-sharing events and live interviews, synchronous and asynchronous e-learning courses, mobile responsive programmes, technical webinars and online tutored blended learning programmes. In October 2022, the cumulative total number of learners of the 15 FAO SDG Indicator e-learning courses -- available in 55 language versions -- was 29,781; of these, about 3,000 learners have also been officially certified with the new Digital Badges, conditional on passing a final scenario-based performance evaluation with a score of 75 percent or higher.
In June 2022, FAO organized a Virtual Seminar Series for UNCT Data Officers and Economists, jointly with the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) and the Regional Collaborative Platform Working Groups on Data and Statistics. Attended by 424 participants, the training offered UNCT Data Officers and Economists the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills on supporting the improvement of SDG monitoring at national level, and helped them to provide better evidence and actionable insights to accelerate progress on SDG implementation. Over a series of three modules, the sessions brought together RCO and UNCT data officers and economists, with presentations from various custodian agencies, NSO representatives and UNCT officers sharing their expertise and experiences.
Moving forward, FAO plans to scale up capacity development support to countries in order to allow them to produce a growing number of the SDG indicators under FAO custodianship. In parallel, more emphasis will be placed on supporting countries in using the available data for evidence-based policy-making, in order to help them achieve the goals and targets set out in the 2030 Agenda.
5.10 strengthening the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF)
As custodian of 21 SDG indicators (including seven indicators for SDGs 14 and 15 under review in 2022), FAO actively participated in both the preparatory process and formal sessions of the HLPF 2022, enriching the discussion around SDG2, agrifood systems and their potential to accelerate efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda. FAO constructive engagement and high-level participation in the HLPF was especially relevant in 2022, given the current global food crisis and the prevalence of global food security issues in the HLPF discussions.
In the HLPF preparatory process, eight FAO Governing Bodies and the Committee on Food Security provided intergovernmental inputs to the HLPF and FAO contributed to the Report of the Secretary-General on “Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals”. FAO also actively engaged in the Expert Group Meetings to prepare the SDGs under review, in particular, SDG 14 and SDG 15, emphasizing the importance of ensuring the sustainable management and use of natural resources. As an additional input to the HLPF, FAO shared a set of Key Messages with DESA as inputs to the HLPF Ministerial Declaration.
At the HLPF 2022, FAO Director-General delivered remarks at the HLPF Opening Session and FAO intervened in different sessions, enriching the Member States debate on SDGs 14, 15, 17, Africa, LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS.
On the margins of the HLPF, FAO created opportunities for Member States, UN System, and non-state actors to explore in-depth the contributions of agrifood systems to sustainable development and discuss the work of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub. A special event launching SOFI also provided the latest information and analysis on global food security and nutrition.
FAO supported four countries in 2022 in their SDGs National Voluntary Reviews and aims to expand this initiative to more countries for 2023 HLPF reporting cycle in collaboration with FAO Regional Offices.
FAO is developing the 2030 Agenda Follow-up and Review toolkit that includes a Guidance Note for FAO Country Offices that covers information about the important of the follow-up and review process for the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, including information about the gaps in the coverage of the Voluntary National Reviews, and recommendations on what needs to be strengthened to make the VNRs meaning instruments for the acceleration of transition towards sustainable development pathways. In addition to this Guidance, the 2030 Agenda Follow-up and Review Toolkit includes a set of webinars/capacity building activities, context-based consultations with the FAO Country Offices, and other types of support (substantive and technical) with the preparation of the VNR report and its audio-visual files.
Q6. Following the adoption of the 2022 Ministerial Declaration, please highlight any major integrated and innovative policies or initiatives that your organization may have adopted related to the below, if applicable:
6.1 Member States encouraged "the United Nations system and all relevant actors to take advantage of emerging technologies and their applications, as appropriate, in order to maximize impact and effectiveness in data analysis and collection and stress the need to bridge the digital gap among and within countries" (Paragraph 86)
FAO has been providing technical assistance to several countries in Europe and Central Asia to foster the update of appropriate technologies and applications.
Early in 2022 the Government of Montenegro launched its own Farm Accountancy and Data Network (FADN), which was developed with the support of FAO. FADN is an IT system that enables to monitor the economic development at farm level and to better understand the impact of measures taken by the Government to support different types of agricultural holdings. Leveraging the knowledge and experiences in Montenegro, Albania is currently receiving a similar support for the development of its FADN system.
Furthermore, Georgia’s National Animal Identification and Traceability System (NAITS) was fully operational in 2022 as a result of a major five-year project led by FAO. NAITS is an IT system for collecting and recording information on animal production, which incorporates about 900 users (veterinarians and inspectors) and more than 250 000 animal holdings, documents the full path of the animals (including more than 1 million bovines) from farm to plate, making the system an important part of the food safety chain puzzle.
In 2022, FAO finalized the development of the Damage and Loss tool, a web-based software that allows Governments to assess damages and losses in crops, livestock, fisheries, forestry, and aquaculture. While the software was developed for the national authorities, it has the potential to be scaled-up on the regional level.
A Land Degradation Neutrality Decision Support System (LDN DSS) was developed in the Europe and Central Asia region to integrate meaningful information and facilitate the identification of target areas for different types of interventions in the landscape, to eventually balance the gains and losses of natural capital and achieve land degradation neutrality. Based on a Google Earth Engine (GEE), the Regional LDN DSS allows to easily visualize and compare spatially explicit indicators. It also allows any user to select a particular area of interest (e.g. a water catchment, and obtain summary statistics, charts and tables) integrating the available data. One of its key functionalities is the possibility to query and to show areas that meet certain criteria (Multi-Criteria Analysis toolbox) or are undergoing landcover transitions.
6.2 Member States specifically called upon the UN system “to work with the newly established United Nations Food Systems Coordination Hub, hosted by FAO, to support Governments to develop and strengthen SDG-based national pathways for sustainable food systems transformation” (Paragraph 128).
As a follow-up of the 2021 Food Systems Summit, FAO is hosting the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, on behalf of the UN.
The UN Food Systems Coordination Hub is fully operational, and FAO has already provided resources to the Hub, and welcomes other UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes to identify opportunities to continue support with financial and human resources the operations of the Hub as requested by Members.
- The Steering Committee approved the Hub’s Biennial Workplan 2022-2023. On this basis a budget has been developed with 94% of its value dedicated to support countries through programmatic workstreams of implementation of food systems transformation pathways, knowledge products, capacity development and the organization of the food systems stocktaking.
- The Hub has started already to provide technical support to countries on implementing their national food system pathways and it is important to continue and augment this support to more countries and with increased resources, through strong resource mobilization. FAO as the host of the Hub will welcome contributions from the donor community as the Hub is ready to provide details on the work programme and its budget.
- The Hub has initiated the Food Systems Solutions Dialogues at global and regional level with online and in-person meetings where national food system convenors and other government officers exchange views and identify solutions for implementation of food system pathways based on national ownership.
- At the 2022 World Food Forum, the Hub welcomed the nomination of a new Scientific Advisory Group of 33 scientists. The Group includes eminent scientists that were members of the FSS Scientific Committee, 8 members of the HLPE and additional scientist. The group has full gender balance and geographical representation.
- Consultations are underway with the Executive Office of the Secretary-General to start shaping the first Food Systems Summit Stock-taking Moment in 2023, and the upcoming Oversight Steering Group of the Hub at the end of November should allow us to confirm several planning elements.
- It is envisaged that the 2023 stocktaking meeting primarily gives space to countries to present the progress they have made on implementing their food system transformation pathways. The meeting would not foresee to create new commitments but to demonstrate countries’, stakeholders’ and UN action towards food systems transformations and achievement of SDGs.
At the regional level of Europe and Central Asia, FAO is coordinating the support on the Food Systems Summit follow-up with the Hub. In the Latin America and the Caribbean region, FAO has co-convened with WFP, IFAD, ECLAC, UNEP and PAHO a regional task force to support food systems transformations. In Africa region FAO co-convened with the African Union and NEPAD an in-person workshop od food systems national convenors during the AGRF.
Country Support provided on food systems, in the context of SDG implementation: The country support provided by FAO usually focuses on building capacities and facilitating cross-ministerial, and cross sectorial discussions on systems approach for the implementation of national pathways. It enables countries to follow-up to the national dialogues and work on selected priority areas. Examples of the implementation of national pathways:
- Support was provided to Armenia and Tajikistan- in collaboration with Chatham House to discuss actions needed to implement the national pathways, to understand any adjustments needed due to the changing context in the region, and to further cross-sectoral collaboration in an effort to improve policy coherence, and ignite discussions on trade-offs. A review of the current draft food security strategy was also carried out.
- FAO is also providing support to Serbia and Albania to continue national dialogues, develop a country roadmap and work on selected priority areas, such as rural tourism, e-certification for food trade.
- Support the development and implementation of the SDG Fund Development Emergency Modality applications to respond to the global food, energy, and financing crises from Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Turkey, Uzbekistan.
- Other FAO COs in the region are supporting governments on pathway follow up, e.g. Georgia, Uzbekistan.
Knowledge and Institutional Capacity development.
- United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) Regional Stocktake – FAO, in collaboration with Chatham House, developed a regional stocktake report on the UNFSS process, emerging priority issues for food systems transformation, and national food system pathways, which outlines recurring priority issues, nature and extent of food systems challenges, ongoing initiatives, good practices and workable solutions.
- IBC-SFS Regional Forum on Sustainable Development side event - The IBC-SFS organized an online side event in April 2022, in the framework of the 2020 Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, to provide Member States with key findings on the regional UNFSS stocktake and promote regional knowledge and experience exchange among UNFSS national convenors and other relevant stakeholders.
- Food Systems Countdown Initiative – Regional Consultations – held in May 2022 in collaboration with GAIN and the Johns Hopkins University to develop a set of indicators to be used in the ECA region to monitor the status of the food systems.
To support the countries In Latin America and the Caribbean in the implementation of their commitments, the UN agencies (FAO, WFP, IFAD, ECLAC, UNEP, and WHO/PAHO) formed the Food Systems Task Force for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Task force aims to contribute to the post-Food Systems Summit agenda in the region by supporting both regional and country level implementation of the national pathways, reactivation of coalitions and other existing spaces for dialogue. Directly aligned to the global efforts of the Food Systems Coordination Hub, the regional Task Force provides the countries with contextualized and updated knowledge, supports the Resident Coordinators and member states in implementation of their national pathways, strengthens cooperation among the United Nations System and facilitates efficient communication with the Rome-based Hub and coalitions.
Q7. The 2023 SDG Summit is expected to provide political leadership, guidance and recommendations for sustainable development and follow-up and review progress in the implementation of sustainable development commitments and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, including through national and regional consultations, which will mark the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress towards the SDGs. In the lead up to the 2023 SDG Summit, please provide your organization’s recommendations on how to overcome challenges to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the SDGs, taking into account the thematic reviews and voluntary national reviews conducted to date.
Recommendation 1: Consolidate the outcomes of multilateral processes in one agenda
Marking the mid-point in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the SDG Summit must carry out a comprehensive review of the state of the SDGs, respond to the impact of multiple and interlocking crises facing the world, and provide high-level political guidance on transformative and accelerated actions leading up to the 2030 deadline for achieving the SDGs.
The SDG Summit must consolidate and climax the critical inputs from the recent major conferences and their outcomes: 2019 Climate Action Summit, 2020 Biodiversity Summit, 2021 Food Systems Summit, 2022 UN Ocean Conference, and 2022 Transforming Education Summit. To mark the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress towards the SDGs at all levels, they all called for such a transformative agenda to be truly based on scientific evidence and data. Such consolidation will prove the value of multilateralism on creating solutions for sustainable development as well as the value of the UN System to support countries to implement these solutions.
The outcomes from the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) and UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) calling for fully respecting planetary boundaries in line with the 2030 Agenda must be integrated in the SDG Summit agenda to deliver ambitious outcomes to keep global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, increase climate finance for developing countries, and urgently scale up investments in climate adaptation as needs continue to grow rapidly one one side, and to accelerate conservation, protection, restoration and sustainable management of biodiversity and ecosystems for the next decade on the other side.
Recommendation 2: Make agrifood system transformations a strong and distinctive item of the SDGs Summit
In an effort to consolidate action and address the indivisibility of the SDGs, agrifood systems transformation is a fundamental prerequisite for wider sustainable development transformations and for the ultimate achievement of the SDGs. The linkages are intrinsic and paramount. Sustainable agrifood systems can not only provide sufficient, healthy, and balanced food to the population and have a direct impact on food and nutrition security, but also contribute to creating sustainable employment and livelihoods and to preserving the planet’s biodiversity and natural resources. Agrifood transformations in the SDGs era have far-reaching implications on global peace and security, as they both affect and are affected by peace and security in countries and regions alike.
Awareness of the unsustainability of the current state of food systems and the negative outcomes at all dimensions of sustainable development of the business-as-usual scenario is universal. Understanding of the pathways towards sustainable agrifood systems is fundamental to create solutions for SDGs acceleration.
A key challenge that restricts successful transformation of food systems is that existing national, regional and global policies, strategies, legislation and investments are compartmentalized into distinct dialogues. These challenges can be overcome through the formulation and implementation of cross-sectoral portfolios of policies, investments and legislation that comprehensively address the negative food security and nutrition effects of the multiple drivers impacting on food systems. Coherence among systems, as well as the cross-cutting accelerators, play a key role in maximizing the benefits and minimizing negative consequences of transformation.
For all these reasons it is strongly recommended that the agenda of agrifood systems transformations become a strong and distinctive item of the SDGs Summit. Given the specific one-UN follow up of the 2021 Food Systems Summit with the establishment of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, the thematic area of agrifood systems could help as providing a nexus for which all other relevant topics (climate, biodiversity, education, Oceans) could be clustered together and work as an accelerator for the SDGs. With food and agriculture issues at the epicenter of the global development agenda and the operationalization of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, the strong and distinctive presence of food systems in the agenda of the SDGs Summit can provide multiple benefits.
FAO holds unparalleled knowledge and expertise for SDG-based agrifood transformations, thus it is in an extremely advantageous position to guide, co-design and steer local, national, regional and global agrifood systems transformations to achieve sustainable development by 2030. To this extend FAO will be in a position to offer strong technical and intellectual support for the organization of the SDGs Summit.