2 FAO as a knowledge organization

‍

FAO aims to achieve food security for all, ensuring that people around the world have regular access to enough high-quality food to live active, healthy lives. Knowledge is crucial to achieving these goals, and disseminating knowledge has been a core part of FAO’s mandate since it was founded.

FAO publications cater primarily to specialized audiences, but also inform the choices and behaviours of ordinary people. The target audiences of FAO publications may include:

practitioners (farmers, fishers, foresters, extension workers);
researchers (scientists, academia, institutes);
institutions (governments, political authorities, public organizations);
partners and donors;
non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations;
private sector entities;
journalists and the media; and
the public (non-technical readers, school pupils).

FAO's reach is significant: the FAO Knowledge Repository houses all of FAO’s publications and documents (over 142 000 as at December 2024), with thousands more published each year. FAO has more than 7 million followers on its social media channels. And in 2023, there were more than 500 000 online media articles citing FAO. With its substantial platform comes the responsibility to produce quality, cohesive knowledge products.

2.1 FAO's strengths and comparative advantages

FAO publications build on the FAO brand and its strengths:

NEUTRAL FORUM – As part of the UN, FAO is a respected forum for debate and discussion on global issues surrounding food and agriculture.
CREDIBILITY – As a global centre of knowledge and expertise, FAO is a source of reliable and authoritative information.
GLOBAL AND LOCAL COVERAGE – FAO is present in more than 130 countries and collects national data from its 197 Members. It is therefore able to provide knowledge and comprehensive datasets across a range of topics.
ALL-ROUND VISION – FAO covers all aspects of food security and agriculture, offering a 360° vision of sustainable agrifood systems and natural resources management.
SPEAKING TO ALL – Using its six languages (and many others), FAO prioritizes multilingual distribution of information.
FAR-REACHING PLATFORM – With the world’s growing interest in developmental and environmental themes, FAO is uniquely poised to reach and make a positive impact on a variety of audiences.

2.2 FAO messages in publications

FAO’s publishing activities are driven by the priorities defined within the Strategic Framework, characterized as the four betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind. The Framework supports the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems. Also guiding FAO's work are the 20 cross-cutting Programme Priority Areas (PPAs), all of which are associated with one of the four betters.

When communicating the outcomes and impact of FAO’s work, the underlying message should be one of progress and positive change, emphasizing improvements and highlighting concrete solutions to problems.

Bear in mind the following communication objectives:

Reaffirm FAO’s position as the UN agency mandated to defeat hunger and achieve global food and nutrition security while preserving the planet’s resources and reducing the environmental impact.
Contribute to mobilizing support for the Organization's mandate and the four betters, and highlight FAO’s leadership role in achieving the 2030 Agenda and Zero Hunger.
Make FAO’s knowledge and information available to its Members and all who require it, in the most appropriate manner for each target audience.
Safeguard FAO’s reputation and build trust.

FAO is represented externally as a unified Organization with a common message, voice and narrative. This One FAO approach is outlined in the Director-General’s bulletin No. 2023/15. It signifies that all knowledge and communication products, including publications, should be written from the perspective of the Organization as a whole, with the aim of strengthening unity of action and reinforcing the concept of a single FAO.

2.3 Effective publications

To ensure that your publications are effective, consider several key priorities:

AUDIENCE – Thoughtfully identify the demand for your publication and your target audience(s), using a “market research” approach.
ENGAGEMENT – Employ the most effective format, in the languages needed, to reach, capture and hold the attention of your target audience(s). Ensure that you have a marketing strategy in place before you start writing.
QUALITY – Monitor knowledge products from conception to publication for quality, readability and presentation. Focus your resources on producing a few high-quality knowledge products.
EXPERTISE – When sharing knowledge, ensure that both the expert perspective and the Organization's objectives are reflected.
STANDARDIZATION – Refer to the publications taxonomy hierarchy to select the product type that best suits your message and audience.
BRANDING – Ensure that your publications demonstrate FAO’s lead role in transforming agrifood systems, and help strengthen the FAO brand through high-quality research, writing and design.

2.4 FAO publications Taxonomy

FAO knowledge products are classified by content, scope, style and target audience. The overarching level of the taxonomy is based on four tiers:

corporate publications;
specialized publications;
strategic and operational publications; and
normative, evaluation and meeting documents.

Each tier is further divided into taxonomy types and content categories.

Each knowledge product should have a clearly defined content category, which is linked to specific quality control steps in the Publications Workflow System (PWS).

For a detailed version of the taxonomy, please see here.

2.5 Copyright, co-publishing and open access

FAO copyright policy principles help ensure that the Organization always has the right to disseminate its publications and other knowledge products as widely as possible, in line with its mandate:

Copyright of products produced by FAO statutory bodies and secretariats is held and administered by FAO.
FAO policy does not permit assignment of copyright to any other entity.
Joint copyright is not permitted with private-sector entities, including commercial publishers. Joint copyright should be avoided with any agency that is not an international organization with the same privileges and immunities as FAO.

The intellectual property clause in a FAO Letter of Agreement (LoA) states that FAO retains copyright over all intellectual outputs produced under the LoA. This clause also provides a generous licence to the service provider to use, publish and disseminate LoA outputs, if FAO is recognized as the source and copyright owner of the material.

Co-publishing is a cost-effective way to increase the reach and impact of a publication through collaboration with other organizations. FAO proactively seeks to work with:

organizations as part of joint technical and knowledge-sharing initiatives and networks; and
scientific, technical, academic and commercial publishers, to improve the visibility and discoverability of FAO knowledge products.

To ensure fulfilment of the Organization’s legal and publishing requirements, co-publishing arrangements for substantial, book-length publications must be regulated by a formal agreement. Co‑publisher status is granted based on the amount of intellectual contribution the other entity has provided. Note that factsheets, flyers, brochures and the like do not require a co-publishing agreement.

To make FAO’s expert information and knowledge accessible to users worldwide, the Organization encourages the wide use, reproduction, sharing and dissemination of all publications and documents produced by FAO, through an Open Access policy.

2.6 Publishing support

Each FAO division or office is responsible for ensuring its own publications meet FAO standards. Knowledge products published in the FAO Knowledge Repository go through the publication process with the support of the Office of Communications – Publications and Library branch (OCCP).

OCCP facilitates the compilation of the FAO publishing plan and offers services that cover:

guidance on planning, promotion and impact evaluation of a publication;
advice on digital publishing policy, procedures, standards and guidelines;
coordination of publishing governance;
copyright and related rights and licensing pertaining to external collaborators;
quality assurance of publications and the Publications Workflow System (PWS) process;
inclusion and discoverability via the FAO Knowledge Repository as the official platform for institutional memory and Open Access content; and
dissemination of selected publications through a range of channels, both commercial (via online sales platforms) and non-commercial (such as Google and Wikipedia).

OCCP also provides job numbers, ISSNs, ISBNs, DOIs and barcodes for publications, and produces QR cards on behalf of the requesting division or office.

TOP