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Guidelines for Ensuring Balanced Representation of Civil Society in FAO Meetings and Processes







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    A Sub-regional strategy for enhancing the participation of the civil society in forestry planning and policy making processing in West Africa 2015
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    Forest planning and policy making process in West Africa – and elsewhere in Africa for that matter – has largely been dominated by the State, with very little room for a meaningful participation of civil society. This state of affairs led to a management of forests and forest resources which failed to produce sustainable outcomes. There has been poor governance of forests, alarming deforestation and land degradation, exacerbated by increasing rural poverty and large foreign debts. As these and other environmental problems strain the West African sub-region, the need for pluralism in forest sector development is gaining momentum. The need to accommodate multiple interests in charting the future of forests is indeed gaining wide recognition, as evidenced by the declarations in favor of sustainable forest management in Agenda 21 and by the many international conventions on forests in which African countries are participating. How to accommodate multiple interests in the forest sector is the real issue facing Africa’s forestry authorities today. Although there is a growing set of tools and methodologies to reinforce participation of stakeholders in national forest programmes and similar processes, there is a need to approach the issue strategically, thinking regionally and acting nationally and locally. It is in this context that the present study has been commissioned by FAO Sub-regional Office for Africa to prepare a sub-regional strategy for enhancing the participation of civ il society actors in forestry planning and policy making processes in West Africa.
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    Supporting Civil Society Participation in Committee on World Food Security - GCP/GLO/936/GER 2019
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    Civil society organizations play a crucial role in food security and poverty reduction. They have increasingly shown their capacities and potential in programme and project design, execution and implementation at decentralized levels, as well as their contributions to important policy discussions and normative work at global level. This has been especially evident in their role and participation in the Committee on World Food Security, the United Nations’ official forum for the review of policies concerning food security. In 2009, the CFS underwent reform to become more effective and inclusive of all stakeholders, particularly acknowledging the prominent role of civil society in the work of the CFS. CSOs were invited to autonomously establish an international Civil Society Mechanism to ensure the continued participation and contribution of civil society in the debates and decisions taken by the CFS. The aim of the project was to support the active participation of the CSM in the annual plenary session of the CFS.
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    Book (stand-alone)
    FAO Strategy for Partnerships with Civil Society Organizations 2013
    FAO has been working for many years with hundreds of civil society organizations (NGOs, community-based organizations, professional associations, networks, etc.) in technical work, emergency field operations, training and capacity building, and advocacy of best agricultural practices. Over the past years, civil society organizations (CSOs) have evolved in terms of coordination, structure, outreach, mobilization and advocacy capacity. In this period, FAO has also undergone changes i n management, revised its Strategic Framework and given a new impetus to decentralization. Therefore, a review of the existing 1999 FAO Policy and Strategy for Cooperation with Non-Governmental and Civil Society Organizations was needed. The FAO Strategy for Partnerships with Civil Society considers civil society as those non-state actors that work in the areas related to FAO’s mandate. It does not address partnerships with academia, research institutions or philanthropic found ations, as they will be treated in other FAO documents. Food producers’ organizations, given their specific nature and relevance in relation to FAO’s mandate, will be considered separately. In principle, as they usually are for-profit, they will fall under the FAO Strategy for Partnerships with the Private Sector, unless these organizations state otherwise and comply with the criteria for CSOs. These cases will be addressed individually. The Strategy identifies six areas of colla boration and two levels of interaction with different rationales and modus operandi: global-headquarters and decentralized (regional, national, local). The main focus of this Strategy is in working with civil society at th e decentralized level. In its Reviewed Strategic Framework, FAO has defined five Strategic Objectives to eradicate poverty and food insecurity. To achieve this, the Organization is seeking to expand its collaboration with CSOs committed to these objectives.

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