AsiaDHRRA represented the Civil Society Organizations during the 2nd day of the 35th FAO Asia Pacific Regional Conference (FAO-APRC) hosted by Bhutan via Zoom, on 2 September 2020.
The 35th Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) – APRC aims to “discuss the current country and regional priorities and pressing issues in the region such as the impact of COVID-19, the state of agriculture, natural resources management, food security and nutrition. It will also be an opportunity to highlight examples of partnerships, innovation and digital technologies that are helping to improve food security and nutrition across the region as well as regional and global policy and regulatory matters.”
AsiaDHRRA, as a co-convenor of CSO Ad Hoc Steering Committee for FAO APRC, together with IPC members, works closely in pushing forward the food security and nutrition and rural development agenda at the global, regional, and national levels.
CSO Intervention on:
- Results and Priorities for FAO Activities in the Region (APRC20/6 + Web Annexes 1-5)
- Decentralized Offices Network (APRC/20/7)
“We, members of civil society and farmer organizations in Asia-Pacific who are engaging in the 35th FAO-APRC, takes cognizance of FAO’s effort to focus through the Regional Initiaves (Ris) approach, to create bigger impact on chosen priorities at country and regional level. And taking heed of the recent evaluation recommendations, a new set of broadened yet consolidated regional priorities, the 4 RIs, have been defined, anchored on 14 programmatic areas of focus for tangible and measurable results. This is a forward quick action, reflecting commitment of FAO to institute change and innovate. The new Strategic Framework, the re-orientation towards SDG30, the RIs, and the FAO Country Programming Framework (CPF) which will now derive from the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) at national level are important steps to achieve greater results at the national level.
It is fitting that Results and Priorities and Decentralization are tackled in the same session. For these two are inseparable.
But the question that we, CSOs, wish this Conference to bring to bear is where have CSOs and Farmers’ 
Organizations been in all these at the regional, sub-regional, and national levels?
Or maybe the question is : How has FAO and member states involve CSOs and Family Farmers organization in all these processes? Where we at the table, or just on the menu?
We express our concern that in all most of these processes: strategic planning, regional prioritization, review and assessment, we have not been as meaningfully engaged, other than receiving reports of these developments during the biennial APRC. We believe that this laudable effort of FAO and member states to find better coherence and coordination could benefit from engagement with CSOs and farmer organizations through regular consultations, integration in FAO programs and activities, and obtaining feedback from them at all levels.
The participation of CSOs and farmer organizations in the FAO Asia-Pacific Regional Conference cannot be as meaningful if we are not involved in a systemic way, as valuable partners of FAO.
We do appreciate the reference to our organizations in item53 under Partnerships of the Results and Priorities report, and the involvement of CSOs in some programs as reported in item33 of the Decentralized Offices Network, but we believe that there could be more opportunities for productive and inclusive engagement if the mechanism for regular dialogue and consultation at national and regional levels, beyond the biennial APRC, is in place.
Along this, we call on Member-States and FAO-RAP to institutionalize an inclusive mechanism for CSOs and farmer organizations to meaningfully participate in the development of FAO’s
New Strategic Framework, in shaping the MYPoW, and contribute to monitoring and review of FAO programs and activities in the region and at the national level. It is engagement at the national level which is most relevant to many of us, as policies and programs will more directly impact on our constituents. Lastly, We hope that FAO will give priority attention and share the result of this year’s Independent Evaluation of FAO’s Strategy for Partnerships with Civil Society Organizations, in the spirit of responsible, inclusive, and genuine partnership.
Thank you for your attention.” – Ms. Marlene Ramirez, AsiaDHRRA Secretary General
