Analysis of existing stakeholder engagement mechanisms at

the FAO to inform the IPBES discussions

1. Structure of the groups
Civil Society
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has
a long history of collaboration with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)
at the local, regional and global levels. As part of its partnership
strategy, FAO works closely with federations, associations and groups
representing farmers, fishers, forest users, herders, indigenous
peoples, women and youth to help ensure that the aspirations of the
poor, marginalized and hungry are voiced. Civil society is engaged in
FAOs work at all levels from policy making to field technical activities.
These civil society actors can be grouped in two major categories:
Membership/community-based organizations: These organizations
group people of a specific sector of the population who share common
interests and come together to strengthen their capacity to make
their voices heard at institutional/international levels. This group
includes farmers associations and cooperatives, fishers, forest
dwellers and users, indigenous peoples, youth and womens groups
and their organizations, among others. They represent the interests of
major beneficiaries of FAOs work.
Non-governmental organizations: A non-governmental organization
(NGO) is a formally constituted not-for-profit organization that
provides services or sensitizes public opinion and conducts advocacy
in areas often of immediate relevance to the UN system. NGOs also
support community-based/national/international projects by providing
technical support as well as mobilizing resources. Some NGOs
emerged from and/or are linked to membership/community-based
organizations and are organized or specialized around specific
development issues such as agricultural and rural development,
environment or health.

Although it is impossible to describe completely the great variety of

civil society actors and their organizational models, some general
categorization can be made of the different NGOs and CSOs that
partner with FAO. These groups can be distinguished based on
technical areas of interest and competence (e.g. sustainable
agriculture, gender, environment), functional areas of activities (e.g.
policy-making, advocacy) and/or organizational mechanisms (e.g.
membership based, international/regional/local, rural/urban). Very
often constituencies overlap among the different groups. For instance,
members of a farmers group may also belong to an association of
indigenous peoples. NGOs often focus on specific themes and run
powerful advocacy activities. The self-definition of the group must be
taken into account when relating to organizations and networks.
These NGOs and CSOs partner with FAO for a variety of purposes.

Private Sector
FAOs long history of cooperation with the private sector - from
individual farmers to global institutions and enterprises - reflects the
major role that this sector has always played in all parts of the food
system. In recent decades, the governance of food and agriculture
has been increasingly transformed on a global basis by new
technological, knowledge-based, financial and managerial resources
and innovation. Private sector has been increasingly instrumental in
the development and often at the origin of these transformations.
This puts private sector in touch with virtually every dimension of
FAOs mission at global, regional and country levels.
As part of its partnership strategy, FAO focuses on corporate private
sector which comprises: individual companies or businesses, private
financial institutions, industry and trade associations, private
foundations, and academic, research and special purpose institutions,
coalitions and consortia, sometimes, formally not-for-profit that
represent for profit interests.

So far, FAO experience in private sector partnerships has focused in

particular on the policy environment and enhancing the capacity of
global and regional producers organizations and cooperatives,
business and industry in the value chain of food and related
agricultural goods and services, and small and medium-size
enterprises in developing countries.
In addition FAO has large experience of norms and standards setting
consultations with private sector associations. FAOs normative work
helps governments and other national institutions apply accepted
technical criteria or codes of conduct. FAO plays a key facilitator role
in the negotiation and implementation of international codes of
conducts, quality standards for food and other commodities, voluntary
guidelines and other internationally agreed normative frameworks.
2. Processes
Civil Society
Basic Texts and Formal Status
Procedures for gaining formal status with FAO are described in the
FAO Basic Texts. The organizations with formal status are a small
fraction of stakeholders, namely international non-governmental
organizations (INGOs) working with FAO. Paragraph 3 of Rule XVII of
the General Rules of the Organization (GRO) on Participating
International Organizations states: An observer of any international
non-governmental
organization
having
consultative
status,
accompanied by advisers and assistants, may attend the plenary
meetings of the Conference and the meetings of any commission, of
any technical committee of a commission and of any technical
committee established under Rule XV. Such observers may, without
vote, speak before such commissions and committees, participate in
the discussions therein upon the request of the Chairperson and, with
the consent of the General Committee, speak before plenary
meetings of the Conference. They may circulate to the Conference,
without abridgement, the views of the organizations which they
represent.

Arrangements for consultation, cooperation and liaison with INGOs are

set out in Part L Cooperation with International Non-Governmental
Organizations, Part M FAO Policy Concerning Relations with
International Non-Governmental Organizations, and Part N Granting
of Observer Status (in respect of International Governmental and
Non-Governmental Organizations of Volume II of the FAO Basic Texts.
A number of statutory bodies and commissions, however, have
developed specific rules and procedures to engage and work with
CSOs. A good example of this tendency is The Civil Society
Mechanism (CSM). The CSM, developed within the framework of the
reformed Committee on World Food Security (CFS), goes well beyond
the participatory status stipulated in the Basic Texts of the
Organization.
The Committee on World Food Security and the Civil Society
Mechanism
The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) was established in 1974
as an intergovernmental body to serve as a forum in the United
Nations System for review and follow-up of policies concerning world
food security including production and physical and economic access
to food. Based on the experience of the World Food Summit and the
World Food Summit: five years later, the need for a multi-stakeholder
forum involving a wide variety of social actors became evident.
During 2009 the CFS underwent reform to make it more effective by
including a wider group of stakeholders and increasing its ability to
promote polices that reduce food insecurity. The vision of the
reformed CFS is to be the most inclusive international and
intergovernmental platform for all stakeholders to work together to
ensure food security and nutrition for all. It will work in a coordinated
manner in support of country led processes that lead to food security.
The framework of the reformed CFS broadens participation and aims
to give a voice to all stakeholders in the world food system, to be
inclusive and encourage an exchange of views and experiences, to

build on empirical evidence and scientific analysis, and to monitor the

effectiveness of actions towards reducing hunger.
The reform of the CFS was crafted through the work of a Contact
Group established by the CFS Bureau in which civil society
organizations participated fully. One of the key achievementsof civil
society participants, with the support of like-minded governments,
was the acknowledgement of the right of civil society organizations to
autonomously organize themselves to interface with the CFS. The
relevant paragraph of the CFS reform document states that: Civil
society organizations/NGOs and their networks will be invited to
autonomously establish a global mechanism for food security and
nutrition which will function as a facilitating body for CSO/NGOs
consultation and participation in the CFS. Such mechanisms will also
serve inter-sessional global, regional and national actions in which
organizations of those sectors of the population most affected by food
insecurity would be accorded priority representation. Civil society
organizations/NGOs will submit to the CFS Bureau a proposal
regarding how they intend to organize their participation in the CFS in
a way that ensures broad and balanced participation by regions and
types of organizations keeping in mind the principles approved by the
CFS at its Thirty-Fourth Session in October 2008 (CFS:2008/5;
CL:135/10: paragraph 15). (CFS:2009/2 Rev.2, para 16).
The CFS reform document suggests that, in order to fulfil its
facilitation role, this autonomous mechanism perform a series of
functions including the following:
i)
ii)
iii)

broad and regular exchange of information, analysis and

experience;
developing common positions as appropriate;
communicating to the CFS and, as appropriate, its Bureau
through representatives designated by an internal selfselection process within each civil society category;

iv)

convening a civil society forum as a preparatory event before

CFS sessions if so decided by the civil society mechanism.
(CFS:2009/2 Rev.2, para. 16)

The proposal for the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) was discussed
and endorsed during the Civil Society Consultation, 8-10 October
2010 and then presented to the Member Governments during the
36th session of the Committee on World Food Security, who
acknowledged the Proposal for an International Food Security and
Nutrition Civil Society Mechanism and encouraged other
stakeholders to proceed along the same lines.
The CSM is a mechanism of facilitation and consultation with
participants from 11 different constituencies (including farmers,
fishers, pastoralists, landless, urban poor, youth, women, indigenous,
consumers, agricultural workers and NGOs) and 16 subregions. The
CSM aims at being as broad and representative as possible of the
different stakeholder voices and region particularities. The
Coordination Committee is the governing body of the CSM and has
the main role and responsibility of facilitating participation of CSOs in
the CFS. There are 40 members of the Coordination Committee,
including 4 focal points from smallholder family farmer organizations
and 2 from each of the other constituencies mentioned above, and 1
focal point from each sub-region. Priority is given to small-scale
farmers because they represent 80% of the hungry people in the
world and produce the largest proportion of the food in the world.
The CSM Coordination Committee chooses representatives to fill the
seats in the Advisory Group of the CFS allocated to civil society
(currently 4 places). The role of the civil society members of the
Advisory Group is to facilitate two-way communication between the
Bureau and the CSM, share information and present the range of
views and common positions of the CSM. The civil society Advisory
Group members will coordinate among themselves and through the
Coordination Committee to ensure as a collective the maximum
possible participation.

A light Secretariat has been established in Rome to provide support to

members of the CSM, the Coordination Committee, civil society
members of the Advisory Group and helps organize the annual Civil
Society Forum. Its role is administrative, facilitating the functioning of
the CSM by performing financial, logistical and communication tasks.
Regional Consultations
As provided for in the Basic Texts, Regional Conferences for Africa,
Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the
Caribbean and the Near East, meet normally once every biennium in
non-Conference years.
The functions of the Regional Conferences are:
-

To provide a forum for consultation on all matters pertaining

to the mandate of the Organization within the region,
including any special issues of interest to the Members in
the concerned region;
To provide a forum for the formulation of regional positions
on global policy and regulatory issues, either within the
mandate of the Organization or having implications with
respect to the mandate and activities of the Organization,
with a view of promoting regional coherence on global
policy and regulatory matters;
To advise on and identify the specific problems of their
respective regions and priority areas of work which should
be taken into account in the preparation of the planning,
programme and budgetary documents of the Organization
and suggest adjustments to these documents;
To review and advise on the plans, programmes or projects
carried out by the Organization which impact the region;
To review and advise on the performance of the
Organization in the region in contributing to the
achievement of results against relevant performance
indicators, including any pertinent evaluations.

Recently the regional conference format has been reviewed to be

more actions oriented, thus assisting the FAO through discussing with
the member countries in the region, in establishing the working and
policy priorities for the biennium.
Since 1996, Civil Society Consultations have been organized in
connection with these FAO Regional Conferences to ensure that a
broad range of NGOs and CSOs are consulted in relation to the
priorities and policy items discussed at regional level. The civil society
consultations have been autonomously organized by either existing
CSO networks or mechanisms, and ad hoc CSO committees created
specifically for the regional conferences.
The agenda of the Civil Society Consultations usually include items
discussed at the FAO Regional Conferences, as well as items of
particular interest for civil society in the regions. The outcomes of the
Civil Society Consultations are reported at the FAO Regional
Conferences and brought to the attention of the Member States for
their consideration.
Since 2008 the FAO Regional Conferences included in their agenda an
item related to the progress of the reform of the CFS, and the item
has been usually also considered in the CSO consultations.
The 37th session of the CFS discussed the importance of full inclusion
of regional and national points of view in the CFS deliberations, and
mandated the CFS secretariat to liaise with the FAO Regional
Conferences secretariats, in order to include in the FAO RCs a multistakeholder discussion from a regional perspective on the first draft of
the Global Strategic Framework, which is aimed to define priorities in
food security and food governance at global and regional levels.
The overall objective of the regional Civil Society Consultations is to
agree on a workplan, define a common civil society agenda, and
propose outputs for upcoming regional meetings, including the

realization of specific partnerships at subregional and regional levels.

These CSO objectives are shared with the member countries through
the reading of a CSO consultation statement during the Ministerial
plenary session. In addition and since 2012, FAO is proposing that a
limited number of spokespersons (minimum three) are elected during
the CSo consultation to intervene and speak during the agenda
discussion in the Ministerial segment of the Regional conferences.
This agreement is in place unless a member state disagrees at the
beginning of the regional conference. So far this new modality is
proving fruitful, yielding good results and enriched technical
discussions including now the points of view of the Civil society and
citizens along with those from the Private Sector, research institutions
and member states in the region.
These mechanisms that FAO has in place for autonomous civil society
consultation at the global and regional levels are fundamental in
allowing for civil society to come together and discuss relevant
policies, to understand common priorities and consolidate their
positions.
Private Sector
Procedures for gaining formal status with FAO are not available for the
private sector. Basic Texts do not make any reference to mechanisms
for granting formal participation of private sector actors to FAO
intergovernmental meetings.
De facto, private sector is widely involved in the consultation process
with FAO on normative work in the framework of standard setting
Commissions. In particular, in the Codex, private sector organizations
participate in meetings as part of government delegations and often
include consumer groups and industry representatives. The private
sector also may attend meetings as part of a Codex-approved
International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO) and may offer
comments during committee meetings at the discretion of the
Chairman.

The Committee on World Food Security and the new private sector
mechanism
Consistent progress has been made for the formalization of private
sector participation in the Committee on World Food Security. As
mentioned above in the civil society section, the Committee on Food
Security was reformed to better encourage the participation of
multilateral bodies, governments, donors, private sector and civil
society. As was requested by the CFS: Private sector associations,
private philanthropic organizations and other CFS stakeholders active
in areas related to food security, nutrition and the right to food are
encouraged to autonomously establish and maintain a permanent
coordination mechanism for participation in the CFS and for actions
derived from that participation at global , national and regional levels.
They are invited to communicate a proposal to that effect to the CFS
Bureau. Based on this statement, the private sector has built its
autonomous mechanism for participation in CFS activities, discussion,
negotiation and decision-making. All participants in the CFS process,
including the private sector, are invited to contribute to intersessional (activities that take place between the annual CFS Plenary
Sessions) activities at various level, from national to regional to
global.
The private sector focal point will facilitate participation in both intersessional activities and the CFS Plenary sessions held in proximity to
World Food Day in October each year. The focal point will be
accountable to the private sector worldwide working on food security
and nutrition on the one hand and the CFS on the other and he will
maintain an updated website and email list and ensure private sector
positions are developed on issues related to CFS.
The role of the Advisory Group is to bring the views of the non-voting
CFS participants, including the private sector, to the Bureau of the
CFS. The reform provides one seat to private sector and one seat to
foundations. A nominee from the focal point will be appointed to the

Advisory Group for a period of two years. The essential tasks of the
private sector Advisory Group member will be to share information
and to present the range of views of the private sector, with an
emphasis on any produced private sector common positions.
Seats and speaking slots allocated to the private sector in CFS
meetings will be distributed among interested parties and based on
the key themes addressed in the plenary. Direct links to food security
activities, gender sensitivity, and engagement in regions facing
significant food insecurity are priorities. Priority will be put on high
level participation and engagement by private sector associations at
the plenary. Organizations wishing to attend the CFS session are
requested submit information on their organization, areas of work and
organizational affiliation, which agenda item they are most interested
in.
Regional Consultations
As provided for in the Basic Texts, Regional Conferences for Africa,
Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia,, Latin America and the
Caribbean and the Near East, meet normally once every biennium in
non-Conference years.
Private sector participation is still far to be regulated through formal
and systematized mechanisms, but efforts are in progress to
stimulate gathering of private sector actors and encouraging
organization of side events in line with what already done by the civil
society in recent years. For example, very recently, the International
Agri-Food Network (IAFN) representative, who acts as focal point in
the Advisory Group of CFS, has designated private sector focal points
for each Regional Conference that will take place in 2012.
3. Budget
While the role of CSOs in food security and nutrition debates is
recognized, the lack of resources to ensure their participation and that
of their networks hampers their full participation in policy discussions.

This is particularly worrying for those representatives coming on

behalf of minority groups, vulnerable peoples and isolated
communities, whose voices tend to be systematically left out of key
policy debates affecting their lives and prospects.
Attempts are being made to bridge these difficulties. A good example
of this is the Multidonor Trust Fund that has been created and
managed by FAO to support the participation of civil society in the
CFS. With this funding, the CSM is able to undertake internal
deliberations to select representatives and participants for CFS
discussions, and to support the participation of a wide range of global,
regional and national stakeholders in order to ensure the expression
of as many views and positions as possible on issues regarding Food
Security, Agriculture and Nutrition. In addition, the Multidonor Trust
Fund can serve to foster national and regional consultative processes
among the Civil Society Organizations.
FAOs Partnerships Branch (OCEP), in consultation with the CFS
secretariat, manages this Multidonor Trust Fund as per the FAO
Financial Rules and Regulations. The Fund groups voluntary
contributions received from resource partners in support of the CSM
for the participation of Civil Society in the CFS.
4. Lessons learnt and recommendations
Advantages of the process/feedback:
-

Partnerships and collaborations with Civil Society, to be effective at

the global level, need to be well rooted at the local, national and
regional level.

Civil Society brings to the discussions a level of technical, practical

and cultural/traditional knowledge which complements the views of
technicians and member states. The views and voices from Civil
Societies, represent the realities of several of the stakeholders that
will be affected/benefitted from the policies being approved, thus

they are fundamental in informing the decisions of Member States.

This knowledge provides direct insight to the real effects decisions
made at global and regional forums can have on especially
producers and vulnerable groups at local levels.
-

Civil Society, particularly vulnerable groups, needs adequate time

as well as resources to be able to undertake internal consultations
and revert back with their views on specific policy and normative
matters. It is important to cater for this time and resources.

Civil Society does not consider to be participating on equal footing

when they are involved in processes and discussions at the end of
the pipeline. They feel part of the process when they are
engagement since the beginning of the discussions.

Promoting the involvement of civil society in plenary discussions

with Member States as well as in inter-sessional activities is
extremely important in allowing for transparent and participatory
decision-making processes. The CSM has already proven to be an
effective means of facilitating such participation in the CFS, of
bringing a wide variety of social actors to debates and influencing
normative decision making by member states.

Despite initial reluctances from some, the involvement of Civil

Society organizations has proven successful and enriching for
everyone. This has been most recently illustrated by the
acknowledgements of many government representatives of the
usefulness of civil society inputs in the negotiations of the
Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of
Land, Fisheries and Forests. The nearly 3-year process has
recently come to a successful completion, with consensus reached.

Preparatory discussions, such as the Regional Civil Society

Consultations for the regional conferences, allow for CSOs to
discuss pertinent issues, establish priorities, and align their
positions to Member States during ministerial discussions.

During the 37th Session of the CFS in October 2011, Member

States acknowledged the many contributions Civil Society made to
the discussions during roundtable and plenary debates, providing
articulate, technically-sound, passionate, well-argued and unified
interventions which helped to frame policy discussions. Great
appreciation was shown for the expertise, rationale and experience
CSOs give to inform policy recommendations and decisions,
particularly bringing in field perspectives and the opinions of the
most vulnerable.

Recommendations and lessons learnt:

-

It is important to involve the different civil society constituencies

representing stakeholder groups in the consultation processes in
order to ensure geographical, sector and gender balance.

The pluralism, autonomy and self-organization of the CSO should

be respected.

New forms of stakeholder involvement should include a simple

accreditation policy or acquisition of observer status procedure.
Efficient review of applications and swift-decision making would
avoid lengthy, onerous and rigid procedures to enter into official
relations with FAO.

In order to ensure an effective participatory process and true

engagement of civil society in these consultations, sufficient
resources are needed. In addition to adequate funds, there is a
fundamental need for adequate time for planning and mobilization
of sufficient resources in order to ensure strong
coordination/consultation of civil society.