Bailey, John, WFP
Baker, Doyle, FAO
Clark, Jane, DFID
Crowley, Eve, IFAD
Dey-Abbas, Jennie, FAO
Di Biase, Dominique FAO
Hines, Deborah, WFP
Hobley, Mary, DFID
Holden, Sarah, DFID
Huddleston, Barbara, FAO
Kelly, Tom, UK Permanent Representation to FAO
Matlon, Peter, UNDP
Rouse, John, FAO
Singh, Naresh, UNDP
Spearman, Dianne, WFP
Van de Sand, Klemens, IFAD
Warner, Katherine, FAO
1. -There was a strong consensus that the Forum had generated a better understanding of the underlying guiding principles of sustainable livelihoods approaches (SLAs), and the SL framework helped identify a number of gaps that could most effectively be tackled through collaborative partnerships among the participating agencies. There was a sense of urgency to proceed rapidly with the follow-up to build on the considerable momentum generated during the Forum.
2. -Several follow-up activities have already been initiated and will be completed by the end of April:
2.1 -Michael Pickstock and Sarah Reynolds of WRENmedia participated in the Forum to collect materials to produce a variety of communication packages, which will include a briefing paper for senior managers, a briefing paper for development practitioners on the process and main issues/findings of the Forum, an audio tape aimed specifically at senior managers and material for incorporation in websites of cooperating agencies.
2.2 -Mary Hobley mediated a session at the Forum on internalization issues and, drawing on the Forum discussion and the agency presentations on this topic, will draft a paper for senior managers on key issues and concerns relating to the adoption/internalization of SL approaches and guiding principles in agencies.
2.3 -A short publication on the main issues addressed in the Forum (and the Web/E-Conference) and gaps for future work will be prepared by Vanda Altarelli and Alice Carloni.
2.4 -The workshop proceedings, which will include summaries of all the various working group reports, will be prepared by Rathin Roy.
2.5 -FAO will organize a meeting of all FAO Rome-based Forum participants on Thursday, 16 March to discuss follow-up, particularly in the context of the ongoing preparation for FAO's Medium Term Plan 2000-2007.
2.6 -A meeting of the broader Informal Working Group on Participatory Approaches and Methods to Support Sustainable Livelihoods and Food Security (IWG-PA) will be held in early April to inform FAO, IFAD and WFP members of the outcome of the Forum and to generate further ideas and support for follow-up. DFID expressed an interest in attending this meeting.
2.7 -Michael Scott and Jane Clark, DFID, are planning to visit Rome in late March to discuss follow-up with the Rome-based agencies.
3. -Although recognizing that those present could not commit their agencies to specific actions without further internal consultation and reflection, consensus was reached on the desirability for collaborative action in the areas mentioned below. It was noted that these were initial proposals that would require further elaboration.
4. -It was agreed that there was a need to promote cross-agency awareness-building and reinforcement of support for SL principles and approaches at different levels, particularly at senior levels (especially through dialogue in meetings, and through letters and presentations).
Action: FAO agreed that in April it would send the draft WRENmedia briefing paper for senior managers and a draft covering letter to the agency focal points for the Forum follow-up for comments/clearance, before dispatch to senior staff in these agencies.
4.1 -There was a proposal to organize a high-level meeting on SL for senior managers, to take place in New York in October immediately before or after the CGIAR International Centres Week in Washington, DC, from 23-27 October 2000. This timing was suggested because several key managers, including some from UNDP, DFID and FAO, would be in the United States at that time.
Action: UNDP and DFID will take the lead in pursuing the idea of such a meeting with the other agencies.
5. -It was agreed that there was a need to sensitize agency staff responsible for drawing up the procedures governing the project cycle in order to introduce greater flexibility in the design, budgeting and monitoring process. This would inter alia focus on adapting traditional log-frame analysis to SL projects/programmes and using monitoring techniques for mid-term corrections/reorientations in project implementation. It was generally considered that the problem required urgent attention and that it could be addressed best through an inter-agency workshop with the objective of generating concrete proposals for changes in procedures.
6. -There was wide agreement to undertake, as soon as possible, some visible joint efforts to demonstrate effective ways of introducing SL approaches in a more integrated manner within countries. Ideally, this would be done by developing a joint project/programme, using the new programming framework suggested under item 5. However, in order to keep momentum, another practical approach would be to begin immediately to explore what might be done through a collaborative effort to introduce SLA into existing or planned programmes and projects of the five agencies that had participated in the Forum, in one or a few countries that would be interested in receiving such support.
6.1 There was some discussion on the criteria for selecting countries (for example, whether to choose one or more countries for which the Forum had discussed major case study projects or countries that were in the process of evolving new rural development approaches that could be enriched by using SL principles and approaches or countries where there were a number of other United Nations and bilateral agencies and CSOs/NGOs that might be interested in participating in such an exercise). It would be essential that all five cooperating agencies be active in the country, or have the possibility to work in it, and that the country itself and the agency country representatives be receptive to such an initiative. It was recognized that such an idea would require further discussion among the agencies, and in the short term it might be more practical to move ahead with country projects/programmes or related initiatives already under way, particularly in appraisal and monitoring and evaluation work, and with projects such as FAO/DFID's West Africa Fisheries Programme.
6.2 -Participants agreed to provide agency focal points with lists of their priority countries and project choices for further consultation and action. A list of countries of common interest to UNDP and DFID will be provided as a starting point.
Action: UNDP agreed to prepare a concept note on this issue and distribute it to agency focal points for comment by 31 March 2000.
7. -All the participants recognized the importance of adapting SL concepts, principles and approaches in French- and Spanish-speaking countries (and eventually in other countries/areas too) that used concepts and approaches that were based on similar principles and tools similar to SL. The concern that SL was a concept anchored in an English cultural context was voiced by a number of Forum participants who had met on this issue and made an excellent presentation on their preliminary findings at the closing session of the Forum. DFID is already working on this issue in connection with its ongoing work in transliterating its SL guidelines into French and Spanish. It was agreed that both CARE and FAO probably had a comparative advantage in taking this work further, starting with French, Spanish and Portuguese contexts.
Action: FAO agreed to discuss this issue with its Forum participants and also at the meeting of the IWG-PA in early April to identify interest among IWG-PA members in undertaking such a task (primarily using staff resources) within the framework of an ad hoc task group of the IWG-PA.
8.- -It was noted that FAO was planning to initiate, within the IWG-PA, a programme to develop a conceptual framework and a methodology for undertaking multistakeholder analysis, to test this methodology in a number of projects in countries representing different agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions, and to develop indicators for monitoring and assessing the costs and benefits of participation. It was proposed that this stakeholder analysis could focus on the contribution of participatory methods and programmes to improvements in people's livelihoods, providing insights into what changes in programmes and methods would most significantly affect livelihood outcomes.
8.1 -DFID expressed interest in impact monitoring in general.
Action: FAO will develop a set of proposals for further work on appraisal and evaluation of the use of participatory approaches for SL, and consult with the other agencies on their interest and opportunities for joint collaboration in this area.
9. -It was agreed that this would be explored further. DFID shared an interest in thinking more about joint training opportunities.
Action: UNDP agreed to take the lead and contact focal points regarding possibilities of collaboration.
10.- -It was agreed that the sharing of existing agency rosters was problematic largely because of the difficulty of ensuring quality control. It was agreed that for the time being, the best way would be to continue to share information on an informal basis, but that the issue of a common roster (particularly for consultants with experience training trainers) could be revisited.
Contact focal points for each participating agency were identified:
