The FAO/WHO Codex Trust Fund has just issued “Top Tips for Smart Applications”. The three questions and seven “tips” help countries understand what to emphasize in their applications and what to avoid. 

The Codex Trust Fund supports individual or group projects for a maximum period of three years. These projects are meant to address key weaknesses in national Codex structures and build the basis for effective and sustained engagement in the Codex process. 

“It is important that applicant countries really identify a key set of essential activities that build on each other and will transform Codex in their country and be sustainable” said Renata Clarke, Head, Food Safety and Quality Unit at FAO.

In the past two rounds a number of countries were not successful in the application process. Weaknesses in applications included: over-emphasis on support for participation in Codex meetings without clear links to other activities; lists of poorly defined events and workshops; use of CTF support for routine functions of national Codex structures; inclusion of activities that were outside the scope of CTF.

Kazuaki Miyagishima, Director of the Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses at WHO highlighted that “strong applications are a result of a thorough national consultative process that starts with using the FAO/WHO Codex Diagnostic Tool. The tool helps to identify strengths and weaknesses in the national Codex system and build up a project that has clear activities leading to concrete outputs and sustainable outcomes.”

In addition to the new “Top Tips for Smart Applications” text, webinar, video and Powerpoint material is available on the Codex Trust Fund website to assist countries in developing robust applications. 

The deadline for Round 3 submissions is 30 November 2018.