Who we are:

The Participation Website was established in 1999 by the Informal Working Group on Participatory Approaches and Methods to Support Sustainable Livelihoods and Food Security (IWG-PA). One of the key objectives of the working group was to capitalize on FAO's most successful normative and field experiences with participatory approaches and methods through their adaptation, replication and dissemination, in order to enhance FAO's field programme.

What we do:

The objective of the Participation Website is to bring together under one virtual roof, a broad cross-section of stakeholders interested in participatory approaches and methods in support of sustainable rural livelihoods and food security. The management and maintenance of the Participation Website has been delegated to a small website team, which is based in the FAO Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division (ESW). Most of the financial support for the website is also received from this FAO Division, which is part of the Economic and Social Development Department of FAO.

In 2000 the IWG-PA members started an initiative that resulted in the "Inter-Agency Forum on Operationalizing Participatory Ways of Applying Sustainable Livelihoods Approaches", in Siena, Italy. This five-day inter-agency technical forum, which brought together various agencies that had worked with sustainable livelihoods approaches, such as CARE, DFID, FAO, IFAD, UNDP and WFP, aimed at the development of more effective programmes for the reduction of poverty through the application of sustainable livelihoods approaches.

It was during the SLA Forum in Siena that the idea of a Livelihoods Support Programme (LSP) was born. Today, the LSP is the largest and latest initiative prepared by the IWG-PA. What started as an informal network of Rome-based UN agency-staff, interested in participatory approaches, has eventually given rise to a five year programme funded by FAO and DFID. With the notable exception of work related to the Participation Website, most of the other activities of the IWG-PA interest groups have been incorporated into sub-programmes of the LSP.
LSP Contact:

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