Goal 17: FAO revitalizes the global partnership for sustainable development

The Sustainable Development Goals offer a vision of a fairer, more prosperous, peaceful and sustainable world in which no one is left behind.  FAO contributes to revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development through partnerships that invest in critical agents of change – smallholders, family farmers, rural women, fisher folk, indigenous communities, youth and other vulnerable or marginalized people.   

“The  SDGs are truly transformative. They are interlinked, calling for new combinations in the way policies, programmes, partnerships and investments pull together to achieve are common goals” 

FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva

 FAO’s work is grounded in sustainable development. Both the SDGs and FAO’s Strategic Framework are geared towards tackling the root causes of poverty and hunger, and building a fairer society which ensures equality for all.   For FAO, strategic partnerships is a core function of the Organization’s new Strategic Framework and it is considered as a crucial enabler for achieving the Organization’s Strategic Objectives and the SDGs.  

 FAO believes that in order to meet the Zero Hunger Challenge, political commitment and major alliances with key stakeholders are crucial.  Thus Partnerships are at the heart of FAO’s mission to help build consensus for a world without hunger.   

The effectiveness and credibility of the Organization as a policy-making forum and unique technical centre of excellence, knowledge and specialised expertise on food and agriculture depends on its ability to work and develop strategic partnerships (FAO Strategy for partnerships with the private sector, FAO Strategy with partnerships with civil society organizations).  FAO also realizes that the great ambition of the SDG 17 can also be achieved through cooperation – North-South, South-South and triangular – and global partnerships amongst multiple actors and across a broad range of areas.

Only through effective collaboration with governments, civil society, private sector, academia, research centres, small producers, cooperatives and development actors, and making use of each other’s knowledge and comparative advantages, can food insecurity and malnutrition be defeated.   Thus FAO engages in global processes and partnerships to ensure that the implementation of the SDGs truly reflect countries’ vision of development, and recognize the boundless ways that food and agriculture contribute to economic, social and environmental development. 

 FAO and its partners are already supporting many countries to achieve the multiple objectives of the 2030 Agenda.  These partnerships are a testimony of an effective means to foster the mutual sharing and exchange of development solutions; they generate knowledge, experiences, good practices, and better policies as well as providing effective services, technology and resources, which address the challenges many countries face.

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