The promotion of links among local stakeholders, their territories and their food products is a pathway for sustainable development in rural communities throughout the world. Geographical indications (GIs) represent a product differentiation strategy that can offer a competitive advantage to value chain actors and a particularly valuable market leverage for actors in developing countries. Funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) and FAO, and developed by the Swiss NGO REDD, FAO Quality and Origin Programme and FAO-RAP, the training manual is a concrete step forward in supporting the development of geographical indications as a rural development tool for sustainable food systems. It focuses on the management and promotion of GIs’ specific qualities by local stakeholders gathered together in a collective management organization – the so called interprofessional, or joint body – that is central to the commercial success, and ultimately to the sustainable impact, of initiatives aimed at promoting the link between a product and its origin.