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UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM
Upstream services
The FAO Investment Centre covers most aspects of investment in agricultural and rural development. In an increasing number of cases the Investment Centre provides 'upstream' services aimed at investigating the conditions for investment. This includes carrying out agricultural sector reviews and developing sectoral policy and strategy frameworks which are an integral part of the poverty reduction formulation process (Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers) and are essential for the identification of investment opportunities.
Downstream services
The bulk of the work, however, still consists of 'downstream' activities related to specific projects - investment design environmental and social impact assessments and supervision. The Investment Centre also emphasizes the importance of thorough ex-post implementation assessments through project completion reports. These enable people to keep in touch with the realities of project design and offer lessons for the formulation of new projects.
FAO staff and country expertise
These services also rely on the support of staff from FAO technical and policy units: in some cases they join missions as specialized consultants; in other cases they brief Investment Centre staff prior to missions and review their resulting proposals.
The Investment Centre's policy is to complement national expertise. Its role varies according to national capacity. In countries with stronger human and institutional resources, the Investment Centre provides guidance or specialist inputs to assist national staff. In countries with fewer resources, the Investment Centre provides more comprehensive services while nevertheless taking the opportunity to build local capacity by providing on-the-job training for national partners.
New areas of work
New emerging areas of work include value chain analysis in product marketing, agriculture sector public expenditure review, design of sustainable safety nets, and creating a favourable environment for private sector investment in agriculture.
Socio-Economic and Production System Studies
In the 1990s, financing institutions became increasingly aware of the need to promote ownership of projects on the part of borrower governments and beneficiary farmers. The precondition for ownership is for governments and rural people to have a voice in the design of the investment projects. The Investment Centre responded by developing a systematic approach to achieving this with the creation of Socio-Economic and Production System Studies (SEPSS).
SEPSS are conducted to develop an appreciation of the situation in which the intended beneficiaries live, and their perceptions of their problems, needs and priorities. At present they are complemented and sometimes replaced by Participatory Rural Approaches processes.
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The Investment Centre works with banks and governments in the formulation of the agricultural sector components of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs).
The PRSP has become a prerequisite for countries seeking IDA loans and budget support through the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility and the World Bank's Poverty Reduction Support Credits.
In 1999, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) launched the PRSP process as a way of focusing the efforts of governments on reducing poverty.
The Investment Centre has also produced studies on key rural poverty issues such as secure entitlement to land.
Useful links
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