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| Policy Assistance :: Activities |
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Activities listed on this page:
Agricultural policy advice
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China: Policy reforms (CPR/02/123)
FAO provided policy advice on issues related to China's accession to the World Trade Organization
(WTO) and policy reforms in the field of poverty reduction and food security.
Interim results were used by FAO in supporting the CCICED (China's Council
on International Cooperation on Environment and Development) Task Force on
Agriculture and Rural Development in the preparation of the country's 10th
Five-Year Plan.
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Timor-Leste: Support for the implementation of the
national development plan in the agriculture sector (TCP/TIM/2902)
The project aims to provide technical support in identifying priority programmes
and projects and in preparing an outline and detailed proposals for the identified
programmes and projects. The project also aims at strengthening the capacity of
the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
staff in project identification, formulation, management, monitoring and evaluation
through "hands-on" training in the course of collaboration with the FAO technical
missions.
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Myanmar: Development of an alternative income
generation programme for poppy producers
An interagency fact-finding and project formulation mission was fielded in the
Wa Special Region of Myanmar. Two specific objectives of the mission were to
prepare: (i) a short-term technical cooperation programme (TCP) project to address the issues of immediate concern
regarding food security and alternative income generation means; and (ii)
a project identification report for long-term sustainable development. Based
on the mission findings, FAO formulated a TCP project that aims to provide
village-based training on alternative income generation activities and to
facilitate trade and marketing of food and basic goods. In addition, FAO
is planning to formulate a more holistic programme that focuses on asset
generation (community development, microfinancing and off-farm activities)
and improvement of social services (education, health and food-for-work). This
holistic programme will work in collaboration with other UN agencies, such as
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
and the World Food Programme (WFP), which participated in the joint fact-finding
mission and have shown a
keen interest in contributing.
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Viet Nam: Seminar on subject-matter analysis: rural,
agricultural and fishery census (TCP/VIE/2901)
Under this project, six subject-matter papers were prepared by national
consultants and a Special Studies Seminar took place in March 2004
in Hanoi to discuss the papers. FAO provided advice on how to use the census
data in policy formulation and analysis, and on ways to improve the current
census.
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Collaboration with policy institutes and regional networks
FAO has intensified its collaborative work with national policy
institutes and leading regional networks (like the Asia-Pacific
Agricultural Policy Forum and the Southeast Asian Regional Center
for Agriculture). A major focus of the joint analytical assessments and
studies on emerging economic challenges and issues is to identify and
strengthen advocacy for policies and programmes that are geared towards
sustained poverty reduction and food security.
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Improving the competitiveness of agriculture in the context of trade integration agreements (TCP/MYA/2902)
Policy assistance and advice were extended to Myanmar on needed restructuring to
create a competitive agriculture and rural sector, and on fundamental reforms
required with respect to clarifying property rights and setting macro-economic
prices right. FAO assisted in convening several capacity building workshops and
round tables on economic and trade policies and experiences of transition economies. |
Project development
The FAO regional office organizes Programme Development Committee meetings
twice a year to assess the overall field programme development situation in
the Asia-Pacific region, identify priority areas, develop effective pipeline
monitoring and follow-up systems and modalities, and coordinate the work and activities
of various technical groups in formulating multidisciplinary projects.
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Nepal: Multidisciplinary field programme review and development
mission
The mission examined the performance, constraints and economic potential of ten
subsectors (household food security and nutrition, horticulture,
livestock, fishery, aromatic and medicinal plants, soil conservation and watershed
management, leasehold forestry, irrigation water management, land reform and rural
development and technology system management) related directly or indirectly to the
agriculture sector. The findings indicated that past government and donor support to
these subsectors have had positive impacts, although the outcomes vary by degree.
However, considering the high incidence of poverty in the country and the persistence
of food security issues (i.e. nutritional insecurity at both the national and
household levels), improvements are still far from satisfactory, particularly
when weighed against the existing potential and development needs indicated in
several policy and planning documents. One of the key constraints to progress was found
to be the lack of proper identification of areas towards which investments can be
prioritized.
The mission identified 46 project proposals covering ten agricultural
subsectors. FAO is providing technical and operational support to the National Planning Commission,
specifically in: (i) preparing a synthesis paper summarizing the findings and
recommendations of the FAO mission and suggesting criteria for prioritization;
and (ii) organizing consultations and preparation of necessary documentation. |
Country policy profiles and hunger strategy
Under the Initiative to Review and Update National Agricultural, Rural Development
and Food Security Strategies and Policies, launched by FAO in early 2003, FAO
prepared 35 Country Policy Profiles (CPPs) in Asia and the Pacific. Of these,
the FAO regional office prepared 6 CPPs for countries in Asia and 13 in the Pacific
(Bhutan, Cook Islands, Democratic People's Republic of Korea,
Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands,
Mongolia, Nauru,
Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste,
Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu).
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The Philippines: Preparation and formulation of a zero hunger strategy
In response to the Philippine government's request, FAO provided staff
assistance in formulating a strategy to deal with hunger and malnutrition,
with a focus on doable action plans and policy changes required for eliminating the
fundamental constraints to agricultural and rural development. |
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