 |
|
|
|
|
| Regional Priorities |
|
|
Decentralizing governance in support of sustainable development
Goal: decentralized governance that effectively empowers subnational and local governments, administrative units, and communities to realize sustainable development goals.
An increasing number of governments throughout the region are seeking new ways of service delivery in rural development. They are also devising innovative approaches to ensure participatory management of natural resources. Many have embarked on some form of decentralization programme to empower local communities as well as administrative units to manage their own affairs.
This trend is driven partially by a growing appreciation of the contribution that civil society and the private sector can, as partners of government, bring to bear on increasingly complex development challenges. It also emanates from efforts to trim central bureaucracies, plus a history of failure by governments in delivering services and managing resources at the local level. The most severe impacts from these failures have affected those least able to cope: already vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
FAO promotes improved access by deprived, rural people to adequate inputs, services and natural resources and strengthens their management capacity. Specific objectives are to:
|
|
strengthen policies, legislation and institutional environments supportive of decentralized governance and participatory decision-making processes; |
|
build the capacities of stakeholders at all levels so institutional reforms can be effective; |
|
facilitate the organization of rural people, including farmers, fisherfolk, forest-dependent people, traders and labourers; |
|
improve the accessibility of up-to-date information and adequate resources that meet the needs of all stakeholders; and |
|
enhance cooperation and partnerships among governments, civil society and private groups to facilitate determination of the complementary roles of national and subnational actors in development interventions. |
For more information on the six thematic programme areas guiding FAO's work in the region in its mission to help member countries halve the region's undernourished by 2015 see RAP Publication 2004/06 Towards a food-secure Asia and Pacific. Regional Strategic Framework for Asia and Pacific, second edition.
|
|
|
|
