FAO in Review: FAO country representatives - Stewards of FAO’s work on the ground
Kapoeta, South Sudan - Joyce Lolibae of FAO, explains to a group of farmers better seeding practices at a farm in Koroti.
© FAO/Eduardo Soteras
In 2024, a critical component of the transformation of FAO’s business model taking place under the leadership of Director-General QU Dongyu involved reinforcing the role and capacities of FAO’s country offices – the Organization’s front-line players when it comes to partnering with Members to achieve global agrifood systems transformation.
The FAO representatives heading up these offices (also known as FAORs) are the sinew that connects the Organization to its Members, ensuring that field programs align with government priorities, needs and ambitions – and that these are well reflected in FAO’s overall program of work.
Selected via a rigorous vetting process and tapping a talent pool that spans all world regions and cultures, FAORs represent the best that the Organization has to offer in terms of expertise, dedication and commitment.
Their work is far from easy – but being closely connected to the communities FAO was created to serve is a vital source of inspiration and energy.
Florence Rolle, FAOR in Pakistan, describes the work this way: “Highly rewarding. Being an FAO representative, you feel empowered to make an impact.”
Farayi Zimudzi, FAO Representative in Ethiopia and FAO Subregional Coordinator for Eastern Africa, acknowledged the role is challenging, but notes: “As FAO representatives, we are committed to be part of the solution."
Rome, Italy: FAO Director-General QU Dongyu. Closing remarks - First Global Working Conference of FAO Representatives 2023.
© FAO/Riccardo De Luca
Renaissance at the grassroots
Against a global backdrop of rapid change, overlapping threats to food security, and an evolving landscape of development finance, FAO’s Director-General and senior leadership have been working to build a modern Organization that is fit for the future and able to translate its knowledge and technical expertise into concrete results on the ground and better serve its Members, especially at the country level.
Ensuring strong alignment between FAO headquarters and its decentralized offices and greater efficiency across the global Organization are key elements of this ongoing renaissance. The Director-General has explained that FAO’s vision is “a professional, modern, and efficient country office network that can deliver successfully under the Strategic Framework 2022-31, is able to position itself strategically within UN country-level discussions, and which fully observes accountability, internal control, and good management, in line with our mandate.”
A linchpin in this effort has been a series of annual working meetings of FAO representatives initiated by the Director-General in 2023. These dynamic, content-packed events bring the heads of FAO country offices from every world region together for strategic discussions focused on how the Organization can improve efficiency while ramping up efforts to address national ambitions around agrifood systems transformation.
FAO’s regional and country offices play a lead role in organizing the conferences – underscoring not only the Organization’s commitment to decentralization, but also the importance of keeping FAO well connected to the countries and communities it serves.
The FAORs conferences are emblematic of the ever-closer collaboration between FAO headquarters and its network of decentralized offices – and an important opportunity for both to come together in a meaningful two-way dialogue to share knowledge and learn from one another as ONE FAO.
As Fátima Espinal Mercedes, FAO Representative in Honduras, puts it: "This conference is a unique opportunity to think collectively and translate our ideas into the FAO of the future. Bringing the voices of country offices to the center of the agenda is synonymous of bringing the people of the countries we serve.”
The Organization has also given voice to FAORs via a series of articles covering the broad span of their achievements, from efforts to boost nutrition in Somalia, work to breed better varieties of important food staples in Papua New Guinea, and initiatives to bring new lands in Colombia under cultivation by female farmers to name just a few (read the full series here).
Thailand: FAO Director-General QU Dongyu talks during a session of the Second Global Working Conference of FAO Representatives.
©FAO/Valeria Mongelli
Alongside professionalism, new energy – and a sense of family
In addition to promoting a unified approach to challenges and opportunities, another aim of the Global Working Conferences (GWCs) of FAORS and supporting action plans is to instill a shared sense of purpose and teamwork spanning FAO’s entire global team – the effort to strengthen FAO’s country offices has been marked by a new energy and working style driven by a shared commitment to transforming global agrifood systems and achieve the Four Betters.
As the Director-General has said, working together and responding to challenges “shoulder to shoulder” will be key in helping to make the Organization’s vision of a future with the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life for all – leaving no one behind – a reality.
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The Second Global Working Conference of FAO Representatives - GWC
The Second Global Working Conference of FAO Representatives held in Bangkok, Thailand from 10 to 13 December 2024, allowed participants to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the FAO Director-General, as well as Core Leaders and Senior Management Teams, on how the Organization is working as One FAO across the globe to implement the FAO Strategic Framework