1. Normative activities and policy dialogue

FAO acknowledges the valuable contributions that civil society organizations can make in multi-stakeholder policy dialogues and in the implementation of codes of conduct, global conventions and regulatory frameworks. Some examples of where civil society organizations can engage include:

2. Advocacy and Communication

FAO and civil society partners can build support for and political will on poverty and food insecurity by jointly raising public awareness, capitalizing on each other’s extensive experience, networks and outreach. Examples of joint advocacy include work on the World Food Forum, World Food Day and the UN Decade of Family Farming 2019-28.

3. Field programmes

To strengthen local capacities and project outreach, FAO works with its country offices and with governments to promote dialogue and partnerships at field level, designing, implementing and monitoring quality and sustainable local initiatives, programmes, projects and emergency responses. Local and national level organizations should approach FAO’s Country offices to explore partnership opportunities. FAO is also a member of the UN Partner Portal, which provides civil society organizations with access to engagement opportunities across the UN system. 

4. Knowledge sharing and capacity development

FAO is in a unique position to promote and facilitate the flow of global knowledge on agriculture and nutrition and make it accessible to all sectors of society. This can be greatly complemented by detailed, context-specific knowledge from civil society organizations, providing a wider breadth of knowledge for the global community and better equipping FAO to more accurately respond to local contexts and needs.  

5. Joint use of resources in emergency situations

Large international and national non-governmental organizations, foundations, and other institutions have considerable human and financial capital, supplies, assets and capacity development strengths. Some of these entities are specifically mandated and funded to provide support to UN agencies with a range of services. In turn, grassroots CSOs have numerous contacts, not only at grassroots level, but also with large formal and informal social networks and platforms. FAO works in cooperation with organizations to jointly mobilize and use the wide human, physical and financial resources available, increasing the scale and focus of FAO’s technical support, improving the coordination capacity of all stakeholders and ensuring improved accountability to affected populations. 

See here for more information on FAO's work in emergencies >

6. Multistakeholder partnerships

There are numerous opportunities for civil society organizations to engage in multi-stakeholder partnerships through FAO, often focused on specific thematic areas.  FAO provides secretariat support to several multi-stakeholder partnerships that could be of interest to civil society organizations:

• AMR Multistakeholder Partnership Platform
• Global Soil Partnership
• Collaborative Partnership on Forests
• FAST Partnership
• LEAP Partnership
• Mountain Partnership
• Agroecology Knowledge Hub