The Office of Partnerships and Advocacy Branch (OCPP) is launching a series of CSO dialogues on key issues of concern to FAO. The dialogues provide a forum for civil society perspectives to be heard and discussed with FAO staff.

The first session titled Plant Genetic Resources: perspectives from the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) will be held on Tuesday April 16th. The IPC will present its working group on seeds and agrobiodiversity. 

IPC is an international network that brings together several global and regional organizations representing small scale food producers, fisherfolks, agricultural workers and indigenous peoples. It plays an active role in the global debates on food security and governance and has been engaging at FAO’s policy forums since 1996.

Presenters include:

• Patrick Mulvany, Practical Action

Practical Action is an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) that uses technology to challenge poverty in developing countries. Through technology Practical Action enables poor communities to build on their skills and knowledge to produce sustainable and practical solutions - transforming their lives and protecting the world around them.

• María Noel Salgado Spinatelli, Movimiento Agroecológico Latino Americano, MAELA

The Movimiento Agroecológico Latinoamericano y del Caribe, MAELA, is a movement that works with farmers’ organizations, indigenous peoples, landless communities , rural women and youth, to defend local agroecological practices in Latin America.

• Antonio Onorati International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty