19 May 2015, Milan – FAO joined the inaugural day for Caritas at the Expo Milan 2015. Rolf Hackbart, Deputy Director of the Office for Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development, represented FAO and advocated the fight to end hunger together with Caritas. The event focused on family and small-scale farming. “We need to change the way we relate to land. Family farming is so important to do this,” said Hackbart. Hackbart encouraged the strengthening of rural livelihoods in terms of education, training, health and access to natural resources. “This is why we need to change the current system, geared...

29 January 2015, Rome – The European Coordination of La Via Campesina (ECVC) today presented its conclusions on common land issues in Europe and Central Asia regarding progress on the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on Land Tenure (VGGT).  “Despite our perception, we have observed strong dynamics of concentration of land and land grabbing also taking place in Europe. Agricultural lands are being transformed into non-agricultural use at a fast pace. We have also noticed a problem on access to land for small scale farmers, young, and prospective farmers,” said...

25 November 2014, Rome – FAO and ActionAid International strengthened synergies for an upcoming Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a technical meeting held today in Rome at FAO Headquarters. “We wanted to identify specific capacities of ActionAid and match them with FAO activities in an effort to further the implementation of the Strategic Objectives through the Regional Initiatives and country level activities,” said Rodrigo Castañeda, Chief of Partnerships FAO. According to the International Programme Manager of ActionAid International, Ruchi Tripathi, the meeting offered the opportunity for a knowledge exchange. “We want to...

30 October 2014, Rome – The International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) and FAO took another step forward in their longstanding and collaborative relationship. Representatives of the biggest small-scale producers’ platform in the world and FAO held today a technical meeting in the framework of their renewed partnership to discuss how to open up spaces for inclusive participation and dialogue in key thematic areas such as Land, Fisheries, Agroecology, Livestock, Pastoralism and Indigenous Peoples. “IPC brings key capacities and experience in regional and global policy dialogue and normative activities, which can contribute greatly to FAO’s work,” said...

29 October 2014, Rome – FAO and La Via Campesina (LVC), one of the largest social movements in the world, met today at FAO Headquarters in Rome to identify new concrete areas for joint collaboration to strengthen their partnership, formalized through an exchange of letters signed in October 2013. “This meeting is the result of the hard work displayed by FAO and La Via Campesina in coming together to bring strengths and capacities to the table, in order to further the collaborative work in the fight against hunger,” said Rolf Hackbart,...