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This report addresses the economic, environmental and social dimensions of agricultural development, with the objective of ensuring food and nutrition security, in terms of availability, access, utilization and stability. It focuses on the livestock component of agricultural systems, given the role of livestock as an engine for the development of the agriculture and food sector, and as a driver of major economic, social and environmental changes in food systems worldwide. The report identifies challenges to the achievement of sustainability in livestock systems and possible pathways towards sustainable agricultural development that contribute to current and future food security and nutrition. The report concludes with recommendations for appropriate [...]

Incentives and capacities to invest responsibly are significantly affected by the presence of an enabling environment, including supporting policies, laws and institutions. Governments have requested international guidance on the kind of enabling environment needed to attract and secure responsible agricultural investments at the national level. Many other stakeholders, including civil society and the private sector, also seek guidance to design their own strategies to promote responsible investments in agriculture and food systems. While international instruments are an important reference for the CFS‐RAI, implementation and enforcement will be predominantly at the national level, through domestic policies that are aligned with supporting legislation and institutions. A legal and institutional review [...]

This document will provide case studies from different regions, that set out the challenges, successes and lessons learned relating to the development of knowledge, skills and capacity for youth in agriculture. Bearing in mind the necessity of addressing various approaches for targeting youth, case studies cover the areas of peer-to-peer knowledge transfer, vocational training and skills development, and education systems and research. Specific issues concerned with how to integrate traditional or intergenerational knowledge and the use of new technologies will be interwoven throughout the various case studies. The conclusion will offer insights into how learning from these initiatives can inform the broader policy [...]

The course is designed to raise awareness and build knowledge among agricultural stakeholders about the importance of addressing child labour in agriculture, including livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture. It aims to build specific skills, depending on work-related responsibilities and tasks and/or interests, by providing concrete ideas and guidance that can be applied in real life agricultural policy and programming situations. Duration: 12 hours

The Guidance document aims to assist FAO Members in incorporating decent rural employment (DRE) interventions across different agricultural sub-sectors. It is organized into three main sections that answer respectively to the questions: "Why", "When" and "How" to integrate DRE. In particular, the section on “How to incorporate DRE considerations” outlines and analyzes the following 4 strategic planning phases: Phase 1: Conducting the problem and stakeholder analysis – Applying a DRE lens; Phase 2: Defining desired impacts and beneficiaries – Prioritizing DRE; Phase 3: Developing the result chain and the strategies and programmes to achieve the results - Developing a DRE-inclusive results chain; [...]

This booklet is directed towards FAO Member States, UN system and all other potential partners, and sheds light on the role that agriculture and rural development and the sustainable management of natural resources can play in curbing migration pressure in rural areas. It also outlines the main entry points where FAO can support international efforts to address global movements of refugees and migrants. Together with its partners, FAO is committed to further strengthening its efforts on migration within humanitarian and development contexts while building on its comparative advantage in agriculture and rural development issues.

This document presents the conceptual framework for distress migration of rural youth. The framework focuses on the migration of rural youth (aged 15–24), who account for a large proportion of migrants and are a particularly vulnerable group. The framework comprises three sections: Analysis of the main factors determining the propensity of rural youth to migrate; Assessment of the likely impacts of distress migration of rural youth in terms of rural development for local areas of origin; Illustration of the most promising policies and programmes to reduce distress migration of rural youth and maximize its developmental benefits for the communities of origin.

Social protection has helped lift millions of people out of extreme poverty.  However, seventy percent of the world population, particularly in rural areas, still lack social protection coverage. Benjamin Davis, Strategic Programme Leader ad interim of the FAO Strategic Programme on Rural Poverty Reduction together with Natalia Winder Rossi, Social Protection Team Leader of the FAO Social Policies and Rural Institutions Division explain how enhancing social protection systems in rural areas can contribute to reducing poverty and ending hunger. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages. See all videos in the Policy and Governance series :  AR  CH  EN [...]

Over three quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas. Most depend on agriculture to earn a living. However, rural employment opportunities are often informal, poorly paid and even hazardous. Peter Wobst, Senior Programme Officer of the FAO Strategic Programme on Rural Poverty Reduction together with Ileana Grandelis, Rural Employment Officer of the FAO Social Policies and Rural Institutions Division explain how promoting full employment and decent work in rural areas can contribute to food security and poverty reduction. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages. See all videos in the Policy and Governance series :  AR [...]

The Handbook offers guidance and tools for assessing the impacts of agricultural and food security programmes and projects on child labour in family-based agriculture. In addition, the Handbook aims to sensitize agricultural programme staff on the importance of incorporating child labour prevention as a crosscutting issue in their planning, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system and of systematically considering the potential positive and negative impacts of agricultural programmes on child labo ur. The Handbook furthermore encourages the user to identify good agricultural practices for preventing and reducing child labour in agriculture.