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FAO defines Decent Rural Employment (DRE) as work that provides a living income and reasonable working conditions. Work should be remunerative and dignified and should enable people to provide for themselves and their families. Workers should be able to perform their tasks under safe conditions and have voice in the work place. Being central to its mission, FAO actively supports countries to promote decent employment in rural areas. This fact sheet breaks down the definition of DRE and presents it in a easy-to-understand format.

Attempts have been made to institutionalize government programmes in favour of long-term and comprehensive strategies: notably, the introduction and reinforcement of conditional cash transfer programmes and free food distribution systems. Input distributions continue to be the main policy instrument to support farmers.

In Brazil, the government has successfully adopted an integrated approach for combating malnutrition and hunger. Under the well-known Zero Hunger strategy (“Fome Zero”) and subsequent Brazil Without Misery plan (“Brasil Sem Miséria”), innovative social programmes were launched to target more poor women and children. 

This course provides the necessary knowledge to design, develop and implement agricultural projects and programmes that address the challenges of a changing climate. It is useful for professionals working in agricultural development who need to learn how to mainstream effectively climate change considerations in their projects and programmes.

The "International Symposium on Food and Nutrition Security: Food-based Approaches for Improving Diets and Raising Levels of Nutrition" was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to better document the contribution that food and agriculture can make to improving nutrition. These proceedings are a useful resource for decision and policy makers, programme planners and implementers, and health workers, all of which work to combat hunger and malnutrition. The proceedings of the Symposium aim at collecting and better documenting evidence that demonstrates the impact, effectiveness and sustainability of food-based approaches for improving diets and raising levels of nutrition. [...]

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its national, regional and international partners are committed to monitoring and analysingfood and agricultural policies (MAFAP) in order to provide policy-makers in developing countries, as well as their development partners and other stakeholders in civil society, with the best possible information on the effects of policies and public expenditure influencing agricultural investment decisions and ultimately foodsecurity. Furthermore, MAFAP supports governments in their efforts to identify, articulate and assess options for reforming food and agriculture policies. MAFAPworks with national and regional partners to: establish a community of practice on policy [...]

GSDRC Topic Guides aim to provide a clear, concise and objective report on findings from rigorous research on critical areas of development policy. Rather than provide policy guidance or recommendations, their purpose is to inform policymakers and practitioners of the key debates and evidence on the topic of focus, to support informed decision-making. This topic guide provides pointers to some of the key literature on political economy analysis and evidence of its impact on aid effectiveness in different contexts. It includes examples of analyses at country, sector and programme level.

The 2014 edition of the State of the World’s Forests report (also known as SOFO) has been released by FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. This coincides with the opening of the 22nd Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO) and the World Forest Week. SOFO 2014 deals with the existing knowledge gaps on the socioeconomic benefits provided by forests. It gathers and analyses data already available on the topic. It also makes recommendations to improve this information. The lack of information about the socioeconomic dimension of forests and the need to fill this gap was also one of [...]

As renewed international efforts are needed to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the livestock sector can contribute its part. An important emitter of greenhouse gas, it also has the potential to  significantly reduce its emissions. This report provides a unique global assessment of the magnitude, the sources and pathways of emissions from different livestock production systems and supply chains.  Relying on life cycle assessment, statistical analysis and scenario building, it also prov ides estimates of the sector’s mitigation potential  and identifies concrete options to reduce emissions. The report is a useful resource for stakeholders from livestock producers to policy-makers, researchers and [...]

In order to acquire an in - depth understanding of potential benefits, constraints and costs of foreign investment in agriculture and of the business models that are more conducive to development, FAO has undertaken research in developing countries.  The research aims to provide better knowledge on the trends and impacts of foreign direct investment on host communities and countries, to gather evidence on inclusive business models, to identify good practices and to develop guidance for host gov ernments.  This publication summarizes the results of this research, in particular through the presentation of the main findings of case studies in nine [...]