Recommended reads ahead of the Food Systems Summit – Action area: Advance equitable livelihoods, decent work, and empowered communities

10/09/2021

The Action Area: Advance equitable livelihoods, decent work, and empowered communities seeks to contribute to the elimination of poverty by promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all actors along the food value chain, reducing risks for the world’s poorest, enabling entrepreneurship and addressing the inequitable access to resources and distribution of value.

Ahead of the Food Systems Summit, browse a list of FAO publications related to this Action Area.

Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems: Insights on sustainability and resilience from the front line of climate change
This publication, co-published by FAO and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, includes a compilation of eight Indigenous Peoples food systems' profiles carried out across the world. Attention is given to their climate resilience and sustainability elements, portraying Indigenous Peoples’ food systems contributions to the global debate on sustainable food systems.

Leaving no one behind – A Regional Outlook on Gender and Agrifood Systems. Africa
Through a review of 100 reports and data compiled in 45 National Gender Profiles, this report reveals a strong gender gap in the targets of the Malabo Declaration, and calls for the use of gender-sensitive approaches, such as facilitating women’s economic empowerment.

Country Gender Assessment series
This series provides updated insights, based on available sex-disaggregated data, on the main gender dimensions of the agriculture and rural sectors by country. It also offers concrete recommendations to governments, FAO and other relevant partners, for strengthening the integration of gender equality dimensions in agricultural and rural development policies and programmes.

Gender transformative approaches for food security, improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture – A compendium of fifteen good practices
These 15 approaches address gender inequality issues, including unequal workloads, gender-based violence and women’s unequal access to resources. The compendium also includes ideas on how to scale up gender transformative approaches

Catalysing young agri-entrepreneurs' investments and ensuring their sustainability – Strategic planning tool
This toolkit aims to increase young agri-entrepreneurs’ investments and make them more sustainable. It consists of four steps: identify priority actions, analyse current context, establish a common vision, and develop practical solutions.

Empowering young agri-entrepreneurs to invest in agriculture and food systems
Following a socio-economic analysis of 11 African countries, this study demonstrates that youth have limited access to knowledge, financial services, land and market in the agricultural sector and encourages policy makers to enhance investment incentives for young agri-entrepreneurs.

Small-scale fisheries and the human right to adequate food – Making the connection: exploring synergies in the implementation of the SSF Guidelines and the Right to Food Guidelines.
This document identifies complementarities and potential synergies of jointly implementing the SSF Guidelines and Right to Food Guidelines, including ensuring better access to resources for vulnerable and marginalized groups.

White/ Whipala Paper: Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems
Under the coordination of the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems, this collective paper shares lessons from Indigenous Peoples’ approach to food, that could contribute to the resilience and sustainability of food systems worldwide, as well as supporting the wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples. The UN Food Systems Summit Scientific Group has recognised the White/Wiphala paper as a base document for the summit.

Forest governance by indigenous and tribal peoples. An opportunity for climate action in Latin America and the Caribbean
The document summarizes the report that, based on a review of more than 250 studies, demonstrates the importance and urgency of climate action to protect the forests of the indigenous and tribal territories of Latin America as well as the indigenous and tribal peoples who protect them.

Territorial management in Indigenous Peoples’ matrifocal societies
This publication, which brings together four case studies on indigenous societies that have a matrilineal or matrilocal social organization system, seeks to contribute to the understanding of the territorial management systems of Indigenous Peoples and their close relationship to political and social organization’s systems.

Indigenous Peoples and the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture
The objective of this brief is to provide recommendations on how KJWA can support the adequate integration of Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge and practices in international, national and local governance systems.

Incorporating decent rural employment in the strategic planning for agricultural development
In response to country demands to address the request for guidance on how to make agricultural development more sensitive to employment needs, this publication addresses two urgent needs: to create more rural jobs for rural people and to improve the quality of existing jobs in rural areas.

Participatory and Negotiated Territorial Development (PNTD)
This approach aims to promote a systemic territorial development by improving trust and capacities among the diversity of actors and interests involving rural and urban areas.

Green Negotiated Territorial Development (GreeNTD)
This approach aims to achieve an agreed, legitimate and sustainable territorial, development plan safeguarding the ecosystem and contributing to the establishment of multi-level governance frameworks.

FAO Framework for the Urban Food Agenda
This Framework explains why FAO is in a unique position to positively influence the global urban food agenda, and defines guiding principles that ensure full inclusion of the objectives of the 2030 Agenda.

Extending social protection to rural populations
Extending social protection for all is core to the work of FAO and ILO. This paper lays out the specific profiles, risks and vulnerabilities of rural populations and explores options to extend social protection coverage to them.

The contribution of social protection to economic inclusion in rural areas
This paper examines the contribution of social protection to economic inclusion processes, risk management and income increase, while presenting key principles for the development of more coherent and gender-sensitive social protection systems.

Inter-Agency Social Protection Assessment (ISPA) tool on Food Security and Nutrition
The purpose of the Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) tool is to understand how social assistance instruments and program can achieve a greater positive impact on FSN at country level.

Managing climate risks through social protection
Protecting poor and vulnerable small-scale producers from the negative impacts of climate risks is an imperative in order to reach FAO’s strategic objectives and achieve SDG 1 and 2. This publication sheds light on social protection as an effective investment to safeguard the livelihood of small-scale producers and strengthen their essential role in ensuring food security across the globe.

Further reading

Publications

• FAO Policy on Gender Equality 2020–2030
• The Indigenous World 2021 – book by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA)
• Empowering farmers and their organizations through the creation of social capital bond learning guide for trainers
• Guide on incentives for responsible investment in agriculture and food systemsSustainable Development Goal 16 & Indigenous Peoples’ Collective Rights to Land, Territories & Resources
• Realizing women’s rights to land in the law – A guide for reporting on SDG indicator 5.a.2
• Rural women and girls: 25 years after Beijing critical agents of positive change
• Women’s empowerment through collective action – how forest and farm producer organisations can make a differenceYouth and agriculture: key challenges and concrete solutions
• Developing the knowledge, skills and talent of youth to further food security and nutrition
• FAO work to promote decent rural employment
• FAO framework on ending child labour in agriculture
• FAO Migration Framework
• Governing land for women and men: A technical guide to support the achievement of responsible gender-equitable governance of land tenure
• Respecting free, prior and informed consent: Practical guidance for governments, companies, NGOs, indigenous peoples and local communities in relation to land acquisition
• The Right to Adequate Food and the Right to Decent Work: Joint work in rural areas
• Right to Food Assessment Checklist
• Fostering Territorial Perspective for Development
• Integrating food into urban planning
• Protecting livelihoods – Linking agricultural insurance and social protection
• FAO Technical Guides on gender-sensitive social protection
• Strengthening coherence between agriculture and social protection to combat poverty and hunger in Africa: Framework for Analysis and Action
• Social assistance and productive support policies implementation in rural areas – Are social protection policies designed to reach the rural poor?
• Indigenous women, daughters of Mother Earth 

COVID-19 briefs

• Gendered impacts of COVID-19 and equitable policy responses in agriculture, food security and nutrition
• COVID-19 and Indigenous Peoples
• Impact of COVID-19 on informal workers
• Migrant workers and the COVID-19 pandemic
• Rural youth and the COVID-19 pandemic
• Cities and local governments at the forefront in building inclusive and resilient food systems
• Urban food systems and COVID-19
• Social Protection and COVID-19 response in rural areas

Infographics

• FAO infographic on Understanding Decent Rural Employment
• FAO infographic on Youth: Present and Future of Agriculture

Web articles

• Rural women and girls: recognizing their role as agents of change
• Empowering young agri-entrepreneurs
• Respecting, including and promoting Indigenous Peoples’ issues
• FAO report maps insights from and threats to Indigenous Peoples’ food systems
• Following the rhythm of Mother Earth, Learning from Indigenous Peoples’food systems

Related websites

• FAO Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equality (ESP)
• FAO Indigenous Peoples website
• Urban Food Agenda

Forthcoming publications

• The role of social protection for food systems transformation
• Involving women and youth in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Ghana
• The Right to Food and Consumer Organizations – Making the connections
• Youth-sensitive Value Chain Development Guide
• Participatory Diagnosis of Territorial Food Systems