The overall impact of the project “Coherent Food Security Responses: Incorporating Right to Food into Global and Regional Food Security Initiatives” is an improved policy, social and institutional environment for good food security governance through the application of right to food principles and approaches.

In order to achieve this, the project addresses food security governance at two major levels:

• the global governance mainly through the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and other global entities;
• the regional food security governance through existing and emerging regional and sub-regional efforts.

The project also addresses national food security governance by strengthening the response capacity of FAO to support countries in the implementation of the right to food and good governance practices.

Global Level

Global governance of food security refers to a mechanism that facilitates debate, convergence of views and coordination of actions to improve food security at global but also at regional and national levels. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) is at the core of the global food security governance and constitutes the foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for a broad range of committed stakeholders to work together in a coordinated manner and in support of country-led processes towards the elimination of hunger and ensuring food security and nutrition for all human beings.

Two elements are fundamental in order to make substantial and rapid progress towards global food security: coherence and convergence among policies and programmes of countries, donors and other stakeholders when addressing the underlying causes of hunger and, the recognition of the human rights dimensions of food security.

The project prepares and provides CFS members and its global platform with analytical studies that synthesize insights from the integration of right to food principles and good governance practices in food security policies at regional and national levels.

It also facilitates the discussions and global consultations through the Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) on key food security and nutrition issues.

Regional Level

Regional organizations hold a key place in the food security governance structure as they perform essential functions that guarantee the smooth linkages between global and local levels. These organizations are critical for ensuring that policies at national, regional and global level are coherent and adhere to the right to food. Regional organizations are thus well placed to help translate human rights standards and principles into practical policy guidance and other actions in support of the application at national and subnational levels. They nurture global debate with salient issues and lessons learnt at local level and can be extremely helpful in contextualizing and disseminating outputs from global to local level.

The project addresses the regional food security governance through existing and emerging regional and sub-regional efforts. It aims at providing regional organizations and ongoing regional initiatives and programmes with capacity and tools to advance the integration of the right to food and good governance in food security initiatives.