Traditional development processes have driven economic growth and poverty reduction in many countries but often in unsustainable and unequal ways. Recent crises—including conflicts, extreme climate events, and economic downturns—have deepened inequalities and jeopardized livelihoods, particularly among the rural poor.
FAO’s Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP) works with member countries to Leave No One Behind and contribute to FAO’s mandate of promoting better production, better nutrition, better environment and better life. ESP also leads the implementation of the three mainstreaming themes of FAO's strategic framework, gender, youth and inclusion, across the organization.
By empowering marginalized groups and ensuring fair access to resources and opportunities, our work fosters the prosperity and resilience of rural communities, and paves the way for long-term, equitable agrifood system transformation that leaves no one behind.
Office of the Director
Director: Benjamin Davis
Deputy Director: Lauren Phillips
Three goals, one mission: Leave no one behind
We organize our areas of work under three objectives to focus our contribution to FAO’s strategic framework.
Build sustainable and resilient livelihoods for vulnerable populations in agrifood systems
Sustainable and resilient livelihoods reduce inequalities and boost rural economic opportunities. ESP supports vulnerable populations economic empowerment by promoting decent jobs in agrifood systems and equitable access to resources - such as land and water - finance, and markets. We strengthen social protection, collective action, and comprehensive rural development programmes. Special focus is given to the rural poor and extreme poor, small-scale producers, women, youth, children, migrant workers, and other vulnerable groups.
Contact: Adriano Campolina
Achieve gender equality, women’s empowerment and inclusion in agrifood systems
To advance inclusive rural transformation, we empower women and marginalized groups in agrifood systems by promoting their rights, agency, leadership, and equitable access to resources, services, markets and decent work. We are committed to challenging discriminatory norms and unequal power dynamics. We amplify underrepresented voices—including Indigenous Peoples, youth and persons with disabilities—through gender-transformative, rights-based, and intersectional approaches that foster just and sustainable food systems where no one is left behind.
Contact: Clara Park
Promote equitable and inclusive climate action, natural resource management and resilience
We promote equitable, people-centered climate action in agrifood systems by offering technical support, building capacities, and generating actionable evidence to foster sustainable solutions. At local, national, and global levels, our efforts focus on empowering rural communities to improve natural resource management, and enhance resilience, for an inclusive and just transition.
Contact: Simon Addison
Areas of work
We support countries in creating decent rural employment opportunities that ensure a fair living wage, workplace security, access to social protection, and respect for human rights. Most of the world’s poor live in rural areas, relying on the agrifood sector, but often face precarious, low-paid, and hazardous work that traps families in poverty and hunger. Promoting decent work in agrifood systems is crucial for reducing rural poverty, combating child labour, generating decent jobs for young women and men in rural areas, creating livelihood alternatives to rural migration, and supporting environmental sustainability and a just transition to a green economy.
Contact: Peter Wobst
We drive the implementation of FAO’s Policy on Gender Equality across the organization. We provide evidence, strategic guidance and technical support to initiatives aimed at empowering women and girls, and reducing gender inequalities and discrimination in agrifood systems. We are also committed to building the capacity of the organization, governments and key stakeholders to formulate gender-responsive and gender-transformative policies and programmes for inclusive agrifood systems transformation.
Contact: Tacko Ndiaye and Clara Park
We support countries and stakeholders in placing the right to food at the center of policies and actions. We provide technical assistance, practical tools, and capacity development to strengthen monitoring, accountability, and enforcement of this fundamental right. By fostering dialogue and sharing knowledge, we guide the integration of the right to food across sectors. Our work spans critical areas such as conflicts and crises, private sector engagement, multi-level governance, and global initiatives.
Contact: Juan Echanove
We support the development of rural institutions, such as cooperatives, producer and farmer organizations, and community-based organizations. Through collective actions, we support the development of more inclusive, equitable, and accountable rural institutions that help address poverty, hunger, and inequality within and across territories. In parallel, we work to improve the enabling environment in which rural institutions operate by addressing structural barriers, power imbalances, and unequal access to resources and opportunities.
Contact: Jun He
In collaboration with governments, civil society and other relevant stakeholders, we support initiatives to improve tenure rights through the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on Tenure (VGGT). We facilitate land policies and land administration; promote inclusive land governance by strengthening multi-stakeholder platforms; and advocate for land tenure to be mainstreamed in efforts to address other challenges like gender equity and climate change. We also engage in capacity transfer, knowledge generation and data management for equitable, inclusive and sustainable governance of tenure.
Contact: Ward Anseeuw
We improve access to financial services and investments for rural actors, with a focus on smallholder farmers, small and medium-sized enterprises, rural women and youth. We work to foster the efficient, inclusive and sustainable functioning of the rural financial market, aiming to overcome constraints and barriers to financing for the agrifood sector and promote finance that helps address the key challenges of today, such as greening the economy.
Contact: Azeta Cungu
We strengthen the capacities of national social protection systems to expand their coverage, particularly to rural areas. By generating evidence and providing guidance on policies, programs, and delivery mechanisms tailored to the unique needs of rural populations, we aim to make social protection systems more inclusive and impactful. We also amplify the benefits of social protection in key areas, including gender equality, climate change adaptation and mitigation, economic inclusion, nutrition, and the resilience of rural households.
Contact: Marco Knowles
We generate rigorous evidence to support the design and implementation of policies and programmes fostering inclusive rural transformation. Our strategic research agenda cuts across various thematic areas, providing evidence-based insights to inform global debates with cutting-edge findings. We prioritize addressing global challenges such as climate change adaptation and economic inclusion in rural areas. Using experimental, quasi-experimental, and descriptive approaches, we assess policy and programme impacts, drawing on primary, secondary and spatial datasets.
Contact: Nicholas Sitko
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