10 May 2017: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the World Bank have signed a framework agreement to strengthen the fight against hunger and poverty, especially in situations of protracted crises and fragility. The Near East and North Africa regional programmes of FAO and the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) have agreed to extend their current partnership until 2020, further aligning their respective strategic programmes and priorities with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Zero hunger is the focus of SDG 2, while SDG 6 addresses clean water and sanitation and SDG 15 covers life on land. The last Goal, SDG 17, addresses partnerships for achievement of the Goals.
The framework agreement between the World Bank and the FAO, which was signed on 10 May 2017 in Rome, Italy, aims to consolidate the agencies’ longstanding partnership in the agriculture and rural development sector. It will create a mechanism whereby the FAO can provide technical expertise to governments for projects funded by the World Bank, enabling faster mobilization of FAO assistance to member countries, especially in the context of emergency response, fragility, and limited national capacity to implement critical development programs. FAO’s support will include providing technical expertise to improve rural livelihoods, efficient food production and distribution, and the sustainable management of natural resources. Moreover, it is envisaged that the enhanced partnership will also increase financial resources for development in fragile settings.
The FAO-ICARDA partnership, which focuses on the agencies’ programmes in the Near East and North Africa region, was announced during a joint technical meeting in Cairo, Egypt, in April 2017. The discussions explored opportunities to realize synergies in the implementation of ICARDA’s current strategic plan (2017-2026) with FAO’s regional priorities on water scarcity, resilience and small-scale family farming. ICARDA is a CGIAR Consortium research facility meant to improving the resilience and livelihoods of the resource-poor in dry areas.
Over the past three years the partnership has promoted sustainable agricultural development and management of water and land resources to enhance food security and improve livelihoods in the region. Joint activities have focused, inter alia, on: scaling up improved water management technologies and practices; strengthening implementation capacity; and addressing rural gender inequalities and accelerating women’s empowerment in rural communities in the region. [FAO Press Release on FAO-World Bank Partnership Agreement] [UN News Centre Press Release on FAO-World Bank Partnership] [ICARDA Press Release on Collaboration with FAO]