Technical Cooperation Programme 2019 Report: Catalysing Results towards the Sustainable Development Goals

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

The 2019 Report of the Technical Cooperation Programme introduces a new series of annual reports that provide FAO Members, governments, donors, beneficiaries and other stakeholders with evidence of the impact of the work carried out by FAO through the TCP. Prepared by the Outreach, Marketing and Reporting Unit (PSRR), in close collaboration with the TCP Coordination Unit in the Office of the Assistant Director-General (ADG-PS), the first in the series presents and assesses the achievements and catalytic role of TCP-funded projects. Based on a review of the TCP projects operationally closed during 2018 and interviews with lead technical officers, technical officers at FAO headquarters, budget holders and FAO country representatives, the report provides details on the characteristics, typical interventions and results of the programme, and features a select number of in-depth stories to highlight the tangible and lasting results of the programme’s catalytic work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
• Release date: Dec 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9789251320266

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

An intergovernmental organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. Its employees come from various cultural backgrounds and are experts in the multiple fields of activity FAO engages in. FAO’s staff capacity allows it to support improved governance inter alia, generate, develop and adapt existing tools and guidelines and provide targeted governance support as a resource to country and regional level FAO offices. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, FAO is present in over 130 countries.Founded in 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO provides a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. The Organization publishes authoritative publications on agriculture, fisheries, forestry and nutrition.

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Introduction

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

FAO is the specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Its goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. FAO’s vision is a world free of hunger and malnutrition, where food and agriculture contribute to improving the living standards of all, especially the poorest, in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner. With 197 Members and over 12 000 employees, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide and believes that everyone can play a part in ending hunger.

In 2016, FAO reviewed its Strategic Framework and prepared the Medium Term Plan for the period 2018–21 around five Strategic Objectives (SOs), which materialize its vision. The Strategic Framework is structured around the following SOs:

Contribute to the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition;

Make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable;

Reduce rural poverty;

Enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems; and

Increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises.

The adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, provide the general development framework in which FAO operates for an enhanced implementation of its mission. The 2030 Agenda in particular is a historic commitment to tackle poverty and hunger, promote the sustainable use of natural resources and address climate change through an interconnected set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), recognizing that issues concerning food, livelihoods and the management of natural resources cannot be addressed separately. As the custodian agency for 21 SDG indicators, spanning SDGs 2, 5, 6, 12, 14 and 15, and a contributing agency for six more (please see Figure 1), FAO plays a key role in supporting countries in measuring progress. FAO has the opportunity to take a leadership role in facilitating implementation of the 2030 Agenda in a number of areas linked to its custodianship.

While FAO’s core functions, actions, programmes and delivery mechanisms help to achieve outputs and outcomes, the transformational shift to achieve SOs and SDGs needs to happen within its Member States. Active engagement with partners, such as Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), governments, academia and research institutions, as well as, and in particular, partnerships with the private sector, are expected to play an expanded role under the 2030 Agenda. Partnerships enable coordinated action by multiple stakeholders to address the integrated, indivisible and interlinked nature of the SDGs. They are expected to help facilitate country access to means of implementation, including finance and investment, access to markets and technology, capacity development and policy support. FAO’s technical expertise and partnerships with other UN agencies will be called upon to play a unique role: providing and upholding intergovernmentally agreed norms and standards, monitoring commitments and tracking results and promoting institutional development as a trusted and neutral facilitator.

The Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP)

Created in 1976, the TCP allows FAO to draw from its own regular programme resources and respond to countries’ most pressing needs for technical assistance. Through the TCP, the Organization provides access to a wide range of technical expertise related to agriculture, food and nutrition, and plays an important role in knowledge-sharing, as well as exchange of experiences, good practices and lessons.

The Programme was originally designed to address the unforeseen and urgent needs that were not being addressed efficiently through more traditional channels of aid or regular programme activities, agreed upon through FAO’s biennial planning processes. In 2005, the FAO Governing Bodies decided to change the unprogrammed nature of the TCP. The funding criteria (see annex 1) were adjusted to require all projects to be aligned with the Strategic Framework of FAO and linked to agreed priorities reflected in the Country Programming Frameworks (CPF). In making these adjustments, it was emphasized that all assistance would continue to be demand driven by Member Countries, not FAO.

The TCP provides two broad types of support:

1. Development assistance to address areas related to FAO’s mandate and competencies that are covered by the Strategic Framework and the CPF; and

2. Emergency assistance to support early action, response and early rehabilitation in disaster or crisis situations.

The TCP appropriation for the 2018–2019 biennium amounts to USD 140.8 million, i.e. 14 percent of FAO’s Regular Programme budget. Funds for emergency projects (15 percent of total) and inter-regional projects (3 percent of total) are managed from headquarters, while the bulk of resources (82 percent of total) is allocated and managed by Regional Offices, in line with shares established by Governing Bodies (Figure 3).

A TCP project can have a budget of up to USD 500 000 and should be completed within 24 months. Simplified procedures apply to projects with a budget of below USD 100 000, also referred to as the TCP Facility (TCPf), which are typically limited in scope (e.g. specialized training, conduct of sector-related studies or assistance in the formulation of project proposals for donor funding).

TCP results at a glance*

The 304 sampled projects reported on in 2018 benefited more than 400 000 people and their communities, including farmers and producers, livestock breeders, food business operators, displaced groups, government staff and other stakeholders. Technical assistance for capacity-building was a fundamental component across all project types and SOs. This included, resource mobilization and project preparation, substantiating and complementing strategic frameworks and policy decisions with technical assessments, international good practices and information systems, while using communication products and campaigns to build awareness and increase outreach for the projects. In other cases, piloting of approaches was achieved through upgrading government or non-governmental organizations’ facilities with equipment, software and expendables. Based on the project recipients’ needs, a variety of inputs for demonstration purposes were prepared and delivered, including seeds, capital goods and inputs for new and alternative farming technologies (such as greenhouses and irrigation systems). Implementation of emergency projects under SO5 also included the delivery of emergency kits, seeds, animals and other inputs, such as water tanks or vaccines. A summary of TCP outputs is presented in the figures to the right, and Figure 4 presents a typical approach taken by FAO in TCP