High Level Meeting on Food Security for All
January 26th and 27th 2009 in Madrid, Spain
At the invitation of the Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, WOCAN member, Rosalud (Jing) de la Rosa represented WOCAN at this important meeting; WOCAN was the only women's organization to be invited to this high level event.
The Meeting was organised by the Spanish government in consultation with FAO with an intention to promote and to launch the proposal by the Prime Minister of Spain and the President of France during the June 2008 High Level Conference in Rome which is: to establish a global partnership for agriculture and food security - a global governance mechanism that will generate political momentum and a more comprehensive, sustained, action-oriented and effective response to current and future food insecurity in countries. The proposal to establish a global partnership was also endorsed in the final Declaration of the Hokkaido G8 Summit in July 2008 and ensuring high level meetings such as during the High Level Event on the MDGs in New York in September 2008, at the Committee on World Food Security in Rome in October 2008 and FAO Conference in November 2008.
The substantive discussion of the Meeting evolved around the promotion of the Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA) which is a United Nations Global Action Plan led by the UN SG through the established by the UN System High Level Task Force (HLTF), being coordinated by Mr. David Nabarro. The CFA provides a prioritized plan of action for meeting the immediate needs of vulnerable populations and addressing the structural factors driving the food crisis. It proposes support for national strategies by coordinated partnerships for food that combine governments, regional bodies, civil society and private entities, international organizations, development banks and donor agencies. Please refer to a copy of the document which can be downloaded on the following weblink: http://www.un.org/issues/food/taskforce/cfa.shtm
I. Participants
The Meeting was well attended by almost 60 ministers, heads of all Rome-based agencies (FAO, IFAD, WFP and Bioversity International), UNICEF and high level representatives from the World Bank, regional banks and regional inter-governmental organizations, EC, donors/bilateral agencies, and representatives from farmer organizations, civil society and private sector including foundations such as the Gates and Rockefeller.
II. There were four Roundtables (RT) under the following topics and information can be found at the organiser's website: www.ransa2009.org
1. Monitoring and analysis of progress with the implementation of short-, medium-, and long-term measures: review of progress with implementation of actions that contribute to food and nutrition security through meeting the immediate needs of vulnerable populations and building longer-term resilience by addressing underlying causes.
2. Intensifying and coordinating country level action on reducing hunger through policies for agriculture, food security and nutrition: building on the Paris Declaration and the 2009 Accra Agenda for Action: emphasizing the value of joint working by national governments, donor agencies, private entities and civil society;
3. Linking research to agriculture, food and nutrition policies. Improving policies for food and nutrition assistance, food security and agricultural development: using the existing research arena to help successful implementation of the High-Level Conference Declaration and the CFA
4. Increasing the engagement of Private Entities and Civil Society: promoting incentives for a more structured and productive interaction between public, private and voluntary sectors on food security (standards and best practices for private sector investment in food and nutrition assistance; development of smallholder agriculture; public-private partnerships: focus on the needs of the most vulnerable).
III. Outcome of the Meeting
The tone of the Madrid Meeting highlighted the need to sustain the political momentum of putting the food crisis and agriculture on top of international agenda amidst the threatening world's financial crisis that has overshadowed the food crisis.
Across plenary and roundtable sessions, the Meeting acknowledged the importance of rights-based approach using the Right to Food as the main basis for action. With the presence of the Human Rights Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Mr. Schutter, the message reverberated all throughout the sessions and was highlighted in the Final Statement and by the Meeting Rapporteur, Mr. David Nabarro (coordinator of the UN HLTF) as the third track to be added in the twin-tracked approach of the Comprehensive Framework of Action (CFA).
The need to address issues on food and nutrition security, particularly focusing attention for small-scale agricultural producers, was across all plenary and roundtable discussions.
Gender issues, such as causes and consequences of the food crisis and food insecurity to women and gender mainstreaming as a priority strategy to tackle food insecurity, were highlighted across plenary and roundtable sessions. However, it was notable that there were no women or representative from women's organization saying those gender issue messages on behalf of women. This was mainly due to the fact that there was no invitation extended to women's organization like WOCAN to be part of the roundtable panelist.
It was most impressive and inspiring that the host-country - Spain - during the Closing Plenary to have two women ministers, Ms. Elena Espinosa, Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Ms. Soraya Rodríguez, Secretary of State for International Cooperation.
The organizers of the Meeting put out a non-negotiated "Final Statement" that talked about a new Global Partnership that it is to be convened and facilitated by the members of the UN HLTF. Please refer to or download a copy of the Final Statement from the Meeting website: www.ransa2009.org
The benchmark for success having the inclusion of women's organization as one of the key groups to be included and to be consulted for the establishment of the Global Partnership presents a very good entry point for WOCAN and other women's groups to be engaged in the process leading to establishment of the Global Partnership.
The Final Statement makes reference as follow:
" ...the establishment of a Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition, which starts at the Madrid High Level Meeting. They emphasized the importance of the following elements of a consultation process, which should be convened and facilitated by the members of the UN HLTF:
a. The consultations should be open to the full range of stakeholders
involved in agriculture, food security and nutrition (including
farmers' organizations, civil society organizations, women's
organizations, private sector, developing country governments,
and both regional and international organisations)
b. A representative contact group, accountable to all interested
partners, should be established to guide and oversee the
consultation process.
c. The process of consultation should have a sound methodology
that is based on best practice, involves participation at multiple
levels and includes regular feedback to all stakeholders
d. The contact group should identify and highlight positive examples
of ongoing partnerships
There were concerns raised by some countries and participants regarding the launching of a new 'Global Partnership' and 'Contact Group'. This is the same position from the social movements, CSOs and NGOs (joined by OXFAM and ActionAid International) that gave a strong closing plenary statement opposing the ‘top-down' approach with no consultation and no consensus in setting up the Global Partnership. The CSOs/NGOs statement garnered a two-minute applause from the audience showing support towards the position.
Louis Michel, the EC Development Commmissioner, said in his statement that "We should not reinvent the wheel: we do not need new mechanisms."
Strong messages from Latin America government regional grouping, FAO and civil society organizations and NGOs simply put: that any process for the establishment of the Global Partnership should be driven by the strengthened and reformed Rome-based agencies (FAO, IFAD, WFP and including CGIAR) and following a consensus process of "one country, one vote". This position was complemented with an assurance of a broad consultation and participation of organisations of small-scale food producers.
Implications for WOCAN
WOCAN's participation at the Madrid Meeting sets a good precedent to be engaged in the discourse of global governance debate, particularly in the roll-out process of the Global Partnership. WOCAN will discuss the outcome of this meeting with its partners and board members and find ways and means to be better engaged in the future processes of the World Food Security and Nutrition currently debated within FAO and in the UN system.
