Sustainable agriculture and rural development is about rural people, how to improve their livelihood options, how to eradicate their poverty and food insecurity, and abolish once and for all, the vicious circle of dependence and underdevelopment. All of this requires the agricultural and rural sector to be productive, viable and capable of satisfying the economic, social, cultural and environmental needs and aspirations of rural people.

The chances of abolishing poverty for good would be improved if local people can be involved in generating better policies and programmes. These local people include the rural elite, the rural poor and marginalized groups such as women, youth and the elderly, the disabled, the landless, rural workers and indigenous peoples.

These local stakeholders often do not trust central government and its institutions. Rural people know that their political voice is marginal – in the past, institutions have been not responsive, their decisions have not been transparent, and even now, they are not accountable to stakeholders at local levels.

So a key challenge is how to engage the rural people in designing and executing rural development policies, decentralizing decision making, and empowering them to participate locally in policymaking, and then at higher levels.

Policy issuesKnowing who the stakeholders are and understanding their level of participation in decision making. Stakeholder groups include (a) national, regional and local governments, (b) non-governmental organizations, (c) the private sector, (d) rural communities and households, (f) indigenous groups, and (g) donors. Marginalized groups are rarely involved in making decisions. Instead, the rural wealthy or agribusiness representatives speak on their behalf, but they do not represent the interests, aspirations and political voice of the marginalized.

Managing stakeholders’ conflicts, synergies and responsibilities. The diversity of stakeholders, and the different agendas among them, can be a resource for generating human and economic development, protecting the natural resources and environment and enhancing the well-being of the rural people. But their divergences of interests can generate conflict. If not taken into consideration, historical sensitivities, disparities in access to resources and power, competition and jealousies in rural communities can hamper prospects for sustainable development for the more marginal socio-economic groups. Differential policies may be required to address the needs of different groups.

Understanding the roles and expectations of the various stakeholders is key to defining their responsibilities and entitlements within the local development process. Central and local governments are responsible for creating an enabling policy environment. Within this, they should provide basic public goods such as infrastructure, education, transportation, health and security. Other stakeholders can make valuable contributions to designing and

It is important to have an agreed core set of indicators related to the situation, interests and expectations of the key stakeholders. This enables the performance of policies and institutions to be monitored and assessed.

Promotion of joint activitiesJoint activities should help the various stakeholder groups understand each other’s positions and learn from one another. They can identify areas of common interest and ways they can work together.

Involving various groups of stakeholders in preparing policy recommendations enables them to agree on local development objectives, the factors driving change, expectations for the future, etc. Tensions naturally arise between the different groups. Good facilitation and sufficient time are needed to resolve conflicts and to reach agreement or compromise in sharing resources and benefits.

Establishment of partnership for specific programmesWith good local leadership and management, partnerships offer a very high payoff. But partnerships are complex and need careful nurturing.

The secrets for their success include:• enabling policies and institutional frameworks,• existence of impartial and credible brokers, • capable and committed partners with realistic expectations, • operating procedures with clear rules, codes of conduct and social accountability, particularly when dealing with financial resources,• effective and timely monitoring and evaluation to inform priority setting programming and overall management.

To carefully address these issues, the management of partnerships requires meaningful capacity building, incentive systems that reward performance and impact, and learning processes involving all partners. A famous civil rights leader once said “We must learn together as brothers, or perish together as fools.”

Philippines: The Technical working group will coordinate the efforts in addressing the issues that the farmers had identified

The SARD-Farming Systems Evolution project of FAO (GCP/INT/819/MUL) aims to strengthen the ability of government and non-government stakeholders to improve policies and institutions to achieve sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD).

The project studied how selected farming systems in Honduras, Mali and the Philippines had evolved over the long term. It identified their driving forces, current strengths and weaknesses, and outlined future policy priorities and actions for sustainable agriculture and rural development.

The project used participatory, bottom-up approaches to ensure that the views of stakeholders at all levels, including local people, were taken into account, and integrates the cultural, social, economic and environmental dimensions in the analysis of sustainability.

The SARD-FSE project, supported by the governments of France and Japan, was implemented with the Programme for Sustainable Agriculture on Sloping Lands of Central America (PASOLAC) in Honduras, the Institute of Rural Economics (IER) in Mali and the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) in the Philippines.

SARD-Farming Systems Evolution projectFood and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsViale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, Italywww.fao.org/sard

2. Engaging stakeholders in policy development for agriculture and rural development

SARD – Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development – is a people-centred approach that focuses on improving livelihoods and satisfying the needs of current and future generations. It strives to orient policy, institutional and technological change for the sustainable management of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, natural resources, and other rural activities. It rests on four pillars: environment, economic, social and cultural.

Briefs in this series:

1. Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development: the Policy Challenge2. Engaging stakeholders in policy development for agriculture and rural development3. Strengthening sustainable agricultural and rural enterprises4. Decentralization and sustainable agriculture and rural development5. Some policy priorities for sustainable agriculture and rural development 6. Participatory monitoring

and evaluation for sustainable agriculture and rural development

7. Information note on SARD Farming System Evolution Guidelines

The SARD-Farming Systems Evolution project is supported by the governments of France andJapan

SARD BRIEF

2. Engaging stakeholders in policy development for agriculture and rural development

SARD BRIEF

This SARD brief is based on the SARD-Farming Systems Evolution project of the Rural Development Division of FAO, which studied major farming systems in Honduras, Mali and the Philippines to find ways to improve policies and institutions to achieve sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD).

SARD BRIEF SARD BRIEF

MORE INFORMATION• FAO websites www.fao.org/sd/ index_en.htm and www.fao.org/ participation/news.html• FAO: SARD-FSE case studies and regional workshops www.fao.org/sard• Mountain Partnership www.mountainpartnership. org

ALL STAKEHOLDERS CAN BE GROUPED INTO:

• Government or public sector• Civil society (not for profit)• Private sector (for profit)• The general public and consumers

implementing policies. They each have their own particular set of knowledge, skills and networks, so are able to make their own unique contributions to the process. They each have their own perspectives, an understanding of their own circumstances, ideas on what is desirable or possible, knowledge of how the same policies can benefit or harm them differentially, and have a vital role to play in promoting, implementing and monitoring the policy’s performance.

Applying performance criteria as they relate to the various stakeholders. The current discourse on privatization hinges on whether the public or private sector can do more and better, what is the comparative advantage of each sector, and how they can complement each other. However, the key criteria for judging performance in service provision by any stakeholder invariably relate to: a) who can be managed more efficiently and be more motivated, b) who is more competent with the right skills and timely response, and c) who can be financially sustainable. In the final analysis, it is about who can render the best value for money.

Who are key stakeholders & who needs empowerment? Institutions, organizations, organized groups, companies or firms, or individual producers, farmers or rural workers that have a vested, direct or indirect, interest in agriculture and rural development could be a key stakeholder. All stakeholders can be grouped into:• Government or public sector: central or federal, state/regional or district, and municipal level institutions and dependencies. • Civil society (not for profit): NGOs, religious denominations, universities, research institutes, farmer organizations, indigenous peoples, worker/trade unions, community organizations, women and youth.• Private sector (for profit): firms, organizations, cooperatives and individual proprietors who provide agricultural and rural services, such as banking, transport, marketing, professional and media services.• The general public and consumers.• The external community such as international financial institutions, international or regional cooperation agencies, bilateral donors, charity and voluntary organizations.

Because all have very valuable mandates and meaningful roles to play in development, the SARD chain is as strong as its weakest links. Success in SARD thus requires that each group be empowered to influence decisions that affect their future and to work together effectively to achieve their priority goals and targets. Each group needs strengthening, for example:• Poor farmers, landless and marginalized groups in developing viable businesses, using and managing natural resources sustainably, and developing and implementing new farming technologies, aiming to increase productivity and safety and reduce drudgery.

• Producers and business people in developing enterprises, stimulating economic growth, creating domestic market linkages, generating off-farm employment and seeking opportunities for export. • NGO/CSOs in addressing human resource constraints through helping local people organize to help themselves (e.g. farmers’ associations), supporting cultural activities and preserving local cultural heritages, managing natural resources and drawing attention to specific social issues.• Research institutes, universities, etc. in generating appropriate technologies to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of farming systems and commodity value chains, building institutional and human capacity, and analyzing development policy and strategy.• Donors in harmonizing their funding policies and programmatic strategies to support a long term, not only short term, agenda in which local constituents take the lead and ownership.• Government in taking the lead in developing visions and strategic programmes and providing the enabling policy and legal environment and “public goods” for sustainable development.

While each group needs a reinforcement of its capabilities, the rural poor and marginalized groups, women, the youth, indigenous groups, marginalized communities and other vulnerable groups are those who most need empowerment, particularly for enhancing both their negotiating capabilities and the public policies that affect them positively or negatively.

Understanding stakeholders’ knowledge, aspirations, assets and weaknessesKey questions include the following:• Who are the rural poor, landless and marginalized groups? Why do they not participate, and what are their aspirations? How do they express their political voice? Is it heard? What access do they have to land, other resources and social services? What opportunities do they have to improve their skills and income and what are the constraints to be addressed? • Why does the private sector show limited interest in rural decision making? Why are investors not attracted to develop more enterprises in the rural area? Are there infrastructure constraints (poor roads, lack of communication facilities, etc.), leading to low profitability and high risks? Are there incentives to invest? Any comparative advantages in terms of cost, labour, support services, taxes, regulations, etc. for investing in rural areas?• Why are there few local civil society organizations, or why are they participating poorly in rural development? Do common aspirations exist, with viable projects? What are the resources and incentives for their activities? What are their linkages with other actors?• Why do local government institutions often perform poorly? Do they have management skills, human resources, budgets and financial resources? What is the quality of their relationship with the different stakeholder groups? How about their connections with central government, and which kind of rural-urban linkages are they able to foster? What is their system of planning, monitoring and evaluation of programmes? How can their roles on SARD be improved?

Opting for a participatory process to develop strategic objectivesPlanning local development in a participatory way involves these strategic objectives: • Empowerment of rural people, especially the rural poor, to raise their political voice, and to upgrade their access to land and other key resources, entrepreneurship, training, social networks, education and other basic services. • Production and wealth creation (improving traditional practices, efficient use of local resources, diversification of activities, creation of value-added and off-farm employment, rural/agricultural tourism, environmental services, etc.)• Natural resources management and environmental preservation.• Reduction of vulnerability through better preparation, management and recovery from natural hazards, economic shocks and social conflict situations.• Definition of precise goals, reciprocal commitments among stakeholders groups, and ways to measure and monitor such goals and commitments.

Participatory approachesin Colombia

Regional workshop SARD-FSE in the Philippines

Rural development agent leading a talk with villagerson group participation at Miarinarivo in Madagascar

Participatory approaches in Nicaragua

2. Engaging stakeholders in policy development for agriculture and rural development

2. Engaging stakeholders in policy development for agriculture and rural development

SARD BRIEF SARD BRIEF

MORE INFORMATION• FAO websites www.fao.org/sd/ index_en.htm and www.fao.org/ participation/news.html• FAO: SARD-FSE case studies and regional workshops www.fao.org/sard• Mountain Partnership www.mountainpartnership. org

ALL STAKEHOLDERS CAN BE GROUPED INTO:

• Government or public sector• Civil society (not for profit)• Private sector (for profit)• The general public and consumers

implementing policies. They each have their own particular set of knowledge, skills and networks, so are able to make their own unique contributions to the process. They each have their own perspectives, an understanding of their own circumstances, ideas on what is desirable or possible, knowledge of how the same policies can benefit or harm them differentially, and have a vital role to play in promoting, implementing and monitoring the policy’s performance.

Applying performance criteria as they relate to the various stakeholders. The current discourse on privatization hinges on whether the public or private sector can do more and better, what is the comparative advantage of each sector, and how they can complement each other. However, the key criteria for judging performance in service provision by any stakeholder invariably relate to: a) who can be managed more efficiently and be more motivated, b) who is more competent with the right skills and timely response, and c) who can be financially sustainable. In the final analysis, it is about who can render the best value for money.

Who are key stakeholders & who needs empowerment? Institutions, organizations, organized groups, companies or firms, or individual producers, farmers or rural workers that have a vested, direct or indirect, interest in agriculture and rural development could be a key stakeholder. All stakeholders can be grouped into:• Government or public sector: central or federal, state/regional or district, and municipal level institutions and dependencies. • Civil society (not for profit): NGOs, religious denominations, universities, research institutes, farmer organizations, indigenous peoples, worker/trade unions, community organizations, women and youth.• Private sector (for profit): firms, organizations, cooperatives and individual proprietors who provide agricultural and rural services, such as banking, transport, marketing, professional and media services.• The general public and consumers.• The external community such as international financial institutions, international or regional cooperation agencies, bilateral donors, charity and voluntary organizations.

Because all have very valuable mandates and meaningful roles to play in development, the SARD chain is as strong as its weakest links. Success in SARD thus requires that each group be empowered to influence decisions that affect their future and to work together effectively to achieve their priority goals and targets. Each group needs strengthening, for example:• Poor farmers, landless and marginalized groups in developing viable businesses, using and managing natural resources sustainably, and developing and implementing new farming technologies, aiming to increase productivity and safety and reduce drudgery.

• Producers and business people in developing enterprises, stimulating economic growth, creating domestic market linkages, generating off-farm employment and seeking opportunities for export. • NGO/CSOs in addressing human resource constraints through helping local people organize to help themselves (e.g. farmers’ associations), supporting cultural activities and preserving local cultural heritages, managing natural resources and drawing attention to specific social issues.• Research institutes, universities, etc. in generating appropriate technologies to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of farming systems and commodity value chains, building institutional and human capacity, and analyzing development policy and strategy.• Donors in harmonizing their funding policies and programmatic strategies to support a long term, not only short term, agenda in which local constituents take the lead and ownership.• Government in taking the lead in developing visions and strategic programmes and providing the enabling policy and legal environment and “public goods” for sustainable development.

While each group needs a reinforcement of its capabilities, the rural poor and marginalized groups, women, the youth, indigenous groups, marginalized communities and other vulnerable groups are those who most need empowerment, particularly for enhancing both their negotiating capabilities and the public policies that affect them positively or negatively.

Understanding stakeholders’ knowledge, aspirations, assets and weaknessesKey questions include the following:• Who are the rural poor, landless and marginalized groups? Why do they not participate, and what are their aspirations? How do they express their political voice? Is it heard? What access do they have to land, other resources and social services? What opportunities do they have to improve their skills and income and what are the constraints to be addressed? • Why does the private sector show limited interest in rural decision making? Why are investors not attracted to develop more enterprises in the rural area? Are there infrastructure constraints (poor roads, lack of communication facilities, etc.), leading to low profitability and high risks? Are there incentives to invest? Any comparative advantages in terms of cost, labour, support services, taxes, regulations, etc. for investing in rural areas?• Why are there few local civil society organizations, or why are they participating poorly in rural development? Do common aspirations exist, with viable projects? What are the resources and incentives for their activities? What are their linkages with other actors?• Why do local government institutions often perform poorly? Do they have management skills, human resources, budgets and financial resources? What is the quality of their relationship with the different stakeholder groups? How about their connections with central government, and which kind of rural-urban linkages are they able to foster? What is their system of planning, monitoring and evaluation of programmes? How can their roles on SARD be improved?

Opting for a participatory process to develop strategic objectivesPlanning local development in a participatory way involves these strategic objectives: • Empowerment of rural people, especially the rural poor, to raise their political voice, and to upgrade their access to land and other key resources, entrepreneurship, training, social networks, education and other basic services. • Production and wealth creation (improving traditional practices, efficient use of local resources, diversification of activities, creation of value-added and off-farm employment, rural/agricultural tourism, environmental services, etc.)• Natural resources management and environmental preservation.• Reduction of vulnerability through better preparation, management and recovery from natural hazards, economic shocks and social conflict situations.• Definition of precise goals, reciprocal commitments among stakeholders groups, and ways to measure and monitor such goals and commitments.

Participatory approachesin Colombia

Regional workshop SARD-FSE in the Philippines

Rural development agent leading a talk with villagerson group participation at Miarinarivo in Madagascar

Participatory approaches in Nicaragua

2. Engaging stakeholders in policy development for agriculture and rural development

2. Engaging stakeholders in policy development for agriculture and rural development

Sustainable agriculture and rural development is about rural people, how to improve their livelihood options, how to eradicate their poverty and food insecurity, and abolish once and for all, the vicious circle of dependence and underdevelopment. All of this requires the agricultural and rural sector to be productive, viable and capable of satisfying the economic, social, cultural and environmental needs and aspirations of rural people.

The chances of abolishing poverty for good would be improved if local people can be involved in generating better policies and programmes. These local people include the rural elite, the rural poor and marginalized groups such as women, youth and the elderly, the disabled, the landless, rural workers and indigenous peoples.

These local stakeholders often do not trust central government and its institutions. Rural people know that their political voice is marginal – in the past, institutions have been not responsive, their decisions have not been transparent, and even now, they are not accountable to stakeholders at local levels.

So a key challenge is how to engage the rural people in designing and executing rural development policies, decentralizing decision making, and empowering them to participate locally in policymaking, and then at higher levels.

Policy issuesKnowing who the stakeholders are and understanding their level of participation in decision making. Stakeholder groups include (a) national, regional and local governments, (b) non-governmental organizations, (c) the private sector, (d) rural communities and households, (f) indigenous groups, and (g) donors. Marginalized groups are rarely involved in making decisions. Instead, the rural wealthy or agribusiness representatives speak on their behalf, but they do not represent the interests, aspirations and political voice of the marginalized.

Managing stakeholders’ conflicts, synergies and responsibilities. The diversity of stakeholders, and the different agendas among them, can be a resource for generating human and economic development, protecting the natural resources and environment and enhancing the well-being of the rural people. But their divergences of interests can generate conflict. If not taken into consideration, historical sensitivities, disparities in access to resources and power, competition and jealousies in rural communities can hamper prospects for sustainable development for the more marginal socio-economic groups. Differential policies may be required to address the needs of different groups.

Understanding the roles and expectations of the various stakeholders is key to defining their responsibilities and entitlements within the local development process. Central and local governments are responsible for creating an enabling policy environment. Within this, they should provide basic public goods such as infrastructure, education, transportation, health and security. Other stakeholders can make valuable contributions to designing and

It is important to have an agreed core set of indicators related to the situation, interests and expectations of the key stakeholders. This enables the performance of policies and institutions to be monitored and assessed.

Promotion of joint activitiesJoint activities should help the various stakeholder groups understand each other’s positions and learn from one another. They can identify areas of common interest and ways they can work together.

Involving various groups of stakeholders in preparing policy recommendations enables them to agree on local development objectives, the factors driving change, expectations for the future, etc. Tensions naturally arise between the different groups. Good facilitation and sufficient time are needed to resolve conflicts and to reach agreement or compromise in sharing resources and benefits.

Establishment of partnership for specific programmesWith good local leadership and management, partnerships offer a very high payoff. But partnerships are complex and need careful nurturing.

The secrets for their success include:• enabling policies and institutional frameworks,• existence of impartial and credible brokers, • capable and committed partners with realistic expectations, • operating procedures with clear rules, codes of conduct and social accountability, particularly when dealing with financial resources,• effective and timely monitoring and evaluation to inform priority setting programming and overall management.

To carefully address these issues, the management of partnerships requires meaningful capacity building, incentive systems that reward performance and impact, and learning processes involving all partners. A famous civil rights leader once said “We must learn together as brothers, or perish together as fools.”

Philippines: The Technical working group will coordinate the efforts in addressing the issues that the farmers had identified

The SARD-Farming Systems Evolution project of FAO (GCP/INT/819/MUL) aims to strengthen the ability of government and non-government stakeholders to improve policies and institutions to achieve sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD).

The project studied how selected farming systems in Honduras, Mali and the Philippines had evolved over the long term. It identified their driving forces, current strengths and weaknesses, and outlined future policy priorities and actions for sustainable agriculture and rural development.

The project used participatory, bottom-up approaches to ensure that the views of stakeholders at all levels, including local people, were taken into account, and integrates the cultural, social, economic and environmental dimensions in the analysis of sustainability.

The SARD-FSE project, supported by the governments of France and Japan, was implemented with the Programme for Sustainable Agriculture on Sloping Lands of Central America (PASOLAC) in Honduras, the Institute of Rural Economics (IER) in Mali and the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) in the Philippines.

SARD-Farming Systems Evolution projectFood and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsViale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, Italywww.fao.org/sard

2. Engaging stakeholders in policy development for agriculture and rural development

SARD – Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development – is a people-centred approach that focuses on improving livelihoods and satisfying the needs of current and future generations. It strives to orient policy, institutional and technological change for the sustainable management of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, natural resources, and other rural activities. It rests on four pillars: environment, economic, social and cultural.

Briefs in this series:

1. Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development: the Policy Challenge2. Engaging stakeholders in policy development for agriculture and rural development3. Strengthening sustainable agricultural and rural enterprises4. Decentralization and sustainable agriculture and rural development5. Some policy priorities for sustainable agriculture and rural development 6. Participatory monitoring

and evaluation for sustainable agriculture and rural development

7. Information note on SARD Farming System Evolution Guidelines

The SARD-Farming Systems Evolution project is supported by the governments of France andJapan

SARD BRIEF

2. Engaging stakeholders in policy development for agriculture and rural development

SARD BRIEF

This SARD brief is based on the SARD-Farming Systems Evolution project of the Rural Development Division of FAO, which studied major farming systems in Honduras, Mali and the Philippines to find ways to improve policies and institutions to achieve sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD).