"Agricultural and rural development that is equitable, effective and sustainable cannot be pursued without an explicit recognition of the tremendous contribution of rural women to food and agricultural production and their crucial role in determining and guaranteeing food security and well-being for the entire household."
"FAO Plan of Action for Women in Development"
Documents and Tools
The Online Sourcebook on Decentralization and Local Development
The sourcebook provides links to documents, ressource materials and tools related to decentralization and local development.
Restructuring Rural Institutions
Interventions in developing countries have increasingly sought to aid public institutions of the rural sector in their effort to adapt to the new economic context, and in the establishment of new relations with farmers and other actors of civil society.
FAO Experience and Assets in Decentralization
The paper is a general survey of lessons that can be drawn from different aspects of FAO experience, and assets in decentralization. Given the necessary conditions for the success of decentralization, what expertise can FAO bring to bear on the formulation and implementation of a decentralization policy?
Participation & Decentralization
The first section of the paper concentrates on the broad mechanisms for citizen input that are best seen as parameters of decentralization policy. The second part shifts to the smaller, more specific avenues for citizen participation that can be created in the process of decentralization.
Technical Consultation on Decentralization
This Forum, held in Rome in December 1997, brought together policy-makers, practitioners and academics from the developed and developing world to review and discuss the contribution of decentralized and participatory strategies to rural development. All the documentation is available online.
State reforms and the decentralization of the agricultural and rural public sector: Lessons from the Latin American experience
Strengthening the institutions which ensure good governance is the focus of this
FAO paper. It compares the process of two decades of state reforms in seven Latin American countries and examines the factors which contributed to the ultimate success or failure of those reforms.
Partenariat entre populations et institutions: La conservation des eaux et des sols en Tunisie et au Maroc (French only)
This FAO paper shows how active participation of rural people is the key to success in the management of agricultural resources.
FAO Experience and Assets in Decentralization (French only)
The paper is a general survey of lessons that can be drawn from different aspects of FAO experience, and assets in decentralization. The underlying question of this study is this: given the necessary conditions for the success of decentralization, what expertise can FAO bring to bear on the formulation and implementation of a decentralization policy?
Interface développement local-cadres stratégiques: le rôle de la région (French only)
This FAO paper shows how decentralization makes it possible for other institutions to act better for rural development and the communities that depend on it.
Governance for sustainable human development: an UNDP policy document
This policy document provides the framework for UNDP’s partnerships in good governance for sustainable human development.
UNDP and Governance: Experiences and Lessons Learned
This report is intended to trace the evolution of UNDP’s approach to governance and to summarize the key trends and programme activities which have been identified as elements necessary for the achievement of sustainable human development.
Reforming Public Institutions and Strengthening Governance: A World Bank Strategy
This strategy paper reviews the World Bank's recent work on governance, public sector institutional reform, and capacity-building, particularly in core public institutions, in developing countries.
Governance and poverty toolkits
Two toolkits have been prepared by the World Bank. The first toolkit is being piloted in the Africa Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, while the second represents the current draft chapter in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Sourcebook.
Community - Driven Development
This chapter for the World Bank PRSP Sourcebook (April 2001) provides a comprehensive overview about community-driven development (CDD), its definition and rationale, and various options for the institutional arrangements for government support to CDD.
Decentralization Policies and Practices under Structural Adjustment and Democratization in Africa
This paper from the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) reviews African decentralization experiences, especially
developments in the 1980s and 1990s and beyond.
The Online Sourcebook on Decentralization and Local Development
This Online Sourcebook is hosted by the Columbia University's Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN). , and it’s realization has been possible thanks the contributions of the folowing international organizations: the Swiss Agency for Development, FAO, UNDP, World Bank and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation.
Worldwide Initiatives
The Popular Coalition to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty
This global consortium, hosted by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), is comprised of intergovernmental, civilsociety and bilateral organizations who are committed to the empowerment of the rural poor through increasing their access to productive assets and their direct participation in decision-making processes.
The Best Practices and Local Leadership Programme (BLP)
The BLP of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) is a global network of capacity-building organizations dedicated to sharing and applying the lessons learned from innovative practices. BLP is one of the principal means of monitoring and supporting the implementation of the Habitat Agenda and Agenda 21.
Racism and Public Policy
The UNRISD Racism and Public Policy conference provided participants attending the World Conference Against Racism (Durban, 2001) with research-based information. Papers prepared for the conference are available on this website.
Local Initiative Facility For Urban Environment (LIFE)
UNDP’s worldwide initiative, LIFE, was launched at the Earth Summit (Rio de Janeiro,1992) and is a methodology for achieving sustainable human development through participatory local governance. Its goal is to help city dwellers help themselves to find local solutions to local problems.
Links
Management and Development and Governance Division of the UNDP
This UNDP Division acts as a global laboratory for the creation, analysis and dissemination of knowledge on governance.
World Bank : Decentralization & Subnational Regional Economics
The Decentralization and Subnational Thematic Group aims to share information and deepen knowledge among a wide range of practitioners -- macro, sectoral, urban, and rural -- to bring about a more informed, consistent and comprehensive approach to decentralization and subnational development in its country programs.
FAO's Sustainable Development Department: Institutions
The SD Department of FAO addresses poverty eradication, links between government and civil society, and access to land, natural resources and productive assets.
Governance & Public Sector Reform Group (GPSR)
The Group brings together people working at the World Bank on activities relating to governance issues and these web pages contain many related electronic documents and tools.
UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Local Development Programmes (LDPs)
Since 1995, UNCDF has launched pilot programmes in local governance and development in more than 15 developing countries.
The UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Research Programme
This UNRISD Web site provides information and resources on poverty eradication, the promotion of democracy and human rights, gender equity and environmental sustainability.
Engendering Governance and Leadership
The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) works with its UN partners, governments, women's networks and NGOs to increase the capacity of women to participate in political institutions, promote women's perspectives in policy-making and influence the direction of society.
Center for Democracy and Governance of the USAID
The aim of the Center for Democracy and Governance is to support and advance US Agency for International Development (USAID) democracy and governance (DG) programming worldwide.
URBANET
URBANET is a network of German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) experts working worldwide, as well as associated members and institutions in the field of decentralization, urban and municipal development. The core of its activities are knowledge management, capacity development, human resource management and consulting services.
