In this issue:
- You do Politics, we go Hungry
- Reconvening of the CFS Plenary on 19 December
- CSIPM Participation to the CFS 50th Plenary (on 10-14 October 2022)
- Save the Date! CSIPM and World Council of Churches Event
- Global report Voices from the Ground 2: transformative solutions to the global systemic food crises
- CSIPM Data Working Group and CFS policy workstream on Data collection and analysis tools for food security and nutrition
- Advisory Group and Bureau Meeting (September 2022)
- CSIPM working group on Inequality and CFS thematic workstream on Reducing inequalities for food security and nutrition
- CFS Multi-Year Plan of Work (MYPoW) 2024-2027
Despite the growing urgency of the multi-layered crises, driven by conflict, climate catastrophe and the global pandemic and coupled with debt and energy emergencies, governments have failed to agree on the need for a coordinated policy response at the CFS50 Plenary.
“You do politics, we go hungry” is the campaign the CSIPM has launched to create awareness and call on governments for urgent action during the reconvened CFS 50th Plenary Session, and on social movements and individuals to raise their voices and demand their representatives to coordinate policy responses at the CFS – an inclusive and multilateral space where the voice of the countries and constituencies most affected are prioritised.
Like in all crises, we see the rise of multistakeholder platforms and initiatives led by a handful of countries aiming to find a solution to the current food-debt-energy crisis. And yet these initiatives are fragmented, biased and seized by corporate interest. They frame the current situation from a production and market perspective, overlooking the much-needed transformation of food systems. The solutions they propose allow them to continue with business as usual without acknowledging the structural nature of the crises. These initiatives are led by those countries who benefit the most from the current economic and trade rules and so it is hard to imagine how these can be truly transformative.
As explained in a new CSIPM policy brief, civil society and Indigenous Peoples’ organizations are calling upon governments to engage in an inclusive member-led dialogue starting at the reconvened CFS 50th Plenary and discuss an approach for a global, coordinated policy guidance to prevent future crises to be presented at the CFS 51st Plenary.
Join the online conversation #CFSResponse
2. Reconvening of the CFS Plenary on 19 December
From 10-13 October, the CFS 50th plenary session was held in hybrid format at FAO Headquarters in Rome and online. Hours that were supposed to have been dedicated to finding a solution to the systemic global food crisis were spent to find a compromise in a battle of words between two geopolitical blocs.
As explained in the web article You do Politics, We go Hungry, the Plenary was not concluded and will reconvene on 19 December in a hybrid format from 10:00 – 12:30 and from 14:00 – 16:30 (Rome time) to conclude the remaining two items (II and VIII) of the CFS 50 Agenda.
If you already registered for the 10-13 October CFS 50 Plenary, you do not need to re-register. However, the CFS Secretariat asks you to send your name and confirmation of your online participation at CFS50-registration@fao.org as soon as possible and no later than the 13 December.
More information can be found here: https://www.fao.org/cfs/plenary/cfs50/en/
3. CSIPM Participation to the CFS 50th Plenary (on 10-14 October 2022)
The CSIPM participated to the #CFS50 with a strong delegation representing diverse constituencies, sub-regions and genders, including: smallholder farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolks, Indigenous Peoples, agricultural and food workers, landless, women, youth, consumers, urban food insecure and NGOs to demand transformative policies to tackle the food crisis. All CSIPM contributions to the CFS50 can be found here.
During CFS50 two side events were co-organised by the CSIPM Women and Gender Diversities working group: “Intersectionality, Gender Equality and the Right to Food” and by the CSIPM Youth working group: “Our rights, our bodies, our futures”.
The CSIPM Women and Gender Diversity working group delivered their collective statement asking the plenary to continue with this key policy convergence process and to organise special sessions with experts on key gender transformative approaches and on UN agreed language.
The working group’s statement which was launched on the second day of the Plenary, has received almost 500 signatures from individuals and organisations and it is still open for signatures.
- Read, sign and share the statement.
- Read the working group’s press release marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
4. Save the Date! CSIPM and World Council of Churches Event
On 14 December, the CSIPM is co-organising a webinar event with the World Council of Churches (WCC) to update constituencies on the state of play of the food crisis and the need for policy responses, at local, national and global levels. The CSIPM and WCC will share the work of civil society, Indigenous Peoples, and faith communities in this situation – the resilience, the challenges they face and their innovations and successes
Simultaneous interpretation will be offered in English, French and Spanish.
Register in advance: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUsdOyurz4qGNGxDWQVIPHWoFgs_T-l8H-i
5. Global report Voices from the Ground 2: transformative solutions to the global systemic food crises
During the CFS Plenary discussions, André Luzzi (member of the CSIPM Coordination Committee, HIC – Brazil) brought up the results from the Regional Popular Consultations process on grassroots impacts of COVID-19, conflicts, and crises on the right to food and food sovereignty, which took place from May through August 2022, through an online questionnaire and 20 hours of video conferencing sessions. The consultations garnered 539 contributions from 72 countries across the globe, in Thai, Arabic, Urdu, Filipino, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, French and English.
The consolidation of the Popular Consultations results can be found in the CSIPM’s new global report Voices from the ground 2: transformative solutions to the global systemic food crises, which sheds light on global action and community responses since the outbreak of COVID-19. It underlines the inadequacy of government and multilateral responses that have resulted in increased inequalities, and heightened the fragility of the global food system. It also synthesises the rich analysis and recommendations that emerged from social movements and organisations from different constituencies, subregions, genders and age during the consultations.
The report was launched in a global event on 29 September with speakers from different CSIPM constituencies, UN agencies, and governments’ representatives, who spoke about responses to the new layer of the global food crisis. The event provided a space for CSIPM regional articulations to present the different lived experiences on the ground and people’s policy demands. It was also an opportunity to exchange views on how to build a globally coordinated response and the role of the CFS.
The CSIPM regional consultation in Africa resulted in a Declaration where the organizations in the region have articulated the situation and specific requests more in detail: Declaration: Grassroots impacts of COVID-19, conflicts, and crises on the right to food and food sovereignty in Africa
Download and share the African declaration in French, Portuguese and Arabic
Read the regional reports here: https://www.csm4cfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/layout-CSIPM-report-EN.pdf
In its most recent Multi-Year Programme of Work (MYPoW), the CFS approved a thematic workstream on Data collection and analysis tools for food security and nutrition. The CSIPM working group was started in 2020 when the CSIPM contributed to the HLPE consultation on the scope of the report. In 2022, the Data working group contributed to the consultation on the Zero Draft of the HLPE report and between January and July 2023 it will participate to the CFS Open Ended Working Groups (OEWG) meetings and CFS negotiations that will lead to an agreed set of Policy Recommendations to be presented to the CFS 51st Plenary for endorsement in 2023.
The first CFS OEWG meetingisscheduled for Thursday 12 January 2023 from 14.00 to 17.00 (Rome time). The main objective of this Open Meeting is to set the stage for the preparation of the Zero Draft of the CFS Policy Recommendations, based on the HLPE-FSN Report (available here in all languages). The CSIPM Data working group is now preparing inputs to share with the CFS on the priority issues and policy-relevant areas that should be addressed through this CFS policy convergence process and included in the Policy Recommendations.
If you wish to join this discussion please join the CSIPM Data Working Group, whose objectives are
- to learn together about the digitalisation of our entire food system from production to consumption;
- to discuss how this CFS policy convergence process could impact our constituencies, our communities, and our future right to food;
- to share alternatives and stories from our territories, and
- to challenge the terms of a debate that has been set mainly by digital technology corporations and philanthropic organizations.
Why is it so important to engage in the policy convergence process on data collection and analysis tools? The CSIPM Data WG explains this in their open invitation to join the working group.
7. Advisory Group and Bureau Meeting (September 2022)
Since the latest CSIPM Update there was one Advisory Group and Bureau meeting on 26 September, which addressed topics related to the CFS 50th Plenary, the CFS 2022-2023 workplan, the CFS Foundations Informal Mechanism, and which included an Advisory Group Reporting Exercise and workstream updates. You can find more information on the CSIPM website: https://www.csm4cfs.org/cfs-ag-and-bureau-meeting-26-september/
Read the CSIPM contributions to the Advisory Group and Bureau meeting
Read Bureau and Advisory Group Meeting Outcomes – With Bureau Decisions
During its 46th Plenary Session, the CFS adopted its four-year Programme of Work (MYPoW 2020-2023), which includes a request to its High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) to produce a report on “Reducing inequalities for food security and nutrition”, to be presented at the CFS 51st Plenary Session in 2023. The CSIPM participated to the e-consultation on the scope of the HLPE report and attended the CFS intersessional event held on 22 November.
Saima Zia, women secretary of the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, member of La Via Campesina and CC member of the CSIPM, facilitated the participation of the smallholders and family farmers constituency and presented the collective statement prepared with inputs from the CSIPM Inequalities Working Group.
The Working Group is now preparing the inputs on the Zero Draft of the HLPE report on Reducing Inequalities for Food Security and Nutrition. The e-consultation is open until 10 January. To join the collective discussion and policy convergence process, please join the recently formed Inequality working group.
9. CFS Multi-Year Plan of Work (MYPoW) 2024-2027
The Multi-Year Plan of Work (MYPoW) is the process through which the CFS develops its own political priorities and sets its own agenda. The current MYPoW covers the period of 2020-2023 and the next MYPoW will be developed for the period of 2024-2027.
From January to June 2023, the CFS will discuss proposals for the upcoming political priorities and workstreams, it will prioritise them and finally it will select them. The draft of the CFS MYPoW 2024-2027 will be presented at an Advisory Group and Bureau meeting in June 2023 and it will be considered and endorsed at the CFS 51th Plenary in October 2023.
As a first step of the MYPoW process, the CFS High Level Panel of Experts has been tasked to produce a Note on Critical and Emerging Issues. The HLPE launched an e-consultation, to collect input on the Zero Draft from members and participants of the CFS, as well other actors outside the CFS. The CSIPM contributed with inputs to the Zero Draft. The HLPE Note on Critical and Emerging Issues was then finalised and presented to the CFS 50th Plenary in October 2022 to receive further inputs from the Plenary.
During the Plenary, the CSIPM delivered a statement announcing that, in developing the proposals for the coming MYPoW, the CSIPM will draw on the outcomes of its popular consultation. The CSIPM highlighted the urgent issue of food being used as a weapon and of millions of people who suffer the consequences of conflicts and who lose their lives while migrating, or as they are displaced. Other themes that were raised by CSIPM constituencies and are not touched on in the HLPE Note, are the importance of social and solidarity economies and popular agrarian reform, corporate concentration in food systems and trade policies.
The MYPoW process is led by the CSIPM Advisory Group (AG) in consultation with the constituencies and sub-regions. The AG will participate in the MYPoW process of which you can see a more detailed workplan here. It will also participate in the preparation of preliminary proposals and prioritisation of themes in the CFS Open Ended working groups from January to April and in the selection and endorsement phase from May to October 2023.