The Reformed Committee on Food Security. A briefing paper for ...

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II. ACTORS AND MECHANISMS WITHIN THE REFORMED CFSIn the pre-reform CFS civil society had already been recognised as having a central role to play in themonitoring of states’ implementation of the World Food Summit’s Plan of Action. However the renewedCFS has extended unprecedented participation opportunities to a wider range of actors resultingin a body whose composition now extends well beyond member states. Indeed, during the ContactGroup process civil society actors such as the IPC were concerned that the list of those entitledto participate within the CFS would be too long, and crowd out the voices of smallholder producers.This concern however – whilst recognised – was not validated by governments, who finally agreed toinclude IFIs and private philanthropic foundations.As noted above, at the global level the CFS is divided into two main areas of work – the Plenary andthe intersessional work, and there are three main categories of actors who participate in this work.CFS actors: Members<strong>The</strong> first category of actors is Members – <strong>The</strong>se are states that are members of the FAO and the UN.According to the reform document:Members take part fully in the work of the <strong>Committee</strong> with the right to intervene in plenaryand breakout discussions, approve meeting documents and agendas, submit and present documentsand formal proposals, and interact with the Bureau during the intersessional period. Voting and decisiontaking is the exclusive prerogative of Members, including drafting the final report of CFS Plenarysessions. [Emphasis added].(CFS: 2009/2: Paragraph: 10).17
<strong>The</strong> Strategic Framework of the CFSDuring the Contact Group negotiations civil society – particularly the IPC – attached aspecial importance to the CFS being assigned the role of generating a Global StrategicFramework for food security and nutrition. This was eventually assigned to Phase IIof the implementation process, though in practice the definition of common principlesof action underpins the CFS’s work from the outset, and this is reflected perhaps by thefact that the process of defining the Strategic Framework has already tentatively begunwith the production of a couple of concept notes, and the provisional scheduling ofdiscussion on the Framework for the next CFS Plenary – the 36th (11-16th October).<strong>The</strong> reform document is short on details about the Strategic Framework, simply statingthat its goal is “to improve coordination and guide synchronized action by a wide rangeof stakeholders.” (CFS: 2009/2: Paragraph 6.iii). It also adds that the Framework isTo be flexible so that it can be adjusted as priorities change;To be built upon “existing frameworks such as the UN’s Comprehensive Frameworkfor Action (CFA), the Comprehensive Agriculture Development Programme(CAADP), and the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the ProgressiveRealisation of the Right to Adequate Food.” (CFS: 2009/2: Paragraph 6.iii).During the Contact Group process – and in the concept notes – the issue of how theStrategic Framework should relate to these existing frameworks was raised, with theIPC calling for an evaluation of, for instance, the CFA as part of this process. <strong>The</strong> processof defining the Strategic Framework will be a test case for determining how farthe CFS can go towards realizing its visionary potential. As stated earlier in this paper,inclusivity and linkages with the “reality on the ground” are two principles right atthe heart of the renewed CFS. <strong>The</strong> challenge will be to design a process for formulatingthe Global Strategic Framework which meaningfully realises both. We can anticipatethat this will pose big challenges both to those charged with designing and managingthe process and those – civil society in particular – without whose contribution theprocess will be empty.18
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