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

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A closer look at CSO participation within the renewed CFSAs stated above, the renewed CFS provides unprecedented participation opportunities for a range ofactors, including civil society. This includes both the right to participate in the CFS plenary – intervening,approving meeting documents and agendas, submitting and presenting documents and formalproposals – and within the intersessional work, for which the mechanism of the Advisory Group hasbeen established. Additionally, civil society are identified as being fundamentally important to theCFS’s links with the different levels – regional, national and local. Of CSO participation in the CFS wecan say that civil society have the opportunity to participate in the CFS’s work:• Across all its different roles;• Throughout its entire work period (plenary and intersessional), and;• At all the different levels (“from the global up to the local”) 1.Aside from in exercising decision-making authority, one other important difference in the participationrights enjoyed between civil society and member states is that the number of civil society actorsable to attend the Plenary will be limited. <strong>The</strong> exact number of CSOs able to attend will be negotiatedbetween the Bureau and a special mechanism – like the Advisory Group – intended to facilitate CSOengagement with the renewed CFS. This mechanism is the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM).<strong>The</strong> Civil Society MechanismParagraph 16 of the reform document, under the heading of “Consultation/Coordination Mechanismsand Activities” provides a preliminary outline of the functions and purpose of the CSM:16. Civil society organizations/NGOs and their networks will be invited to autonomouslyestablish a global mechanism for food security and nutrition which will function as a facilitating bodyfor CSO/NGO consultation and participation in the CFS. Such mechanism will also serve inter-sessionalglobal, regional, and national actions in which organizations of those sectors of the populationmost affected by food insecurity, would be accorded priority representation. Civil society organizations/NGOswill submit to the CFS Bureau a proposal regarding how they intend to organize theirparticipation in the CFS in a way that ensures broad and balanced participation by regions and typesof organizations keeping in mind the principles approved by the CFS at its Thirty-Fourth Session inOctober 2008 (CFS: 2008/5; CL 135/10: paragraph 15).1 This was a phrase used accidently at the People’s Food Sovereignty Forum in Rome, 2009, but which was celebratedfor its assertion that the global level only has meaning in support of the attainment of outcomes at thelocal.33
<strong>The</strong> activities of the mechanism will include:I. Broad and regular exchange of information, analysis and experience;II. Developing common positions as appropriate;III. Communicating to the CFS and, as appropriate, its Bureau through representativesdesignated by an internal self-selection process within each civil society category;IV. Convening a civil society forum as a preparatory event before CFS sessions if so decidedby the civil society mechanism.(CFS:2009/2: Paragraph 16).At present, the process of formulating this mechanism is well under away, largely through the productionof two draft proposals by a steering group comprising Action-Aid, the IPC, and Oxfam International.<strong>The</strong>se proposals have been circulated through civil society and comments received havebeen incorporated into subsequent drafts. <strong>The</strong> intention is – following the completion of a final thirddraft – to convene a CSO forum prior to the <strong>Committee</strong> on World Food Security’s plenary meeting,beginning October 11th, 2010 to approve the Civil Society Mechanism. It is worth noting, however,that it is anticipated by those steering this process that the performance of whatever mechanism isagreed will be reviewed after one year 2 .Different Agendas at the CFSBefore moving to the final section of this briefing paper it is worth perhaps commenting on what wemight call the dynamics of the differing agendas that we might expect to find being pursued by thedifferent actors involved within the CFS. Notwithstanding the future prospect of states or the privatesector seeking to inhibit its effectiveness, it is also worth commenting on what we may call the generaltone, or spirit of the CFS as expressed in the reform document. On the spectrum of potentially conflictual/cooperativerelations, this is firmly located down the cooperative, or collaborative end. Wefind this embodied in language that permeates the document throughout, including the descriptionof the CFS as a:Platform for a broad range of committed stakeholders to work together. (Paragraph 4);And the definition of one of its major roles as:To strengthen collaborative action among governments, regional organizations, international organizationsand agencies, NGOs, CSOs, food producers’ organizations, private sector organizations,philanthropic organizations, and other relevant stakeholders. (Paragraph 5).2 <strong>The</strong> draft proposals for the CSM and other relevant documents can be found here: http://cso4cfs.org/34
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