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

6. SPECIAL FOCUS: THE SPANISH SITUATIONFor Spanish CSOs many of the challenges and tasks that face them in the CFS are the same as thoseconfronting global civil society more generally, and which have been touched upon above. Of particularrelevance in the Spanish context is the apparent orientation of the Spanish government away fromthe CFS and towards the World Bank’s Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAPFS)– an initiative that is characterized both by a very low level of public legitimacy and the attempt toresolve policy dialogue in favour of a set of prescriptions the efficacy of which is globally contested.Indeed, it is the widely recognized disagreement on which of the available policy choices at hand inpursuit of food security objectives is most effective – at the global level at least – which has given riseto the recognized need for the type of policy dialogue that is a central role of the CFS. Lacking boththe recognition of this need, and the willingness of many important CSOs to engage with its process,the GAFSP represents a regressive measure for food security governance.More generally, the GAFSP underscores both the fragmentation that exists across the global food securitysystem, and the competition that the CFS faces as it seeks to become “the centralUnited Nations political platform dealing with food security and nutrition.” For Spanish CSOs, therefore,a specific challenge is to contest this orientation of the Spanish government, and – in referenceto the potential of the CFS as outlined within this briefing document - focus their commitment andenergy upon CFS implementation.37