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W H O W E A R E
The International NGO/CSO Planning Committee - IPC
is a global network of NGOs/CSOs concerned with food
sovereignty issues and programs. It includes social
organizations representing small farmers, fisher folk,
indigenous peoples, agricultural workers' trade unions;
sub-regional/regional NGOs/CSOs which act as regional
focal points; and NGO networks with particular expertise
and a long history of lobbying and action and advocacy
on issues related to food sovereignty and agriculture,
which act as thematic focal points.
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Many of
these civil society actors have been engaged in global
networking on these issues since the time of the NGO
Forum organized in parallel to the World Food Summit
(WFS) of 1996. The WFS was the most important international
conference on the '90s focusing specifically on food
security and, as such, it gave expression to one of
the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), which now
provide a basis for the international community's
development agenda.
Thanks to
a process which has developed over the past seven
years, these NGOs/CSOs have increasingly achieved
an effective presence in the work of relevant international
organizations on a platform of food sovereignty, right
to food, and food sovereignty. The two NGO/CSO Fora
organized in Rome in 1996 and 2002 in parallel to
the WFS and the WFS:fyl, based on the principles of
civil society self-organization and autonomy, have
made a particularly important contribution to strengthening
civil society networking and impact.
The process
of organization for the 2002 Forum, which benefited
from the support of the FAO, involved thematic reflection
and decentralized discussions at national and regional
levels over a period of two and a half years. It has
led to the development of an innovative mechanism
for interaction on issues of food sovereignty between
the NGOs/CSOs and social movements, on the one hand,
and, on the other, governments and international institutions.
Particular attention has been given to FAO initially.
This was due to need to mobilize for the WFS:fyl and
in view of FAO's role within the UN system as focal
point for food sovereignty in the follow-up to the
WFS and the implementation of the MDGs.
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Other international
organizations targeted in the recommendations of the
2002 NGO/CSO Forum for Food Sovereignty include IFAD,
WFP, the World Bank and the WTO. At the same time,
the decentralized process of debate over many months
which culminated in the Forum helped NGOs/CSOs to
engage - often for the first time - in debate on food
sovereignty issues with their governments at national,
sub-regional and regional levels.
The IPC
is not a centralized structure claiming to represent
its members. Instead, its legitimacy is based on its
ability to bring to the attention of its interlocutors
the concerns and the battles which a broad diversity
of civil society organizations are conducting daily
in their field work and their advocacy at local, regional
and global levels. It serves as a mechanism for diffusion
of information and training on issues regarding food
sovereignty and food sovereignty. It promotes fora
in which NGOs/CSOs and social movements involved in
food and agriculture issues can debate, articulate
their positions and build their relationships at national,
regional and global levels. It reinforces the effectiveness
of civil society lobbying by strengthening their capacities
for analysis and alliances. It facilitates dialogue
and debate between civil society actors, governments
and other stakeholders at all levels.
Download
the IPC Presentation (Powerpoint)
Contacts
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