FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia
FAO recognizes the key role of multi-partner coalitions within the UN system to respond to cross-cutting challenges in the region, to help realize synergies among related areas of work of different UN entities, and to serve as platforms to reach out to non-UN stakeholders.
This lies at the heart of the establishment of the Issue-Based Coalitions (IBCs), regional UN task forces tasked to coordinate their cross-sectoral activities and develop plans for joint action (e.g. interagency guidance notes, common position papers, events at intergovernmental meetings), facilitating improved cooperation between different UN agencies, and with their partners. The objective of establishing IBCs was to avoid silo-ed approaches considering the SDG inter-related and cross-cutting nature. The IBCs serves to focus the UN system’s support and engagement on development challenges and issues, where joined-up and coherent work is preferable.
The work of the IBCs is guided by the Regional Collaborative Platform, which unites at the regional level, UN entities working on sustainable development for the 2030 Agenda, addressing key challenges that transcend country borders such as health, environment, or food systems. This is the primary UN regional coordination mechanism.
Europe and Central Asia was the first region to establish IBCs as a mechanism to pull together the UN system-wide expertise in response to the identified regional challenges and development issues.
FAO is an active member of the IBCs. In particular, FAO has advocated for the establishment of an IBC on Sustainable Food Systems (see the official webpage of IBC on Sustainable Food Systems for additional details), with the aim of promoting sustainable food systems, using a multi-sectoral approach that capitalize on the expertise of several UN agencies – as an important element of the 2030 Agenda, with a strong focus on the most vulnerable groups, in line with the principle of leaving no one behind.
FAO hosts the Secretariat and co-chairs the IBC on Sustainable Food Systems, along with UNICEF and WHO.
Issues addressed by the IBCs are relevant across Europe and Central Asia, for the 17 programme countries as well as for all the other countries in the region.
This is why FAO is also actively contributing to the work of other IBCs for the Europe and Central Asia region as well as other regional interagency groups.
Our mandate is closely linked to the cross-sectoral areas of the IBCs and interagency groups and we believe it is crucial to work together and coordinate, at a regional level, the cross-cutting themes at the core of each IBCs, to ensure that they are tackled in a multidimensional manner, combining the technical expertise of different UN agencies.
Discover other Issue-based coalitions:
- Issue-based Coalition on Health and Well-being
- Issue-based Coalition on Gender Equality
- Issue-based Coalition on Adolescents and Youth
- Issue-based Coalition on Social Protection
- Issue-based Coalition on Large Movements of People, Displacement and Resilience
- Issue-based Coalition on Environment and Climate Change