Two institutions, one from Nepal and one from Lebanon, both firmly rooted in their rural communities, today won first and second place respectively under the new Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Awards Programme.
The Agriculture Cooperative Central Federation Limited (NACCFL) from Nepal and the Al-Shouf Cedar Society (ACS) from Lebanon, two partner institutions of FAO, stood out for their efforts to enhance the living standards of local communities, promote sustainable agrifood systems, protect biodiversity and combat the impacts of the climate crisis.
The FAO Awards Selection Committee conferred the two institutions with the FAO Partnerships Award. The committee stressed the importance of equally dividing the $10,000 cash prize between the two winners who were very close in scoring.
The prize-giving ceremony was held today at FAO’s headquarters in Rome on the sidelines of the 172nd session of the FAO Council, the Organization’s executive body.
“Today we are here to acknowledge the success of individuals and institutions that recognize the benefits of collaboration and teamwork to achieve a sustainable food secure future for all,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu in his opening remarks. “Partnerships serve to find innovative ways to do things by pooling diverse capacities and increasing creativity, and by bringing new resources to reach those left behind” he added.
NACCFL recognized for its work with smallholder farmers in Nepal
FAO and the Agriculture Cooperative Central Federation Limited in Nepal have been working together for more than a decade to strengthen agricultural systems management in the country. With more than 1139 agricultural cooperatives, the federation has provided smallholder farmers with access to markets, financial services, and training, enabling them to increase production, improve livelihoods, and contribute to the sustainability of agrifood systems in Nepal.
The first-place award recognizes the institution’s ability in communicating, through policy dialogues and participation in various forums, the complex agricultural and economic issues of smallholder farmers to policymakers and promoting solutions to address hunger and malnutrition in the country.
Accepting the award during the event was Khem Bahadur Pathak, chairperson of the Institution.
Biodiversity protection and women’s empowerment at the heart of Al Shouf Cedar Society’s work in Lebanon
Established in 1994, the Society has always been committed to preserving the ecological and cultural heritage of the Shouf Biosphere Reserve. The Reserve is home to hundreds of communities that depend mostly on traditional farming, which however is currently in decline; an aging population, poor marketing, soil degradation and high production costs are threatening traditional agriculture. To counter this phenomenon, ACS, through a “learning by doing” approach trains young unemployed community members on planting techniques for forest restoration.
In 2019, it launched rural development and capacity-building programs focused on women’s empowerment and supervised healthy agribusiness production practices, contributing to the improvement of local people’s living standards.
Receiving the award has been Lina Sarkis, development coordinator at Al-Shouf Cedar Society.
The FAO Awards
In June 2021, the FAO Ministerial Conference embers approved a new awards programme, consolidating and revamping the existing awards under a unified FAO brand and establishing five categories of corporate awards, one of which was conferred during today’s event. FAO Partnerships Award stems from the Organization’s firm conviction that only through effective collaboration with governments, civil society, the private sector, academia, research centers and cooperatives, and by harnessing the knowledge and comparative advantages of each, is a successful sustainable development agenda possible.
