Rural Sector takes stock on Istanbul Principles

The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), as member of CPDE, organized a global training on Development Effectiveness (DE) on March 15-16, 2018 in Beirut, Lebanon. The event was hosted by the Arab Network on Food Sovereignty. The training brought together participants from Kenya, Senegal, Jordan, Pakistan, Philippines, Bolivia, Cuba and Guatemala.

The meeting aimed to discuss and share experiences on the role of peasants, indigenous, pastorals, fisherfolks and their organisations in the agenda of CSO DE. For many organizations, it was their first approach to the CPDE. 

The training objectives were as follows:  (1) deepening the understanding on CSO’s DE and the Istanbul Principles to strengthen the involvement of organizations, networks and platforms of the constituency in the DE agenda and CPDE work; (2) Identifying learning outcomes in terms of achievements or capacities created, and limitations or obstacles of CSO DE and the application of the Istanbul Principles; (3) defining how can the Rural Constituency improve the promotion and application of the Istanbul Principles in its sector ; (4) outline a plan how the rural constituency can contribute in the CPDE CSO DE Working Group; and, (5) outline a sector’s guideline f on implementing CSO DE.

The meeting reviewed the CSO DE Agenda and CSO Accountability with a focus on the Istanbul Principles and the sector’s progress in these areas.  Insightful discussions came out from the simultaneous workshops on what DE means for the constituency; how the constituency interprets the Istanbul Principles; and how they are integrated in the constituency’s daily operations. 

The Rural Sector developed the following key imperatives from the workshops:

1. Respect for human rights and social justice – implement genuine land reform, effective legislations, respect for civic space, legal reforms, combating conditional funding and a defeat of dictatorship across different parts of the world;

2. Gender equality – combat patriarchy, lobby and advocacy for gender equality, address land rights and issues of inheritance, improve access to information, equal opportunities for men and women, equal treatment for men and women and access to productive resources;

3. Peoples empowerment – lobbying for genuine democratic spaces, institutionalizing democratic principles, instituting peoples’ movements, respect for civic space and ensuring a framework for genuine participation.

4. Environmental sustainability framework – awareness on environmental sustainability, enforcement of environmental protection, stringent legislations on environment, addressing systemic problems that contribute to environmental destruction such as policies on trade and extraction.

5. Accountability and transparency – this were considered to be enhanced only if corruption was tackled, all white collar crimes were prosecuted, there existed stringent rules to tackle corruption, contracts were made public and there was enforcement of the right to information among the people.