rai Consultation Program of Activities

Southeast Asia CSM Sub-regional Consultation 

on the Development of Principles for Agricultural Investment, VG on Land,

and other Priority CFS Issues

I. Background

In October 2011 during the 37th Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), an agreement to launch an inclusive consultation process for the development and broader ownership of principles ofr responsible agricultural investment was reached. The said agreement was a result of tireless efforts of civil society organisations (CSOs) which earlier during the 36th session called on the CFS not to endorse the Principles on Responsible Agricultural Investments (PRAI) initiated by the World Bank, FAO, IFAD and UNCTAD.

The CSO declaration pointed out that the RAI is not an adequate instrument to regulate private investment especially in a period of intensifying global crisis resulting in higher food prices, resource grabs especially on land and water, and increasing hunger and  poverty for rural populartions especially in the global south. Process-wise the RAI principles were carved out to the exclusion of CSOs, social movements and grassroots groups as direct stakeholders.

As such, the planned rai  (different from the RAI) consultations from this year to 2014 provide CSOs an avenue to work for strong rai principles that will provide an international framework for policies that promote, protect and support small food producers and providers. Specifically, these refer to measures that will halt various forms of land and resource grabbing, and provide mechanisms for small food producers’ ownership, access and control of their food and agricultural production systems. The agreed principles are expected to be endorsed in plenary during the CFS 41st session in October next year.

The CSM Working and Technical Group has developed options  below on how CSOs can engage in the CFS rai process, which the Southeast Asia CSM Working Group has taken into consideration and has geared itself to organize, participate, and engage.

1. CSOs to Hold Own Consultations
The need to deepen understanding and strategies on how to deal with the challenges and opportunities brought about by agricultural investments is clear and CSOs had been and are encouraged to take up the issue in every opportunity that they have, alongside events that they organize or in official processes that they can run side or back to back events. The CSM WG requests that results from these consultations are shared to the CSM to contribute to the on-going process of generating proposals and positions from national, regional, continental, and interncontinental organizations, platforrms and movements towards a stronger voice and effective civil society engagement in the CFS.

2. Participation in the autonomous regional/sub-regional civil society consultations.
There will be a series of regional and/or sub-regional consultations by the CSM in the CFS and this is the process that the SEA CSM WG is preparing for, thus this concept note. The CC representantives from the sub-region has taken the intiative of organizing the proposed sub-regional consultation, in coordination with the CSM secretariat, by bringing together a broad-based grouping of civil society stakeholders in region. The consultation process shall take guidance from the results of the CSM WG and Technical Team and contribute towards a stronger positioning of civil society on rai at all levels.

3. Participation in the regional multistakeholder consultations
The Asian consultation was supposed to be the first of these regional CFS rai multi-stakeholder consultations but the planned June 3-7 consultation in Bangkok was postponed to still an undetermined date. Nevertheless, the SEA sub-regional consultation was agreed to be conducted on May 23-25, as originally scheduled, to allow the SEA WG to consolidate the results and submit to the CSM WG for feedback, the results of which will serve as basis for the collective engagement of SEA CSOs in the future CFS consultation at the regional and global levels. It will also serve the purposes of the CSOs in their respective activities related to agricultural investment issues and over-all advocacy work.

It is in the above context that this proposed sub-regional consultation process will take place. Mindful of the other priority CFS issues, the rai consultation shall also revisit other areas for priority action such as the follow through of the Voluntary Guidelines on Land at the national level, and discussions on CFS, Biofuels, and the Global Strategic Framework. It shall be an inclusive process, where all civil society stakeholders are encouraged to participate. It shall also bring in perspectives from other sectors, including government policy makers, financial institutions, intergovernmental bodies to benefit from a multi-stakeholder process.

II. Objectives

1. To create a deeper understanding of the issues confronted in the sub-region on agricultural investments among CSOs and social movements in preparation for the 2013 rounds of consultation on the rai principles. 
2. To identify strategies to effectively influence the implementation of the CFS sanctioned Voluntary Guidelines on the Governance of Land Tenure and other Natural Resources. 
3. To discuss other issues identified as priority agenda by CFS for 2013 to include Climate Change and Biofuels, among others. 
4. To strengthen the SEA Sub-regional CSM through clearer understanding of the CSM, its value added to on-going sub-regional CSO efforts on common agenda on food security and nutrition, and by strengthening the SEA CSM coordination structure and processes. 

III. Expected Outputs/Results

1. Official documents from the CFS and CSM processes introduced and discussed during the consultations, in particular the zero draft of rai and the CSM Annotated Outline. 
2. Consolidated comments from the sub-regional consultation on the CSM Annotated Outline for submission to the CSM Investment Working Group. 
3. Plans and strategies on how to advance the engagement on rai principles at different levels and especially in the official processes outlined in the CFS and CSM rai calendar of events. 
4. Plans and Strategies on how to effectively influence the implementation of the VG on Land 
5. Official documents on Biofuels and Climate Change introduced and discussed in preparation for 2013 CFS consultations. 
6. An improved and more dynamic coordination among CSOs in the sub-region, supportive of the CSM for CFS.

IV.  Participants

The CSO participants will primarily come from the network/platform members of the core SEA CSM WG. Available grants shall be allocated to an agreed number of funded participants. It shall be open to all interested CSOs willing to participate on self-financing. At least half of the participants shall come from grassroots/people's organizations. The organizers shall aim for balanced participation of sectors, countries, and gender. Observer-participants from South Asia are also welcome to join the event.

At least 50 participants are targetted to participate, about half on self-funding arrangement.

V. Organizers

The Southeast Asia CSM Sub-regional Working Group (SEA CSM WG) was created during the initial meeting among regional/sub-regional CSO stakeholders of the CFS who signified interest to co-orgnize the first sub-regional CSM consultation in 2013. It is composed of Asian Farmers Association (AFA), Asian Peasant Coalition (APC), Asia Pacific Network for food Sovereignty (APNFS), Asian NGO Network for ARRD (ANGOC), Asiadhrra, Pesticide Action Network Asia Pacific (PAN-AP) and People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS). The SEA WG agreed to share the responsibility of ensuring a productive and relevant sub-regional event and coordinates with the CSM secretariat and the CSM WG and Technical Team for advise and support. Sessions shall be co-anchored by the WG members. A Steering committee composed of the SEA WG members and CSM Secretariat/WG shall oversee the actual conduct of the event. Indonesian partners Binadesa/Indhrra and WALHI shall be the local hosts for the regional event. FAO through the CSM provides the main funding for the event. Asiadhrra takes on the secretariat/convener's role.

Southeast Asia CSM Sub-regional Consultation: 

Development of Principles for Agricultural Investment,

VG on Land, and other Priority Issues of CFS

Jakarta, Indonesia

May 23-25, 2012

Day 0,  May 22	Arrivals	Hotel to be arranged by Local Hosts
Day 1,   May 23 8:00-8:30	Registration	Secretariat
8:30-9:00 30 minutes	Opening Session Welcome Remarks Indonesian Host Focal Point (Binadesa/Walhi) Opening Message Marlene Ramirez, Asiadhrra CSM CC Focal Point for SEA Sub-region Overview of the Consultation Amy Padilla, PCFS Program Committee Introduction of Participants Moderator	AM Moderator: Mr. Truong Quoc Can Center for Sustainable Research Development (SRD)  (tbc)
9:00-9:20 20 mins	Health Break Photo Session
9:20 -12:00 30 mins 15 mins 30 mins 15 mins 30 mins 15 mins	SESSION 1:  Introduction – CFS, CSM, rai (This session shall aim to improve understanding by all participants about CFS and CSM processes, sensitive to the reality that not all of the participants are able to directly participate nor have direct access to information about these global processes and developmentsAAThis will be followed by an introduction of the CSO Annotated Outline and how it how is proposed to be used.  Session one should prepare all the participants for the  Workshop Session on the rai Draft Zero and the Annotated Outline in the afternoon) General Introduction of CFS and CSM, and the rai context CSM Secretariat  or CSM WG Representantive Plenary Discussion/Clarifications Moderator Introduction of rai Zero Draft and the Consolidated Civil Society comments on zero draft Gilbert Sape, PANAP  Plenary Discussions/Clarifications Moderator Introduction of CSM Annotated Outline Shalmali, Focus on the Global South/CSM Technical Team Member Plenary Discussion/Clarifications Moderator	(Session anchor:  Gilbert/PANAP) The session anchor to finalize design of the  session)
12:00-1:00	Lunch Break
1:00-5:pm 15 minutes	Session 2:  Workshop on the rai Draft zero using the CSO Annotated Outline (This session will look into the details of the draft Zero and discuss it based on the annotated outline prepared by the technical team.  It shall aim to generate text contributions and help build confidence among participants on how to use the annotated outline in their subsequent respective autonomous consultations.) Overview of the Session and Workshop Mechanics  Session Anchor	Afternoon Moderator: Dwi Astuti, Binadesa (tbc)     The session anchor shall finalize the design of the workshop
1:15 – 3:15pm	Group 1:  Part 1 (Principles on the impacts of agricultural investments)	Each Group to id Facilitator, Documentor, Rapporteur
	Group 2:  Part 2 (Principles for the regulation and governance of investments)
	Group 3:  Part 3 (Principles addressing  specific stakeholders and partnerships)
	Group 4:  Part 4 (Principles for implementation and monitoring of rai)
3:15 – 3:30	Health Break
3:30 – 4:30 (10 minutes per group; 20 mins discussion)	Plenary Reporting and Discussion Moderator
4:30 – 5:00	Synthesis and Wrap up of Day 1
5:00 – 6:00	Steering Committee Meeting	Day 1 review, prepare for day2 Sessions
6:30 pm	Open: Dinner  and Informal Networking
Day 2, May 24 8:00-8:15am	Day Starters Recap of Day 1 session  Moderator	Morning Moderator: Kesinee Kwaenjaroen, SDF (tbc)
8:15– 12:00 8:15-8:30 15 mins 8:30-9:30 30 mins 30 minutes	SESSION 3: Voluntary Guidelines on the Governance of Land Tenure and other Natural Resources (VG Land) Plenary Introduction, Status update, Challenges and Opportunities Topic 1: What is the VG? Presentation of the Civil Society Document on the VG. Topic 2: Sharing on VG Negotiations at National Level  (plenary panel discussion) (Identify some countries where there are on-going initiatives to discuss the VG among stakeholders e.g. Myanmar, Laos, etc.) Topic 3: Sharing of Strategies developed and discussed by various initiatives/platforms at national and regional levels Plenary Discussions Moderator Synthesis	Session Anchors: Arze Glipo/APNFS and Roel Ravanera/ANGOC Session Anchors to finalize design of session
9:30-9:45	Health Break
9:45 – 11:00 9:45-10:00 10:00 – 11:00 11:00 – 12:00	Session 4:  Workshop on VG Strategies (The session aims to clarify the value-added of the VG vis CSO work at the national and regional levels, to increase commitments to push for its adoption/implementation at the national level. Participants should be able to locate the VG in their respective agenda and plans and discuss immediate and medium term strategies.) Introduce Workshop Mechanics  Session Anchor Workshop Proper Plenary Reporting and Discussion Moderator Synthesis	Break-out Groups can be by Country Clusters or random grouping.
12:00 – 1:30	Lunch Break
1:30 – 3:30 15 minutes each 30 mins 30 mins 15 minutes	Session 5: Panel Session on Other CFS Priority Issues: Climate Change, Biofuels, Global Strategic Framework   (The session shall be introductory in relation to the CSM and CFS processes. Participants shall share related intiatives and strategies at national and regional levels and discuss ways how to strengthen participation in planned consultations on these issues) Topic 1: Biofuels Topic 2: Climate Change April Portia, PCFS Topic 3: Global Strategic Framework Gilbert Sape, PANAP Plenary Discussions/Clarifications Moderator Sharing of Civil Society Initiatives and Strategies relevant to pushing the CFS issues  Summary of Inputs	PM Moderator: Thongdam  Phongphichith, SAEDA tbc (Session Anchors: Lany Rebagay/AFA and Amy/PCFS)
3:30 – 3:45	Health Break
3:45 – 5:00	Plenary Review of Strategies  and Synthesis
5:00 – 6:00	Steering Committee Meeting	Prepare for concluding planning session. Output:Planning document
7:00 up	Dinner and Solidarity Night	Indonesian Hosts
Day 3, May  25 8:00 – 8:15am	Day Starter Recap of Day 2 Moderator	AM Moderator:           Vo-kyung Song, Consumer Korea (tbc)
8:15– 8:45 30 mins	SESSION 7:  Strategies for 2013 and Way Forward for SEA CSM   Introduction of Planning Working Document and Workshop Mechanics Session Anchors	(Session Anchors: CC Focal Points/WG)
8:45 – 9:45	Workshop on rai Workshop on VG Workshop on Other issues (CC, Biofuels, GSF) Workshop on SEA CSM 2013 plans and coordination	Workshop by Topic or Plenary Session
9:45 – 10:00	Health Break
10:00 – 11:00 11:00 – 11:30	Plenary Reporting and Discussion Moderator Over-all Synthesis and Concluding Points
11:30 – 12:00	Session 8: Closing Session   Reflections from participants Message from the Organizers Closing Remarks	(Session anchor: APC)
12:00 – 1:30	Lunch Break
1:30 – 2:30	Steering Committee Meeting – Wrap Up
1:30 – up (non SC)	Networking,  Roll-over to back to back events, Departures