Francesco Rampa Head of Food Security Programme 5-6 May 2015 , FAO, Rome

1. Articulating trade related concerns in
processes at the global,
regional and national levels
Measuring policy coherence for food
security, what are the challenges?
Francesco Rampa – Head of Food Security Programme
5-6 May 2015 , FAO, Rome

2. • what is meant by “policy coherence for
development” (PCD)
• what is “policy coherence for food security”
(PCD4F)
• The PCD ‘political agenda’
• Challenges for implementing & monitoring
PCD4F
Outline

3. PCD rationale: globalisation, costs, dev effectiveness
Other policies and financial flows have more impact than ODA
Page 3

4. ECDPM Page 4
Prevalent definitions: PCD = …
EU
“The EU seeks to minimise contradictions
and to build synergies between policies
other than development cooperation that
have an impact on developing countries,
for the benefit of overseas development”
OECD
“The pursuit of development
objectives through the systematic
promotion of mutually reinforcing
policy actions on the part of both
OECD and developing countries”.
Two-fold implication: “do no harm” and beyond:
1. Make sure all policies are development-friendly
2. Ensure the proactive promotion of development objectives in other policies:
exploit synergies > win-win

5. - PCD = btw “dev sectors” policies (of OECD) & those of non-
dev sectors e.g. agric., trade, investment, migration
- …btw policies of OECD & objectives of developing countries
- not the traditional PCD debate: btw OECD policies &
developing country policies + btw different local policies
- Diverging interpretations and use of the concept of PCD
- PCD IS NOT (only): Coordination with other policies,
Harmonization with other donors, Adjustment of dev policy
to other policies
Mostly a ‘donor’ debate [bureaucrats/campaigners]
ECDPM Page 5

6. • OECD Countries’ policies should be supportive of developing
countries’ food security objectives or at least not undermine progress
twds them
Domestic policies that do not cause negative international spill-overs
External policies support developing countries’ efforts to improve food security
Multilateral policies create a supportive environment (eg, rules-based, fair…)
• Historically, reforming OECD agr. policies causing negative spill-overs
high levels of farm support and internal market protection
agr. export subsidies…on other exporters and on producers in importing countries
(p)
NTBs…more recently, biofuel policies increased the use of land for energy crops and
the demand for those crops, and pushed their prices (further) up…
ECDPM Page 6
PCD for food security

7. Three essential operational ‘building blocks’ are key for
establishing effective systems for PCD (ECDPM, OECD):
1. Policy statements for promoting/implementing PCD; it’s
political
2. Institutional & admin mechanisms supporting policy
coordination to realise PCD; it’s systemic
3. Knowledge-inputs & assessment capacity; it’s knowledge
intensive
PCD requires a new political business-model
The PCD Agenda : key components
ECDPM Page 7

8. • Legal anchoring (Belgium, Sweden);
• PCD commitments in non-development strategies
(Netherlands, Ireland, Finland);
• General and/or specific thematic commitments (Sweden);
• Germany: Food Security
• Ireland: Food Security
• Finland: Tax, Migration, Trade, Security and Food
Security
• Belgium & Netherlands: EU PCD Work Program
PCD commitments are increasingly being taken from general
level to specific thematic areas
Variations in PCD commitments
ECDPM Page 8

9. Despite interest in PCD knowledge-inputs:
• Very little investment in generating them;
• Only limited to development field;
• Not systematic or explicitly linked to PCD policy commitments/processes
• …
Shortcomings of knowledge-inputs
ECDPM Page 9
At present, generating evidence to support the case for PCD is the
‘weakest link’ in all national PCD systems…. But new approaches are
being tested (OECD, Finland, Switzerland etc…)

10. 1. Awareness raising on the importance of PCD: “development
friendliness … effectiveness” (beyond aid / Busan)
2. Increased peer pressure (OECD, EU, NGOs...) has moved up PCD on
development agenda: exchange of experiences, instit.arrangements…
3. Reaching out beyond dev community: Agriculture, Trade, Migration…
4. More sophisticated measuring of PCD: case studies, commitment to
development index,…
Changes in OECD agricultural policies
• OECD Farm support changed dramat. over 25 years, less trade-distorting
• largely relinquished price support policies and public storage schemes
• less and less use of export subsidies and export restrictions
• Direct payments to farmers (income support), with environmental criteria
• However, import tariffs have remained high (especially for “sensitive
products”) (and as a result, support to farmers has not declined so much)
ECDPM Page 10
Progress

11. • Rhetoric is there: PCD even more import.
now?crosscutting all SDGs …FOOD largest EU aid sector
• but moving target: aid/trade/investment = ec.diplomacy ?
African agric…G8 New Alliance = “TNC replacing
fam.farmers”  PCD for Private Sector !!
• More and better info sharing and exchange among
stakeholders, and clear mechanisms to feed PCD evidence
and outcomes of multi-stakeholder dialogues back into
relevant policy processes
• Need for clear political direction on PCD measurable
commitments for specific policies (beyond
Lisbon=synergies) e.g. clear mandates for EU institutions
(how is PCD defined in specific policy areas?)
ECDPM Page 11
Challenges to improve PCD for food security

12. • More systematic/sound evidence about coherence (or
incoherence) of European policies with food sec
objectives…eg EPAs “flood of imports” VS
“gradual/exclusion lists/safeg./no exp
subsidies”…incomparable methodologies
• causality chains, > specific indicators, PEA… PCD
monitoring should be a country-specific (political) process
[impact differs across/within countries]… hence > country
analysis… OECD-ECDPM Methodology (Tanzania test)
Challenges to improve PCD for food security

13. • Methodology for ex post, country-level PCD assessment, focus on
food security
• Participatory: to build capacity in analysing & formulating domestic
policy responses
• Taking into account agricultural production and trade patterns of
developing countries and livelihoods of vulnerable households
• Commodity-specific farm support and export subsidies
• Commodity-specific trade regimes, prices and trade flows
EU exports/imports into developing countries
Incidence of rejections of imports from ACP countries into the EU, better
data on non-tariff measures, …
• Monitoring of FDI flows (especially land transactions and investments
in energy crops) and investment promotion interventions
ECDPM Page 13
…OECD-ECDPM Methodology

14. 1. Getting started: considerations and decisions before launching the
exercise
A modular, step-by-step approach
2. The country food security profile: the FS system, determinants and FS
3. Establish a route of impact: causal linkages with OECD policies
4. In-country contextualisation and verification of causal linkages >
response strategies
5. Communication strategy and follow up
ECDPM Page 14

15. Your experience?
www.ecdpm.org/foodsecurity
fr@ecdpm.org
Page 15