In this Special edition of the CSM Update, we would like to announce the launch of the CSM’s new Guide to Facilitation in the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism for Relations to the UN Committee on World Food Security
Facilitation has been at the core of CSM work, practices and functioning since its establishment in 2010. Nevertheless, this is the first time that such a dedicated Guide has been produced to support its work.
was mandated, as part of the response to the CSM Evaluation of 2018, to draft a common understanding of Facilitation, in principle and practice, which was endorsed in 2019.
Since then, the Working Group continued to work on Facilitation and this Guide – the need for which was identified in consultation with members of the CSM’s Coordination Committee – is the result of this incredible long-term commitment. The Guide’s main aim is to support those undertaking facilitation roles in the CSM. The Guide to Facilitation will also be of benefit to those who participate in the CFS’s work via the CSM, and those who are aware of the CSM, and want to learn more about its distinctive approach.
The Guide is divided into three key sections.
- Section 1 introduces the key principles that underpin the CSM’s facilitation approach
- Section 2 introduces the context for the CSM’s facilitation effort: The United Nations Committee on World Food Security
- Section 3 provides an overview of how facilitation is achieved in practice in the CSM.
The Guide also contains a ‘Spotlight on Youth’, a special section that introduces the CSM’s Youth Constituency and Working Group, its history, and recent activities.
The Guide has been designed to be accessible and visually stimulating. It contains numerous visual aids carefully prepared by the Facilitation Working Group. These provide information on a diverse range of topics, including: timelines of CFS policy outputs and key moments in the international efforts of the organisations that participate in the CSM; diagrammes of the CFS policy process; and other diagrammes helping to contextualise and communicate the distinctive approach to facilitation in the CSM.
Available in English, Spanish and French, the Guide to Facilitation is designed to be a resource that facilitators and participants in the CSM – no matter how familiar they are with the CSM context – can continually reference in support of their work.
The Guide is the latest development in an ongoing process – stretching back several decades – of developing and refining the support provided to enable the effective and authentic participation of affected constituencies in UN food governance. Although it contains a few practical tips, the Guide is not intended, however, to be a practical manual. The Facilitation Working Group hopes to provide more practical support to CSM facilitators – particularly in light of the profound changes and challenges to participation brought by the COVID-19 pandemic – in its next round of activity!
Members of the Facilitation Working Group are available to give presentations or host workshops on this new Guide to Facilitation. If you are interested in receiving something like this; for more information about the Guide to Facilitation; or to get involved in the work of the Facilitation Working Group, please email:
csmfacilitationwg@googlegroups.com
This post will expire on Thursday July 1st, 2021 7:44pm
