A new guidance document is available on “The Role of Governments in Enabling Living Income in Global Agriculture Value Chains: Guidance for public policy makers”. The document creation was led by the Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO) and the Sustainable Food Lab, in consultation with a broad set of public sector experts.
In a continued effort to provide guidance, share learnings and spur conversation on the topic of Living Income, this new guiding document for public policy makers is intended to address the critical roles governments play in ensuring farmers have the conditions to prosper. Similar to the Living Income Toolkit, created for private sector actors, the Living Income Guidance for Governments provides an overview of the Living Income concept, followed by considerations on how to integrate the concept into agricultural and trade policy. Using spotlight examples, it provides information for both production (supply-side) and consumption (demand-side) public policies.
The Guidance Document is not meant to present any existing policy as a best practice to be copied and pasted into other jurisdictions, but rather to provide food for thought and inspiration to public policy-makers around the world that wish to take action and are committed to ensuring that all farmers along the value chains receive a Living Income. As the Guidance Document states:
There is no “one size fits all” solution for poverty reduction and achieving Living Incomes. The contexts, politics, cost of a decent living, and farming systems differ between agricultural products and countries, as well as within countries. Governments, industry, retailers, traders, farmers, financial institutions, multi- and bilateral organisations, donors, civil society, labour/ trade unions and cooperatives all play a role in building pathways to prosperity, with Living Income as an important milestone.
In the coming year the Food Lab will continue to work with public policy makers to learn what resonates and what information is still needed in a guidance document. In the meantime, you can hear from public policy makers using the concept of Living Income in an upcoming webinar hosted by the Living Income Community of Practice, Fair Trade Advocacy Office and SFL.
Find the Living Income Guidance for Governments here.
The Guidance Document follows 3 sections: An Introduction to Living Income, Supply-Side and Demand-Side public policies for consideration. Within each section there are spotlight examples and concrete considerations and guidance.
The Guidance Document was created with support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, with generous time and feedback provided from partners including the Global Coffee Platform, Cote d’Ivoire Ghana Cocoa Initiative, UN Development Program (UNDP), Ministries of Agriculture from Peru, Uganda and Mexico in particular.
