In December 2017, the United Nations declared 2019-2028 as the UN Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF) in recognition of the important role that family farmers play in eradicating hunger and shaping the future of food. To guide the implementation of the UNDFF, a Global Action Plan was developed and designed around seven (7) pillars, the first being the development of an enabling policy environment to strengthen family farming.
Well-crafted agricultural public policies can propel the transformation towards sustainable food systems, especially those that place family farmers at the forefront. It is in this context that the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), implemented a project titled, Case Study Researches on Public Policies in Asia and the Pacific. Through the lens of the public policy cycle model, a thorough analysis of how policies should be crafted, implemented, and evaluated was examined by the study particularly in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
As an effort to impart knowledge on the public policy cycle model, IFAD, and FAO, with technical collaboration from SEARCA, recently released a video featuring the case study of the Republic of Indonesia’s Law No. 7 (2016), otherwise known as The Protection and Empowerment of Fisherpeople, Fish Raisers, and Salt Farmers. This policy was seen to have catalyzed the efforts to safeguard the rights and welfare of the fisherfolks in Indonesia. The crafting of this law provided a perfect example of how public policies are developed using the public policy cycle model, from agenda-setting to implementation.
This case study also highlighted the important role played by civil society organizations (CSO) in the successful enactment of Law No. 7, as well as the initiatives taken by the Indonesian National Committee on Family Farming (NCFF) to support the development of this policy. Through the use of a participatory approach, the group was able to further advocate the protection and legitimacy of rights of farmers and fishermen through a series of consultative fora, constant lobbying, and decision-making among key stakeholders.
The Learning Framework for Inclusive, Integrated, and Innovative Public Policy Cycles for Family Farming developed by the above-mentioned project proponents will help policymakers, as well as farmers’ organizations, build an enabling policy environment with the framework of the UNDFF. Grounded on the principle of participatory decision-making in public policy, the learning framework encourages stakeholders, especially farmers and fisherfolks, to be involved in every stage of the policy cycle.