January 27-29 in Rome was held a workshop on the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT) in Europe and Central Asia organised by the European Coordination La Via Campesina, (ECVC) with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and in collaboration with other allies - FoodFirst International and Action Network (FIAN), Transnational Institute (TNI) and Crocevia.

The internationally accepted principles and standards of the VGGT serve to develop the capacity of stakeholders to implement transparent, equitable, secure improvements to tenure arrangements over land, fisheries and forests and thereby promote food security and sustainable development. The VGGT provide a framework that – beside the private sector and governments – can help civil society to develop their own policies and programs to promote the governance of natural resources.

The objectives of the Workshop were:

·         To wider application and implementation of the VGGT at all levels;

·         To explore possibilities of future collaboration between FAO Technical Units and ECVC and other collaborating CSOs;

·         To identify technical capacities and knowledge of civil society and farmers’ organizations to contribute to FAO on the implementation of the VGGT at regional and national levels.

About 30 representatives of various civil society and farmers’ organizations from Spain to Kyrgyzstan could participate in this workshop and share experiences. Two persons from Elkana – Mariam Jorjadze, Director and Rusudan Tabukashvili, Food Security Project Manager attended the workshop.

The participants could meet FAO representatives on the last day of the workshop and share their opinion.

The second round of the workshop is planned on April 13-15 in Brussels.