FAO has a comparative advantage in supporting this project for several reasons. Firstly, OFTN (Operation Feed the Nation) was developed with the support of FAO technical services and has been based on a strong partnership and mutual confidence with the Inter-Country Coordination Project for Food Security through Commercialization of Agriculture in Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Guinea and The Gambia.

Secondly, FAO has encouraged and will continue to encourage networking with UNDP, WFP and other international partners that would be able to provide specific inputs and support. In this regard, FAO’s assistance to project design and/or supervision of the National Programme Food Security (NPFS) and of the other projects mentioned in the seven project documents will help to maximize synergies and complementarities among the interventions and to establish strategic partnerships.

Lastly, FAO brings regional and international expertise related to the addressed problems and proposed strategies such as enterprise development, post-harvest value addition, agricultural marketing and commercialization, and regional trade policies. The project builds on successful practices identified both within NPFSs and other projects in the Region, as well as successes from international projects.

FAO’s capacity is requested in areas such as food security action planning, farmer schools, marketing, cooperative development, value addition through processing and market development as well as general administrative support for project implementation. In these areas, FAO has extensive and critical experience globally with expertise within its technical divisions:

• OEK Office of Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension (Communication for Development Unit)
• TCS Policy and Programme Development Support Division (food security programme development)
• AGS Rural Infrastructure and Agro-industries Division (value addition technologies, quality systems and certification)
• FIP Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy and Economics Division
  (fishery component)
• NRL Water and Land Division (agricultural land management)