Pluralistic Service Systems
1
May Hani
Policy Officer – Institutions and Services
Magdalena Blum
Extension Systems Officer
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Rome, 11-13 May 2016
Expert consultation
“New Directions for Inclusive
Pluralistic Service Systems”

Pluralistic Service Systems
OBJECTIVES

Pluralistic Service Systems
Objectives
 To open a debate and suggest action on Inclusive
Pluralistic Service Systems (PSS) to inform policy and
development planning
with a focus on
 Governance, accountability, coordination and
 Financing mechanisms and sustainability
 Create a common understanding on challenges and issues
related to inclusive PSS
 Formulate actionable recommendations in terms of
policies and transformative investments

Pluralistic Service Systems
AGENDA

Pluralistic Service Systems
What brought us here?

Pluralistic Service Systems
Why a focus on inclusive services?
 80% of the poor live in rural areas majority of them are
small farmers
 75% of them depend on agriculture and natural resources
 80% of world food is produced by smallholders
 43% of the agricultural labor force are women
 Improving livelihoods of small men and women farmers is
key to reducing rural poverty

Pluralistic Service Systems
Overall policy framework
 Framework of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG1)
on eliminating extreme poverty
 FAO Strategic programme on reducing rural poverty
 Access initiative – strengthening organization and
ensuring access to resources, information, services
and markets
 Enhancing service provision targeting the poor

Pluralistic Service Systems
Services and livelihoods
 Rural advisory services that contribute of enhancing
livelihoods of small farmers
 Productivity
 Profitability and income
 Market access
 Resilience
 Learning
 Social and economic opportunities
 Services that are inclusive, gender sensitive, demand-
driven and market-oriented

Pluralistic Service Systems
Participants’ views on
Inclusive Pluralistic Advisory Services

Pluralistic Service Systems
Advisory Services are inclusive when …
 Responding to local demands and opportunities of all types
of farmers/rural producers
 All farm household activities are included in the services
(livestock, fisheries, high value crops, farm management, …)
 No one individual service is likely to be broadly inclusive,
if it is to be tailored enough to meet farmers’ needs.
 To be truly inclusive, there needs to be close collaboration,
participation and downward accountability to end users

Pluralistic Service Systems
Advisory Services are inclusive when …
 They have certain qualities/characteristics
 Affordable, easily and equally accessible, sustainable, gender equal,
downward accountability to end users, demand driven, ….
 holistic, bottom-up approach, and horizontal communication
 They are participatory in the sense of
 Stakeholders and users involved in establishing priorities, decision
making, delivering services, monitoring and evaluation
 Inclusion/Exclusion can occur at the point of entry and in the
process of delivery. Services can be exclusive in terms of
 Particular population/users
 Some needs/demands
 Types of providers / services they offer
 Means needed (e.g. restricted mobility can limit access)

Pluralistic Service Systems
Inclusion is about …
 Engaging with different actors, systems, disciplines, for
different purposes, with a common goal.
 Recognizing that the risks (climate or conflict related) are of
different characters for different groups in society
 Recognizing where there are gaps in the overall landscape of
service provision
 Understanding if and how local government and others might
be held accountable for inclusive services
 Understanding how culture and context influence participation
in different services
 Looking at incentives and disincentives for inclusion in the
political institutions that steer service provision

Pluralistic Service Systems
Working Definitions

Pluralistic Service Systems
Services are considered inclusive, if they
 target resource poor and vulnerable farmers, especially
women and youth
 are tailored to the multiple capacities, needs and
demands of these farmers
 are characterized by continuous dialogue and learning
between farmers and service providers
 are based on complementary services by different
providers
Inclusive Services

Pluralistic Service Systems
Advisory Services
Advisory services are understood as encompassing all
intangible services to farmers, including
information, knowledge, brokering and advice, on
issues such as production, inputs and technology,
credit, nutrition, processing, marketing,
organization and business management

Pluralistic Service Systems
Why new directions?

Pluralistic Service Systems
Where do we stand?
 Considering heterogeneity of farmers and their
needs/demands
 Recognizing the role of rural women and youth in
agriculture and rural economies
 From linear, bi-lateral approaches to a system
perspective
 From production focus to improving livelihoods
 From universal public services by a single provider to
diverse state and non-state providers
 Changing role of the State in a pluralistic environment

Pluralistic Service Systems
Questions
 Plurality is evident - Is there a system?
 In a changing institutional environment, how to ensure
that the poor don’t fall through the cracks?
 How can farmers and their organization be empowered
to amplify their voice and role in decision making?
 What kind of coordination would be needed? And by
whom?
 How can service providers be made accountability to
farmer?
 How to achieve complementarity among service
providers?

Pluralistic Service Systems
Questions
 What form of policy environment is conducive to achieve
relevant, efficient and effective services?
 How can development agencies support governments and
non-state actors
 in enhancing quality, inclusiveness and sustainability
of services?
 in taking up new roles, collaboration and partnerships?
 What mechanisms for coordination and accountability can
be supported?
 What financing mechanisms and partnership opportunities
can help to achieve inclusiveness and sustainability?

Pluralistic Service Systems
Our challenge
 Do we have the knowledge and evidence to give answers
to these questions?
 This group has the expertise and mandate to come up
with doable recommendations and suggestions for action
that would make a difference
We are looking forward to working
with you over the next three days