Central American producer organizations and the public policy dialogue in the context of free trade agreements

This document provides a background analysis on the creation of fora and other spaces for civil society participation in Central America. It includes a database of the organizations included in the study, describing their main characteristics and identifying those most likely to be involved in regional policy dialogue aimed at benefiting small producers. The document was prepared by Alvaro Fiallos upon request from IFAD and under RUTA’s coordination. RUTA and its National Technical Units contributed to the preparation of a list of well known producer associations and representatives of small producers from the region.

The Role of the Sector Wide Approach to Rural Development

The Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) focuses on a specific sector and program and seeks to generate a process to integrate all actors to accomplish greater collaboration and impact. SWAp builds on existing alliances among international cooperation agencies, the private sector and civil society, and promotes government ownership and leadership in a coherent, integral and coordinated manner. As part of the sector strategy, SWAp sets the priorities for policy making along with the annual public expenditure framework, creating an integral platform for resource management transparency, minimizing effort duplication while increasing synergy among institutions.