The United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF) 2019-2028, was declared by the UN General Assembly in December 2017, recognizes family farmers as key agents of addressing actual social, environmental and economic challenges.

The UNDFF proposes a set of coherent, holistic and inter-connected policies and actions to address the environmental, economic and social dimensions of rural development and provide a bridge between emergency relief, recovery, and development contexts, while placing family farmers at the centre.

Moreover, the 7 Pillars of the UNDFF Global Action Plan, which was drawn up with the participation of the most relevant stakeholders related to Family Farming, bring clear proposals in each of the 5 action tracks. The Pillars are the following: Pillar 1- Develop an enabling policy environment to strengthen family farming; Pillar 2- Youth and generational sustainability; Pillar 3- Gender equity and women’s leadership; Pillar 4- Strengthen family farmers´ organizations and their capacities; Pillar 5- Improve socio-economic inclusion, resilience and well-being of family farmers; Pillar 6- Promote sustainability of family farming for climate-resilient food systems; Pillar 7- Strengthen the multidimensionality of Family Farming.

Objectives:

The UNDFF has recognized the key role of family farmers towards ensuring global and local food security, strengthening sustainable food systems, eradicating poverty, protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development. The global independent dialogue will explore the different (game-changing) opportunities created by the UNDFF to enable family farmers to contribute to, and benefit from, sustainable, inclusive, viable and resilient food systems.

• Increased awareness and recognition of the essential role played by family farming in building sustainable, inclusive, resilient and viable food systems.
• Scaled-up implementation of the UNDFF, including the National Committees of Family Farming (NCFF) and the National Action Plans (NAP) of the UNDFF as system-level solutions which contribute to positively transform food systems.
• Lessons learned from the experiences of public policies to enhance the potential of family farming as a transformative pathway for sustainable, inclusive, resilient and viable food systems.