United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN), established as an international institution to lead global efforts to achieve food security for all. It was created in October 1945 in Quebec City, Canada, in the aftermath of World War II, to address the widespread hunger, malnutrition, and poverty that plagued the post-war world. The FAO's core mechanism involves its supreme governing body, the Conference, which meets every two years to review the organization's work and approve its budget, and the Council, which acts as the executive body. The organization's work is guided by its Strategic Framework, which was recently updated for 2022–2031. This new framework replaced the previous one, which was structured around five strategic objectives, and now centers on the "Four Betters": Better Production, Better Nutrition, Better Environment, and Better Life. This shift represents a significant change, aligning the FAO's mandate more closely with the global 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The FAO is intrinsically connected to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), and works alongside the other Rome-based UN agencies, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), to achieve its goals.