The FAO elearning Academy

Making agricultural investment and supply chains work for women and men

This introduction clarifies the rationale and scope of the e-learning series, the target audience it was designed for, and the different courses that make it up.

Enabling women producers’ successful engagement in agribusiness

This course looks closely at the gender issues that are central to the substantially lower rate of engagement of women farmers, compared with men, in inclusive agribusiness. It provides direction on gender-responsive and transformative approaches to ensure that women and men access and benefit from profitable markets and business opportunities in equal measures along agrifood supply chains.

Fostering decent wage employment for women and men

This course analyses gender issues that should be addressed to foster gender-equitable decent wage employment in agriculture. It provides concrete guidance on approaches and measures that companies should adopt to create a gender-equitable workplace.

Securing women’s land rights in the context of agricultural investment

This course focuses on gender and land issues in the context of agricultural investment. It provides concrete guidance on strategies, approaches and measures that can be adopted to enhance women’s land rights. This on one hand can foster women’s active involvement in agricultural investment, while on the other hand can prevent agricultural investment from negatively impacting women’s land rights.

Building a gender-responsive policy and legal framework for agricultural investment and supply chains

This course focuses on gender issues and the policy and legal framework for agricultural investment and supply chains. It provides concrete guidance on actions required to create a policy and legal framework that increases the likelihood of women and men benefiting equally from agricultural investment and supply chains.

Introduction to climate-smart agriculture

This course analyses climate change impacts on agriculture, food security and food systems and provides an overview of the main climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in agriculture. It also introduces the Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) approach and describes the 5-step process to implement it.

Climate-smart crop production

This course looks at the relationship between crop production and climate change. It explores the principles and practices for sustainable and profitable production of annual and perennial crops to meet food, feed, energy, fibre needs and foster economic growth in a variety of contexts and crop systems.

Climate-smart soil and land management

This course focuses on sustainable soil and land management for climate-smart agriculture. It provides technical knowledge and examines how wide-scale implementation of climate-smart soil and land management practices can enhance mitigation of climate change and adaptation to its impacts.

Real water savings in agricultural systems

In the context of the global water shortages and challenges for water savings in agricultural systems, this course introduces interventions and tools, and more specifically the real water savings in agricultural systems (REWAS) project, that aims to provide practical guidance on the implementation of real water savings.

Gender-responsive, disability- and socially-inclusive water resource management

This course provides an understanding of key concepts, terminology, practical tools and processes for incorporating gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI) in your projects, to make them more inclusive and effective. It also serves as a guide in considering the synergies between GEDSI and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by drawing on systems thinking concepts and processes when designing development projects.

Water management for climate-smart agriculture

This course focuses on water management and its critical role in climate-smart agriculture. It analyses the impacts of climate change on the availability of freshwater resources for agriculture and considers possible water management options for adaptation to climate change and for climate change mitigation.

Participatory data collection and investment planning in the field

This is the first in a series of three e-courses designed to assist field technicians in working with communities, groups or individuals wishing to prepare effective investment proposals. This course explores how to create a business concept, a yearly cost benefit analysis, in the field together with the entrepreneurs. It also provides guidance to field technicians in participatory data collection and investment planning in the field and explores the key concepts of a Rural Invest business concept.

Surveillance and pest status determination

This e-learning course has been created in collaboration with the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). The course will introduce key concepts related to pest surveillance and pest status determination, particularly as it relates to new pest detections and emerging pests. It will provide practical guidance to assist National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs) in strengthening their national surveillance systems and surveillance activities to support early pest detection, pest monitoring and pest status determination.

Introduction to the Farmer Field School Approach

Farmer Field School (FFS) is a participatory education approach that brings together a group of small-scale food producers to solve production problems through sustainable agriculture. The FFS approach offers space for hands-on group learning, enhancing skills for observation and critical analysis and improved decision making by local communities. This course provides an overview of the FFS approach, starting from its fundamental principles and its brief history to its key elements.

Implementation of Farmer Field School Programmes

Farmer Field School (FFS) is a participatory education approach that brings together a group of small-scale food producers to solve production problems through sustainable agriculture. The FFS approach offers space for hands-on group learning, enhancing skills for observation and critical analysis and improved decision making by local communities. Building on the foundation course “Introduction to the FFS approach”, this second course provides an overview of the process to design, implement, scale up, evaluate and manage FFS programmes.

Formulation of Farmer Field Schools Programmes

Farmer Field School (FFS) is a participatory education approach that brings together a group of small-scale food producers to solve production problems through sustainable agriculture. The FFS approach offers space for hands-on group learning, enhancing skills for observation and critical analysis and improved decision making by local communities. This course provides guidance on the formulation of FFS programmes, from the identification of objectives and scope to data collection, activity planning, budgeting and the finalization of the project documents.

Sustainable food systems: An introduction

This course is part of a series of three e-learning courses on Sustainable Food Systems (SFS), designed to equip you with the knowledge and tools required to apply systems thinking to complex food systems challenges in an integrated manner.

The course series highlights how systems thinking, and taking a sustainable food systems approach, can help to significantly improve our work in project and policy design for sustainable food systems development and transformation.

This first course in the series proposes a definition of the concept of sustainable food systems and describes the evolution of food systems. It outlines how systems thinking can be used to develop sustainable food systems.

Sustainable food systems: Concept and framework

This course is part of a series of three e-learning courses on Sustainable Food Systems (SFS), designed to equip you with the knowledge and tools required to apply systems thinking to complex food systems challenges in an integrated manner.

The course series highlights how systems thinking, and taking a sustainable food systems approach, can help to significantly improve our work in project and policy design for sustainable food systems development and transformation.

This second course in the series explores key concepts for sustainable food systems in more detail, and presents an analytical framework to describe and analyse the complexity and various elements that constitute food systems.

Sustainable food systems: Operationalizing the approach

This course is part of a series of three e-learning courses on Sustainable Food Systems (SFS), designed to equip you with the knowledge and tools required to apply systems thinking to complex food systems challenges in an integrated manner.

The course series highlights how systems thinking, and taking a sustainable food systems approach, can help to significantly improve our work in project and policy design for sustainable food systems development and transformation.

This third course in the series explains how to apply systems thinking to sustainable food systems development. It presents current and emerging operational approaches to food systems development, and a framework for holistic food systems policymaking and implementation.

Design and monitor nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food systems programmes

This is the fourth of a series of e-learning courses on Nutrition and Food Systems, which will guide you through the steps required to design of a nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food system programme. By the end of the course, you will be aware of key issues to consider at each step and be equipped with tools to address them.

Nutrition, Food Security and Livelihoods: Basic concepts

This course explains the concepts of food and nutrition, malnutrition, food security and livelihoods. Understanding these concepts is important to assess the nutrition situation, design and implement programmes, investments and policies that address nutrition problems (also called “nutrition-sensitive”), and evaluate the nutritional outcomes of programmes, investments and policies.

Introduction: Achieving gender equality in climate change and agrifood systems

This introduction will bring in the most critical issues affecting gender equality and explain why they are important for building inclusive and sustainable agrifood systems. Its purpose is to set the scene and provide key concepts, an overview, and key policy frameworks that will help you in the course series.

Addressing gender equality in climate change adaptation and mitigation in agriculture

The course aims at facilitating the exchange of promising approaches, tools and good practices that can be used by parliamentarians and policymakers to support the design and implementation of sustainable and gender-transformative climate policies and legislations to advance gender equality and empower women and youth in the agriculture and food security sectors.

Building equitable and inclusive agrifood systems

This course is intended to strengthen the knowledge and competencies of parliamentarians and policymakers on the relevance of gender issues in agrifood systems and know how to build equitable and inclusive agrifood systems, and be able to monitor the gender impacts of policies and investments. It gives an overview of agrifood systems and coordinated actions towards the food supply, the food demand and the food environment. The course also illustrates how agrifood systems are an entry point for addressing global gender and youth inequalities, and the importance of the UN Food Systems Summit in fulfilling these goals. 

Gender-Responsive budgeting for agriculture and climate policies

This course aims to support parliamentarians in ensuring that adequate financial resources are allocated to achieve food security and gender equality. It is designed to equip parliamentarians with the knowledge and tools to effectively address the gender dimensions in budgeting and drive positive change as parliamentarians.

Introduction to Pre-breeding

This course explains and defines pre-breeding and its context, identifying the situations to which it is best applied and its possible limitations. The potential of prebreeding to make optimal use of the benefits represented by plant genetic resources is also outlined. The module introduces the criteria to define when pre-breeding is an advisable option, and introduces basic concepts of plant biology and genetics necessary to set up a successful pre-breeding programme.

Genebank management relevant to pre-breeding

This course gives an overview of what it takes to establish and manage a genebank, providing an outline of genebank operations with particular respect to pre-breeding. The need for linking genebank operations with pre-breeding is emphasized and problems are addressed. The module also explains the methods used to prepare and accomplish collecting missions and describes the main issues related to the proper organization of a genebank. An overview of the processes of day-to-day management is provided.

Pre-breeding Project Management

This module explains why it is necessary to plan ahead in a pre-breeding programme. It covers the range of issues that need to be considered before embarking on a pre-breeding programme, stressing the importance of adopting a participatory approach. The module also explains the importance of documenting outputs, assessing outcomes and using this information in future planning exercises.

Pre-breeding: Creating and Managing Variation

This course explains why parental selection is important and how it can be done effectively based on various types and sources of data and information. The issues associated with transferring traits from non-adapted germplasm sources are described. The module also illustrates how segregating populations are handled and how the desired traits are maintained in future generations of crossing and selection. Finally, the unit explains how genes of interest can be identified and tracked using a variety of methods and technologies.

Pre-breeding: Distributing, Use and Regulatory Issues

This module addresses issues of how pre-breeding products are used, either in full-scale breeding programmes or directly by society, industry etc. Some background information on how pre-breeding practitioners should build uptake pathways to ensure impacts are provided. The module also discusses the range of legal instruments that can affect pre-breeding programmes and the movement of germplasm across national boundaries. It covers Intellectual Property Rights as related to germplasm use and sale, and to associated information.

Understanding the risk environment in agriculture

Agriculture is a risky sector. Extreme weather conditions, pests and diseases and market uncertainties are just few examples of events that can negatively affect farming activities, posing a major threat to households livelihood and food security. This course will present an overview of concepts linked to agricultural risk management, describing which risks farmers face, within a holistic approach that covers the entire agrifood system.

Assessing risk in agriculture

Risk assessments are prepared to develop a holistic risk management strategy. Assessing risks involves knowing how likely it is that each possible risk would occur, and what is their expected impact in terms of farm production or income losses. This course will look at what is needed to assess and prioritize risks including assessment methods - qualitative and quantitative - used at micro, meso and macro levels.

Agricultural risk management tools

Risks in agriculture arise from a variety of sources. There are several risk management options that can be used to either mitigate, transfer or cope with risks in agriculture. Choosing the most appropriate tool depends on various factors such as type of risk, tools availability, and level of responsibility. This course focuses on what can be done at the farm, local area/community, and national levels to manage risks in agriculture.

Agricultural risk management strategy, policy and mainstreaming

Responding to risk requires developing strategies which combine different risk management tools as well as policies and programs to address constraints and broader issues that create the context in which risks occur. This course will present the role that major stakeholders in the agrifood system can play to design Agriculture Risk Managment (ARM) strategies and make them effective and sustainable.

Understanding rural poverty

This course is the first in the Rural Poverty Reduction series, and provides an overview of rural poverty, and why it is so important to overcome it in rural contexts. The course describes the key concepts and definitions of rural poverty and how it can be measured, its drivers and cross-cutting themes. Finally, it considers the connection with gender issues and the way that gender shapes the way poverty is experienced by rural people.

Communication for rural development

This course is meant to enable development and communication professionals to design and implement rural communication strategies combining participatory methods with communication processes, media and tools best suited for a specific situation.

Introduction to Sustainable Development Goal indicators under FAO custodianship

This short course introduces the process of monitoring progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). It highlights the role of UN agencies in supporting data collection and analysis, and it presents the SDG indicators under FAO custodianship.

SDG Indicator 2.4.1 - Sustainable Agriculture

This course has been developed to support countries in the analysis and reporting for Indicator 2.4.1 of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture), and to facilitate the understanding of the main concepts underpinning the methodology.

SDG Indicator 6.4.1 - Change in water-use efficiency over time

The course provides guidance on the rationale and the main characteristics of Indicator 6.4.1, and on how to compute the two dimensions constituting the indicator: the hydrologic and the economic component. It also highlights possible challenges related to data availability, and the impact that monitoring results may have on national decision-making and identification of development policies.

SDG Indicator 6.4.2 - Level of water stress

This course provides tools, methods and processes to support countries in monitoring and reporting on SDG Indicator 6.4.2 "Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal in percentage of available freshwater resources".

Using land-cover information to monitor progress on Sustainable Development Goal 15

This course seeks to provide a basic understanding of land-cover data and its use for monitoring progress towards the achievement of international agreed goals, such as Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15, with a practical focus on its Indicators 15.3.1 (proportion of land that is degraded over total land area) and 15.4.2 (including its sub indicators: Mountain Green Cover Index and Proportion of degraded mountain land). 

Sustainable land management and restoration

This course focuses on Sustainable Land Management (SLM) practices, and their place within the global development agenda, specifically in order to achieve target 15.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aims "to achieve a land degradation-neutral world". The course assists policy makers, practitioners and land users in the selection, planning, implementation and monitoring of SLM interventions, and related enabling environment.

Measures for coping with soil salinity

The course provides an overview of soil salinization and some strategies to deal with it. In particular, it presents various measures to effectively manage and mitigate the impact of soil salinization on agricultural productivity, including irrigation and drainage, agronomic, chemical, and biological measures.