AFX 5860 Assignment

International Studies in Banking & Finance

Visit 1: UN Food and Agricultural Organization
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Place: Rome Italy
Brief Introduction: The Food and Agriculture Organizaiton of the United Nations (FAO) is a special agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. FAO acts as a forum where all nations meet equally to negotiate agreements and debate policy, it also a source of knowledge and information which help developed and developing countries in transition modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices and ensure good nutrition for all (FAO, 2010). Rome Italy is head quarters. It has 191 member states as well as Europe Union and the Faroe Islands, which are associated members (FAO, 2010). FAO is composed of 8 different departments, the meeting is conducted by finance division.

Relevant Key Points & Issues

The fist half of the presentation briefly introduced the FAO’s role as UN’s agency, its structure, business environment and management. FAO’s mandate is contribute to the growth of world economy and to increase the level of nutrition, with the mission of helping build a food secure world. In order to achieve such mandates, they involves 4 activities which are putting information within reach, sharing policy expertise, providing a meeting place for nations and bringing knowledge to the field. It used result- based management which is an approach that integrates strategy, people, resources, processes and measurement to improve decision-making while increasing transparency and accountability. The focus is on measuring performance against goals, learning from experience and adjusting to new conditions, reporting outcomes, and achieving objectives. There are two ways FAO can be funded: assessed contributions (regular assessed contribution paid by member countries) and