FAPDA Tool User Guide

Table of contents 1.

Overview of the FAPDA tool

2.

How to navigate the FAPDA tool? 2.1. Filter policy information a. b. c. d. e.

By Country/Region By Date By Policy decision By Food security dimension By Commodity

2.2. Free text search

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Features 3.1. Latest policies 3.2. Policy decisions panel 3.3. Map and country policy fact sheets 3.4. Generate reports 3.5. RSS Feeds 3.6. Submit a new policy decision

Contact 2

1.

Overview of the FAPDA tool

The Food and Agriculture Policy Decision Analysis (FAPDA) initiative aims at promoting evidence-based decision making by collecting and disseminating information on policy decisions through a freely accessible web-based tool. The FAPDA tool was developed to provide an electronic repository for food and agriculture policy decisions implemented since 2007 in over 70 countries. The FAPDA tool facilitates policy research and analysis by enabling the identification of policy trends and providing an overview of policies from various ministries and sub-sectors, allowing an initial assessment of policy coherence.

Therefore, the FAPDA tool is of interest for the policy work of various stakeholders such as governments, development partners, regional economic organizations, civil society organizations, academia and researchers, policy makers and the private sector. The tool is a valuable and reliable source for cross-sectional and time series policy data, instant downloadable policy reports, and historical and up-to-date information for designing evidence-based policy recommendations. This user guide is designed to facilitate the access and utilization of the policy information found in the newly upgraded FAPDA tool, which based on a participatory assessment survey, has been made more comprehensive and user friendly. The tool can be accessed through: • The URL: http://www.fao.org/in-action/fapda/tool/index.html • The FAPDA website: http://www.fao.org/in-action/fapda/, by clicking on Web-based Tool 3

2.

How to navigate the FAPDA Tool?

The FAPDA tool homepage :

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Choose a language in the top right of the page to help you navigate through the tool. Please note however, that this will not change the language of policy decisions recorded, as these may be in one of the three languages depending on the country. The map shows FAPDA country coverage and the countries for which a policy fact sheet is available.

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4. 5. 6.

Policy decisions and information can be retrieved using the filters and the free text search on the lefthand side of the webpage. The latest policies available in the tool are visible on the panel below the map. New policy decisions can be submitted to the FAPDA team through an online form. The RSS feeds enable access to the latest updates on 4 policy developments.

2.1.

Filter policy information

On the left-hand side of the web page, policy information can be filtered by: a) Country/Region b) Date c) Policy decision

d) Food security dimension e) Commodity

For each filter (except the date), clicking on the plus sign (+) next to each entry list will make a drop down list appear with the next level of sub-categories. One or several filters can be selected at the same time and they will appear below the map. Once the selection is made, click on the Apply filter button and the information will appear in the Policy Decisions panel. Clicking on the Reset button will clear all the filters previously selected.

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a) By Country/Region By clicking on the Country/Region button, policy decisions can be retrieved based on geographic criteria. The selected areas will automatically be highlighted on the map.

 Region By clicking on Region, a drop-down list will appear where regions, sub-regions and countries can be selected.  Country By clicking on Country, you can type in the name of the country or choose from the drop-down list.  Regional Economic Community (REC)/ Customized group Clicking on REC/Customized group allows you to choose between different RECs and/or a customized group of countries. 6

b) By Date By clicking on the Date button, policy decisions can be retrieved according to the initial and/or end date of the policy decision announcement and/or implementation. Alternatively, the most recent policy decisions can be selected through the four shortcuts proposed: - past 6 months; - past year; - past 2 years; - past 3 years.

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c) By Policy decision Policy decisions are classified according to the FAPDA policy classification which is divided in three main categories: consumeroriented, producer-oriented and trade-oriented policy decisions.

The classification is arranged in four levels of increasing detail, which enables the precise systematization of the policy decisions and facilitates the research process. More than one category and/or subcategory can be selected at the same time.

Please note that the description of each policy decision can be found in the FAPDA policy classification document or by doubleclicking on the policy decision title.

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d) By Food security dimension By clicking on the Food security dimension button, policy decisions can be filtered according to three food security dimensions (access, availability and utilization). More than one dimension or combination of dimensions can be selected at the same time.

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e) By Commodity The policy decisions can also be filtered by Commodities to which they are relevant. Clicking the commodity tab will display a drop-down list of specific commodities. More than one commodity or group of commodities can be selected at the same time.

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2.2.

Free text search

Policy decisions and information can also be retrieved by using the free text search. This option enables the search for single terms or phrases in the description of the policy decisions. For example, typing “energy” in the Free text search box will retrieve all policy decisions with this key word in their description. The key word will be highlighted in red in the description. Please remember that the tool includes policy decisions in English, French and Spanish depending on the countries. Therefore, key words must be correctly written in one of these three languages.

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3.

Features

In addition to the search and retrieval of policy decisions information, the FAPDA tool includes the following features: 3.1. Latest policies 3.2. Policy decisions panel 3.3. Map and the country policy fact sheets 3.4. Generation of reports 3.5. RSS feeds 3.6. Submission of new policy decisions

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3.1. Latest policies The tool homepage displays the latest policies available in the tool. By clicking on the title, you will be redirected to more detailed information on the selected policy decision.

The latest policies are also visible on the FAPDA web page.

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3.2. Policy decisions panel Once the filter(s) have been applied, the results of the search will appear on the Policy decisions panel below the map. The panel shows the list of policy decisions in chronological order and sorted by the following columns:

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Country name; Policy decision title (according to the FAPDA policy classification); Policy direction (introduction, increase, decrease, continuation or removal); Policy phase (announcement or implementation); Initial date of the policy; Commodity (if applicable); Source of the information.

Please note that the content of each column can be sorted by clicking the column heading and that the policy panel can be expanded by clicking on the sign on the top right corner. 14

3.2. Policy decisions panel (Cont’d) By clicking on the green plus sign (+) to the left of each result, a detailed description of the policy decision will appear.

The policy decision information box includes the following mandatory details: - title of the policy decision (and the related macro categories); - brief description. And the following details if the information is available: - objective; - context and additional information; - budget; - beneficiaries; - decision-making institution. The source of information can be consulted by: - downloading the source document; - accessing the online source by clicking on the link provided (if available). 15

3.3. Map and country policy fact sheets The map shows the countries currently covered, the countries with information up to 2012, and the countries not covered by FAPDA, as indicated in the legend below the map.

The map also highlights the countries for which a fact sheet on recent food and agriculture policy trends is available ( ).

Once filters have been applied, the country fact sheets available for the geographical area selected can be found on top of the Policy decision panel by clicking on the Fact sheet button. Please note that fact sheets are available only for a selected number of countries. You can subscribe to the newsletter, on the FAPDA home page, in order to receive country fact sheets as they are published.

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3.4. Generate reports The FAPDA tool can generate different types of ad hoc reports based on your search results. By clicking on the Download Data button at the top right of the policy decisions panel, it is possible to select the type and format of the report to download.

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The FAPDA tool can generate the following types of report:  Matrix By selecting the option Matrix, you can download an Excel file with tables related to the three main categories of the FAPDA policy classification: consumer-oriented, producer-oriented and tradeoriented policy decisions. Matrices summarize at country level the number of available policy decisions for each fourth subcategory of the FAPDA policy classification. Clicking on the number will lead you to a window with the full list of corresponding policy decisions.

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 Details Clicking on the option Details, you can download a document in which policy decisions are presented with their full descriptions, listed by country and by chronological order. A full detailed report can only be generated in Excel, while reports capturing only major information (namely: country, date, policy decision title, description and food security dimension) can be generated in PDF and Word.

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 By Word When using the free text search, it is possible to generate a report in which the key word searched is highlighted in red in the description of retrieved policy decisions.

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3.5. RSS Feeds Updates on specific countries, regions, RECs and/or latest policies and developments can be obtained by clicking on the RSS feeds button.

The most recent policies and developments for all countries, whether the last six months, last year, or last three years can be found on the top of the page.

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3.6. Submit new policy decision As the FAPDA tool is a public good, users are invited to submit new policy decisions related to agriculture, food security and nutrition to the FAPDA team. The fillable form is available on: - the FAPDA tool homepage; - the FAPDA website.

Clicking on the Submit new policy decision button will open a form to be filled with all the required information related to the policy decision. Please note that policy decisions submitted through this form will undergo validation from the FAPDA team before being published into the FAPDA tool. 22

Contact Users are welcome to send their feedback and/or to contact the FAPDA team if any technical problems should occur while navigating and using the tool. The FAPDA team can be contacted at: [email protected]

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