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www.ifad.orgSecondly, and this is our main role, we are working at the country level. Together with local partners we are pushing for national policy changes that will make it easier for families to make a decent living from farming. In particular we are helping farmers and civil society organizations to create their own national committees for the IYFF, to develop a policy agenda for the year and to negotiate it with their governments. More than 50 national committees are already active in developing countries. Some common issues they are dealing with include recognition by governments of the status and profession of family farmers, special measures to support young farmers, access to land and water, and the protection of tenure rights, particularly for rural women, youth and minorities. Small-scale farmers also need access to financial and advisory services, transparent markets, better infrastructure, part- nerships and enabling policies. Everywhere we work, we see a strong demand by family farmers to have a say in the decisions that affect their lives.What is at stake in IYFF-2014 is to demonstrate the innovative and transformative capacity of family farming, which is not part of the problem but part of the solution to the food security and sustainable development challenges of this century.15