During the Johannesburg Summit, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and UNESCO jointly launched a new partnership initiative on Education for Rural People (ERP) to respond to this growing concern. Through advocacy at international level and technical support to countries, the initiative aims at:

- Increasing access to basic education for rural people.

- Improving the quality of basic education in rural areas.

- Fostering the national capacity to plan and implement basic education in a way that addresses the learning needs of rural people.

FAO is the ERP flagship partnership lead agency.