FAO Goodwill Ambassador
The FAO Goodwill Ambassadors Programme was set up in 1999. FAO stands for Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The main purpose of the programme is to increase public awareness and to disseminate information on worldwide issues related to food security, hunger and poverty..
With the Goodwill Ambassadors, the FAO intends engage with various sectors including governments, international organizations, the private sector, academia, farmers, public and others, and mobilize the support of as many people as possible in the struggle to end hunger. Each of the FAO's ambassadors have made a personal and professional commitment to address the universal humanitarian issues that underpin the FAO's mission: to build a food-secure world for present and future generations.
Ambassadors have included Celine Dion, Carl Lewis, Evo Morales, Youssou N'Dour and Susan Sarandon.
Types of Ambassadors
FAO has three types of Goodwill Ambassadors:- The FAO Global Goodwill Ambassadors, who are worldwide known celebrities from the worlds of arts, royalty, sports, literature, sciences and other fields of public importance.
- The FAO Special Goodwill Ambassadors, who are high-level institutional authorities and personalities usually from the field of research or science, who have excelled in an area relevant to the one for which they become special Ambassadors. Special Ambassadors support FAO directly in raising awareness of specific issues the Organization is advocating.
- The FAO National Goodwill Ambassadors, who are personalities with local appeal, the work of which they support mainly within the country of their nomination.
Ambassadors
| Name | Location | References | Notes |
| Miriam Makeba | South Africa | 1999 | - |
| Dee Dee Bridgewater | USA | 1999 | - |
| Gina Lollobrigida | Italy | 1999 | - |
| Rita Levi-Montalcini | Italy | 1999 | - |
| Gong Li | Singapore | 2000 | - |
| Youssou N'Dour | Senegal | 2000 | - |
| Gilberto Gil | Brazil | 2001 | - |
| Majida El Roumi | Lebanon | 2001 | - |
| Albano Carrisi | Italy | 2001 | - |
| Mory Kanté | Guinea | 2001 | - |
| Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie | Bahamas | 2002 | - |
| Roberto Baggio | Italy | 2002 | - |
| Massimo Ranieri | Italy | 2002 | - |
| Dionne Warwick | USA | 2002 | - |
| Italian Singers’ Soccer Team | Italy | 2002 | - |
| Khaled | Algeria | 2003 | - |
| Maná | Mexico | 2003 | - |
| Noa | Israel | 2003 | - |
| Justine Pasek | Panama, Poland | 2003 | - |
| Oumou Sangaré | Mali | 2003 | - |
| Raúl | Spain | 2004 | - |
| Carla Fracci | Italy | 2004 | - |
| Ronan Keating | Ireland | 2005 | - |
| Beatrice Faumuina | New Zealand | 2005 | - |
| Chucho Valdés | Cuba | 2006 | - |
| María Gloria Penayo De Duarte | Paraguay | 2006 | Extraordinary Ambassador |
| Suzanne Mubarak | Egypt | 2008 | - |
| Carl Lewis | USA | 2009 | - |
| Anggun | Indonesia, France | 2009 | - |
| Margarita Cedeño de Fernández | Dominican Republic | 2009 | - |
| Pierre Cardin | France | 2009 | - |
| Fanny Lu | Colombia | 2009 | - |
| Raoul Bova | Italy | 2010 | - |
| Susan Sarandon | USA | 2010 | - |
| Celine Dion | Canada | 2010 | - |
| Lea Salonga | Philippines | 2010 | - |
| Patrick Vieira | France | 2010 | - |
| Jeremy Irons | UK | 2011 | - |
| Evo Morales | Bolivia | 2012 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for the International Year of Quinoa |
| Prince Laurent of Belgium | Belgium | 2014 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for Forests and the Environment |
| Queen Letizia of Spain | Spain | 2015 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for Nutrition |
| Leyla Aliyeva | Azerbaijan | 2015 | - |
| Abdelouahab Zaid | UAE | 2015 | - |
| Bharrat Jagdeo | Guyana | 2015 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for Forests and the Environment |
| Letsie III of Lesotho | Lesotho | 2016 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for Nutrition |
| Joyce Boye | Canada | 2016 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for the International Year of Pulses |
| Kadambot Siddique | India | 2016 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for the International Year of Pulses |
| Maggie Habib | Egypt | 2016 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for the International Year of Pulses |
| Jenny Chandler | UK | 2016 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for the International Year of Pulses |
| Patricia Juárez Arango | Mexico | 2016 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for the International Year of Pulses |
| Elizabeth Mpofu | Zimbabwe | 2016 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for the International Year of Pulses |
| Carlo Petrini | Italy | 2016 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for Zero Hunger |
| Guadalupe Valdez | Dominican Republic | 2016 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for Zero Hunger |
| Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand | Thailand | 2016 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for Zero Hunger |
| Kanayo F. Nwanze | Nigeria | 2017 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for Zero Hunger |
| Darine El Khatib | Lebanon | 2017 | Special Ambassador to the FAO for Zero Hunger |
| Katsuhiro Nakamura | Japan | 2017 | - |
| Hiroko Kuniya | Japan | 2017 | - |