Dhaka, Bangladesh – FAO’s Meeting the Undernutrition Challenge (MUCH) project, together with the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) of the Ministry of Food, held a National Consultation to present the draft Third Country Investment Plan (CIP3). Two key publications were released at the event which also included the launch of a nutrition e-learning platform.
The event marked the culmination of many recent achievements in the country’s food and nutrition security that will contribute over time to transforming the diets of millions of people for the better.
Around 200 participants from the government, development partners, and academia attended the event, including special guests Mr. Sadhan Chandra Majumder MP, honourable Minister of Food, and H.E. Charles Whiteley, Ambassador and Head, EU Delegation to Bangladesh.
Once finalised, the CIP3 will work as a reference tool to guide and track progress of regional, local, and sectoral investment plans and programmes, in line with national policy frameworks, 8th Five Year Plan, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The ten-year Plan of Action of the National Food and Nutrition Security Policy 2020, which will serve as an action framework for coordinating policy implementation, was released together with the National Food-based Dietary Guidelines 2020. In addition, FAO and FPMU launched the Nutrition Challenge Badge e-learning platform for school children and youth.
The MUCH project has since 2015 supported FPMU to establish a robust policy framework, develop actions plans to implement these policies, and devise investment strategies to secure funding.
This has been possible because of the long-term commitment and financial support of two of the government’s and FAO’s long-standing development partners, namely the European Union, and the United States Agency for International Development.
Since 2015, MUCH has supported FPMU to establish a robust policy framework, develop actions plans to implement these policies, and devise investment strategies to secure funding.
Key acheivements include the Second Country Investment Plan 2015-2020 (CIP2), which greatly exceeded its target of increasing financial resources for improving food and nutrition outcomes, with a total of USD 14 billion allocated.
Other key achievments include the National Food and Nutrition Security Policy 2020, three youth Nutrition Olympiads, Masters and Doctoral Fellowships and specialised courses for officials from core partner ministries, and the training of 1 400 district and sub-district nutrition coordination committee officials.
Bangladesh is now in a strong position in terms of policy and strategy. The Ministry of Food and FPMU are well positioned to focus on identified priorities and transition to delivering scaled-up policy implementation at pace.
Speaking at the event, Robert D. Simpson, FAO Representative in Bangladesh, said: “Today’s national consultation on the Third Country Investment Plan marks the development of years of policy progress and refinement. The plan will serve to track annual progress on food and nutrition security outcomes and be instrumental in guiding the level of commitment and financial resources generated by the Government of Bangladesh and development partners to support the implementation of the Plan of Action of the National Food and Nutrition Security Policy 2020.”