Belgian universities are key partners in the fight against hunger and malnutrition

Director of the FAO Liaison Office in Brussels Raschad Al-Khafaji interacted with a range of partners from Belgium’s academic sector during a series of visits to Belgian academic institutions in May. He first visited the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering of the University of Ghent. There, he met professors and researchers involved in the finalization of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the university and FAO.

The FAO Brussels Director also took the opportunity to present to students and faculty members details of FAO’s Strategic Framework 2022-2031, and to allude to some of the Organization’s major initiatives. His intervention was followed by presentations by colleagues from the FAO Food and Nutrition Division. Director of the Division, Lynnette Neufeld, provided an overview of her division’s work. An alumnus of the University of Ghent, currently working in FAO’s nutrition Assessment Team, shared his experience of working for FAO.

The following week, Al-Khafaji was invited to talk at the inauguration of the new, De Serres building of the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL). This was a valuable opportunity to meet professors and high-level representatives from the university and to learn more about the history of the city of Louvain la Neuve and its very specific urban landscape.

FAO has an official partnership agreement with UCL and is currently working on the finalization of an agreement with the University of Ghent.

These alliances entail, among other aspects, the exchange of technical expertise and best practices on a variety of projects in partner countries, as well as the possibility for university students to undertake an internship in FAO offices around the globe. The academic institutions and FAO strongly agreed on the importance of collaborating on concrete projects at working level, in order to make tangible differences on the ground.

You can read more about FAO's work with academia and research institutions here.