Celebrating World Food Day in Brussels and beyond: partnering for impact

This year’s World Food Day touched the hearts of people throughout Belgium through a number of advocacy and marketing activities organized by the FAO Liaison Office in Brussels.

The City of Brussels joined our campaign for the first time this year. With some 40 digital screens in Brussels’ busiest areas, such as avenue Louise, rue Neuve and Boulevard du Midi among others, the World Food Day animation in both French and Dutch was playing on 16 October.

Also in Brussels, major train stations featured 64 screens broadcasting footage related to World Food Day with the support of Clear Channel. The campaign was seen by 2 million people between 10 and 16 October.

From 12 to 19 October, Brightfish – one of the biggest advertising companies in Belgium – screened the World Food Day video pro-bono in more than 40 cinemas across the country. The campaign is estimated to have reached approximately 250 000 visitors to Belgian cinemas.

In terms of media outreach, FAO Brussels Director Raschad Al-Khafaji gave an interview to French language radio AraBel on the occasion of World Food Day.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and of the European Parliamentary Alliance against Hunger and Malnutrition joined a special video campaign organized by FAO Brussels to capture their thoughts and messages.

Fourteen MEPs participated: Marc Tarabella, Benoit Biteau, Carlos Zorrinho, Eric Andrieu, Francisco Guerreiro, Herbert Dorfmann, Isabel Carvalhais, Maria Noichl, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, Marlene Mortler, Martin Hlaváček, Paolo De Castro, Patrizia Toia and Petros Kokkalis. The videos were screened during the official FAO Brussels World Food Day celebration, on social media and on @FAOBrussels.

As part of the World Food Week activities, the FAO Liaison Office organized a guided tour of the Rooftop L[ag]UM, an urban agriculture project in the heart of the Belgian capital. L[ag]UM is a project based on participatory action research, bringing together three actors: Refresh Brussels, the Belgian municipality of Ixelles and the ULB Agroecology Lab.

The event was an occasion for young people and university students to exchange with FAO staff and representatives of other United Nations agencies in Brussels, while discovering an initiative that supports sustainable and quality food production and consumption. After a guided tour of the rooftop, participants harvested fresh vegetables, which they then enjoyed with some delicious home-made dips. The guided tour concluded with tips on how to grow veggies at home or on the balcony.

A few days later, and in the context of World Food Week and the Week of International Solidarity 2022 of the City of Brussels, the French-speaking United Nations Association (Association Pour les Nations Unies) organized a conference to discuss the impact of the current food crisis in the framework of a globalized world.

FAO Brussels Director Raschad Al-Khafaji gave welcoming remarks at the event and stressed the importance of this year’s World Food Day. He also presented FAO’s strategic framework and highlighted the need to accelerate the transition to agrifood systems that are more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable to eradicate hunger and malnutrition.

His intervention was followed by a technical presentation from Amrouk El Mamoun, Senior Economist at the Markets and Trade Division at FAO, who presented FAO’s latest data on global food prices. The debate that followed reflected the importance of working together and engaging with different actors to ensure better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all, leaving no one behind.

We thank all of our partners for making the 2022 World Food Week a success.