المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

Dear Right to Food Supporters,

We are happy to announce the launching of the Right to Food Forum.

Hosted by FAO through the Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum), the Right to Food Forum is a new online platform aiming at facilitating open discussions on key issues related to the right to food.

The theme of the first discussion is "Spaces for dialogue on food security at the municipal level". Your contribution to the debate is most welcome.

To take part, register here and post your comments online. If you would like to send us your comments via email or suggest a topic for discussion, you can also contact us by email.

The Right to Food Forum is part of the activities conducted by the FAO Right to Food Team on the occasion of the 10 years review of progress made in implementing the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security (Right to Food Guidelines) adopted unanimously by the FAO Council in 2004.

The 41st session of the CFS in October will represent a privileged platform to discuss the different dimensions of the implementation of the Guidelines (global, regional and national), look back at the progress made over the last ten years and plan the way forward. To mark this important milestone, FAO is leading a series of activities including 7 Thematic Studies on important issues guided by the content of the Right to Food Guidelines; a Synthesis Report capturing the main findings of the Studies for the CFS; and a Technical Dialogue on 3rd of July aiming at determining how to better focus the background provided by FAO for the multi-stakeholder retrospective review, in order to give a comprehensive but concise overview of the 10 years achievements, the challenges and the key lessons learned.

Please check the Right to Food website frequently for updates!

This third issue especially highlights important initiatives and technical developments undertaken at Global Level, among them the Launch of the IPC Global Strategic Programme and Vision (2014-2016), the 3rd Chronic Scale Synthesis Meeting, and the ISS Pilots in Tanzania and Honduras. It also features recent IPC impacts, results and progress achieved at Regional and Country Level in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Online Virtual Event , 27 Feb 2014, from 10:00 to 12:00 am (UTC+01:00)

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Global Strategic Programme and Vision (2014-2016), will be launched on February 27, 2014 through a webcasting and video conferencing event, from 10:00 to 12:00am.

Keynote speakers from the IPC Partner Agencies and Regional Inter-governmental Bodies will present the longer-term breakthrough approach to IPC rollout and implementation at all levels in 2014-2016.

Live presentations will focus on the top priorities of the IPC Global Strategic Programme:

• IPC Institutionalization and Partnership at all levels;
• Consolidated and expanded capacity in IPC Acute Food Insecurity Analysis;
• Rollout of the IPC versions 1.0 Chronic Food Insecurity Classification;
• Piloting of the IPC version 1.0 of the Nutrition Classification;
• IPC Quality Review and Compliance Process; and,
• as ultimate goal, uptake of IPC analysis into decision-making and response analysis process.

For more information about the Launch, please look at the attached tentative agenda of the event. The final event programme and more information about IPC Global Strategic Programme will be posted shortly on the IPC website.

The link to attend the live presentations in English, French and Spanish will be available on the IPC website on the day of the event. The core panel will be hosted by FAO-HQs Rome, Italy, and connected with delegates from the Regions and key stakeholders.

The CFS, in its 40th session, requested the HLPE to prepare a report on Water and Food Security for its 42nd session in 2015. As part of its report elaboration process, the HLPE is launching an e-consultation to seek views, public and expert feedback and comments, on the proposed scope and building blocks of the report.

Click here to read more and to take part in the consultation

This strategy and work plan is based on the outcomes of the workshop held in November 2013 with the participation of FSN Forum members and representatives of organisations working on food security and nutrition in the region.

The document includes background on the FSN Forum in West Africa, the vision and strategic objectives and the areas of work identified for 2014.

To know more please download the strategy and work plan for the FSN Forum in West Africa.

21 November 2013, Accra – Seven years after the launch of the Economic Community Of West African States Agricultural Policy (ECOWAP), food insecurity and hunger are still prevalent in West Africa. Acute food crises occurred in 2005, 2010 and 2012 in the region, hitting especially the Sahel. In 2012, 18.7 million people were affected by food insecurity.

Sharing knowledge and expertise on food security and nutrition is a key factor in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. Inclusive multi-stakeholder dialogues contribute significantly to the improvement of techniques and approaches for food and nutrition security of the most vulnerable populations.

Focus on West Africa Food Security and Nutrition Forum

Experts and practitioners in Food Security and Nutrition met on 20-21 November 2013, in the FAO Regional Office for Africa in Accra, Ghana, to discuss pressing Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) issues affecting the the Economic Community Of West African States. 

Approximately 16 participants from West Africa attended a workshop dedicated to the FAO’s Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition in West Africa (FSN Forum), a worldwide network of experts and practitioners that take part in facilitated online discussions and knowledge sharing on food security and nutrition.

West African representatives from civil society, academy and research and government will identify key issues in order to support the further development of the West Africa FSN Forum and ensure its full ownership by regional actors.

“What is new is the focus on West Africa. The FSN Forum in West Africa will concentrate mostly on specific issues and concerns of the region”, said FAO Representative to Ghana and Sub-regional Office for West Africa, Mr Lamourdia Thiombiano, during the opening session. “It is particularly interesting that we are not reinventing the wheel here, but building on an initiative that has already proven to be successful at the global level and can be effective for the West African community, too”. 

Thiombiano also observed that inclusive multi-stakeholder dialogues contribute significantly to the improvement of techniques and approaches for food and nutrition security of the most vulnerable populations. “These exchanges help in raising awareness and strengthen stakeholders’ support of policy processes”.

Building on existing initiatives

The Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition has been instrumental in building networks of stakeholders who can play a role in pushing forward the Right to Food agenda and in supporting the inclusion of diverse stakeholder groups into global food security and nutrition processes. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS), the High Level Panel of Experts of the CFS and the Post 2015 Development Agenda process feature among the FSN Forum collaborations.

"The FSN forum is ready to support the strategic objectives of FAO in the Region to reduce hunger and malnutrition", said Mauricio Rosales, Coordinator of the Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition, "the main challenge for the FSN is to achieve a greater impact at grassroots level".

The inputs obtained from this workshop will help establish a better forum for the West Africa region.

The FSN Forum nurtures a community of 7 000 members with one third of them from Africa. The new West Africa FSN Forum will aim at supporting policy formulation and processes by providing a channel for local, national and sub-regional West African stakeholders to actively contribute to existing initiatives, such as the new FAO/Germany supported "Zero Hunger” project of the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), that seeks to unite the efforts of all regional stakeholders, including governments, parliaments, civil society and organizations of producers around eradicating hunger in West Africa.

Links:

• FSN Fourm
• Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition
• Committee on Food Security
• Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2)

This issue especially highlights important initiatives and technical developments undertaken at Global Level, among them the IPC Global Steering Committee Meeting, which this year was combined with a Partners and Donors Consultative Meeting and an IPC Fair & Seminar Series, the development of the IPC Global Strategic Programme, and the launch of a Short Training Course for Users of IPC Analysis. It also features recent IPC impacts, results and progress achieved at Regional and Country Level in Asia, Central America, and Africa.

The ambition of this site is to try and inform on the food issue and to debunk myths on hunger (More on myths on hunger...) so that the honest citizens of the XXIst century that we are, are able to better understand the world around us and act in order to change it and make a reality of the utopia of a world without hunger.

to know more please visit: http://www.hungerexplained.org/Hungerexplained/Home.html French version also available: http://lafaimexpliquee.org/La_faim_expliquee/Accueil.html