Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Policies, strategies and guidelines

A new deal for school gardening in Kyrgyzstan: developing a framework for a comprehensive policy approach

The online consultation will help to explore the linkages between school meals, nutrition education and agricultural production. It initiates a dialogue on a new role of school gardens in Kyrgyzstan with an opportunity to learn from school gardening initiatives and activities that are already in place in Kyrgyzstan and other countries.

Job vacancy: Food Security and Nutrition Policy Specialist

Organizational Setting
 
Food and Nutrition Security Impact, Resilience, Sustainability and Transformation (FIRST) is a partnership programme between FAO and the European Union. FIRST supports countries in strengthening the enabling policy and institutional environment for food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture. The Programme also contributes to informing global strategic thinking on how to accelerate progress towards SDG2. FIRST is embedded within the FAO’s programme management and coordination structure. It contributes directly to the food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture policy and governance related results envisioned under FAO Strategic Objectives 1. ‘Help Eliminate Hunger, Food Insecurity and Malnutrition’ and 2.’Make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable’.
 
FAO International Consultants and Call purpose
 
The Organization frequently engages experts to work on short-term activities and projects as international consultants or under personal service agreements (PSA) at various levels of experience (see minimum requirements below). International consultants or PSAs are engaged by the Organization to provide expertise, skills or knowledge for a specific task or piece of work, which is short-term by nature. The assignment may involve full-time or part-time functions, with duration ranging from 1 month up to 11 months. The possibility of extension is subject to satisfactory performance and dependant on the availability of resources and needs of the Organization. Assignments can require travel or missions/appointment to field locations.
 
Individuals meeting or exceeding the requirements of the Call, determined through an interview process, will be included in the SP1 Divisional Roster. Experts who are registered in the Roster are available for consideration for a period of up to 48 months. SP1 Division will use this roster as the primary mechanism to resource future vacancies within the technical requirements covered by the Call.  
 
Reporting Lines
 
The Consultant works under the direct supervision of the Deputy Strategic Programme Leader 1 and FIRST Manager (FAO/Rome).
 
Technical Focus
 
Provide leadership, strategic guidance and technical support in demand of policy, governance, capacity development and facilitate policy dialogue around food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture.
 
Tasks and responsibilities
 
The required tasks and responsibilities will be focused around the following functions:
  • Provide technical and policy advice and/or support to the Government and relevant stakeholders in the development and implementation of their policies and programmes and investments for improved food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture;
  • Create and Manage strategic partnerships, promote best practices, and support policy dialogue to enhance policies and governance for food, nutrition security and sustainable agriculture;
  • Plan, organize and participate in capacity development activities involving the provision of technical advice and assistance, and oversee the development of related materials;
  • Organize and lead in-depth assessments of the policy and institutional framework of food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture and identify areas for improvements;
  • Lead and facilitate dialogue on knowledge sharing and partnerships in support of development/improvement of cross-sectorial policies/action plans concerning food security, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture;
  • Analyse the effectiveness of policies and best practices and develop related knowledge products.    
 
CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING
 
Minimum Requirements
  • Advanced university degree in domain related to food security and nutrition, sustainable agriculture, social sciences, development economics or related area;
  • Relevant experience at international level in policy analysis and advice related to food security, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture.
    • Consultant level B: at least 5 years of relevant experience
    • Consultant level A: at least 12 years of relevant experience (Experience requirement for PSA level A: at least 15 years of relevant experience)
  • Working knowledge of English, French or Spanish and limited knowledge of one of the other two or Arabic, Chinese, Russian. (Language requirements for PSAs: Working knowledge of only English, French, or Spanish)
 
FAO Core Competencies
  • Results Focus
  • Teamwork
  • Communication
  • Building Effective Relationships
  • Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
 
Technical/Functional Skills
  • Work experience in more than one location or relevant area of work;
  • Extent and relevance of experience in: strengthening the enabling environment for food security and nutrition, providing policy advice, addressing cross-cutting issues in different sectors, and linking policy and data generation/analysis;
  • Experience in working for UN entities is considered an asset;
  • Experience in government advisory roles is considered and asset.

To apply visit https://jobs.fao.org/careersection/jobdetail.ftl?job=1900820&lang=en 

Reports and briefs

Food security and violent conflict: Introduction to the special issue

We review briefly recent trends in food security and violent conflict and the quantitative literature discussing their interactions, as reflected by the papers in this special issue. We find a large diversity in experiences of food security and conflict, posing a challenge for causal identification...

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Call for Proposals: Small Research/Case Study Projects on Food and Nutrition Security Policy in Eurasia

Introduction

The Eurasian Center for Food Security (ECFS) in collaboration with the World Bank is pleased to announce a new round of competitive selection of small research/case study projects on food and nutrition security policy. The objective of this project is to foster collaboration between researchers in the Eurasia region to generate analytical evidence for policy makers, and produce a set of short analytical and educational case studies on a relevant food and nutrition policy topic. The call is open to researchers, lecturers and professors with an active research agenda on a broad range of topics relevant to food and nutrition security. Applications are accepted until April 30, 2019.

 

2019 Research Topic

Proposals are invited to explore policy options regarding the use of the following sustainable agriculture practices:

  • Organic agriculture (limitations on agrochemicals, veterinary medicines, high animal welfare standards etc. – may require certification by an approved authority);
  • Climate-smart agriculture (productivity increasing, resilience enhancing, greenhouse gases (GHGs) reducing for meeting food security and development goals);
  • Biological agriculture (chemical free, focus on improving the microbiology as a way of increasing plant growth and yield);
  • Ecosystem-based agriculture (conservation, restoration or management of biodiversity, local ecosystem services).

Eligibility

The selected case study authors should be current full-time or part-time researchers, lecturers or professors working on topics relevant to food security, nutrition, agricultural development or related field from the Eurasia region, and affiliated with ECFS partner institutions in these countries. Collaboration between researchers representing two different institutions and two countries in the region is highly encouraged.

 

Selection Criteria

  • Relevance of the topic (ability to justify the relevance of selected topic)
  • Relevance of education and professional experience of the authors
  • Quality of the proposal

 

How to Apply

  1. Review the Call of Proposals which includes details on the case study methodology, project timeline, and deliverables.
  2. The proposals should be no longer than one page (A4), and they should be submitted in English. If English language is a constraint, the proposals may be submitted in Russian.
  3. The proposals should consist of (i) Case study title and the country of the case; (ii) Authors’ name(s) and affiliation(s); (iii) Problem statement based on the selected theme; (iv) Background information, including why this theme has been selected; (v) Description of stakeholders affected by the policy; (vi) Key policy issues identified.
  4. E-mail your Case Study Proposal and CV to Yulia Mitusova [email protected] and Anna Kontoboytseva [email protected] Subject: Case Study 2019.

Funding

Travel assistance will be provided to participate in the presentation of the Global Food Policy Report 2019 and a training session on the Case Study Methodology (Moscow, Russia), and to present case study at the Annual Eurasian Food Security Conference (Armenia, Yerevan). In addition, project related travel assistance will be provided on a case-by-case basis, and when it is strongly justified that travel is required to collect data or interview stakeholders.

Reports and briefs

Going Digital: Shaping Policies, Improving Lives

Digital technologies and data are transformational. People, firms and governments live, interact, work and produce differently than in the past, and these changes are accelerating rapidly. How can we realise the immense promises of digital technologies and data for growth and well-being in a fast...

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Consultation
ESA-RU project - Tajikistan

The way forward towards coherent policies for food security and nutrition in Tajikistan

The Government of the Republic of Tajikistan identified one of the Country Framework Programme’s priority areas as “enhancing national food and nutritional security and safety”. In this open online consultation, we would like to give you a space to share your views on what is most needed to design and implement coherent policies that mutually reinforce each other.

Consultation
Sustainable Food Systems - Switzerland

Towards a common understanding of Sustainable Food Systems

The Sustainable Food Systems Programme (SFS Programme) of the UN One Planet network (10YFP) is currently developing a publication on key approaches, concepts and terms in relation to sustainable food systems. 

The goal of this consultation is to further open up the drafting phase to the entire SFS Programme network and beyond, to the widest possible set of stakeholders.

Consultation
ESA-RU project

Strengthening the linkages between agriculture and social protection. Designing coherent approaches for improving food security and nutrition in vulnerable households

Evidence has shown that social protection programs can sustainably move people out of poverty only when integrated into broader livelihood promotion and rural development strategies.

To explore this nexus further and to learn from the diverse experiences in developing and applying social protection schemes that are coherent with agricultural policies, we would like to invite you to take part in this online consultation.