FAO in Geneva Nutrition Dialogue Series launched in high-level event
FAO in Geneva Nutrition Dialogue Series launched in high-level event
The FAO Liaison Office in Geneva and the Food and Nutrition Division (ESN) launched today a Nutrition Dialogue Series in collaboration with the FAO Liaison Office in Brussels.
The FAO in Geneva Nutrition Dialogue Series informs and inspires Members and partners through the participation of Permanent Representations and organizations based in Geneva, Brussels and beyond on the role of agrifood systems to achieve better nutrition and development outcomes across the SDGs, and how to do it. It is a platform for sharing experiences and practical insights on how intervening in agrifood systems can support better nutrition and in so doing, also support other development outcomes across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It is now well established that unhealthy Diets are a major burden on human health and Development”, said Dominique Burgeon, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the UN in Geneva. “Without focusing on food as a critical contributor to better nutrition, we will not achieve the SDGs", he underscored.
The launch event was attended by high-level speakers from prominent partner organizations such as WHO, SUN, GAIN, as well as FAO, and governmental and intergovernmental institutions such as the Mission of China to the UN in Geneva, the European Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture of Kenya and the OECD.
“Better nutrition offers one of the greatest developmental opportunities in the world today, as well as highlighting the importance of interlinkages, interactions and trade-offs in our efforts to achieve the SDGs, said Maximo Torero, FAO’s chief Economist in his opening remarks.
Nutrition Division Director, Ms Lynnette Neufeld briefly presented FAO’s Nutrition Strategy, emphasizing the critical role that more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems will play in enabling healthy diets for all and achieving better nutrition.
A longstanding voice on global efforts to advance the nutrition agenda, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Coordinator, Ms Gerda Verburg, highlighted the role of partnership and multisector action in achieving better nutrition for all.
The very first Nutrition Dialogue Series event also benefited from very interesting presentations on good practices at country and regional level with participation of representatives from the Permanent Mission of China to the UN in Geneva, the Ministry of Agriculture of Kenya and the European Commission.
Key messages from the lunch event meeting:
- Achieving healthy diets for all is central to development.
- Bold action is needed, especially to address inequalities in access to food.
- Countries are taking concrete action to deliver agrifood systems interventions for healthy diets.
- Policy instruments can be designed to achieve multiple goals alongside nutrition.
- A food systems approach can help us identify synergies and trade-offs.
“There is no one size fits all for achieving healthy nutrition for all”, said Raschad Al-Khafaji, Director of the FAO Liaison Office in Brussels, in the closing remarks of the launch event, as he highlighted the critical importance of partnerships such as the one set by the Nutrition Dialogue Series.
This kickstart event was meant as an introduction launching the whole Nutrition Dialogue Series to create momentum. In the coming sessions, more pointed discussions will follow and will dive into the more technical and policy dimension of the transformation of agrifood systems to support better nutrition and the SDGs.
The next session of the Nutrition Dialogue Series will take place on 18 May and will cover “Food Systems for Addressing Acute Child Malnutrition and Advancing Better Livelihoods in Africa’s Drylands: From Research to Action”, with concrete examples from East Africa. More details will be soon available on the FAO in Geneva website here.
The recording of the High-Level Launch Event of the Nutrition Dialogue Series can be seen here with the passcode: u=%S5hzF.
Related Links:
Vision and Strategy for FAO’s Work in Nutrition
United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, 2016-2025