Hanoi, Viet Nam. Under the framework of the project “Strengthening capacities for nutrition-sensitive food systems through multi-stakeholder approach”, today FAO and partners are organizing the national workshop to take stock of the progress under the project, and further mobilize national stakeholders to promote an enabling environment for nutrition-sensitive investments by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).

SMEs make up the bulk of the Vietnamese business environment and, over the past quarter century, have made enormous progress and great contributions to national food security, social stability and poverty reduction.

Agrifood SMEs, in particular, play an important role in the achievement of healthy diets for all. Key in shaping the environment in which food is accessed and sold, SMEs can contribute to increasing the accessibility of nutritious and healthy food to consumers, as well as to generate job and income opportunities. The sector counts many achievements and a positive performance from SMEs on exports and local markets. Yet, some improvement is needed to support SMEs facing barriers to providing healthy foods in a sustainable way. These barriers may include financial, infrastructural and policy challenges that impact on SMEs’ performance from food production to its distribution, as well as on its accessibility to consumers.

Over the past five years, FAO with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan has implemented the project “Strengthening capacities for nutrition-sensitive food systems through multi-stakeholder approach”. The project was implemented in Ghana, Kenya and Vietnam, seeking to increase the capacities of agrifood SMEs to adopt nutrition-sensitive approaches in their business.

As the final stage of the project’s implementation in Vietnam, a national workshop was held in Hanoi on 31 March, 2022, bringing together xx participants from SMEs, government partners, academia, international organizations, as well as representatives from the other countries involved in the project.

FAO and partners have presented project’s achievements and discussed with participants on ways to improve the policy environment in support of SMEs and facilitate the adoption of nutrition-sensitive approaches in the agrifood sector. The participants have had the opportunity to explore ways to upscale the capacity development activities developed under project and expand their reach.

“The results of this project drew very important lessons learnt that will feed up the overall implementation of the coming CPF 2022-2026 in which FAO has a crucial role particularly in food safety, sustainable productions and consumption and climate change response”, said Rémi Nono Womdim, FAO Representative in Viet Nam.