Help Eliminate Hunger and Malnutrition

After decades of steady advances in the global fight against Right to Food as a constitutional principle. In many parts of the world, hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, we are now at both the national and regional level, witnessing a reversal of the progress made: in the last two politically neutral parliamentary fronts years, the number of undernourished people has increased to and alliances against hunger have 821 million, taking us back to the figures registered a decade helped pass legislation specifically ago. Climate change, a surge in the number and complexity aimed at eradicating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, by of conflicts in African and Near East nations, and economic supporting the design and the slowdowns are the main reasons behind the increase. implementation of policies and programmes on family farming, public Meanwhile, other forms of malnutrition are also on the food procurement or school feeding. rise: overweight and obesity affect almost four out of ten adults, leading to a significant surge in diet related non- Working together towards communicable diseases (NCDs) in both the developed and Zero Hunger developing world. At the same time, 1.5 billion people are In order to effectively address the affected by one or more forms of micronutrient deficiency. complex causes and cross-sectoral nature of hunger and malnutrition, broad, multidisciplinary partnerships are needed. To this ACHIEVEMENTS security and improved nutrition, end, SP1 has fostered strategic while promoting sustainable partnerships with regional entities Turning political commitment agriculture. and economic commissions in various parts of the world. into action SP1 works with governments to In today’s world, eradicating hunger, identify their priorities and needs and In Latin America, together with the food insecurity and all forms of provide the needed evidence base Community of Latin American and malnutrition calls not only for and analysis for decisions. Drawing Caribbean States (CELAC), SP1 reduced rural poverty and improved on FAO’s expertise and experiences supports the Hunger-Free Initiative resilience of the most vulnerable across its network of member states, through the formulation of CELAC’s people, but also for efficient food the Programme is able to support Food Security and Nutrition Plan. systems which are able to deliver decision-makers in transforming legal, In Africa, a partnership with the sufficient and nutritious food for policy and institutional frameworks Economic Community of West everyone. However, to make this while making them more conducive African States (ECOWAS) has happen, strong political commitment to food security and nutrition. Thanks helped to develop a regional strategy at global, regional and especially to the Programme’s support, 35 on fisheries and aquaculture in West national levels is necessary. countries between 2014 and 2018 African countries, while continued have stated their commitment to partnership with the African Union FAO’s Strategic Programme 1 (SP1) achieving SDG2 by introducing bills ensures nutrition considerations are is aimed at translating such political aimed at improving food security and at the heart of national agriculture commitment into real impact, nutrition. Of these, several countries, investment plans. ensuring that policy actions at all such as Costa Rica, Cabo Verde, the levels are targeted at achieving Dominican Republic, El Salvador, In Europe, the EU and FAO have Sustainable Development Goal 2 Nepal, Malawi, Mozambique, partnered through the FIRST Policy ending hunger, achieving food Paraguay and, have integrated the Assistance Facility to strengthen the policy environment and delivery at a country level. The Programme acts as a broker between those who pursue change (governments), those who are willing to support those efforts with investments (in this case, the European Union) and those who can provide their expertise and technical assistance (FAO).

MUMBAI The policy assistance services provided by FIRST create an enabling Pulses samples in a market environment for investments on food in New Mumbai. security and nutrition to achieve ©FAO/Atul Loke real impact. In Timor-Leste, the facility has helped to strengthen the participatory and multi-sectoral Informing local policies regional and national levels. SP1 council that governs all domains with international standards supports countries in the uptake of related to Food Security and global normative frameworks for the Nutrition. In Myanmar, the facility and principles formulation of country policies and has helped the Government to Parliamentary fronts and alliances programmes through Parliamentary make the link between land tenure against hunger and similar Fronts against Hunger. In 2018, the and nutrition sensitive agriculture. legislative initiatives are key to First Global Parliamentary Summit Several legal changes now allow encouraging progress on the against Hunger and Malnutrition, and support crop diversification global recognition of the right to hosted in Madrid, brought together and encourage farmers and others adequate food and nutrition and around 200 parliamentarians from to invest in different activities, from in strengthening legal and policy 80 countries to address common fruits and vegetables to aquaculture. frameworks which ensure the challenges in the fight against realization of such right at global, hunger and malnutrition. Linking policies to investments SP1 also provides support to tie policies and programmes to CHALLENGES investments and monitor budget ➨➨ In light of emerging global priorities and crises, from obesity to the allocation for a stronger focus on surge of NCDs, from climate change to migration and from conflicts achieving SDG2. Countries like to natural disasters, global leaders and national decision-makers must the Niger have developed revised remain steadfast in their efforts to achieve SDG2, in order to prevent agricultural investment plans further backtracking on the progress made over the past few decades. aligned with the budgeting of the different ministries involved in FSN, ➨➨ SP1 will work to ensure that ending hunger and malnutrition in while others like Honduras have put all its forms through sustainable agriculture and food systems remains mechanisms in place to make sure that central for countries as they fulfil the 2030 Agenda, while pushing for the Dry Corridor Alliance multi-donor new partnerships, including with the private sector, to promote bigger basket is oriented at addressing hunger, investments in FSN-related sectors. The Programme will also continue food insecurity and malnutrition. On to assist governments in strengthening policy environments so that top of that, over 15 countries (from interventions are impactful, and will try to ensure that all actors involved Burkina Faso to Bangladesh and from in the food system, from farmers to consumers, are included in national, Cote d’Ivoire to Kyrgyzstan) have regional and global dialogues on food security and nutrition. This will received support to develop investment help to ensure that issues of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, plans for their sectoral strategies including issues of micronutrient deficiencies, obesity as well as diet- integrating issues of extreme poverty, related NCDs are comprehensively discussed and addressed. social protection and nutrition.

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1 www.fao.org/food-security-and-nutrition-for-all/en/ / N www.fao.org/europeanunion/eu-projects/first/en/