University of Alberta www.foodsecuritydialog.com University of Alberta Faculty of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sociology “Enhancing Food Production, Gender Equity and Nutritional Security in a Changing World” SUMMARY, KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS APRIL 30 – MAY 2, 2014 EDMONTON, CANADA University of Alberta April 30 – May 2, 2014 2 The first University of Alberta Dialogue on International Food Security was made possible through the generous support of University of Alberta April 30 – May 2, 2014 3 Table of Contents Page Executive Summary ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….………… 7 Dialogue Organization ……………………………………………………………………………………………….……………. 7 Dialogue on International Food Security (April 30-May 2, 2014) 1. Background to the Dialogue ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 9 2. Dialogue Objectives ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9 3. Organization and Venue …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9 4. Breadth of Dialogue Participation ……………………………………………………………………………….. 10 5. Program …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …….. 11 6. Summary …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …... 17 7. Key Messages ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 28 8. Evaluation Results ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 29 Banff Write Shop (May 3 – May 5, 2014) 1. Background to the Write Shop ……………………………………………………………………………………. 32 2. Write Shop Objectives ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 32 3. Breadth of Write Shop Participation …………………………………………………………………………….. 32 4. Program Overview ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 32 5. APM Summary …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 35 6. Gender Summary ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 36 Appendix 1. Global Café Session Notes ……………………………………………………………………………………. 38 University of Alberta April 30 – May 2, 2014 4 Appendix 2. Dialogue on-line evaluations ………………………………………………………………………………….. 55 Appendix 3. Dialogue Pictures …………………………………………………………………………………………… .…… 71 Appendix 4. Dialogue Abstracts ……………………………………………………………………………………………… . 74 Appendix 5. Dialogue Communications …………………………………………………………………………………….. 92 Appendix 6. Write Shop Pictures ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 93 Appendix 7. Writeshop on-line evaluations …………………………………………………………………………………. 94 Appendix 8. Writeshop Facilitators …………………………………………………………………………………………… 97 Appendix 9. APM Banff Progress Chart ………………………………………………………………………………………. 99 Appendix 10. Banff Gender Abstracts ……………………………………………………………………………………… 100 University of Alberta April 30 – May 2, 2014 5 Executive Summary Between April 30 and May 2, 2014, 224 individuals from around the world gathered at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada, to participate in the Dialogue on International Food Security. From May 4-7th, 45 of these people participated in two Writeshops at the Juniper Hotel in the Banff National Park. The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) provided support to these events as part of the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund. The Project Leader for the related events was Brent Swallow and the Project Manager was Brent Swallow, both from the University of Alberta. Planning, organization and logistics were provided by a Steering Committee comprised of individuals from the University of Alberta, IDRC, MSSRF and the University of Saskatchewan, and a small logistics committee from the University of Alberta. Most participants in the Dialogue received travel support from individual research projects under the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF). This document summarizes the proceedings and outcomes of these events, with a central focus on the Dialogue. Dialogue on International Food Security Participants in the Dialogue on International Food Security (hereafter the Dialogue) represented 13 Canadian universities, 14 international universities, 7 non-governmental organizations from North America, 18 developing country and international organizations, and 4 agencies of the Canadian federal and provincial governments. Financial support was provided by IDRC, the IDRC-funded Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition Project, the University of Alberta, City of Edmonton, Sobey’s and A Capella Catering. The Dialogue began with an open public lecture by Jean Lebel, President of IDRC in Ottawa, Canada in the evening of April 30th. Approximately 250-300 people attended the opening lecture. The morning session on May 1st was kicked off by welcome messages from Brent Swallow, University of Alberta, and Paul Samson, Assistant Deputy Minister for the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. Plenary and parallel technical sessions were held over the next two days on the themes of sustainable food production, gender and livelihoods, nutrition and health, and economics, value chains and policy. Meine Van Noordwijk (ICRAF, Indonesia), Madura Swaminathan (Indian Bureau of Statistics, India), Jacqueline Ashby (CGIAR, USA), Peter Betri (Healthbridge, Canada) and Abdul Kamara (African Development Bank, Sudan) presented keynote addresses. A total of 49 selected papers were presented in a total of 14 technical sessions. In addition to the technical sessions, the program included a world café, poster session, evening banquet, and panel on Canada’s role in International Food Security. The Dialogue ended in the late afternoon of May 2nd with reflections from a team of rapporteurs and project leader. The majority of the participants were involved in some way with research projects funded under the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFRSF). The Dialogue was organized to advance three objectives: 1) Showcase and promote CIFSRF projects in Canada; 2) Provide a platform for learning exchange between CIFSRF and related projects in Canada; and 3) explore the challenges of linking knowledge with action. Upon reflection and review of the Dialogue proceedings, we conclude that the Dialogue had good success in achieving the first and third objectives, and very good success in achieving the second objective. Some of the key CIFSRF research successes presented at the Dialogue included: • developing new production technologies suitable for different parts of the developing world, including livestock vaccines for Africa, disease resistant potato varieties for the Andes, fish culture in South and Southeast Asia, agronomic techniques for indigenous vegetables in West Africa, agronomic techniques for rice and millets in South Asia, intercropping of industrial cassava in India , agronomic techniques for chickpeas in Ethiopia, fertilizer micro-dosing in West Africa, agroforestry systems in Kenya and Mali, • developing post-harvest processing and value-addition for small millets and mangos n South Asia • supporting the development of new value chains for linking producers and consumers, including local sourcing for school lunch programs, empowering street food vendors for small millets, Farmer Business Schools, and corporate social responsibility initiatives • understanding and improvement of nutritional outcomes through detailed nutritional analysis, difference-in- difference approaches to impact assessment, and nutrition education, • engaging communities in various groups and organizations in all projects, including farmer research groups, self- help groups, farmer business schools, and transformative learning groups • understanding and supporting behavioral change in food production, consumption and market participation University of Alberta April 30 – May 2, 2014 6 • understanding of the broader socio-economic and policy context for food security outcomes, including customary norms, local political structures, climate variability, social safety nets, national food security policies, land tenure • gender-sensitive approaches to technology development, enterprise development, nutrition education and women’s empowerment • novel analytical techniques, including social network analysis, cluster randomized control trials, propensity score matching, genomics, nutrition causal analysis Insights into the research process and ways to link research with action were generated throughout the Dialogue, but especially through the World Café. The World Café was facilitated by an experienced consultant, Chantal Normand, who organized participants into three groups: early career professionals, project implementers, and research output users. Key results across the three groups related to the importance of: (1) managing expectations among the various actors involved in CIFSRF projects; (2) building rapport, empathy and trust with beneficiary communities; (3) having a mindset that is open, patient, flexible, persistent, adaptive, diplomatic, passionate, and observant; (4) contextualizing and localizing research; (4) communicating in ways that are effective in bridging various cultural divides; (5) recognizing the positions that different individuals and groups have; (6) establishing and maintaining effective partner relationships; (7) being gender-sensitive and explicitly empowering women through the research; (8) implementing strategies for impact on policy processes and policy makers; (9) implementing strategies for impact on behavior and practice; and (10) evaluating and testing how best to involve the private sector. Canada’s role in international food security was discussed during in the presentations by Jean Lebel and Paul Samson, a panel facilitated by a local journalist, Shawna Randolph, and to a limited extent in the final Dialogue wrap-up