Concept paper for the Meeting of the Minds on. Nutrition Impact of food systems (Geneva, March)

Transcription

1 Concept paper for the Meeting of the Minds on Nutrition Impact of food systems (Geneva, March) Preparing for the International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) Venue: Geneva, WHO Headquarters Date: March 2013 Organized by: UNSCN, in close collaboration with WHO and FAO Funded by: the Flemish Government through the UNSCN What: A four-day meeting comprising of 2 parts: PART I: March: experts will discuss the nutritional impact of relevant policies shaping the food systems of countries at different stages of the nutrition transition; identify existing gaps and advise on relevant themes to be addressed by countries and how to address them. PART II: March: participants will discuss the development of frameworks and elaborate the tools (policy checklist and themes per country) to be used to describe and analyze national policies in the area of food and agriculture, including trade and related sectors using a value chain approach in selected countries at different stages of the nutrition transition. Presentations by experts, plenary discussions and group work sessions will take place. Participants: The meeting of the minds will bring together experts and country practitioners from international organizations, research institutions, governments, and nongovernmental organizations working at global and national level on the linkages between food and agriculture and nutrition and relevant thematic areas: Food policies and food/agriculture/trade policy analysis Food systems Nexus between agriculture and health/nutrition Nutrition transition/multiple burden of malnutrition Agricultural investments/smallholder agriculture Food value chains Food environment Nutrition and the environment/sustainability issues Food/nutrient waste along the food value chain It is envisaged to have a meeting of participants. Simultaneous translation (English, Portuguese) for the meeting will be available. A meeting report will be produced in English 1

2 Introduction: The present food and agricultural systems have evolved to become more complex and global with longer chains from farm to fork. There is great potential for agricultural and food systems to improve nutrition, but the evidence base is relatively poor. Current nutrition policy advice urgently merits reflection and revision. How do the agricultural and food systems impact on nutrition outcomes? There is need to comprehend whether and how these systems can be modified to better meet nutrition goals sustainably and reduce the risk of diet-related NCDs? How can we feed the world s population sustainably and equitably? Is increased food production or intensification the answer to the current burden of malnutrition? Is there a need to re-shape the food system taking into account the health and environmental impact? What are the tools and guidelines available for policy makers to analyse policies and make them work for nutrition? Is a food value chain approach helpful to achieve nutrition goals? Experts in this area, looking at this issue from different perspectives (including economical, nutritional and environmental) need to agree on what the current knowledge gaps are in order to fill these. In addition, there is an urgent need to provide practical answers and guidance for countries on the what to do? and how to do it? questions. Evidence in this area will be a valuable contribution to the preparation of the forthcoming 2nd International Conference on Nutrition. More than 20 years after the first International Conference on Nutrition (ICN), the second ICN (ICN2) cannot use a business as usual approach. The world has profoundly changed, nutrition has profoundly changed, now recognized as being multisectoral, multilevel, multi stakeholder and multidisciplinary. There is demand from countries for practical tools, guidelines, and sharing of experiences as well as lessons learned on how to align sectoral policies to improve nutritional outcomes. Countries affected by a multiple burden of malnutrition and going through different stages of a nutrition transition, must be provided with up-to-date knowledge and simple tools to ensure that agricultural, trade, food system policy decisions can be guided to become pro-nutrition and their impact on nutrition can be assessed. Objectives of the meeting: Drawing upon the experience of relevant networks, contribute to the assembly of state-ofthe-art scientific knowledge on impact of food system policies (agricultural investments, subsidies, trade and tariffs policies, etc.) on nutrition; Inform participants on ongoing research, projects and policy analysis work related to nutrition-sensitive development with a focus on agriculture Agree on a working definition of nutrition-sensitive agriculture Identify current knowledge gaps for alignment of agro-food policies with health and nutrition goals Share agro-food policy analysis work done in countries 2

3 Expected Outcomes: for ICN2 organizers and stakeholders: o agreement on a set of additional specific themes for background papers to be developed for the ICN2; and identification of potential authors o elaboration of recommendations for the ICN2 Steering Committee on the form of the outcome document, content/outcomes of the ICN2 political meeting and composition of package of policy and programmatic tools; o Understanding of the role of agriculture/food security in the triple burden of malnutrition for the UNSCN Secretariat: o identification of policy areas for nutrition-sensitive agriculture policy analysis and elaborated policy checklist for identified areas o elaboration of tools and methodology of country case study / country policy analysis o merge relevant policy area to specific country o agreement on structure of country case study report. Set up of the meeting: DAY 1: SETTING THE SCENE/OUTLINE OF THE ISSUES Introduction and clarification of terms Food value chain approach From agriculture to nutrition: pathways and principles OUTCOME: TO ENSURE PARTICIPANTS ARE ALIGNED ON DEFINITIONS/PRINCIPLES Monitoring and Evaluation Policy examples impacting on nutrition outcomes concentrating on the Supply side of the Food Value Chain Agricultural Investment Policies Agricultural subsidies Production systems and small holder agriculture Trade, tariffs and markets OUTCOME: IDENTIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE GAPS DAY 2: FOOD VALUE CHAIN APPROACH: CONCEPT, POLICY EXAMPLES Supply chain and food value concepts 3

4 What are the incentives to make the Value Chain more healthy? Coherence/incoherence in food/ag policies impacting on nutrition Policy examples impacting on nutrition outcomes concentrating on the Consumer side of the Food Value Chain Food environment Food reformulation Food prices and price volatility Food losses and waste OUTCOME: IDENTIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE GAPS Economic models for a healthy diet ICN and ICN2 Structured discussion OUTCOME: MORE CLARITY ON HOW TO CONCRETELY MEASURE AND ANALYSE POLICIES IN A STRUCTURED WAY; IDENTIFY WHICH POLICY AREAS ARE RELEVANT TO CONSIDER; DAY 3: HANDS-ON ONGOING GLOBAL, REGIONAL AND COUNTRY WORK Presentation and discussion of small drafting team recommendations on ICN outcome document, themes for additional background papers, policy check list Presentation on who is doing what where Mainstreaming nutrition through CAADP in Africa OUTCOME: AGREEMENT ON MEETING RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNING ICN2 OUTPUT, KNOWLEDGE GAPS AND POLICY CHECKLIST; UPDATE ON ONGOING AG/NUT WORK Presentation of 8 countries and group work South Africa Malawi Mozambique Sierra Leone Senegal Thailand Nepal Brasil OUTCOME: DETAILED DISCUSSION WITH COUNTRY TEAMS ON WHAT POLICY ANALYSIS WOULD BE USEFUL IN THEIR COUNTRY 4

5 DAY 4: DEFINING THE COUNTRY CASE STUDIES Feedback from the different country groups OUTCOME: AGREEMENT ON COUNTRY CASE STUDY METHODOLOGY AND POLICY FOCUS Key findings and the way forward for nutrition-sensitive agriculture Time line for country case study work and presentation in different fora OUTCOME: ICN2 BACKGROUND PAPER WORK IDENTIFIED, PARTICPANTS AWARE WHAT OTHER STAKEHOLDERS ARE ALREADY WORKING ON; COUNTRY CASE STUDY WORK OUTLINED; BUY IN FROM STAKEHOLDERS OBTAINED. 5