Author Archive for: UNSCN Secretariat

IFAD's contribution to the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition is high on its corporate agenda, with "improving the nutritional level of the poorest populations in developing countries" as a principal objective. Given its dual nature as a UN specialized agency in smallholder agriculture and rural development, and an international financial institution that provides governments with the finance needed to make lasting and effective investments in nutrition, IFAD plays a unique role among development actors. Its work specifically targets the poor and most vulnerable households in rural areas, including women, children, youth – in particular adolescent girls – and indigenous peoples. By investing in nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food systems, IFAD aims to improve the dietary quality of its beneficiary rural populations.

As the first UN agency to commit to the Nutrition Decade in 2017, IFAD is best placed to report on its achievements thus far. In 2018, 100% of the country strategic opportunities programmes (COSOPs) approved by the IFAD's Executive Board were nutrition sensitive. For projects (loans and grants), 13 of the 27 projects approved for financing were nutrition sensitive, equalling 48% of projects during the course of the year and surpassing the original target of 33% of projects. The approved projects will support 13 developing countries: Bangladesh, Benin, Burundi, Brazil, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, and Sierra Leone.  IFAD also organized two regional capacity building workshops to strengthen the capacity of both design and implementation of nutrition sensitive programs, training 117 professionals representing various IFAD investments in both Latin America and the Caribbean and East and Southern Africa regions. This work contributes to the Nutrition Decade Action Areas 1, 3, 4 and 5. In addition, technical assistance was provided to COSOP development, project design and implementation.

In October 2018, IFAD organized and hosted the third International Conference on Adolescents Girls, encouraging actions beyond health interventions and promoting holistic approaches to preventearly marriages and pregnancies. In close cooperation with Save the Children Italy and with the support of the Government of Canada, the conference gave special attention to youth empowerment initiatives and indigenous peoples' empowerment to ensure that girls grow up and are educated in a healthy and safe environment.

In the IFAD Nutrition Action Plan (2019-2025), IFAD is committed to improving the nutrition of 12 million people by 2021 and increasing the target of projects that are nutrition sensitive to 50% by 2021. This significant target moves IFAD one step closer to realizing its commitment to the Nutrition Decade and reducing poverty through nutritious foods.

The FAO International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition(December 2016) was an event to explore policies and programme options for shaping the food systems in ways that deliver foods for a healthy diet, focusing on concrete country experiences and challenges. It has since been followed-up by several regional symposia, such as the Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets in Europe and Central Asia (December 2017, Hungary) which inspired a sub-regional symposia, held from 24-26 April 2019 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Symposium on sustainable food systems and nutrition governance for healthy diets in Central Asia and Caucasus had a special focus on children and adolescents.

The UNSCN contributed with several presentations covering topics that ranged from global governance for nutrition to the return on investment of nutrition interventions. Since several of the countries represented are in the process of renewing their United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), the UNSCN Secretariat also organized a special session about ways that nutrition can serve as a unifier and amplifier of the overall UNDAF outcomes, building from the UNSCN Guidance Note (2017). The UNDAF is the strategic programme framework that describes the collective response of the UN System to national development priorities.

During the Astana event, participants acknowledged the need for greater collaboration, coordination and coherence between humanitarian and development actors. Efforts to support nutrition mainstreaming can support strengthening the humanitarian development nexus. They can also highlight existing nutrition knowledge and skills held by individual members of the UN Country Teams and can create the opportunity to combine this expertise in a more coordinated manner. Nutrition is the thread that weaves through development priorities and acts as a stimulus for ending all forms of malnutrition and advancing human development.

Photo credit: @FAO/SERGEY KOZMIN

Duty Station: London, UK

Duration: Fixed term 12 months

Deadline for application: 24 May 2019, 5:00pm

Vacancy announcement

3 May 2019 at 9:00 EDT

As the call for universal coverage of public health interventions gains momentum, we need to ask: are anaemia prevention programmes doing enough to improve women's health? Is there a space for double duty actions?
Double-duty actions are public health interventions, programmes and policies that have the potential to simultaneously reduce the risk or burden of both undernutrition and overweight, obesity or diet-related non-communicable diseases.

To date, in 54 countries anaemia and obesity in women are of public health concern. Please join us in the next webinar as we discuss how our community can consider shared drivers and solutions towards developing stronger integrated programmes in these countries.

Register here.

23-24 April 2019
Geneva, Switzerland

Continuing the discussions from the Addis Conference, the Geneva Forum will address the trade-related aspects and challenges of food safety. The food safety priorities set by this Conference will facilitate global collaboration and help ensure that no one is left behind. It will provide an opportunity for participants to explore the challenges and opportunities arising from rapid technological change and digitalization, namely:

• the use of new technologies in the realm of food safety and trade;
• how trade in safe food can be facilitated at the borders, and the role of partnerships;
• harmonizing food safety regulation in a period of change and innovation.

The conference will result in a document summarizing key issues and recommendations from both, the Addis Conference and the Geneva Forum, to better align and coordinate efforts to strengthen food safety systems across sectors and borders.

More info available here