The UN Food and Agricultural Organization is continuing efforts to contain the Desert Locust upsurge in East Africa despite the challenges and constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Archive for month: April, 2020
Imagine a virtual space where to search and find what decision makers are doing in their countries worldwide to respond to and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A global library that provides detailed information on how different countries, with different social and fiscal landscapes and diverse agricultural endowments, are trying to keep their supply chains moving amid the disruptions caused by travel and other health restrictions.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (JAAS) have signed a partnership agreement which foresees joint efforts to support smallholder farmers through technological innovation.
Food systems are evolving quickly to meet growing and changing demand, but they are not serving everyone’s needs. IFPRI’s flagship report looks at the obstacles and opportunities as well as the growing range of tools and technologies for building inclusive food systems.
Visit the website for additional resources and information.
7 April 2020
12:15 PM TO 01:15 PM EDT
This event will be online only. Watch online at IFPRI's event page
Food systems are critical to every aspect of people’s well-being, from what they eat to how they earn their livelihoods to their options for the future. IFPRI’s flagship report highlights the critical role that inclusive food systems can play in improving nutrition, creating employment and income-generating opportunities, and increasing empowerment of disadvantaged groups.
Programme
Overview: Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI
Moderator: Rajul Pandya-Lorch, Director, Communications and Public Affairs, IFPRI
Presenters:
- John McDermott, Director, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)
- Rob Vos, Director, Markets, Trade and Institutions Division, IFPRI
- Laura Zseleczky, Program Manager, IFPRI
In this interview, Dominique Burgeon, Director of FAO’s Emergency and Resilience Division, explains the particular challenges COVID-19 poses in vulnerable communities already coping with high levels of hunger due to pre-existing crises -- and how the Organization is gearing up to help.
The UNSCN Annual Report for 2019 is a compilation of actions taken by the UNSCN Secretariat to achieve the Strategic Objectives as set out in the UNSCN Strategic Plan 2016-2020.
World food prices declined sharply in March, driven by demand-side contractions linked to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the drop in global oil prices due mostly to expectations of economic slowdown. The FAO Food Price Index declined 4.3 percent from February.
Thursday 2 April 2020
Time (1hour): 10:00a NY/Boston, 3:00p London, 4:00p Rome, 5:00p Addis, 7:30p Delhi
With COVID-19 dominating the news, is it a priority to think about agriculture, food systems and nutrition.
With infections just starting to rise in Africa, where there is a major burden of malnutrition, the populations most affected may be different than what we have seen in higher income countries - primarily because malnutrition may leave people more vulnerable to severe illness and death. A critical concern is maintaining food supply and access for all. Lessons about resilience in food systems can already be seen from China - some encouraging, and some warnings to heed, about food supply in the shadow of potential input and labor shortages.
What do leaders need to do to protect those vulnerable from malnutrition right now, and to protect food systems to ensure that all people can access the food we need over the coming weeks and months?
The Ag2Nut Community has organized a special panel followed by a discussion on this topic, co-sponsored with ANH Academy. UNSCN will also participate as a panellist.
The meeting will be hosted on Zoom (https://tufts.zoom.us/j/637610834). Participants can also call for audio only via local numbers here: https://tufts.zoom.us/u/al5CUTGNz and enter meeting ID: 637 610 834 #)
Panelists:
- Tesfaye Hailu, Ethiopian Public Health Institute: brings the topic to the floor and outlines key questions and concerns, particularly focusing on Africa.
- Selena Ahmed, Montana State University: shares lessons learned from the current situation in China, where she researches food environments.
- Will Masters, Tufts University: discusses economic aspects of how supply chains and markets could change and what can keep them functioning.
- Denise Costa Coitinho, UN SCN: presents a summary of SCN's analysis of food environments disruptions by COVID-19, highlighting some resources and examples of actions taken to mitigate the consequences; and what UN agencies are proposing to respond to the crisis.
- Moderator: Anna Herforth, Ag2Nut, will outline the reason for coming together, what we know about nutrition and disease interactions, and how we can use our discussion to act and speak with one voice.
VACANT POSITION
Title: REACH National Facilitator
Contract type: National Facilitator (mid-level)
Duration: 4 Months (1st April 2020 – 31st July 2020)
Duty Station: Harare, Zimbabwe
The UN Network in Zimbabwe seeks the services of a National Facilitator to support REACH activities in 2020. The REACH Facilitator will work under the dual supervision of the Director of FNC and the Chair of the UN Network in consultation with the other UN Network Heads of agencies. The REACH National Facilitator will provide oversight to the implementation of the REACH-UN Country Implementation Plan (CIP). He/she will be responsible for the following duties:
- Support to Advocacy and Awareness raising for nutrition
- Strategic planning and analysis of broader food and nutrition security issues in Zimbabwe
- Support the strengthening of food and nutrition Multi-sectoral/Multi-stakeholder Coordination mechanisms
- Support the UN nutrition strengthening initiatives
- Coordinate work and mission of REACH in-country;
Qualifications & Experience Required
Education: A University degree in public policy or administration, management, public health, nutrition, agriculture, or related field.
Experience:
- At least 3-5 years of professional post degree experience in managing nutrition, food security, public health programs, policy processes;
- Experience in managing multi-parties and multi-sector working groups including governments, donors and CSOs is an asset
- Technical background in nutrition, food security, and/or health; OR technical background in management and change management;
- Strong action management and teamwork skills: ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor own work plan and those relevant to the team and partners; ability to follow up deadlines; accuracy and attention to details and high-quality deliverables; and
- Excellent communications and interpersonal skills; ability to influence and interact with senior level decision-makers across different organizations and cultures; to act with credibility, tact and diplomacy on sensitive issues and discussions.
Interested applicants, kindly send your application with proof of qualifications & CV to the FNC Deputy Director (ymavhunga@fnc.org.zw or yvonnemavhunga@gmail.com) by the 8th of April 2020
