Our Work – Food & Nutrition Council

Assessment, Research, Monitoring & Evaluation

We co-ordinate food and nutrition security information and analysis, within the context of a national food and nutrition information system, that is credible, transparent, scientific, relevant and timely and that informs multi-sectoral actions that address food and nutrition security. Food and nutrition security assessments are coordinated by a multi-stakeholder committee known as the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC). ZimVAC is a consortium of Government, UN agencies, NGOs and other international organisations.

Advocacy, Information & Education

Advocacy is a systematic and continuous process which aims to gather relevant existing and emerging information on a specific area of interest and package it in to seamless messages communicated to key stakeholders in policy formulation and adaptation. We advise Government on strategic directions in food and nutrition security and provide information and education on emerging issues in the area of food and nutrition security at international, regional and national platforms, down to community level discourse, interactions, community outreach and other levels and innovative means of engagement.

Multi-Sectoral & Stakeholder Coordination

Historically, approaches to food and nutrition security were often segmented, with nutrition security often lagging behind agricultural production. The establishment of the Food and Nutrition Council, and the later formulation the Food and Nutrition Security Policy, formally introduced a combined approach to food and nutrition security. We therefore promite multi-sectoral approaches to addressing food and nutrition insecurity through strengthening national systems and structures at all levels (National, Provincial & District) and promotion of multi-sectoral programme innovations and best practices.

Food Safety

Food safety and nutrition standards compliance is at the heart of operation in this programme. FNC aims to promote best practices based on a solid scientific foundations of food safety through strengthened multi-sectoral co-ordination around food safety and nutrition standards compliance and accompanying control systems. We work to strengthens FNC’s role of coordinating, supporting and ensuring multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral adherence to national and international food safety standards. This is also achieved through promoting innovative approaches to locally produced products.

Nutrition Standards

FNC aims at coordinating the implementation of multisectoral nutrition sensitive programming particularly to reduce undernutrition by adopting a nutrition specific and nutrition -sensitive approach across all programming. The thrust includes addressing chronic undernutrition as a specific priority, building on the results of the latest research on the importance of and best means for promoting nutrition, particularly for vulnerable groups.

Mandate

FNC is mandated to “promote a cohesive national response to the prevailing household food insecurity and malnutrition through co-ordinated multi-sectoral action”. FNC, a Government department in the Office of the President and Cabinet engages with multiple Ministries and other stakeholders including the United Nations and the private sector. FNC is well placed to lead and convene on national food and nutrition issues and works through and strengthens multi-stakeholder fora (Government and non-Government) at national and sub-national level. Specifically, it recognizes the role of decentralized multi-sectoral structures such as the Food and Nutrition Security Committees (FNSCs) as important at the sub-district, district and provincial levels.

Smart Partnerships

African Union Agenda 2063

“It is a strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next 50 years. Its builds on, and seeks to accelerate the implementation of past and existing continental initiatives for growth and sustainable development.

Some of the past and current initiatives it builds on include: the Lagos Plan of Action, The Abuja Treaty, The Minimum Integration Programme, the Programme for Infrastructural Development in Africa (PIDA), the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), The New partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Regional Plans and Programmes and National Plans. It is also built on national, regional, continental best practices in its formulation.“

Source: AU Agenda 2063

SADC Food & Nutrition Security Framework

Reliable access to adequate food is a fundamental requirement for human well-being. Southern African Development Community (SADC) Member States face challenges ranging from scarcity or unpredictable changes in food availability due to factors such as weather and climate, labour-intensive or dated agricultural methods, and HIV and AIDS, and other health issues affecting agricultural production levels. SADC Member States seek to improve the lives of their people by removing the serious obstacle of inadequate access to food, as a healthy, well-fed population will be better equipped to build for a better future.

Source: SADC

CAADP Framework

“The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is a good example of a framework that has inspired and energised African agricultural research institutions, farmers’ associations, African governments and the private sector who believe that agriculture has a pivotal role in development. In essence, CAADP is about boosting investment to stimulate growth in the agricultural sector. This means bringing together the public and private sectors and civil society – at the continental, regional and national levels – to increase investment, improve coordination, share knowledge, successes and failures, encourage one another and to promote joint and separate efforts.”

Source: NEPAD

Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Framework

“Since 2010, the SUN Movement has inspired a new way of working collaboratively to end malnutrition, in all its forms. With the governments of SUN Countries in the lead, it unites people—from civil society, the United Nations, donors, businesses and researchers—in a collective effort to improve nutrition.

The SUN Movement Strategy and Roadmap (2016-2020) has helped illuminate the importance of nutrition as a universal agenda – and one which is integral to achieving the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).“

Source: SUN

SADC RVAC

Despite economic progress in many parts of the Region, livelihood vulnerability and food insecurity are prominent features of the poverty that afflicts much of its population. SADC is committed to tackling these problems and recognises the need to develop strategies based on accurate data and analysis for short-term and longer-term chronic conditions.

Vulnerability assessment and analysis (VAA) concern monitoring of states’, households’ and individuals’ capacity to deal with external hazards such as drought, economic crises, and climate change. Critical elements include meteorological and crop projections, household economic analysis, and food and nutrition security surveys, leading to recommendations for short term and long term interventions.

Source: SADC

Local Partners

We work extensively with a network of committees dedicated to the food and nutrition security agenda. This network stretches from Cabinet level right through other national, provincial, district and ward level multi-stakeholder platforms. These include, but are not limited to: