Entries by UNSCN Secretariat

Launch of Nutrition for Growth Year of Action

December 14, 2020 from 9:00 to 11:00 EST (15:00 to 17:00 CET)

Register Here

The Governments of Canada and Bangladesh, in partnership with the Government of Japan and with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, cordially invite you to the launch of a Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Year of Action.

The event will showcase new policy and financing commitments to nutrition from a range of stakeholders and will formally launch a Nutrition For Growth Year of Action, that includes milestone events leading up to the Summit in Tokyo in late December 2021.

The event will feature appearances from global nutrition champions including:

  • Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF;
  • Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation;
  • Agnes Kalibata, UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for the Food System's Summit;
  • Gerda Verburg, United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Coordinator of the SUN Movement;
  • Andrew Morley, CEO World Vision International

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UNICEF Nutrition Strategy 2020–2030: Nutrition, for Every Child

The UNICEF Nutrition Strategy 2020–2030: Nutrition, for Every Child outlines UNICEF’s strategic intent to support national governments and partners in upholding children’s right to nutrition, and ending malnutrition in all its forms over the next decade.

Today, at least one in three children is not growing well because of malnutrition. New forces are driving the nutrition situation of children – globalization, urbanization, inequities, environmental crises, health epidemics and humanitarian emergencies – posing critical challenges to feeding children sustainably today and for generations to come.

Yet there is reason to be optimistic.

Since 2000, the proportion of children under 5 suffering from stunting has declined by one third and the number of children with stunting has dropped by 55 million. While there are important challenges ahead, this achievement makes clear that a future without malnutrition is within our grasp.

To drive progress over the next decade, the Nutrition Strategy recommits to rights-based and context-specific programmes that are informed by evidence and innovation.

We expand our traditional focus on early childhood to middle childhood and adolescence. We renew our focus on preventing stunting, wasting and micronutrient deficiencies, while increasingly responding to the challenge of childhood overweight and obesity.

And we propose a systems approach to nutrition that strengthens the ability of five key systems – food, health, water and sanitation, education, and social protection – to deliver diets, services and practices that support adequate maternal and child nutrition.

The strategy builds on UNICEF’s past strategic guidance and programme experience, while embracing six strategic shifts to respond to the evolving face of child malnutrition:

  • An explicit focus on addressing child malnutrition in all its forms
  • A comprehensive life cycle approach to nutrition programming
  • A deliberate emphasis on improving diets, services and practices
  • A systems approach to maternal and child nutrition
  • A greater attention to private sector engagement
  • A universal vision and agenda relevant to all countries

UNICEF Nutrition Strategy 2020–2030: Nutrition, for Every Child 

Summary

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4th International Conference on Global Food Security

7-9 December 2020 - ONLINE: Live and on-demand

Pre-conference mini-symposia on 4 December 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create so much uncertainty, the in-person 4th International Conference on Global Food Security that was scheduled for 6-9 December 2020 in Montpellier, France has been canceled.

The 4th International Conference on Global Food Security Online will take place as a live-streamed and interactive event 7-9 December 2020, 12:00-18:00 CET, with pre-conference mini-symposia on 4 December 2020, 12:00-18:00 CET.

Register now to participate in an interactive conference experience direct from your desktop or mobile device: live-stream presentations and take part in discussion through live chat and Q&A.

Register here

 

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World Soil Day Global Cerimony

4 December 2020 | 13:00-14:30 CET
Register here

World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually on 5 December as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and advocating for the sustainable management of soil resources.

This year's campaign, "Keep soil alive, Protect soil biodiversity" urges us to focus our attention on the workers belowground - from tiny bacteria to agile millipedes and slimy earthworms - all of which contribute to processes that are indispensable to life on Earth.

The WSD ceremony will be held virtually on 4 December with the participation of Mr Qu Dongyu  - FAO Director-General, Ms Elizabeth Maruma Mrema (tbc) - Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity and thousands of soil fans. The winners of the Glinka prize and King Bhumibol WSD award will be announced during the celebration. An interactive quiz will challenge your knowledge of soil biodiversity.

More info available here

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The Global Nutrition Cluster Technical Alliance Launch

Wednesday 2nd December, 15:00-16:00 (Geneva Time)
Please register here

The Global Nutrition Technical Alliance (formally the GTAM) warmly invites you to join us for the official launch of the GNC Technical Alliance. 

The GNC Technical Alliance is an initiative to support practitioners to improve the quality of nutrition preparedness, response, and recovery, by enabling and providing coordinated, accessible, and timely technical support through multiple channels.  

The upcoming webinar will officially launch the initiative and provide more detailed information about the ambition, objectives, and activities of the GNC Technical Alliance.  

Guest speakers: Víctor Aguayo - Chief of Nutrition, Associate Director, UNICEF, Kalil Sagno - Nutrition Cluster Coordinator DRC, and Dan Irvine- Senior Director Health and Nutrition,  World Vision International.

The webinar will be hosted in English with French, Spanish, and Arabic Translation available. 

Follow the GNC Technical Alliance on LinkedIn and Facebook or https://ta.nutritioncluster.net/

GNC Technical Alliance brief

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The New Nutrition Reality: Time to Recognize and Tackle the Double Burden of Malnutrition!

Tuesday, December 01, 2020 | 09:30 am to 11:15 am (EST)
Register here and watch online at IFPRI's event page

The world is facing a new nutrition reality in which persistent undernutrition and escalating overweight and obesity coexist within countries, communities, households, and individuals. This double burden of malnutrition brings a set of new challenges for policy and programming.

This seminar will present new global evidence on the magnitude of the double burden of malnutrition, describe the interconnected biological, societal, and ecological drivers of it, and propose a way forward on designing and estimating the cost-effectiveness of double-duty actions to tackle multiple forms of malnutrition simultaneously. The COVID-19 pandemic exemplifies the urgency of re-thinking nutrition policy and programming to tackle the new nutrition reality.

Agenda

Introduction

  • Francesco Branca, Director, Department of Nutrition for Health and Development (NHD), World Health Organization (WHO)

Speakers

  • Corinna Hawkes, Director, Centre for Food Policy, City, University of London
  • Rachel Nugent, Vice President and Director, Center for Global Non-communicable Diseases, RTI International and Associate Affiliate Professor of Global Health, University of Washington
  • Barry Popkin, W. R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, Department of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina
  • Jonathan Wells, Professor of Anthropology and Paediatric Nutrition, UCL Institute of Child Health

Closing remarks

  • Meera Shekar, Global Lead, Nutrition, Health, & Population, World Bank Group

Moderator

  • Marie Ruel, Director, Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division, IFPRI
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Resetting the Food System from Farm to Fork

1 December, 14:00-17:00 (CET)
Register here

Resetting the future of food is possible and with this aim, on December 1st, during an international online dialogue, the Barilla Foundation and Food Tank will present concrete solutions to rethink our food systems from farm to fork.

"Resetting the Food System from Farm to Fork" will highlight the critical role of farmers in feeding the world and managing natural resources, food business in progressing towards the 2030 Agenda, and chefs in re-designing food experiences. The prospects of technology and innovation, the role of food as prevention and the most recent policy developments, including the EU Farm to Fork Strategy, will also be discussed. These discussions will help set the stage for 2021 United Nations Food System Summit to be held in 2021.

More info on the website.

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MDD-W: From Collection to Action

25 November 2020, 14:00 to 16.30 (CET)

Register here: https://ec4nut.blumm.it/event/ar/5/mdd-w-from-collection-to-action-25-11-2020 
(open until 23 November 2020)

The high-level policy event will emphasize the relevance of MDD-W in the broader context of healthy and sustainable diets and food systems transformation.

Presenters will illustrate how MDD-W data can be used for promoting inclusive food security and nutrition policies at national, regional and global level, as well as for tracking the progress on SDGs, the Nutrition for Growth commitments and the UN Food Systems Summit Action Tracks. The objective is to encourage the political support and mobilization of resources for the MDD-W indicator's continued and scaled-up use with the aim to measure progress towards improving diet quality and at the same time raising awareness on gender-specific dietary needs.

Download the programme here

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3rd Global Conference of the SFS Programme

25, 26, 27, 30 November and 1, 3 December 2020

The 3rd Global Conference of the Sustainable Food Systems Programme will be held virtually.

The purpose of this 3rd global conference is to to provide substantial input to the UN Food Systems Summit that is tentatively scheduled for the third quarter of 2021, building on the achievements of the SFS Programme’s membership during the first five years of implementation as well as the outcomes of the Programme’s previous two global conferences.

Previous editions of the conference harnessed consensus on a range of priority areas for action. The 1st global conference in South Africa concluded with the Pretoria Resolution, while the 2nd global conference in Costa Rica finalized with the San José Call to Action.

Objectives and outcomes

Following the San José Call to Action of the SFS Programme’s 2nd conference, the objectives of this meeting are:

  • To strengthen the common vision that suggests that only through inclusive multi-stakeholder collaboration will we be able to achieve the profound transformation, through a set of key actions and implementation mechanisms, that our food systems require;
  • To provide a platform for structured discussion around the science underlying global efforts to characterize and assess progress towards more sustainable food systems;
  • and, overall, to raise the political importance of sustainable food systems among public and private sector leaders.

The expected outcomes of the conference are:

  • To provide science-based recommendations on the range of actions that can advance food systems transformation within the priority areas identified in the outcome of the 2nd global conference, in contribution to the Action Tracks of the Food Systems Summit 2021; and
  • To provide recommendations that can help define the implementation mechanisms (including accountability mechanisms) for such recommended actions.
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Webinar – Achieving Healthy Weight for All Children: Maintaining Momentum in Challenging Times

Friday 20 November from 15:00 – 16:30 CET
Register here

Millions of children worldwide are eating too much unhealthy food and not getting enough physical activity, leading to a rapid rise in childhood overweight and obesity. Once considered a problem limited to high-income countries, middle income countries now account for over three quarters of all children under 5 affected by overweight. Called “a ticking time bomb” by the World Bank, 1 in 5 children between 5 to 19 years of age is affected by overweight, and the issue is impacting a broader cross-section of the population including urban, rural and poor communities, often co-existing with various forms of undernutrition. Overweight and obesity disadvantage children, can result in stigma and can lead to a lifetime of diseases, including increased risks for some of the world’s biggest killers such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. For countries this translates into a population that is less healthy and less productive, and results in health systems overburdened with soaring costs for what are largely preventable diseases.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the very real health risks that people living with obesity can face, and – wherever possible – the best option is early prevention, in particular optimal breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices. In addition, the obesogenic environments that are driving the rapid rise in overweight and obesity are increasingly recognized as a threat to children’s rights, which adds urgency to the need for action. 

To mark the occasion of World Children’s Day, UNICEF and WHO will join forces to restate the global importance of childhood overweight prevention and efforts to create enabling environments that promote and protect healthy weight in childhood. Such environments ensure access to affordable nutritious foods and healthy diets and promote physical activity.

The webinar will showcase examples of the common challenges many countries, caregivers and children across the world are facing in relation to childhood overweight and obesity; at the same time it will offer a platform to share some of the lessons learned in overcoming these challenges through progressive policies and double duty interventions that address both undernutrition and overweight simultaneously. Against the difficult backdrop of the COVID-19 response, speakers will be encouraged to reflect on whether we need to reimagine the response to childhood overweight and obesity moving forward.

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