Archive for category: UNSCN

3 and 4 April 2019
WICC Wageningen, the Netherlands

In order to deliver on the 2030 SDG- Agenda, we need to improve on the performance of food systems. 'Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals cannot happen without ending hunger and malnutrition and without having sustainable and resilient, climate-compatible agriculture and food systems that deliver for people and planet. (Source: UN Zero Hunger Challenge - ZHC).

Better understanding of and support for inclusive and sustainable food systems is needed for improved food systems. What effective role should monitoring and evaluation play in this? New evaluation approaches need to be developed to cope with the dynamic and complex nature of food systems, which feature multiple perspectives, multiple levels, multiple actors with multiple goals operating in multiple sectors.  

The main question of the conference is: “How should and can monitoring and evaluation support the transition towards inclusive and sustainable food systems?”

Sub-questions:

• How should M&E support food system change, in all its multiple levels, with actors in multiple sectors with multiple incentives and goals?
• How should M&E also engage with and assist the inevitable trade-offs between competing and perhaps contradictory consequences?

A working conference

The conference will be a working conference, where space is created to share, dialogue and co-create, so as to connect different perspectives, models and experiences on M&E that support inclusive and sustainable food systems. We will use a systems perspective and methods for pulling together ideas generated in the conference. This conference builds on the WUR SDG conference focusing on SDG2 and SDG 17, building alliances between different partners that work towards inclusive and sustainable food systems, where M&E can and should play a crucial supportive role.

The conference aims to generate practical ideas and partnerships for monitoring and evaluation based on principles that support of transition towards inclusive and sustainable food systems.

Find all information here.

Register here.

Around 113 million people in 53 countries experienced acute food insecurity in 2018, compared to 124 million in 2017. However, the number of people in the world facing food crises has remained well over 100 million in the last three years, and the number of countries affected has risen. Moreover, an additional 143 million people in another 42 countries are just one step away from facing acute hunger.
Nearly two-thirds of those facing acute hunger are in just 8 countries: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. In 17 countries, acute hunger either remained the same or increased. Climate and natural disasters pushed another 29 million people into acute food insecurity in 2018. And 13 countries - including North Korea and Venezuela - are not in the analysis because of data gaps.

The report's findings are a powerful call for strengthened cooperation that links together prevention, preparedness and response to address urgent humanitarian needs and root causes, which include climate change, economic shocks, conflict and displacement. It further highlights the need for a unified approach and action across the humanitarian and development dimensions of food crises, and for more investment in conflict mitigation and sustainable peace.

The Global Report is produced each year by the Global Network Against Food Crises, which is made up of international humanitarian and development partners. This year's report is being presented at a two-day high-level event, ‘Food and agriculture in times of crisis' (2-3 April 2019, Brussels), and will look at innovative approaches and solutions for preventing and addressing food crises, plus a roadmap for joint future action.

For more key findings from the report, see the Global Report fact sheet.

Full report

1-3 April 2019
UN City, Copenhagen, Denmark

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the UNFCCC will convene the first global multi-stakeholder conference on synergies between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change that will serve as an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on SDG 13 (climate action) ahead of in-depth review of SDG 13 by the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in 2019.

The ‘Climate and SDGs Synergy Conference’ aims to promote action around the SDGs and climate change, and deliver a set of concrete recommendations for strengthening the interlinkages between the SDGs and climate action.

This EGM is part of a series of preparatory meetings for the SDGs under review.

Concept note

Website

A child’s future health is largely determined in the first 1000 days after conception, meaning pregnancy + the first two years of childhood. Proper nutrition, birth type, breastfeeding during this period is very important and this is supported by many scientific works. Malnutrition in the first 1000 days not only leads to the risk of chronic diseases and psychiatric disorders, but also causes physical, mental and metabolic malfunctions, epigenetic changes and problems in brain development and functions. Maternal stress, unnecessary use of antibiotics or corticosteroids, and toxic exposures lead to the changes mother’s microbiota, weakens immune system, which in turn may cause increase in infections like diarrhea, pneumonia and other atopic diseases. Improper nutrition in the first 1000 days is one of the important factors that can increase mother-child death rate.

Despite all the socio-economic and cultural changes in developing countries, improper and insufficient nutrition are still remaining. Giving too many births, adolescent and late age pregnancies, time period less than two years between pregnancies, high rates of cesarean births, common use of antibiotics and glucocorticosteroids and lack of knowledge about nutrition, difficulties for reaching the essential nutrients, increased frequency of anemia and diabetes during pregnancy, increased cesarean delivery rates, even if the rate of breast feeding is high during the first 24 hours, and rapidly decreasing and early quitting of breast feeding is fairly high are problems which should be solved by us.

In line with these considerations, the “7th International Congress on Maternal, Infant, Nutrition in the First 1000 Days” will be held between 27-30 March 2019 at CVK Park Bosphorus Hotel in İstanbul, Turkey. We welcome you to view the organiser's website for more information.

20-21 March 2019
Washington DC, USA

Convened annually, the Global Food Security Symposium addresses the US government's and international community’s progress on global food security and ensures that new challenges are met with action and innovation.

Since 2013, the Next Generation Delegation program has provided an opportunity for promising students to engage in symposium discussions and to interact with business and policy leaders, civil society, and social entrepreneurs working on agriculture, food, and nutrition issues.

With its focus on pathways to opportunity for the next generation, the 2019 symposium will offer key insights on how to leverage past successes, and invigorate future efforts amidst an evolving global landscape. This unique window of opportunity is a chance to help shape the next decade of leadership on global food security.

More info available here.