New Delhi, India - A delegation of high-level government officials and members of the Afghanistan Food Security and Nutrition Agenda (AFSeN-A) participated in a training on policy change analysis in agriculture food security and nutrition in India.

The training focused on using the Kaleidoscope model to examine the evolving of food policies to address the issues of food security and nutrition, and gauge the progress towards meeting desired objectives and goals at the national and subnational level. It was a six days training that was mainly organized for the officials of the government of Afghanistan that provided a platform for them to improve their capacities to conduct an analysis of policy alternatives facing the food, agriculture and natural resources sectors for evidence-based policymaking.

The delegation from Afghanistan was led by H.E. Nasrullah Arsalai General Director of Council of Ministers and attended by representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL), Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), Civil Society Organizations (CSO) members, Ministry of Economy (MoEC), Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MoIC), and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Afghanistan and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) jointly organized the training under the Food and Nutrition Security Impact, Resilience, Sustainability and Transformation (FIRST) Programme with the support of the European Union.

FIRST is a partnership programme between the European Union and FAO. FIRST provides governments in over 30 countries with policy assistance and capacity development support to review current policy and institutional frameworks for food security, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture.

Mr. Tomio Shiciri, FAO Representative in India highlighted the importance of prioritization and implementation of policies guided by nationally specified needs and urgencies and subsequent allocation of resources to the development interventions. Ms. Mehnaz Ajmal Paracha, policy officer of the FIRST programme, while explaining the environment of food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture in Afghanistan, emphasized on creating enabling environment for implementation of policies, and building the institutional and human capacities.

Dr. Shahid ur Rashid, Regional Director of Asia – IFPRI, welcomed the Afghan delegates and expressed the interest in laying the foundation of IFPRI’s work in Afghanistan in collaboration with FAO mainly in the policy arena in food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture.

This training has enabled the participants with enhanced skills and know-how to be able to develop an in-country policy analysis environment with the full understanding of the policy process, concepts of policy analysis, identify gaps and suggest policy changes that could be helpful in better service delivery and effective resource utilization.

To ensure multi-sectoral policies are in line with Afghanistan National Development Framework (ANPDF), and the National Priority Programmes (NPPs), as well as to address the need of vulnerable communities related to food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture across the country, an extensive policy gap analysis will be carried out by trained government officials to formulate a nutrition-sensitive food system policy for Afghanistan.

FAO and IFPRI reaffirm their commitment to strengthen the strategic partnership between FAO, IFPRI and the government of Afghanistan in the food and nutrition security policy arena in Afghanistan to achieve the ultimate objective of zero hunger.