FAO in Bangladesh, in collaboration with the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the Statistics Division of FAO Headquarters in Rome (ESS), organized a sub-regional workshop on “Sustainable Development Goal Target 2.1 for South Asia: ‘Monitoring Food Security in the Context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda’” on 4-6 March 2018 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The workshop was attended by 13 participants from National Statistics Offices (NSOs) and various ministries of five SAARC countries, namely Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as 27 participants from the BBS.

The objective of the workshop was to: (i) present the SDG 2.1 indicators for which FAO is the custodian agency, namely the Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU)[1] and the Prevalence of Food Insecurity based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)[2], and (ii) to develop capacities of NSOs and SDG focal point officials to advocate to national government leaders for the inclusion of the FIES and food consumption modules in national surveys for monitoring SDG target 2.1.

The participants also shared their country experiences on existing food security monitoring initiatives, challenges they face, and the possibilities of incorporating SDG 2.1 indicators in national surveys were discussed.

As a follow up, the FAO Meeting the Undernutrition Challenge (MUCH) project, in collaboration with the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) of the Ministry of Food, organized a 3-day specialized training courseon “ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition as indicators of SDG 2 for use in methodologies and application in food security and nutrition policies” on 7-9 March 2018 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The training course was attended by 22 participants from the Thematic Teams of the Government of Bangladesh involved in food security and nutrition as well as the BBS.

During the session opened by Mr Badrul Arefin, FPMU Director General, chief guest Dr Shamsul Alam, Member (Senior Secretary), GED, Planning Commission and special guest Mr David Doolan, FAO Representative a.i. in Bangladesh highlighted the importance of reliable and valuable data, as well as data sharing, which was followed by a presentation by Mr Naoki Minamiguchi, MUCH Chief Technical Advisor, emphasising the importance of understanding the PoU and FIES correctly for provision of policy advice to decision-makers.

The participants were provided with a series of lectures and presentations as well as computer-based hands-on exercises on the use of household food consumption and dietary survey data to estimate these SDG 2.1 relevant indicators. With step-by-step guidance by Dr Carlo Cafiero, Senior Statistician and Mr Abdul Sattar, Statistics Officer from ESS, the participants practiced computing the FIES, using Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) data.

The topics presented were indicated as being relevant for the participants’ jobs, and the training has provided useful conceptual background for their jobs.

MUCH is financially supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the European Union (EU). The project is aimed at strengthening the enabling environment for eradicating food insecurity and malnutrition in Bangladesh.