The Food Security Impact, Resilience, Sustainability and Transformation Programme – FIRST, is a policy assistance facility that operates under a partnership between the European Union (EU) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FIRST aims at contributing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. In fact, it supports the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal 2 “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” at the country level by supporting the creation of an enabling policy and institutional environment in a number of key ministries that deal with FNSSA, and by encouraging better coordination between different stakeholders.

FIRST works in Myanmar mainly with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MoALI) that is mandated to develop agricultural policies and strategies to produce food as well as land policies that must create an enabling environment to achieve more satisfactory levels of food and nutrition security. FIRST also supports MoALI in its task to contribute to the development of a National Nutrition Strategy, an inter-ministerial initiative under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS).

As part of its policy support and coordination facilitating role, FIRST organizes a series of three-day capacity building workshops at national and region/state level to enhance the knowledge base on Food and Nutrition Security, Land and Rural Livelihoods solutions in Myanmar among Government officials. The first workshop was held in Nay Pyi Taw on 30-31/10 and 01/11/2017 for some 55 senior officials representing nine different ministries. This event provided an opportunity for participants with a different technical background to work on a common framework for advancing food security and nutrition in different parts of the country. The informed policy dialogue resulted in the participatory identification of FNSSA and land issues to be integrated in respective sector and inter-sector policies such as the National Nutrition Strategy.  The participants recognized the importance of integrating multi-sector dimensions of food and nutrition security and land issues in policy formulation in Myanmar. Another three workshops are programmed for implementation until the end of 2017 respectively in Bago and Mandalay Regions, and Mon State. All technical support materials and specific outcomes of the dialogue will be documented and made available for policy makers and their partners.