One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, parliamentarians from countries in the Near East, North Africa and Ethiopia gathered for a virtual dialogue on food security and nutrition in the time of COVID-19. The dialogue, the third in a series organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and supported by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), offered parliamentarians from the Arabic-speaking world a forum to share their experiences in helping their countries to guarantee food security, nutrition and the right to food during the containment and recovery phases of the pandemic.

À un an du début de la pandémie du COVID-19, des parlementaires de différents pays africains d'expression française se sont réunis pour un dialogue virtuel sur la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition au temps du COVID-19. Le dialogue, le deuxième d'une série organisée par l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'Alimentation et l'Agriculture (FAO) et soutenu par l'Agence Espagnole de Coopération Internationale au développement (AECID), a offert aux parlementaires un forum pour échanger leurs expériences sur les défis et les opportunités pour la sécurité alimentaire, la nutrition et le droit à l'alimentation dans les phases de confinement et de relèvement de...

The importance of addressing youth issues in the Philippines The Philippines is an agricultural country with a land area of 30 million hectares, 47% of which is agricultural land. The Agriculture sector in the Philippines contributes about 20 percent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, in the past decades, the Agriculture sector encountered many challenges, particularly the ageing population of farmers in the country. The Department of Agriculture of the Philippines, in an Official Statement(1) has pointed out the declining interest in farming resulting to an aging labor force in the agriculture sector, which may lead to the deterioration of the...

Nearly one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, parliamentarians gathered for the first in a series of virtual dialogues on food security and nutrition in the time of COVID-19. The dialogues, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and supported by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), offer a forum for parliamentarians to exchange experiences and best practices in mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 on food security, in both the containment and recovery phases of the pandemic.The first dialogue in the series brought together parliamentarians from Central America and South America to...

Globally there are estimated 1.21 billion people aged between 15 and 24, a number that will increase to 1.29 billion by 2030. In Africa only, more than 10 million young people are expected to enter the labour market every year for the next decade. This growing youth population, especially in developing countries, represents a great opportunity for harnessing a demographic dividend, but also economic and social challenges, which could lead to political instability or conflict. With the COVID-19 crisis exacerbating existing vulnerabilities of rural young women and men and inequalities, it is crucial to design inclusive...