World Food Day 2022 celebrated across Europe and Central Asia

28/10/2022

World Food Day is commemorated every year on 16 October, the date FAO was founded in 1945. The theme this year was “Leave NO ONE Behind.” The day highlighted that, although we have made progress towards building a better world, we are off track to ending world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.

Europe and Central Asia is facing the triple burden of armed conflicts, economic shocks, and the negative effects of climate change, all of which has resulted in supply chain disruption, rising energy costs, food shortages, and price hikes for food, animal feed, and fertilizers. Together, these factors hinder the sustainable development of the agrifood sectors of the economy. World Food Day focuses attention on these issues and seeks pathways to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals so that no one is left behind.

World Food Day is a call to organize an event or take action to work together as a global society to create a better, more sustainable future for all. The FAO offices in Europe and Central Asia responded to this appeal with activities of an impressively wide variety in nature, format, and scope. Some were celebratory – a run, a horse race, an agricultural fair, or a building illumination. Some were exploratory and discursive and took the form of a conference, forum, or video. Others incorporated mention of World Food Day within a speech or relied on the power of social media. Underlying all the observances was a common awareness that success in making a better world will come only when no one is left behind.

Here is a selection of the events that happened across the Europe and Central Asia region in 2022.

Republic of Albania

As part of its response to the World Food Day appeal, the FAO in Albania focused its efforts on using the media to inform the public of World Food Day messages. It placed the 60 second spot in the public television channel news coverage of World Food Day. The Albanian version of the op-ed signed by FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative, Vladimir Rakhmanin was published in Ekonomia, in Drita TV, FXMedianews and in the online text reporting of Radio Kosovo e Lire .  A national press release was published in Albanian Telegraphic Agency and on the online site of Albanian Public Television. 

Republic of Armenia

The FAO team in Armenia held a half-day WFD Forum to discuss the main challenges to agriculture in Armenia and to explore solutions. It was attended by representatives of the Government of Armenia, UN agencies, the Food Safety Inspection Body, the Armenian National Agricultural University, local authorities, donor community, project partners, businesses, and experts.

Republic of Azerbaijan

In Azerbaijan, FAO delivered its messages through an Asan Radio programme, “World Food Day Radio” on 19 October. It was dedicated to the work of FAO in Azerbaijan, with participation of the FAO Representative in Azerbaijan, Melek Cakmak and technical experts. The broadcast was posted on social media (Asan Radio, UN Azerbaijan, FAO Azerbaijan) channels, too.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina concentrated its awareness-raising work on social media, publishing three World Food Day posts on the UN Country Team’s Facebook page. The children’s animation,in English, was promoted on 10 October. The bilingual Bosnian-English post on 12 October was a lengthy message quoting FAO Director-General QU Dongyu that “higher priority must be given to increasing domestic food production and preservation of natural resource.”  On 14 October a 30-second video spot, in English, was promoted with a bilingual Bosnian-English message.

Georgia

In the mountainous Svaniti region of Georgia, on 16-17 October, an agricultural and food festival that was held in the main square of Mestia to celebrate both WFD and the International Day of Rural Women (15 October). It was organized by FAO, in conjunction with government and other partners. In addition to speeches by high-level government representatives and FAO Representative, Raimund Jehle, farmers exhibited their dairy, fruit, and vegetable products for public tasting and purchase, and there were demonstrations of cooking with Georgian pulses and bread-making. Raimund Jehle also spoke to EURONEWS Georgia in the evening news bulletin about WFD and Rural Women’s Day, food security, and the challenges that rural women face.

Hungary

In an activity that was both symbolic of solidarity with those in need and a concrete action to ensure food security, the seventeenth annual Hungarian food donation convoy rolled through Budapest, Hungary, on 14 October before going to a distribution centre. This year, the long line of transport vehicles carried food donations from private partners, worth EUR 240 000. A short Russian language video captures comments by the Vladimir Rakhmanin, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative. The annual event was organized jointly with long-time partners, the Hungarian Foodbank Association, and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Republic of Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, to answer the WFD call, FAO ran its annual World Food Day mini marathon (3 to 7 km) in Astana on 15 October on the theme of “Leave No One Behind.” The yearly run marks WFD and promotes healthy lifestyles. This year, over 60 participants of all ages joined in the open event from FAO, UN, government, students, and members of the public. From all accounts it was a happy and successful event!

Kosovo¹

The op-ed signed by FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative, Vladimir Rakhmanin, was published on 14 October in English in Prishtina Insight, a top tier media outlet in Kosovo.

Kyrgyz Republic

Kyrgyzstan's Agricultural Products Fair, “Agro Tech Expo 2022” dedicated to World Food Day was held from October 20 to 22 at the Old Square in Bishkek. Organized jointly by FAO, the Ministry of Agriculture and the World Food Programme, the event combined the exhibition of organic products known as “Organic Expo 2022” and the traditional "Golden Autumn" harvest festival.

Republic of North Macedonia

World Food Day in North Macedonia was observed by promoting Junior World Food day on social media and the placement of the Macedonian version of the regional op-ed by Vladimir Rakhmanin in the news to have FAO’s messages in North Macedonia reaching audiences and being amplified. Without direct FAO involvement, schools and academia held WFD events, and cited FAO’s work. The awareness of World Food Day and of FAO’s work that is behind these independent educational events indicate that FAO’s messaging is having an impact. This is encouraging because it is when we as individuals take actions that no one is left behind.

Republic of Moldova

The observance of WFD in the Republic of Moldova has been rescheduled for November 19.  For the week of October 24 to 28, there are several talk shows scheduled on the topic of food security with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Assistant FAO Representative in Moldova, Tudor Robu. Additionally, for World Food Day, a national language version of Vladimir Rakhmanin’s op-ed was published by seven news sources, including agromedia.

Russian Federation

In the Russian Federation, FAO observed World Food Day with several activities over several days and actively promoted WFD messages in the broadcast, print, online, and social media. On 15 October 2022, FAO Liaison Office Director Oleg Kobiakov was the guest at the special World Food Day edition of a popular weekly food and agriculture talk-show, “From Mikoyan to Mamikonyan,” on VESTI FM.  A FAO press conference atTASS:“World Food Day 2022: Global Food Security” was picked up by multiple other news sources. Another highlight was that two agricultural news sources, Vestnik APK and Veterinary and Life published interviews with Oleg Kobiakov.

Republic of Serbia

In Serbia, FAO promoted the regional photo contest and distributed the Serbia language poster and leaflet featuring the characters from the children's movie Trolls to kindergartens and elementary schools.

Republic of Tajikistan

The main WFD event in the Republic of Tajikistan was a festival, organized with partners, including the World Food Programme and the Social and Industrial Foods Service Institute. At the festival, pavilions held master classes on a healthy and nutritious diet, theatrical performances and a photo exhibition dedicated to the main theme of the WFD. Through an Instagram account, Tajikistan's office ran a storytelling contest on the theme of the “four betters,” from October 7 to 16. FAO broadcast Tajik versions of the animation video and the WFD promotional video on prominent screens in Dushanbe between 10 and 20 October.

Republic of Türkiye

In Türkiye, we could say celebrations were more akin to World Food Day month than day, as many events took place over the course of the entire month. The kick-off started on 4 October with the launch of The State of Food Security and Nutrition with Özyeğin University. Subsequently, there were several conferences and meetings throughout the month, in which FAO was a co-organizer or participated in, on themes related to leaving no one behind, women’s cooperatives, youth, and sustainability. The annual horse race was held on 15 October. In a dramatic display, Türkiye 's Atakule tower in Ankara, was illuminated with a WFD celebration message in UN blue on 16 October.

Republic of Uzbekistan

In Uzbekistan, with participation from Samarkand State University and ICARDA, FAOorganized the IV International Scientific and Practical conference on “Food Security: Global and National Challenges” in Samarkand.  The "Korzinka.uz" supermarket also supported WFD 2022 by making posts on their social media, such as Telegram, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. On 16 October, the World Food Day video, with Uzbek subtitles, was promoted on Facebook and Telegram, as well as the radio spot ran at 11:35 and 19:35 on Radio Poytaxt.

Ukraine

FAO in Ukraine produced a highly effective and affective video that personalizes the humanitarian and development messages of the Organization. An FAO employee Katryna and her son Taras speak of the conflict in Ukraine, the damage it has caused to agriculture in the country and the help FAO is delivering to farmers so that they can keep producing food. Otherwise, the newsmedia focused only on political mentions of WFD, the most notable of which are those by President Zelenskyi and US Secretary of State, Blinken.

This summary illustrates that the observances of World Food Day 2022 in the region of Europe and Central Asia were of an impressively wide variety in nature, format, and scope. The observances involved partners and collaboration governments, the private sector, academia, and civil society and individuals. We must all answer the World Food Day call to make a better world, in which everyone has a right to nutritious food. FAO can lead World Food Day, but as these events show, it is a day that belongs to all and should give hope to all.

¹ All references to Kosovo should be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).

Related links

Read more

• Photos
• World Food Day 2022
• World Food Day photo contest
• World Food Day media links