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.
