CFS member countries endorse policy recommendations that promote the use of data to guide food security and nutrition decision-making.
On October 24th, during the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) 51st Session, member countries have endorsed the CFS policy recommendations on strengthening food security and nutrition (FSN) data systems.
The recommendations have been informed by the CFS High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) Report 17 “Data Collection and Analysis Tools for Food Security and Nutrition: towards enhancing effective, inclusive, evidence-informed decision making” (2022), with the overall goal of contributing to the achievement of the SDGs and the realization of the right to adequate food.
High-quality, timely and relevant FSN data are a fundamental resource for policy makers to design and implement evidence-based policies, that promote and improve food security and nutrition.
Capacities to produce, interpret and use data, and institutional arrangements that support the use of data to guide policy, are essential to understand the impact and effectiveness of policies and to monitor the progress towards the achievement of the SDGs and other national and international development indicators.
Fundamental data gaps still exist. The recommendations urge to: “address the gaps to effectively guide responsible action and inform policymaking, especially timely and sufficiently granular data on peoples’ ability to produce and access food, on food and nutrient consumption, and on nutritional status, while recognizing the importance of safeguarding privacy”.
The policy recommendations advocate for strengthening the capacities of all stakeholders, involved in the collection, analysis, dissemination, protection and the use of data, to facilitate effective, inclusive, evidence-informed decision making. Investments and allocation of resources for improving the infrastructure and technologies for data collection and analysis are considered fundamental actions for enhancing FSN data systems. The recommendations call for increasing and sustaining investment of FSN data, while optimizing and/or repurposing current resources.
The document also calls for strengthening data governance frameworks at local and national levels and fostering collaboration among different stakeholders for the harmonization and sharing of FSN data. A key challenge recognized by the CFS in this document is to have a more systemic view of FSN data, which “are often not standardized and often fragmented across different international agencies, government sectors, public and private institutions”. Therefore, the recommendations promote the coordination and collaboration among parties on the harmonization and sharing of FSN data to improve its quality and utility.
The recommendations encourage States to: “ensuring that people are at the heart of decisions, when collecting, analyzing and using data, working to achieve the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security”, and thatdata collection, analysis, dissemination and use are implemented in line with the legislative frameworks and in ways that are effective, non-discriminatory, inclusive, consistent with human rights, transparent, ethical and equitable.
Maximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist, welcomed the adoption of the policy recommendations “as a recognition of the central role that relevant, timely and granular data play in strengthening a virtuous process of evidence-based policy making to eradicate hunger and all forms of malnutrition”.
The endorsement of these recommendations marks a significant milestone, paving the way for productive discussions within countries and international fora. As a first step, FAO Chief Economist confirmed that the policy recommendations will be included in FAO’s biennial report to the 55th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in February 2024.
Promoting the discussion on FSN data at the international level will raise awareness and foster greater use of FSN data in policies to end hunger. It will also enable statisticians to improve collaboration and develop a systematic view of data production, overcoming fragmentation in favour of more harmonized data systems.
