Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Re: What are the barriers and opportunities for scientists and other knowledge holders to contribute to informing policy for more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems?

QUESTIONS:

  1. Analysis of the complexities and practical problems associated with science-policy interfaces
  • Are you aware of opportunities to contribute science, evidence and knowledge to policy at national, regional or global levels?

YES. I am aware of three courses that were offered to graduate students by colleagues at several universities on policy at state, national, and global levels. One of the courses was Advanced Animal/human Health Leadership Policy Courses. Course Description: These courses covered: International, national and state policy issues affecting veterinary medicine; how policy is made; organizational cultures; and the role of science in policymaking. Graduate students would visit state capitols, national agencies such as USDA in Washington DC, The Congress, and engage with Congressional staff and learn how to communicate science to policy makers through policy briefs. At the global level, the students visit FAO office and the OIE/WOAH representative (Chief Veterinary Officer) to learn about policy development at the global level. These three policy courses (State, National, and Global) were offered collaboratively by several universities including the University of California Davis (as part of Master of Veterinary Preventive Medicine (MVPM), Washington State University and the University of Minnesota (as part of Executive Master of Public Health). Faculty also had opportunity to participate in a 10-day professional development course “Engaging Inter-governmental Organizations” such as FAO, OIE/WOAH, WHO, WTO. This course was offered by the University of Minnesota Center for Animal Health and Food Safety.

  1. Knowledge Production for policy

•    To what extent, and in what ways, is your research co-produced with other knowledge holders and non-academic-stakeholders important for informing policy in agrifood systems?

Mississippi State University is currently working with the African Union (AU) “To establish and harmonize Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulatory regimes across the eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs) of the (AU) and establish an African Continental Free Trade Area with safe cross border trade of agricultural products among member countries of the AU-RECs. The research that will inform SPS regulatory regimes across the AU-RECs will be co-produced by Mississippi State University faculty collaboratively with scientists from the eight AU-RECs through scientific exchange fellowships.

  1. Knowledge translation for policy-making

Mississippi State University supports me to produce and disseminate a range of knowledge products for various audiences including manuals and extension articles to agricultural farmers to peer review articles published in journals. As an example:

In a project to Strengthen Agricultural Production and Regional Trade among Women Smallholder Farmers in East Africa; Mississippi State University, University of Tennessee, Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Morogoro, Tanzania, and Higher Education Resource Services, East Africa (HERS-EA) an NGO in East Africa collaborated on this project and the research was shared with small-holder poultry farmers in Tanzania through extension articles that were further translated into Swahili and bound into a manual.

By Margaret Khaitsa