Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

EVAL-ForwARD is a new Community of Practice on evaluation for Food Security, Agriculture and Rural Development, jointly promoted by the evaluation offices of the Rome-based agencies: CGIAR (formerly known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), FAO, IFAD and WFP.

Its first public launch took place at EvalColombo2018 during the side event The role of Evaluation in the public sector: how best to support national capacities. Conference participants had the opportunity to engage with the Directors of the Evaluation offices of FAO, IFAD and WFP on the aims, opportunities and thematic focus of this initiative.

The objectives of EVAL-ForwARD are to enhance awareness and capacities at country-level about evaluation in the agriculture, food security and rural development sectors, with a close focus on the evaluation of efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 – End Hunger.

Evaluators, development practitioners, researchers and government officials are welcome to join the Community of Practice and:

• Exchange evaluation information, practice and knowledge;
• Propose resources and blogs;
• Post information about events, conferences, training opportunities.

The first EVAL-ForwARD webinar on Evaluating with a Sustainable Development Goal 2 lens: experiences to date is planned for the second half of October and aims to uncover the challenges encountered and the good practices on which the development community could build, fostering further discussion and exchanges on the topic, which is at the core of the Community’s mandate.

EVAL-ForwARD uses a Dgroup mailing list for knowledge-sharing and a website as a repository of information and resources. To sign up to the Community and to find out more, please visit: www.evalforward.org

The LRP Toolbox is a freely accessible online source for a range of stakeholders, directly or indirectly involved in land use planning. The Toolbox contains a comprehensive number of existing tools and approaches that are used to implement land resources planning. The overall goal of the Toolbox is to make potential users aware of the existence of these tools, facilitate access to their information, and assist with the selection of those tools that meet the requirements of different stakeholders, operating at different levels, in different regions, and in different sectors. See the users’ guide for more information.

This new publication presents the work of the FSN Forum, offering an overview of how Forum activities and its vast network of participants around the world help FAO to tackle the root causes of poverty and hunger and support countries, organizations and communities in their efforts to improve lives. 

Landesa and the Land Portal will co-facilitate a dialogue on the principles and practices of land-based investments, with a focus on the Tanzanian context. This is intended as part of the broader conversation on responsible investment in land principles, guidelines and practices that has proliferated since the 2009 food crisis and subsequent ‘land grabs’ that swept the global south. This discussion is intended to bring to the fore a grounded perspective on a conversation and debate that often remains in the conceptual or abstract. The Tanzanian context is particularly relevant because of the government’s interest to increase agricultural investment and revise the current National Land Policy with the process underway, which, among other topics, has implications for decision-making processes around land-based investments.

The conversation has two primary objectives. The first is to increase awareness about investment practices in Tanzania and empower the voices from within Tanzania to discuss the realities of trying to improve responsible investment practices in the country. The second is to improve the understanding of global experts and practitioners who are designing and/or advocating for more responsible investment practices in the region and globally.

Please visit the following webpage for more information: https://landportal.info/debates/2017/responsible-investments-land-persp….

The dialogue will be available on the Land Portal from 5 until 16 June 2017.

The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) are hosting the event Investments for Healthy Food Systems on 9 May 2017 from 09:30 – 17:00 CET, at FAO HQ, Rome. This event is part of a series of events to “develop common understanding of issues and lay the basis for informed CFS policy convergence work” on nutrition and food systems, called for by the strategy “CFS engagement in advancing nutrition”. In line with this strategy, this event aims to increase common understanding about how policies and investment opportunities can improve nutrition through healthier food systems. The UNSCN Discussion Paper Investments for Healthy Food Systems will serve as the foundation document for the discussion.



The UNSCN Secretariat invites you to actively participate in the event, either in person or through the webcast (www.fao.org/webcast) and live Q&A session on Twitter (#CFS4Nutrition, @UN_CFS). Interpretation services will be provided in all UN official languages.



 

FAO has just released the Toolkit and E-learning modules on Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Food Systems. This integrated package of guidance materials, developed by drawing upon expertise from across the Organisation and of many partners, aims at enhancing capacities for the formulation, implementation and monitoring of nutrition-sensitive food system policies and programmes, in line with the Rome Declaration on Nutrition, the SDGs and UN Decade of Action for Nutrition.

The “Toolkit for Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Food Systems” is composed by four tools:

• Key recommendations for improving nutrition through agriculture and food systems
• Designing nutrition-sensitive agriculture investments. Checklist and guidance for programme formulation
• Nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food systems in practice. Options for intervention
• Compendium of indicators for nutrition-sensitive agriculture.

The E-learning modules on Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Food Systems use a scenario-based and experiential learning approach to assist policy makers and programme managers to effectively integrate nutrition in their work.

Two modules are already available on-line:

• Nutrition, Food Security and Livelihoods: Basic concepts
• Improving Nutrition through Agriculture and Food Systems

These resources are freely available and downloadable at

http://www.fao.org/nutrition/policies-programmes/toolkit/en

http://www.fao.org/nutrition/policies-programmes/e-learning/en