Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

The International Network of Eco-Regions - IN.N.E.R is pleased to present the Bio-district's model as a good practice on investments for healthy food systems.

Proponent

IN.N.E.R. – International Network of Eco Regions, established in 2014 and coordinating experiences of territorial development based on principles and methods of organic agriculture and agro-ecology, in Italy and abroad, encourages exchanges of experience and know-how among bio-districts and facilitates their communication and cooperation.



Date/Timeframe and location

2009-2017 - present and beyond, National Park of Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni, Province of Salerno, Campania Region, Italy. In this land, where the first bio-district was established, farmers, citizens and public administrators adopted a methodology to enhance organic food production signing a pact for sustainable management of local resources: a social innovation in governance.

Food product in these areas becomes cultural heritage and local identity mark with a social responsibility in management of natural and environmental resources of several sectors (agriculture, tourism, commerce, etc.).

A Bio-district adopts an integrated approach of sustainable development shared by different actors are involved: improvement quality of life, higher employment opportunities for local population and the reduction of population’s decrease in rural areas, the quality of agro-food productions and local livestock premises.



Main responsible entity

Bio-district Cilento Association, 10 San Silvestro Square, Ceraso Salerno, Italy. www.biodistretto.net



Nutrition context

The Bio-district Cilento is located in the area where the Mediterranean Diet was born. The ongoing nutritional transition is affecting also that area resulting in an increase of the rates of overweight and obesity. Scientific studies have recently shown that consumers who regularly consume organic food exhibit healthier dietary patterns, more adherent to the Mediterranean Diet, than consumers who do not buy organic at all or buy it occasionally. In the context of a Biodistrict, the combination in a sustainable food system both of the organic production and consumption ways and ethics is expected to provide sounded sustainable solutions for the present and future.



Key characteristics of the food system(s) considered

The preminent role of local actors in giving value to the territorial local resources alongside the logic of sustainability.

Building up of territorial pacts between producers and consumers as innovative and efficient answer to main development problems.

Valorisation of territorial traditional culture and related ancient know-how (cultural value).

Reinforcement of farms and businesses dedicated to organic productions can highly increase their income and encourage others to convert to organic produce (economic value).

Reduction of pesticides and polluting substances in agriculture besides promoting the culture of respect for the environment and landscape with also an important impact on human health and local tourism (environmental value).



Key characteristics of the investment made

The diversification of business activities according to the multifunctional paradigm, initially through local supply chain initiatives.

Strengthened "green public procurements" strategies and consolidation of local markets (GAS purchasing groups, school canteens and hospital meals, etc.) have valorised the production.

Widening of the organic producers and operators.

Private and public co-funding in the framework of Rural Integrated Project and Rural Development Program.



Key actors and stakeholders involved (including through south-south/triangular exchanges, if any)

AIAB Campania and the National Park providing financial support at the early stages of biodistrict tested the ground for the bio-district concept in the park area; Besides them the Cilento B-D involved different key actors along the way providing an enabling environment:

• producers, committed to produce according to the principles of organic farming and to develop short supply chain and multifunctional initiatives on their farms (didactic farms, farm tourism, social farming), contributed with marketing the bio-district territory

• consumers, supporting through their food and services purchases

• citizens who benefit of a better quality of life thanks to the adoption of green solutions in the bio-district area

• local institutions, committed to promote organic farming in the area, apply the principles of organic philosophy and sustainability to the management of urban green areas, waste, renewable energies,other eco-friendly technologies and collaborate with AIAB in the conversion to organic of public farmlands fostering social farming initiatives;

• operators of the agro-food supply chain can make profit from the concentration of organic producers in the territory; tourist operators qualify their offer through organic menus and trails;

• local training, research centres, associations and education actors developing an analytical framework for the classification and performance monitoring of bio-districts;

Today the agricultural department at the Campania Regional Authority is responsible for the Integrated Territorial Development Plan and the provision of multi-year financial support for organic extension services and IFOAM EU is the European umbrella organisation for organic food and farming facilitating triangular exchanges.



Key changes (intended and unintended) as a result of the investment/s

1.650 organic ha in total (including organic ha and those already in conversion); 50 enterprises adopted a multifunctional organisational (agricultural and zootechnical production besides didactic farms);

68 businesses with their own brand managing a direct on-line commercialization;

Mayors of 36 municipalities signatories of the Cilento Bio-district Pact involved in organic public canteens in the schools and green procurements; a consistent network of local organic businesses, producers, municipalities, eco-tourism operators, restaurants, consumers with frequent relations through the GAS - purchasing groups with a big impact on the whole territory; the constitution of few innovative leader- enterprises.

The establishment of other 26 "bio-districts" in other 18 Italian regions, while 23 new territories are underway.

Major milestones include the Mediterranean Diet within the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during 2010 and the introduction by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture of the agro-ecological approach and the biodistricts experiences in the National Action Plan for organic farming, approved in 2016. For the first time it has just been approved in Italy a unified law text on organic districts.



Challenges faced

In the Cilento Bio-district story patchy funding sources contribute to the lack of coherent communication campaigns, while limited amounts of local produce due to a low number of farms and their small size also affect the capacity to supply local public canteens. Other faced challenges:

Increasing quality of organic production through further use of research and innovation;

strengthening multilevel governance policies, participated by the citizens;

involving all territorial actors in measurements of undertaken processes that increase the consumer’s confidence, allow an easier access for small workers to the organic system, within rigorous contexts of products certification's rules;

implementing actions of international cooperation to spread of the Bio-districts' network.



Lessons/Key messages

Bio-districts facilitates funding strategies being a flexible structure but also stable organisation for the territorial governance and the local economy, with a methodological correspondence with the EU approach of local participatory development.

Value chain creation: alliances and networking for a quality production where consumers are directly involved.

The recognition of bio-districts as virtuous areas of agro-ecosystem interest in order to protect and enhance their establishment and development, through their promotion at national and regional institutional level.

A territorial label "Bio-district" with shared values, as tool of collective territorial promotion orients the management of bio-districts by enhancing transparency and social control.

Develop systems of services for innovation and continuous learning in collaboration with research centres and higher education institutions.

Proponent

Living Farms



Date/Timeframe and location

2008 onwards and Rayagada and Kalahandi districts of Odisha , India



Main responsible entity

Mr. Debjeet Sarangi



Nutrition context

Odisha, in Eastern India, is home to 9.6 million Adivasis (Indigenous communities)  constituting about 22% of the entire state’s population. Under nutrition is prevalent on a large scale among these communities. According to UNICEF, in Odisha, 57 per cent of Adivasi children under five years of age suffer from chronic malnutrition. The situation among rural Adivasi children aged 18-23 months is even more serious with prevalence of stunting as high as 83 per cent.

A 2013 study by the same organization, shows that the proportion of chronically undernourished Adivasi children increased with increasing age – one-fourth in the age group 0-5 months, which doubled in 6-11 months period and at 18 months, 75% children were already chronically undernourished. This is compounded by repetitive attacks of illness and lack of access to quality health care due to many structural barriers. Every time a child falls sick her/ his growth falters without a proper catch up of growth. So, repeated illnesses contribute to under nutrition of children. However, this being a state average data, it does not provide disaggregated information about such children in underserved blocks. The nutritional status of such children will vary across the communities.

According to a baseline done by Living Farms in 2011, in 46 villages in two blocks of Rayagada district based on anthropometric measurement of 693 children under 5 years of age, in a time frame of 12 months, 23 deaths of children below one year out of 171 live births was reported. This roughly amounts to 131 deaths per 1000 live births, which is much higher than the reported district level IMR of 83/1000 while state level IMR is recorded to be 69/1000. 41 newborn deaths were reported out of 1000 live births. Of the 138 pregnant women 13.8% were found to be malnourished with a MUAC less than 21 cm. In the category of mothers of children below 2 years, 53 percent women were in the category of under nutrition with BMI less than 18.5. In 79% of the cases complementary food is given for only 3 times a day.



Key characteristics of the food system(s) considered

Historically, Adivasi communities live immersed in the forest-fields and all living and non-living things in this space are a part of the food system. The cultivation of food co-exists with a great respect for the land. Dongria kondh adivasis may or may not have a small piece of land of their own, but traditionally have co-depended on forest-lands in a mountain or hill surrounding their villages. In these forests, they have practiced shifting cultivation, leaving the lands fallow for long periods of time.  In scattered small patches of land, one will encounter a mixed cropping of 50-70 varieties of cultivated foods: grains, millets, pulses, oil seeds, tubers, greens and other vegetables.  In addition, people have great knowledge of wild foods, collecting close to 275 varieties, from different depths of the forest.

However, there has been an alarming level of shrinking of farm level crop diversity and the availability of forest foods (quantity and diversity) is on the decline. It is because the focus of the most of the agriculture programs in Odisha has been on increasing yields of rice and that of forestry to raise revenue generation through plantation of industrial monocultures and / or converting the forests for development projects. It results in non-availability of diverse, safe and nutritious foods throughout the year for the Adivasi and other forest dependent rural communities. It is largely because agriculture, forestry, food and nutrition are seen independent of each other, even though what food is grown and how it is grown determines its nutritional value. Similarly, most of the nutritional programmes are divorced from agriculture, forestry and food security.

While the latter situation describes a system where food is a mere object to be produced, in the Adivasi communtiy, the foods, soil, fruits, insects, trees all co-exist and are not divorced from other parts of life.  



Key characteristics of the investment made

We are choosing a non techno-scientific approach, an approach that chooses to partner instead of instruct, which challenges the very notion of ‘investments’ or interventions from the outside. Instead, we believe that Adivasi communities, such as the kondhs, have lessons to benefit all of humanity in their communitarian ethos, respect and co-existence with the forests. 

As an organization with respect for the abilities and wisdom of local communities, especially women, Living Farms has been partnering with them in understanding the underlying ethos of their perspectives, and to further strengthen their preparedness to not only recognize and analyze the nature and causes of the issues in the context of food, and nutrition security that affect them, but also to evolve locally appropriate empowering solutions through action research and / or adapt successful models to address household food insecurity, reduce maternal and child under nutrition and contribute to wellbeing of communities. We help in development of local leadership, horizontal networking amongst villages and deepening and widening the impact of the change process. In addition, together we mobilize community to assert their rights over resources and demand accountability from the system while the organization works with the government to improve the effectiveness of its delivery mechanism.



Key actors and stakeholders involved (including through south-south/triangular exchanges, if any)

In our approach, we are trying to break down the dichotomy of “actor-stakeholder” and instead we are trying to generate a feeling of belonging, involvement and one-ness. We believe in the agency of a community to dream and transform their community.

Here, we present the various actors:

Living farms has a team of around 250 field workers: district coordinators, block coordinators and gram panchayat facilitators, most of who belong to the same administrative block in which they are working. At the same time, in each village there is a nutrition or peer educator who works along with government voluntary health and crèche workers. It is believed that, women are the leaders of this team of village educators.

At the same time we collaborate with researchers and other social networks to take forward a component of action-research. This action-research will be always conducted along with the community, and then utilized to propose policy changes at the level of the State. Contrary to many social methods, in our method we choose to see the local community as the biggest actors who transform their own lives, while making demands to the State, who we see as essentially a worker of the community.

Therefore, in our work relations we wish to transform both internally and externally the dichotomies and hierarchies that have existed in the face of “issues” such as malnutrition.

We have been working closely with the State Governments of Odisha and Chattisgarh and UNICEF on promoting Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture.



Key changes (intended and unintended) as a result of the investment/s

To contribute to improved nutrition of children aged under 2 of Adivasi and other under served and / or unreached rural communities in Odisha.

i) A reduction of .5 standard deviation on height for age growth for Adivasi children aged under two .In other words if the median malnutrition status is -1.9 Height-for- Age Z Score (HAZ) of children aged under two in 2016 then it will be -1.4 Height-for- Age Z Score (HAZ) in 2025 if the program achieve its goal .It implies there will be less number of under two children in Red and more in Green category in a height for age growth chart for boys and girls separately.

ii) A mechanism is incorporated within the Government of Odisha regulatory framework to ensure convergence between and amongst related departments, (women & child development, health, agriculture, education, rural development and scheduled tribe & scheduled caste etc.) and coherence in policy formulation, planning and implementation to address under nutrition of children aged under 2 of Adivasi and other under served and / or unreached rural communities.

iii) Enabled and empowered rural communities are leading and taking responsibility in decentralized planning, monitoring and implementation based on the principles of equity and justice and public ~public partnership (citizens and government), to facilitate governance reforms to make their villages free from under nutrition.



Challenges faced

In the current scenario, we found that within our own team we often faced the challenge where as facilitators we remained on the outside, i.e. it was a struggle to break down the duality between “actor and stakeholder.”

A big challenge was to take this on, therefore, the first step in our process is to build our sensitivity towards the ethos of Adivasi communities with a focus on deep listening, reflection that guides action and continues in a repeated cycle.  In this process, inspired by Paulo Freire’s praxis, we try and break down the notion of actors and stakeholders, but instead begin to transform ourselves into co-actors. It is important to mobilize ourselves internally and emotionally sensitivize ourselves to the people and issues we are walking with, so that we are motivated to act above and beyond our jobs, and begin to dream of a different story and society.



Lessons/Key messages

One of the key learnings has been that stakeholders, actors or a system are not external to the humans living in it. In that sense, a system is not something outside of us, but we are immersed within it. In that sense, one of the biggest lessons from the Adivasi communities has been that of an “ethos”, one that is lived as well as practiced at the same time, therefore it is alive.

Another key message has been that of complementarity. In the capitalist world, competition is encouraged in “healthy” or “unhealthy” forms as something that makes us more efficient, but in the course of such behavior we rarely stop to question what happens to the relationship between things in such a situation.

Adivasi communities practice complementarity: sharing seeds, foods, joys and sorrows, and therefore are most able to take care of themselves in dire circumstances. This complementarity when nurtured and strengthened to live with dignity and demand what is necessary, is what is key in creating a healthy Adivasi society, one that is free from malnutrition or other systemic evils.

Proponent

Federalimentare – Italian Food and Drink Industry Federation



Date/Timeframe and location

Italy 2016-2019



Main responsible entity



Nutrition context

Italy has been recently rewarded by Bloomberg as the healthiest country in the world. This is also due to the nutritional context whose policies are characterized by a strong collaboration between private and public sectors.



Key characteristics of the food system(s) considered

The food and drink industry plays a crucial role – along with governments, international organizations and civil society - in the growing global challenges for sustainable food systems and healthy diets.

The Italian food and beverage industry is fully aware of its responsibilities not only to provide healthy and safe food products, but also supporting the wide adoption of a nutritionally balanced diet.



Key characteristics of the investment made

In 2016 Federalimentare has renewed its partnership with the Italian Ministry of Education signing an Official Agreement for the triennium 2016-2019 relating to issues of primary importance for the Italian food industry:



Key actors and stakeholders involved (including through south-south/triangular exchanges, if any)

1. Italian Ministry of Education
2. Italian Food and Drink Industry Federation

Key changes (intended and unintended) as a result of the investment/s

• nutrition education, combined with adequate physical activity, as the only way to deal with the phenomena of overweight and obesity;
• the promotion of talent, the prevention of dropouts in education and training paths, through opportunities combined school / work in the agro-food sector;
• the definition of program lines in the national research and innovation policies, with the support of the National Agrifood Technology Cluster.

Challenges faced

Overweight and obesity are a public health issue whose solution cannot be entrusted exclusively to the health care system: the potential recipe for success requires cross-cutting, multi-sector interventions, with close cooperation between health authorities and the food industry.



Lessons/Key messages

Obesity and other nutrition-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have many causes – including unbalanced diet, sedentary lifestyles, environment, consumer knowledge and genetics – and require a coordinated approach. Therefore, prevention and treatment requires a whole-of-society approach and consistent and coordinated multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholder approaches.

Responsiveness on the part of the food industry – which is aware of the problem and considers itself part of the solution – is essential and includes not only awareness of the relationship between health and various nutrients, but also consciousness of a proper lifestyle model combining physical activity and balanced diet, taking into account of the portions size and the frequency of consumption.

This will allow consumers to choose to modify their dietary habits by selecting reformulated products, eating smaller portions and doing physical exercise.

 

Proponent

Federalimentare – Italian Food and Drink Industry Federation



Date/Timeframe and location

Italy 2015



Main responsible entity



Nutrition context

Italy has been recently rewarded by Bloomberg as the healthiest country in the world. This is also due to the nutritional context whose policies are characterized by a strong collaboration between private and public sectors.



Key characteristics of the food system(s) considered

The food and drink industry plays a crucial role – along with governments, international organizations and civil society - in the growing global challenges for sustainable food systems and healthy diets.

The Italian food and beverage industry is fully aware of its responsibilities not only to provide healthy and safe food products, but also supporting the wide adoption of a nutritionally balanced diet.



Key characteristics of the investment made

“Commercial Communications Guidelines relating to food products and beverages, for the protection of children and their proper nutrition”, focused on commercial communication concerning food products and aimed at encouraging the adoption of responsible advertising practices.



Key actors and stakeholders involved (including through south-south/triangular exchanges, if any)

1. Italian Ministry of Health

2. Italian Food and Drink Industry Federation



Key changes (intended and unintended) as a result of the investment/s

This agreement states that commercial communication concerning food products intended for children, or likely to be received by them, should:

• always be recognized as such;
• be honest, truthful and accurate and should not be misleading for children;
• not encourage the belief that non-possession of the product that is the focus of the commercial communication might imply inferiority, or parental failure to fulfil their roles;
• not diminish the role of the parents or other educators in providing valuable dietary indications;
• not induce the adoption of unbalanced dietary habits or behaviors or overlook the need to lead a healthy lifestyle;
• encourage educational messages aimed at promoting careful use of the product, the adoption of a healthy and balanced diet and more physical exercise.

Challenges faced

Overweight and obesity are a public health issue whose solution cannot be entrusted exclusively to the health care system: the potential recipe for success requires cross-cutting, multi-sector interventions, with close cooperation between health authorities and the food industry.



Lessons/Key messages

Obesity and other nutrition-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have many causes – including unbalanced diet, sedentary lifestyles, environment, consumer knowledge and genetics – and require a coordinated approach. Therefore, prevention and treatment requires a whole-of-society approach and consistent and coordinated multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholder approaches.

Responsiveness on the part of the food industry – which is aware of the problem and considers itself part of the solution – is essential and includes not only awareness of the relationship between health and various nutrients, but also consciousness of a proper lifestyle model combining physical activity and balanced diet, taking into account of the portions size and the frequency of consumption.

This will allow consumers to choose to modify their dietary habits by selecting reformulated products, eating smaller portions and doing physical exercise.

Dear FSN Forum,

on behalf of Federalimentare, the Italian Food&Drink Industry Federation, please find enclosed our submissions to the call for examples and good practices on investments for healthy food systems.

Thank you for your attention.

Kind regards,

Maria Agnese Dau, Responsible for Nutrition Policies, Federalimentare

Proponent

Federalimentare – Italian Food and Drink Industry Federation



Date/Timeframe and location

Italy 2008 – 2018



Main responsible entity



Nutrition context

Italy has been recently rewarded by Bloomberg as the healthiest country in the world. This is also due to the nutritional context whose policies are characterized by a strong collaboration between private and public sectors.



Key characteristics of the food system(s) considered

The food and drink industry plays a crucial role – along with governments, international organizations and civil society - in the growing global challenges for sustainable food systems and healthy diets.

The Italian food and beverage industry is fully aware of its responsibilities not only to provide healthy and safe food products, but also supporting the wide adoption of a nutritionally balanced diet.



Key characteristics of the investment made

In 2015 Federalimentare signed with the Italian Ministry of Health a voluntary agreement “Shared objectives for improving the nutritional characteristics of food products, with a particular focus on children (3-12 years)”, focused on food product reformulation in 2008-2018 and aimed at improving the nutritional characteristics of food products (see Annex 1).

The Italian Ministry of Health has set up an ad hoc group to identify monitoring initiatives.



Key actors and stakeholders involved (including through south-south/triangular exchanges, if any)

1. Italian Ministry of Health

2. Italian Food and Drink Industry Federation



Key changes (intended and unintended) as a result of the investment/s

Targets for reformulation have been shared for three different categories of foods (not only specifically children’s products):

1) cereal & sweet (breakfast cereal, biscuits, salted snacks, potato chips, crackers, cakes)

2) beverage (soft drink, nectars/juices and fruit pulp)

3) dairy products and ice creams (yogurt, fermented milk, ice cream)



Challenges faced

Overweight and obesity are a public health issue whose solution cannot be entrusted exclusively to the health care system: the potential recipe for success requires cross-cutting, multi-sector interventions, with close cooperation between health authorities and the food industry.



Lessons/Key messages

Obesity and other nutrition-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have many causes – including unbalanced diet, sedentary lifestyles, environment, consumer knowledge and genetics – and require a coordinated approach. Therefore, prevention and treatment requires a whole-of-society approach and consistent and coordinated multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholder approaches.

Responsiveness on the part of the food industry – which is aware of the problem and considers itself part of the solution – is essential and includes not only awareness of the relationship between health and various nutrients, but also consciousness of a proper lifestyle model combining physical activity and balanced diet, taking into account of the portions size and the frequency of consumption.

This will allow consumers to choose to modify their dietary habits by selecting reformulated products, eating smaller portions and doing physical exercise.

Proponent

Global Crop Diversity Trust



Date/Timeframe and location

On-going, Global



Main responsible entity

Global Crop Diversity Trust, CGIAR, FAO



Nutrition context

The fight to achieve food security and end hunger is one of the greatest global challenges. Food and nutritional security depends on crop diversity, both at the species and genetic levels. Maintaining the diversity of crops and their related wild species and promoting access to plant genetic resources are requisites to advances in plant breeding.

But all breeding breakthroughs start in the genebank. A greater diversity of genetic resources in genebanks, available to all, is a global safety net that ensures a secure food supply at more stable prices. Such a system provides the raw genetic material to breed for a more nutritious and varied food supply, increasing poor populations’ access to more affordable and healthier food to fight malnutrition.



Key characteristics of the food system(s) considered

Diversity in farming system and food options



Key characteristics of the investment made

The Global Crop Diversity Trust (Crop Trust), in partnership with CGIAR, and under the policy framework provided by International Treaty on PGRFA, is working to ensure the conservation and availability of the crop diversity essential for food and agriculture, forever. Through the Crop Diversity Endowment Fund, the Crop Trust provides financial security to collections of crop diversity by guaranteeing funding at agreed levels, year in and year out. Currently, the Crop Trust has agreements to provide such long-term funding to some of the world’s most important international collections of key crops. It has also extended and supported the global system of crop diversity conservation in other ways, including the construction of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, an ultimate failsafe backup for the world’s seed collections. As the endowment grows, the Crop Trust will be able to secure more crops in more countries through fully funded long-term grants.



Key actors and stakeholders involved (including through south-south/triangular exchanges, if any)

• Global Crop Diversity Trust, CGIAR, FAO (IT PGRFA)
• International, regional, & national genebanks and breeding programs

Key changes (intended and unintended) as a result of the investment/s

Securing the diversity base for the continued development of new and improved varieties that are not only high-yielding and resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses, but also nutrient-dense and climate-smart, contributing to improved crop productivity, more resilient farm households, increased family incomes, and improved nutrition of family members.



Challenges faced

The progress in biofortification and the overall development of new and improved varieties are made possible by the genetic variation preserved in the international genebanks. Yet, the importance of crop diversity stored in genebanks in the development of more nutritious food crops, that are also high-yielding and climate-smart, has often been overlooked.



Lessons/Key messages

Crop diversity contributes to a stable, sustainable, and diverse food production system and plays an important role in improving nutritional outcomes for the consumers.

However, crop collections require constant maintenance, and even brief disruptions or variations in funding can leave material at risk of permanent loss. The conservation of crop diversity in genebanks is by nature a very long-term task. Only stable, predictable support from an endowment fund can guarantee a global system of conservation for a shared resource that is too important for anything less than perpetual care.

Please find, attached, the FSN form in response to the Call for lessons and good practices on investments for healthy food systems.

As you know, the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) has two levels of support to food and nutrition security: (i) a global (SDG17-type) level that promotes the finding, funding and implementation of areas of "policy convergence" in food security (including nutrition); and (ii) a country/local level of support to interventions where on-the-ground results are obtained and shared.

The attached submission highlights both these levels and the various areas where GAFSP is contributing to the funding of the transformation of food systems toward improved food and nutrition security. Additional details could be provided as we get closer to the CFS annual meetings and depending on FSN's needs.

With best regards

Nadim Khouri

Consultant to GAFSP

Proponent

GAFSP—The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program Coordination Unit.

Joint experience of a multi-stakeholder funding mechanism for food security and nutrition in the poorest countries.\

Date/Timeframe and location

2009-Present; “IDA-Only” Countries.

CFS may be interested in one or both of the dual/mutually-reinforcing aspects of GAFSP: (i) a global program that leads to policy convergence and on-the ground investments in nutrition; and (ii) specific experience and lessons learned from one or the other of the nutrition-sensitive interventions in selected countries (e.g. Rwanda, Nepal) as briefly presented and grouped in this form.

Main responsible entity

GAFSP Coordination Unit, based in Washington DC—in partnership with Governments, CSOs and Supervising Entities.

Nutrition context

•  At project preparation stage, all GAFSP projects that have nutrition components establish a baseline that includes the nutrition context of the particular investment that is envisaged;
• Depending on the specific interest of CFS, GAFSPCU will be able to put some of the data that is available at the disposal of CFS and its members.

Key characteristics of the food system(s) considered

• Globally, GAFSP supports the continuum of traditional, intermediary and modern food systems.  As a matter of routine procedure for all investments—including the ones with specific nutrition objectives—social, environmental, and governance assessments are undertaken in order to give a holistic view of the food system being addressed;
• In Rwanda, the GAFSP project supports traditional food systems that rely on small gardens for nutritious food;
• The Nepal GAFSPsupported project is working to enhance the traditional diets of vulnerable communities. The project commissioned a study to analyze the nutritive value—including moisture, ash, fat, protein, carbohydrate, crude fiber, energy, iron, phosphorus, and vitamin C content—of locally available foods.

Key characteristics of the investment made

• Globally, GAFSP focuses assistance on the poorest countries—where poverty and malnutrition and hunger are, in general, correlated;
• To date, GAFSP has invested about US$1.5 billion (Public and Private Sector Windows combined) in countries with average rates of poverty at 40 percent (compared with 22 percent for all developing countries) and where the incidence of hunger is 27 percent;
• More than half of the GAFSP Public Sector Window projects include nutritionrelated activities, totaling $158 million;
• GAFSP investments include many of the sectors that support rural smallholders (onfarm and off-farm) and that lead, directly or indirectly to improved nutrition. 
• Country specific examples can be provided on the various types of investment, including the cases cited below;
• In Rwanda: GAFSP support included the upgrade of kitchen gardens to increase the availability of nutritious foods for selfconsumption, the production of fruits and vegetables, seed multiplication for iron-enriched beans, and training about growing and consuming nutritious foods, especially by children;
• In Nepal: GAFSP support is contributing to increasing food availability and the productivity of highnutrient crops and livestock. Based on the findings of the nutritive value study, nutritious recipes from locally available, underutilized, food were developed and disseminated through the project. This included the preparation of weaning food for infants.

Key actors and stakeholders involved (including through south-south/triangular exchanges, if any)

• The governance of GAFSP is innovative and multistakeholder.  Its structure supports southsouth learning and triangular exchange amongst its representatives, who comprise: recipient governments; donors; CSOs (northern and southern); Supervising Entities (including the African Development Bank; the Asian Development Bank; FAO; the Inter-American Development Bank; the International Fund for Agricultural Development; the World Bank and WFP for its Public Sector Window; and IFC for its Private Sector Window); a foundation (BMGF); and the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Food Security.
• One of the innovations of GAFSP is also to have both public and private sector funding under one overarching structure via two operational windows.  This has enabled coordination and investment along the value chain at the country level. For example, in Rwanda, the IFC, the government of Rwanda and private sector actors are involved in investments supported by both GAFSP Windows – public and private sector that help malnourished children by giving them access to fortified nutrients that will allow them to reach their full potential.  It also means that farmers in Rwanda can gain access to new market opportunities, higherquality inputs, and better farm management practices.

Key changes (intended and unintended) as a result of the investment/s

• Globally, GAFSP is, by design, contributing to changes in the architecture of development financing (including for improved nutrition) through: (i) increased alignment of external support with national strategies and related investment plans; (ii) combining private and public investments; (iii) attracting private investments into riskier markets;  (iv) knowledge and results exchange that has encouraged MDBs and other Supervising Entities to internalize crosscutting themes such as nutrition in their respective portfolios of assistance to smallholders.
• What follows are specific examples that can be supplemented with other countries or further detailed and clarified:
• In Bangladesh: The GAFSPsupported investments have led, directly or indirectly, to improved nutritional outcomes including: (i) the diversification of crop production (introduction of wheat, maize, pulses, oilseeds in addition to rice improvement as staple crops; diversification into horticultural crops); (ii) the improvement of fish production; (iii) enabling the establishment of kitchen gardens through rainwater harvesting.  The efforts included the promotion of governance support such as: seed sector quality assurance (in partnership with the private sector and seed producers); nutrition (how to optimize the impact of crop, livestock and fisheries activities on nutrition outcomes); inclusiveness and participation of stakeholders in the design and implementation processes;
• In Ethiopia: GAFSP support contributed to improved human and organizational capacities to incorporate sustainable, intensified livestock production into integrated watershed development;
• In Senegal: GAFSP investments is contributing to improved yields and production diversification through extension, better water and other infrastructure; improved access to diversified food through better marketing of produce;
• In Honduras: GAFSP support was recently initiated to support food production—including the introduction of crop biofortification to enhance nutritional content, the diversification of food production. Investment support includes: matching grants for small irrigation infrastructure and equipment; post-harvesting and food conservation techniques ; introduction of higher-value or more nutritive crops; processing of food to increase its shelf life and adding value including nutritive elements to be sold in local markets (e.g. school lunches); TA and training for nutrition education. Investments also are improving family hygiene;
• In Kenya: As an example of GAFSP support through its Private Sector Window, this project is in the form of a debt facility to help a private manufacturer expand its readyto-use therapeutic food (“RUTF”) production. RUTF is a high calorie fortified peanut paste based food product, which is consumed directly from the pouches in which it is supplied. This support significantly helps UNICEF globally, which offtakes 80-85% of the company’s production capacity

Challenges faced

• Globally, one major challenge that GAFSP faced and addressed was the harmonization of M&E policies and procedures among the various actors, to ensure full alignment with the 2030 SDGs and to highlight the “Theory of Change” of food security that ultimately needs a systematic assessment of the impact of various investments on nutrition.  One of the ways in which this issue was addressed by the selection of FIES as an indicator of food security for the Program going forward (see also discussion of indicators below);
• (Note: In each of the GAFSPsupported operations, there were specific challenges that can be highlighted.  At the request of CFS, GAFSPCU could further detail one or two of the project experiences with respect to their specific challenges and how they were addressed.)

Lessons/Key messages

• GAFSP is demonstrating that it is possible to have an “SDGready” funding mechanism to promote nutrition through demand-driven investment in a variety of food systems and with a supporting architecture that promotes sharing of the experience amongst various actors;
• For example, on measurement of nutritional impact, at present a number of approaches and indicators are being used and results will be compared and help in ensuring evidencebased policy recommendations: (i) Number and proportion of malnourished, as defined by underweight, stunting, wasting, and micronutrient deficiency, disaggregated by gender (Bangladesh and Kenya); (ii) Chronic malnutrition rate in children under five (Benin, Burundi, Mali, and Zambia); (iii) Delivery of nutrition, health awareness, and access to micronutrient-rich foods to pregnant and nursing women and to children (Benin, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kenya, the Kyrgyz Republic, Nepal, and Nicaragua); (iv) Improved food security and nutritional status of vulnerable groups and households measured by wasting prevalence (The Gambia); (v) Food Consumption Score (Kyrgyz Republic and Mongolia); (vi) Dietary Diversity Score (Honduras, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Uganda, and Yemen).  
• Going forward, all GAFSP investments with nutritionrelated objectives will utilize either FCS or MDD-W or C to track impacts.  In addition,, GAFSP will be using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) across all its public sector projects and most of its private sector investments and will be able to explore the relationship between the above nutritional indicators and this broader food security measurement.
• There are, in addition, projectspecific lessons learned that can be teased out, depending on the interest of CFS in one or the other of the types of projects supported by GAFSP to promote nutrition.

Proponent

African Orphan Crop Consortium (AOCC) founders Ibrahim Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency; Tony Simons, Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre; Howard Shapiro, Chief Agricultural Officer of Mars, Incorporated.



Date/Timeframe and location

2011–present and beyond; global players; focus on all of sub-Saharan Africa



Main responsible entity

African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC)



Nutrition context

Effort to sequence the genomes of 101 key sub-Saharan African food crops and teach 250 African plant scientists to resequence and use the results to breed more nutritious, hardier, more productive food crop varieties, mainly the sort already grown in the back gardens of the 600 million people who live in rural Africa. This effort will complement efforts to improve availability of nutrient-dense foods, improve dietary diversity, enhance small scale farmer’s incomes and reduce reliance on imports. 



Key characteristics of the food system(s) considered

Garden food crops, “orphan” in the sense that they have not been a focus of scientific investigation because they are not internationally traded commodities. Yet these are the crops that Africa grows and eats. Give poor transportation, infrastructure, storage and marketing systems in much of rural Africa, improving the crops already on the farms will radically improve nutrition.



Key characteristics of the investment made

Some $40 million raised in cash or in kind for transport and training of scientists at the AOCC’s African Plant Breeding Academy (AfPBA) at the World Agroforestry Center, Nairobi; reagents and equipment for the AOCC’s genomics lab at the Center, now the best equipped in Africa.



Key actors and stakeholders involved (including through south-south/triangular exchanges, if any)

African governments, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Agricultural Research Council (Pretoria), Biosciences eastern and central Africa- International Livestock Research Institute, BGI (Shenzhen, China), Google (Mountain View, USA), Illumina Inc., Cyverse (Tucson, USA),  LGC (Hoddesdon, UK), Mars, Incorporated (Maclean, USA) New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD),  Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, USA,) UNICEF, University of California at Davis (USA), VIB and Plant Systems Biology at the University of Gent (Belgium): Wageningen University (Netherlands, World AgroForestry Centre ICRAF (Nairobi), World Wildlife Federation (DC)

The AOCC also works through a network of other organizations involved in the agriculture and horticulture of Africa, from the African Bean Consortium to the World Vegetable Centre.



Key changes (intended and unintended) as a result of the investment/s

By the end of 2017, more than 80 plant scientists will have been trained and 44 species sequenced. Graduates continue to have access to the equipment in the (AfPBA) lab in Nairobi. AOCC had not foreseen that some of these students (six so far) would go back to their home countries such as Ethiopia and raise money to start national orphan crop consortiums (OCCs). There has also been interest in developing OCCs in countries such as India and China. Given that the FAO has become a Consortium collaborator, the AOCC seems to have given “orphan crops” their rightful and important place in any nutrition strategy.



Challenges faced

Coordinating a consortium with members all over the globe.; bringing scientists from what is all over Africa to Nairobi for classes, importing lab equipment and reagents. Future challenges will be distributing the improved cultivars and providing education in their use to farmers, but partners are available for this.



Lessons/Key messages

Teaching African scientists to improve the crops that Africans already grow and eat is a powerful tool for improving nutrition. It can work elsewhere in the developing world. It is essentially the way that more developed countries developed their agriculture.

On behalf of Mars Incorporated we are pleased to submit the attached description to the Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition. The attachment describes how Mars is addressing the challenges that unsafe foods present to food security through a network of partnership which are integral components of our comprehensive global food safety strategy.

We welcome the opportunity to participate in the planned panel discussion in October at CFS 44 to further elaborate on these unique partnership activities that are having positive impacts on nutrition and that will enhance the likelihood that the Decade of Action on Nutrition and other initiatives will be achieved.

Likewise we are prepared to provide additional information or resource material that is mentioned in this document.

Regards,

J.B. Cordaro

Proponent

Mars, Incorporated



Date/Timeframe and location

Mars Incorporated’s food safety strategy recognizes that food safety is global, impacts all food systems and is a fundamental of food security and nutrition. The food safety challenges faced by the world today are complex and multifaceted. While Mars believes that industry has a key role in helping find solutions, no single entity can do this alone.  Mars’ has employed a precompetitive and collaborative approach to food safety for more than a decade and recently opened the Mars Global Food Safety Center in China in 2015 to drive and support ongoing and new partnerships, collaborations, research and key food safety commitments. These additional partnerships are referenced below in Main responsibility entity.



Main responsible entity

Mars partnerships address food safety challenges in food systems as follows: (1) Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA) to help mitigate the harmful impacts of aflatoxins since 2015; (2) IBM on new approaches to address pathogen management,  “Sequencing the food Supply Chain” since 2014; (3) creating capability through training  with the World Food Programme (WFP) since 2015; (4) addressing aflatoxin and other food safety challenges, such as low moisture foods, with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) since 2015; (5) working with the Global Food Safety Partnership at the World Bank since 2014; (6) collaborating with the US Grocery Manufacturer’s Association since 2015); (7) working with the China Children’s and Teenager Fund since 2016);  (8) helping with regulatory capability building and connectivity with the China Food and Drug Association and China AQSIQ since 2016;  (9) The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition- Business Platform for Responsible Nutrition (GAIN-BPNR) since 2013; and (10 several academic and university partnerships,  such as  Cambridge University; UC Davis; Cornell University, University of Maryland / JIFSAN, University Laval, Canada and Queens University, Belfast.



Nutrition context

Ensuring all people access, safe and nutritious foods is one of the key global challenges being pursued within the United Nations communities to implement the ICN2, achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially SDG 2 and pursue a Decade of Action for Nutrition.

There is no dispute that the safety of foods we consume influences nutrition, health and well-being, cognitive capability and economic opportunities which shape national and global development. Unsafe foods have debilitating human, economic and social consequences. The significance of food safety and its relationship to nutrition within food systems cannot be overstated. Unfortunately, this link has not been fully appreciated by decision and policy makers when they address food security and emphasize production perspectives.

Mars addresses safety and nutrition simultaneously to achieve all components of the UN definition of food security and to fulfill the aspirations of the UN global initiatives to help ensure safe and nutritious foods.  Over the past decade, Mars has made several commitments to create greater awareness of the linkages among food security, nutrition and food safety to: (1) help mitigate the existence of mycotoxins, including aflatoxins with prevention and mitigation expertise; (2) enhance quality control and safety processes; and (3) enable good manufacturing practices.

These commitments require building additional partnerships, new technologies and forever commitments to make positive impacts. Such collaborations cannot be viewed as one and done as new threats continue to emerge, such as food fraud.



Key characteristics of the food system(s) considered

Mars positions food safety and quality initiatives across every element of a food system where risks to safety and quality can occur.  A snapshot of a key compelling global statistics from WHO, FAO, PACA and the USA’s CDC align to paint a gloomy picture of the negative health, social and economic impacts of contaminated foods:

• 4.5 billion people a year are exposed to mycotoxins, including aflatoxins, which contaminate 25% of the world’s food supply
• 1 in 10 people on our planet suffer from eating unsafe foods; 600 million people fall ill; 420,000 die; and 33 million “healthy life years” are lost
• 40% of foodborne disease incidents occur among children under 5, mostly in Africa and SE Asia, with 125,000 deaths; survivors suffering from chronic infections and stunting
• Sub-Sahara Africa has highest rates of aflatoxin-related liver cancers, especially in women
• Small scale farmers cannot break the poverty cycle; incomes remain depressed from unmarketable, rejected, contaminated commodities
• 600 million to $1bn in lost earnings are aflatoxin-related.

These facts underscore the significant and pervasive nature of the food contamination throughout food systems. Vigilance must be maintained from agricultural production- harvesting, post-harvest handling, storage and transportation-- to processing, packaging, storage and distribution within the manufacturing sector and the end user- consumers, and how they store, handle and consume food products.    



Key characteristics of the investment made

Mars utilizes a combination of monetary and in-kind resources to support a global network of uncommon partnerships and collaborations to address global food safety challenges.  At the core Mars: (1) utilizes its tools, capabilities, scientific expertise as well as food safety and quality management expertise of internal associates that help raise the food safety bar; (2) targets partnerships in regions at high risk with associated aspects of food safety challenges and networks these pieces together; and (3) Global Food Safety Center (GFSC) provides a focal point for research, knowledge generation, scientific dissemination, information exchanges and capability building through training.     

The Mars Global Food Safety Center (GFSC) which opened in Huairou, China in September 2015 is a global hub and state-of-the-art research and training facility designed to drive a global focus on addressing food safety challenges through partnerships and collaborations on a pre-competitive basis. This reach extends beyond the knowledge generated and shared on site to a far reaching global network of food safety research partnerships and collaborations, sharing knowledge from global experts and collaborators as well as operational insights from Mars facilities around the world. The intent of the GFSC is to build food safety capability leading to better food access, availability and nutrition, reduced food waste and increased overall quality of life.  The GFSC represents Mars’ ongoing commitment to working with world-leading experts to improve food safety and security through a diverse network of academia and global relationships.



Key actors and stakeholders involved (including through south-south/triangular exchanges, if any)

Mars Global Food Safety Center provides a one-of-a kind focal point for Mars’ partners and other researchers, listed above in “Main responsible entity,” to share information, internship programs, training, scientific conferences, technical exchanges and talent development for industry and regulatory agencies. These relationships support food safety activities through our partners in numerous countries such as Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Malawi, Senegal, Gambia, Thailand, Uganda, India and China to achieve positive impacts that enhance food safety and quality.  



Key changes (intended and unintended) as a result of the investment/s

The cumulative effect of the numerous Mars food safety investments can be observed in these areas: (1)  research findings for using data to identify risks and trends in the global food supply chain; understanding food safety in the context of forensics and next generation sequencing; valuing food safety opportunities offered by next generation sequencing versus traditional culture methods; (2) significant increased awareness of the challenges from food safety problems and exploration for new solutions; and (3) highlighting the willingness for business to commit resources and operational insights to food safety and public health problem solving and to be recognized as an inclusive partner among other stakeholders.



Challenges faced

Success often comes with challenges faced and overcome. Mars partnerships attest with these examples: (1) building internal capacity to nurture and support partnerships; (2) unlocking and resolving intellectual property matters; (3) matching internal expectations with external realities and expectations; (4) managing the complexity and magnitude of the interdependencies related to these issues; and (5)  appreciating the complexity of the shifting landscape.  



Lessons/Key messages

• Food safety is an essential element of food security and must be embedded within policy and decision making related to food security and its performance.   
• New food safety threats are emerging and exacerbating known issues. 
• Harmful human, social and environment and economic impacts of unsafe foods are significant and pervasive. 
• Food safety is a global public health issue with an unsustainable status-quo that requires urgent action and transformative thinking.  Food safety is:
  • Both a developing country problem and a developed country challenge
  • Food supply chains are no longer restricted by regional boundaries as issues in one part of the chain can have far reaching impacts  
  • More than an occasional problem, but a forever problem that must be addressed every day
  • Solutions must be sustainable and contribute to access to safe nutritious food
• Since no single entity can address the global food safety challenges, collaboration and pre-competitive partnerships are essential to problem solving.
• Business plays key problem solving roles by, among other things sharing data, unique expertise, and experiences that can have a very positive influence on the quality and safety of the world’s food supplies.    
• Proof of concept is critical for synergy between “In-kind” and monetary contributions for partnerships to be fully realized.    
• Improving food safety globally requires the development of new technologies, sustainable commitments and human and institutional capacity development.
• Clarity and focus of purpose is best obtained by addressing a limited number of foundational challenges to advance food safety capabilities the fastest.

If food is not safe, it is not food—all our lives depend on safe, nutritious food!

Proponent

Tetra Laval Food for Development Office

Katarina Eriksson, Senior Project and Partnership Development Manager

Date/Timeframe and location

Project name:  From powder to liquid improving food safety – Development of  ready-to-drink Bienestarina®

Timeframe: Starting with product development trials in 2008, first aseptic (UHT) packages reached children in school feeding programme in October 2010.

Location: Colombia

Main responsible entity

ICBF – Colombian Institute of Family Well-Being

Nutrition context

Bienestarina® is a dietary supplement produced by the ICBF since 1976 and delivered to the beneficiaries of the Family Welfare programmes and the most vulnerable in Colombia. Bienestarina® can be consumed from the age of 6 months.

Bienestarina® is made with fortified wheat flour, milk, cornstarch, soy flour and vitamins and minerals. The product was initially a powder product to be mixed with water, but is since 2010 also available as a ready-to-drink product, aseptically packed in 200 ml UHT portion packages. Product development started in 2008.

A 200 ml portion of Bienestarina® gives 170 calories and a large share of the daily need for a number of vitamins and minerals (Protein 40%, Vitamin A 90%, Vitamin C 70%, Calcium 60%, Iron 25%, Folic Acid 80%, Vitamin B²  90%,  Vitamin B¹  75%,  Vitamin B¹² 100%, Vitamin B6 100%,  Zinc 100%, and Niacin 90%).

Key characteristics of the food system(s) considered

Bienestarina® is produced from locally produced milk and cereals. The government is promoting nutrition through the ICBF programmes and is since 1976 distributing Bienestarina® free of charge through thousands of distribution points.

Bienestarina® is also distributed to school children through school feeding and pre-school programmes. The local dairy industry is since 2010 engaged in processing and packaging the ready-to-drink version in Tetra Brik® Aseptic 200ml. Slim packages. Aseptic packages (UHT) do not need refrigeration for transport and storage and have a shelf life of 6-12 months.

This is an example of a government funded feeding programme that improves nutrition at the same time as it creates demand for and develops local food production and industry.  

Key characteristics of the investment made

• Product development to develop the powder form of the nutrition product Bienestarina® (ICBF)
• Product development to develop the ready-to-drink, portion packed version of Bienestarina®. The ready-to-drink version was developed in new flavors and the product is now available in vanilla, cinnamon and strawberry flavors. (Tetra Pak)
• Government subsidies for free distribution of Bienestarina® to children, pregnant and lactating women and other vulnerable people.
• Tetra Pak and Tetra Laval Food for Development provided technical assistance in school feeding best practices and implementation.

Key actors and stakeholders involved (including through south-south/triangular exchanges, if any)

• ICBF
• Tetra Pak
• Tetra Laval Food for Development Office
• Dairy processing companies in Colombia

Key changes (intended and unintended) as a result of the investment/s

• The idea behind the development of the ready-to-drink version of Bienestarina® was to make it easier and safer to distribute the nutrition product, also in areas with a lack of refrigeration and access to clean water. It was also a way to secure that the nutrition product was used the way it was intended – as a nutrition supplement to improve the diet of children and vulnerable people.
• The ready-to-drink version has also been introduced as a commercial product available in supermarkets and food stores.

Challenges faced

• Several product trials were made before the perfect liquid formulation was established.

Lessons/Key messages

• The distribution of safe food and nutrition can pose many challenges in rural areas, where inadequate infrastructure and potable water are concerns.
• Developing public-private partnerships are key to building sustainable value chains which prioritize local production. 
• World-class technology and knowledge sharing are essential to ensure that the children in Colombia have access to safe nutrition.