Regional Multi-stakeholder Workshop on Food Security and Nutrition

  During the last two FAO conferences for the Near East (NERC 30 and NERC 31), the conferences agreed on the importance of organizing regional multi-stakeholder workshops on food security and nutrition to prepare input for the subsequent CFS Plenary Sessions organized in Rome each year.

Building on the experience of the first and second Regional Multi-stakeholder Workshop on Food Security and Nutrition, which took place in Cairo, on 3-4 October 2011, and in Khartoum Sep 17-18, 2012 the proposed event is expected to contribute to promote policy convergence and greater coordination at the global, regional and national levels.

Key policy issues will be discussed from a regional perspective and feed into the process leading to CFS 41st in October 2014.

Objectives and outcomes

Regional multi-stakeholder participants will:

• Review and debate regional food security strategy, activities and initiatives in the context of the ongoing social and political transition in the region as well as global initiatives and processes;
• Discuss issues of under and over-nutrition in the region and how to improve policies, programmes and interventions for making agriculture and food systems more responsive to nutrition;
• Provide feedback on the development of a) Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investments (rai) in the context of Food Security and Nutrition b) an Agenda for Action for addressing food insecurity in protracted crises;
• Examine the problem of food waste and food loss from various perspectives, including the development of a Regional Strategy to reduce food loss and waste by 50% in 10 years and the establishment of a “Regional Save-Food Network”.
• Recommend actions agreed at regional level towards implementation of improved policies.

• Establish regular inter-sessional linkages between regional food security and nutrition initiatives and the reformed CFS;
• Prepare a workshop report with a list of recommendations and next steps.