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A capacity development workshop for Francophone African countries on the development and implementation of Food Based Dietary Guidelines, organized by FAO’s Regional Office for Africa in collaboration with the Sub-regional Office for Central Africa and FAO Headquarters. 

The workshop was held in Lomé, Togo, from 8 to 11 November 2016

The UN general assembly declared the period 2016-2025 as the “Decade of Action for Nutrition”. It is the opportunity for all relevant sectors and stakeholders to put in place coherent and consistent strategies to address malnutrition in all is forms. In order to achieve this, food systems have to be transformed through coherent policies from production to consumption, in order to provide safe, sustainable and diversified diets. The development and effective implementation of FBDGs that provide clear, evidence-based guidance for both production and consumption, are milestones for countries to address the different nutrition related problems coherently in their own countries. 

The workshop was a three and a half day event that consisted of a mix of technical presentations, case studies, plenary discussions and group activities, with the aim of supporting the participating countries to develop national roadmaps/action plans for FBDGs.

Main objective

The workshop aimed to enhance capacities of different sectors and institutions of 12 African Francophone countries, and their respective FAO nutrition focal points to develop, implement and evaluate food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) to promote healthy and sustainable diets and food systems.

Specific objectives

• Support the sharing of knowledge and experiences on developing, implementing, monitoring and updating food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) in francophone and non-francophone countries through case studies.
• Strengthen country capacities to develop FBDGs based on national needs.
• Strengthen the capacities of participating countries to implement FBDGs across sectors and at different levels, such as the creation of national nutrition education programmes, dietary standards and the development of health and agriculture policies (commercial and agricultural policies).
• Support countries in developing their national roadmap/action plan for the development and implementation of FBDGs.
• Train FAO nutrition focal points on the process of development and implementation of FBDGs, in order to ensure post-workshop follow-up and technical support at country level.

Learning objectives

• Justify and advocate for the important role of the FBDGs in supporting healthy diets and nutritional well-being of individuals and populations.
• Compare different models and lessons learned from countries which have developed, implemented and evaluated FBDGs, and explore applicability in their own context.
• Select basic principles, strategies and tools most relevant to own context to effectively develop, implement and evaluate national FBDGs.
• Show the importance and the link of the FBDGs in the different sectors beyond health sector, especially agriculture.
• Plan ways on how to incorporate the recommended process for the development, implementation and evaluation of food based dietary guidelines to share knowledge, best practices and lessons learned.
• Create a regional network on food based dietary guidelines to share knowledge, best practices and lessons learned.

The programme was developed to be practical, with the following structure: technical presentations; case studies: national experiences in different countries; discussion; working group activities.

The sessions were organized as follows:

1. FBDGs: What are they and why do we need them?
2. Overview of the development and implementation process for FBDGs
3. Food systems and necessary data for the development of FBDGs
4. Development of dietary guidelines, messages and visual guides
5. Multi-sectorial implementation of the FBDGs
6. Monitoring and evaluation of FBDGs
7. Action plan and the next steps to follow for the development of FBDGs.