More than 2000 participants (from the governments, civil society, NGOs and International organizations) of six countries from South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Myanmar and Bhutan) were gathered from May 30th till June 1st 2015 for the first South Asia Right to Food Conference, held in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

One of the event’s main output was the Dhaka Declaration, in which the conference delegates declared their position and vision for a future South Asia free of poverty and hunger, ensuring the right to adequate food, nutritional security and food sovereignty.

The inaugural ceremony was chaired by Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, from the organizing committee, and had the presence of Sheikh Hasina MP, the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Kailash Satyarthi, a nobel laureate and the chairperson-global of March Against Child Labour in India, and of Advocate Md. Qamrul Islam MP, Minister of Food of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

One of the objectives of the conference was to debate some main challenges of the region. According to the Conference’s concept note: “The challenge of hunger and malnutrition in South Asia is complex and multi-faceted. It will require a multi-pronged approach, including interventions for greater availability of food through improved agricultural production; enhanced livelihoods for secure access; education for improved food utilization; clean water for improving health and nutrient uptake; women’s empowerment and social protection for an equitable distribution of food and a focus on resources amongst other relevant interventions. These would also provide the basis of communities’ resilience to climate change.”

In order for these vast challenges to be addressed, the conference participants shared experiences of civil societies and relevant entities on Right to Food and nutritional security movements, policies and legislation across South Asia. The conference was also aiming on strengthen networking among civil society organizations, farmers’ organizations, CBOs, academia and researchers, and policy makers for effective campaign and to promote legal framework on Right to Food issue and relevant policy reforms at national and regional level engaging policy makers, political societies and relevant stakeholders.