Village Health Nutrition Day at Ikuna Village in Njombe

In the run up to the World Food Day on 16 October 2020, FAO in Tanzania organized a series of events in different parts of the country as part of promoting awareness and a call to action to specifically eliminate malnutrition – by way of adopting to healthy diets, and lifestyles.

World Food Day (WFD) is celebrated each year on October 16 to promote worldwide awareness and action to eliminate hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition.

“Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together. Our Actions Are Our Future,” was heralded as the theme for this year’s WFD. Activities conducted during the week included a High level panel discussion at the University of Dodoma, projects’ field visits in Dodoma, Iringa and Njombe. There was also another activity in the promotion of healthy diets - the Village Health Nutrition Day in Njombe, prior to the climax event for the WFD. Collectively, the activities had reinforced the need to eliminate hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition.

Throughout the week-long WFD activities, FAO in Tanzania enjoyed a robust collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, and a record participation from other UN agencies, including WFP, IFAD, UNHCR, UNICEF, and UN WOMEN. The key message put together observed the need to support the food heroes - farmers and workers throughout the food system - who are making sure that food makes its way from farm to table.

This year’s WFD had also seen FAO celebrating its 75^th anniversary. Along with the planned activities during the WFD week, it was indeed a moment to reignite FAO’s ambitions towards the attainment of the broader strategic objectives.