Newsletter of the Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition: January – March 2023

Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition • FSN Forum Newsletter 03 April 2023
FSN Forum Newsletter: January-March 2023
Dear Colleagues,
  We are happy to share the newsletter of the FAO Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) to invite you to take part in three ongoing online activities, outputs on recently closed consultations, and new publications.
ONGOING CONSULTATIONS

New Food System Integrated Program to support the transformation of food systems into nature-positive, resilient, and pollution-free system
Open until 10 April 2023
Available in English.

The FAO-IFAD Program development team invites stakeholders to contribute to the newly developed documents for the Food Systems Integrated Program (GEF-8) – the Theory of Change and the Draft Results Framework, and to share experiences and provide views and suggestions on these two documents. The Program will focus explicitly on sustainable, regenerative, nature positive production systems and support efficient value/supply chains covering selected food crops (maize, rice, and wheat), commercial commodities (soy, oil palm, coffee and cocoa), livestock and aquaculture.
This consultation has already received 16 valuable comments from experts around the globe. Please visit the consultation webpage to read the full introduction with guiding questions and download the theory of change and the draft results framework.

Mr Sameer Karki, who is the co-facilitator of this consultation and a Technical Officer of the FAO-GEF Coordination Unit, welcomes your contributions: 

“Dear participants, thanks to those of you who have taken the time to respond to our request in providing feedback on the GEF8 Food Systems Integrated Program’s draft Theory of Change and draft results framework. We have been reading your inputs with great interest, and are encouraged to see how well your observations align with and enrich the narrative that we are developing for the Program Framework Document (PFD), which will accompany the theory of change and results framework. We have already started to incorporate your suggestions in the main text of the PFD, while some of the more detailed points will be reflected in the Project Document for the Global Coordination Project of the IP, which will be developed in near future. We look forward to further inputs and suggestions from experts who have not done so yet. »

Strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition in the context of urbanization and rural transformation
Open until 12 April 2023. Please be informed that the deadline for participation was extended.
Available in English, Español and Français.

The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) gathers your feedback to the proposed scope of the report, which will be further used for the development of the V0 draft report and be made public for a follow-up e-consultation. The final HLPE-FSN report will be presented at the CFS 52nd Plenary Session in October 2024.
This consultation has already received 36 valuable overviews and suggestions on the scope of the report from participants, working in different field of expertise, affiliations and countries. You can find all contributions on the consultation webpage, where you also can read the full introduction to this consultation, including the scope of the report and the guiding questions. 

Évariste Nicolétis, who is the co-facilitator of this consultation and the Coordinator of the HLPE-FSN Secretariat, welcomes your suggestions:
 
« The HLPE-FSN is working to address the many issues facing both policymakers and food and nutrition practitioners alike, and your valuable insights are fundamental in our working process, to ensure legitimacy and scientific quality. Likewise, we look for the incorporation of diverse forms of knowledge and expertise, to make sure that global policymaking for food security and nutrition is based not only upon science but also to diverse forms of knowledge. » 
ONGOING CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Use and application of CFS policy recommendations on price volatility and food security, and social protection for food security and nutrition
Open until 3 May 2023. 
Available in English, Español, Français, Русский, 中文 and  العربية

The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) Secretariat encourages stakeholders to voluntarily share their experiences and good practices in applying the two sets of CFS policy recommendations on price volatility and food security, and social protection for food security and nutrition. Inputs received through reporting individual experiences or the results of multi-stakeholder consultations or events will be compiled in a document made available for delegates at the CFS 51st Plenary Session in October 2023.
The facilitators of this call for submissions from the CFS SecretariatBahar Zorofi and Giorgia Paratore – would like to draw the stakeholders’ attention to the following:

“We kindly ask that your contribution(s) on the use of the CFS policy recommendations on Price Volatility and Social Protection be shared using the appropriate template, provided in six UN languages on the webpages of this Call for Submissions. It will allow the CFS Secretariat to best facilitate the compilation and processing of the contributions. We thank you in advance and look forward to have your active participation!”
RECENTLY CLOSED ACTIVITIES
We take this opportunity to warmly thank those who contributed to the recently closed consultations that were conducted for the HLPE-FSN Secretariat and the FAO Chief Scientist Office:

What are the barriers and opportunities for scientists and other knowledge holders to contribute to informing policy for more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems?
that took place in the period from 05.12.2022 until 24.01.2023 on the request of the FAO Chief Scientist Office.

The consultation has received 91 precious contributions from 39 countries: Italy, Nigeria, Burundi, China, Cameroon, India, Brazil, USA, Norway, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Switzerland, Mexico, Gabon, Argentina, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Sudan, Romania, Colombia, Uganda, Yemen, Gambia, Germany, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Iran, Zambia, Bolivia, Zambia, Philippines, Denmark, and Kenya. Please visit the consultation webpages to download the Proceedings report on the consultation results.
Dr Preet Lidder, FAO Technical Adviser in the Chief Scientist Office, and Dr Eric Welch, Professor, Arizona State University, who were co-facilitators of this consultation expressed their gratitude to the participants:

« Dear Participants,

Thank you to all the participants who contributed to the online consultation on “What are the barriers and opportunities for scientists and other knowledge holders to contribute to informing policy for more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems?”. We truly appreciate the time and effort that you put into submitting your comments and participating in the discussion, and encourage you to take advantage of the consultation to review the insightful contributions from other participants on the FSN website. 

There is consensus that science and innovation are critical for transforming agrifood systems but ensuring that the best available evidence is used is not as straightforward as it sounds. Social, economic, and political forces shape how evidence is understood and valued. Decision-making processes vary across individuals, communities, institutions, and governments, and are informed by different forms of knowledge and experience in different ways.

Due to its unique position as a facilitator of intergovernmental processes, FAO provides an essential and neutral platform for exchange between countries, allows Members to establish international consensus on global policy issues related to science and innovation, serves as an authoritative source of guidance, and supports the development of new codes of practice, guidelines and standards.

FAO has many experiences to build on and strengthen the interface between science and policy, including through its Governing and Statutory Bodies. Your valuable insights will be instrumental in shaping the direction of our efforts on the development of guidance for strengthening science-policy interfaces as well as science- and evidence-based policy processes for agrifood systems. »

Reducing inequalities for food security and nutrition – HLPE-FSN consultation on the V0 draft of the report
that took place in the period from 22.11.2022 until 18.01.2023 on the request of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) Secretariat of CFS.
The consultation has collected 87 contributions posted by participants from 38 countries: The Philippines, Denmark, Italy, India, Hungary, Brazil, USA, Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, Uganda, UK, China, Norway, Cameroon, Canada, France, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Germany, Ethiopia, Iran, Benin, Mali, Bolivia, Spain, Kenya, Cabo Verde, Malaysia, Sweden, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland.

Please visit the consultation webpages to download the Proceedings report on the consultation results.
Évariste Nicolétis, the Coordinator of the HLPE-FSN Secretariat, who was the co-facilitator of this consultation, thanks your participation:

“Dear contributors, we thank you for your insightful and sharp contributions. The feedback received will enrich the report the upcoming report on “Reducing inequalities for food security and nutrition” and contribute to making its preparation process as inclusive as possible. »
FSN FORUM CONSULTATION SUMMARIES
We welcome you to learn more about the outputs of the closed consultations by reading the newly published summary reports:

Matching grant programmes: An effective approach to channel remittances into sustainable investment in agribusiness?

Available in EnglishEspañolFrançaisالعربي中文Русский

This document summarizes the online consultation “Matching grant programmes: An effective approach to channel remittances into sustainable investment in agribusiness?” held on the FAO Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) from 18 February to 15 May 2022.

On the FSN Forum website, you can access all information on our ongoing and closed activities and post your comments directly online upon registration. Please feel free to contact us at fsn-moderator@fao.org if you have any questions or suggestions.

We are grateful to those who are actively engaged in the online activities and would like to encourage new participants to take part and contribute into important global processes! We also invite you to share this information with your professional networks! 

Your FSN Forum Team