The 2020 Global Forum for Food and Agriculture event “Food for All! Trade for Secure, Diverse and Sustainable Nutrition” brought together 16 Expert Panels hosted by policymakers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and stakeholders from civil society to discuss the role of international trade in achieving a healthy and sustainable food system. International trade has long helped reduce food insecurity by connecting food-scarce regions to more productive agricultural regions. To meet global goals, trade will also need to increase sustainability of food production and ensure more equitable access to scarce natural resources.

In follow-up to the GFFA 2020, IFPRI is hosting a panel to discuss key topics around the role of trade in sustaining food security and nutrition in the face of current challenges to food systems, such as climate change, protectionist tendencies, and economic uncertainty. Panelists will reflect on the trade-related decisions that developing and emerging countries must make as they seek to increase agricultural productivity, improve the functioning of food supply chains, integrate trade rules and environmental controls, and address food loss and waste.

For more details about the seminar visit: https://www.ifpri.org/event/trade-secure-diverse-and-sustainable-nutrition-key-messages-global-forum-food-and-agriculture

Introduction

Friedrich Wacker, Director-General, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture of the Federal Republic of Germany

Round Table

Markus Brill, Agricultural Attaché, Federal Republic of Germany to the United States

David Laborde Debucquet, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Martien van Nieuwkoop, Global Director Agriculture and Food Global Practice, World Bank Group

Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI

Moderator

Valeria Piñeiro, Senior Research Coordinator, IFPRI

Our food systems are bankrupting our health systems, accelerating climate change and using natural resources in an unsustainable way. Most people agree they need to be transformed to change this. But how? Food systems are complex and offer many entry points for change. In addition, the data to describe food systems and their performance is scattered and not interoperable. In effect we are flying blind in our journey to change food systems for the better.

The Food System Dashboard (https://bioethics.jhu.edu/research-and-outreach/projects/global-food/current-projects/the-food-systems-dashboard/ ), developed by GAIN and Johns Hopkins University in collaboration with iTech Mission, University of Michigan, and Euromonitor, responds to this challenge. It brings together extant data from public and private sources to help decision makers diagnose their food systems and identify all their levers of change and the ones that need to be pulled first. Following presentation of the Food Systems Dashboard, commentatotors will reflect on data and indicators as well as on implications for developing countries.

Speakers

- Jessica Fanzo, Bloomberg Distinguished Associate Professor of Global Food & Agricultural Policy and Ethics; Director for Johns Hopkins Global Food Ethics and Policy Program, Johns Hopkins University (JHU)

- Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

- Arun Kapuria, CEO, iTech Mission

Discussant

- Inge Brouwer, Associate Professor of Food and Nutrition Security, Wageningen University & Research, and A4NH Flagship Leader of Food Systems for Healthier Diets

- Olivier Ecker, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

- Gina Kennedy, Theme leader, Diet Diversity for Nutrition and Health, Bioversity International

Moderator

- John McDermott, Director, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)

The share of working-age young people in Africa south of the Sahara has risen due to past declines in mortality coupled with high fertility. This “youth bulge” has created a sense of urgency among national governments and the international development community as the prospect of widespread youth unemployment in Africa, and the social instability and political unrest it could bring looms closer. As a result, African governments are under pressure to create more and better jobs for the region’s young and rapidly growing population.

Although the scale of policy reforms and actions needed to address Africa’s youth bulge is daunting, there is an increasing alignment of interests and incentives: African governments have made youth employment a policy priority, and African youth are demanding policies that improve their job prospects. This creates promising opportunities to enact policies that effectively address rural youth employment—policies that are grounded in local evidence rather than stylized facts.

This book is freely available for download at http://www.ifpri.org/publication/youth-and-jobs-rural-africa-beyond-stylized-facts

Speakers

James Thurlow, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI (Presentation)

Valerie Mueller, Nonresident Fellow, IFPRI (Presentation)

Discussant

Rui Benfica, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Moderator

Danielle Resnick, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Gender equality has been recognized as an important goal in itself as well as important to achieving other development objectives, such as reducing hunger and poverty. This is true worldwide and especially so in rural Africa, where women play an important role in the agricultural sector. Gender-sensitive policies and programming are central to effectively advancing the Malabo Declaration’s agricultural transformation agenda. But what is the progress in achieving gender equality? What are the major challenges, and what are the effective means of overcoming those challenges?

Seminar ( https://www.ifpri.org/event/gender-equality-rural-africa-commitments-outcomes ) speakers will address these questions and discuss the findings and recommendations of the 2019 Annual Trends and Outlook Report, Gender Equality in Rural Africa: From Commitments to Outcomes. The report takes an in-depth look at gender in Africa by examining the intersections of gender and 1) context and institutions, 2) assets, 3) shocks and resilience, 4 livelihood strategies, 5) income and control of income, and 6) well-being.

The report is produced by the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) http://www.resakss.org/, which provides data and analyses to inform the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). ReSAKSS is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

African countries have made considerable progress in increasing agricultural productivity and reducing hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. But continued population growth, urbanization, changing diets, and climate change are putting pressure on food systems not only to provide more food but also to make more diverse and nutritious foods available and accessible. New digital technologies and services are already making an impact on how food is being produced, processed, marketed, traded, and consumed across the continent. How African countries position themselves to harness and deploy digital technologies will determine the future competitiveness of African agriculture and its contribution to African economies.

This seminar ( http://www.ifpri.org/event/transforming-africas-food-system-digital-technologies ) will explore how African countries can develop a “digitalization ecosystem” to help foster growth and competitiveness in the continent’s value chains. Participants will also discuss the institutional and policy innovations that have already been implemented by African governments as well as efforts by the private sector and ag-tech startups to increase the development and use of digital tools and services in agriculture.

Speakers

Ousmane Badiane, Director for Africa, IFPRI

Debisi Araba, Regional Director for Africa, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)

Katrin Glatzel, Program Head, IFPRI

Farbod Youssefi, Program Manager, World Bank Group

Moderator

David Spielman, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Q&A

Food systems in developing countries are undergoing a rapid transformation shaped by global and regional events. But country actions will be critical in shaping future food system outcomes.

Some countries are taking a systemic approach to assessing and acting on food system transformation—considering consumption and food environments, food supply and sustainability, health, and socioeconomic outcomes.

This seminar ( http://www.ifpri.org/event/food-system-transformations-national-actions-globalized-world ) will introduce this approach, and representatives from Nigeria and Viet Nam will discuss the challenges, opportunities, and trade-offs they encounter in enabling food system actors in their countries. A panel will share insights into how food systems can develop in a healthy, sustainable, and equitable way.

Overview

-Transforming Food Systems for Healthier Diets: Supporting Actions at a National Scale

-Inge Brouwer, Associate Professor of Food and Nutrition Security, Wageningen University & Research, and A4NH Flagship Leader of Food Systems for Healthier Diets

Case Studies

-Food System Transformation in Nigeria: Opportunities and Challenges for the Private Sector

-Adebowale Akande, Senior Scientist, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA)

-Policy Actions Around Food System Transformation in Vietnam

-Phuong Hong Nguyen, Research Fellow, IFPRI

Panel

-Stuart Gillespie, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI, and A4NH Flagship Leader, Supporting Policies, Programs and Enabling Action through Research

-Martien Van Nieuwkoop, Global Director of Agriculture and Food, World Bank Group

-Emmy Simmons, Former Assistant Administrator, US Agency for International Development (USAID), and A4NH Independent Steering Committee member

Closing Remarks

-John McDermott, Director of CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)

Moderator

-Ruerd Ruben, Research Coordinator of Food Security, Value Chains, and Impact Analysis, Wageningen University & Research, and A4NH Managing Partner Representative

Q&A

IFPRI PolSem: Using Malawi’s Community-Based Childcare Centers to Implement an Agriculture and Nutrition Intervention 11/6/2019

This policy seminar ( https://www.ifpri.org/event/using-malawis-community-based-childcare-centers-implement-agriculture-and-nutrition ) focuses on research undertaken in Malawi by IFPRI, the University of Malawi, Save the Children, and University of Washington in support to the Government’s early childhood development program.

Community-based early childhood development centers in Malawi have been used as a platform to implement an integrated agriculture and nutrition behavior change intervention. Presentations will explore the findings of a rigorous evaluation on the impact, sustainability, costs, and returns on investment of this initiative. A case study will be also be presented by Research for Development (R4D) on the use of evidence in the policy processes that led to the scale-up of the program across the country.

Opening Remarks / Moderator

Dan Gilligan, Deputy Director of Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division, IFPRI

Presenters

Aisha Twalibu, IFPRI consultant, formerly Save the Children

Aulo Gelli, Research Fellow, IFPRI

Amy Margolies, Research Consultant, IFPRI

Mary D’Alimonte, Senior Program Officer, Results for Development (R4D)

Discussants

Julie Ruel Bergeron, Nutrition Specialist in the Human Development Network's Health, Nutrition, and Population (HNP) Unit, World Bank Group

Natalie Roschnik, Senior Nutrition Advisor, Save the Children

Closing Remarks

Harold Alderman, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Closing Remarks: Cheryl Doss, Associate Professor and Senior Departmental Lecturer in Development Economics, Oxford University

How can agriculture and natural resource management advance gender equality? Asking this question rather than only its inverse — what does gender analysis bring to agriculture and natural resource management? — elevates the objective of gender equality within CGIAR, challenges boundaries in thinking about gender in agriculture, and stimulates new and creative perspectives.

Gender researchers from across CGIAR are preparing a landmark publication that synthesizes recent research and sets a forward-looking agenda for gender research in the areas of agriculture and natural resource management. This seminar will share key reflections from the book.

Remarks from External Expert: Patricia van de Velde, Gender Lead of Agriculture Practice, World Bank Group

How can agriculture and natural resource management advance gender equality? Asking this question rather than only its inverse — what does gender analysis bring to agriculture and natural resource management? — elevates the objective of gender equality within CGIAR, challenges boundaries in thinking about gender in agriculture, and stimulates new and creative perspectives.

Gender researchers from across CGIAR are preparing a landmark publication that synthesizes recent research and sets a forward-looking agenda for gender research in the areas of agriculture and natural resource management. This seminar will share key reflections from the book.

Topic and Speaker: Engaging with constraining norms through gender transformative approaches: Dina Najjar, Gender Scientist, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)

How can agriculture and natural resource management advance gender equality? Asking this question rather than only its inverse — what does gender analysis bring to agriculture and natural resource management? — elevates the objective of gender equality within CGIAR, challenges boundaries in thinking about gender in agriculture, and stimulates new and creative perspectives.

Gender researchers from across CGIAR are preparing a landmark publication that synthesizes recent research and sets a forward-looking agenda for gender research in the areas of agriculture and natural resource management. This seminar will share key reflections from the book.