SPECIAL EVENT
From Commitments to Impact: Analyzing the Global Commitments Toward Promoting Food Security and Healthy Diets
Co-organized by IFPRI and The Rockefeller Foundation
FEB 6, 2024 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EST

Since the mid-2010s, progress in reducing food insecurity and improving diet quality has stalled. Multiple shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, have exacerbated the situation and put Sustainable Development Goal 2 on Zero Hunger further out of reach.

There have been many calls for action to address the food and diets crisis facing vulnerable people around the world. The private sector has been called on to invest in transforming food systems—at an annual rate of $320 billion—while the development banks have been asked to align financial incentives with food system-related goals. While some of these actors have stepped up, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) opening of a food shock window to channel funds to countries beset by crisis, ultimately, progress depends on governments. National governments are responsible, and can be held accountable, for ensuring food security; healthy, diverse diets; and stable, dignified livelihoods, for their populations.

Since the SDGs were announced in 2015, governments in both high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries have made commitments to actions to address food insecurity and poor diets by 2030, including at the UN General Assembly, the World Health Assembly, the G-20, and the UN Food Systems Summit. What remains uncertain at this midway point is which commitments and actions are most salient, whether and how much global and linked national commitments are both fit-for-purpose and fit for the future, and to what extent these commitments have the potential to address known challenges to achieving SDG goals on food security and healthy diets.

This seminar will shed light on commitments already made, share research results on the potential of current commitments to achieve a focused set of food and nutrition security goals, and foster continued dialogue with global advocacy partners. A brunch reception will follow the presentations.

Opening Remarks
Johan Swinnen, Managing Director, Systems Transformation, CGIAR and Director General, IFPRI
Catherine Bertini, Managing Director, Food Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation

Report Findings
Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy, CGIAR and IFPRI

Global Scenarios for Food Security: An imperative for action
Rob Vos, Director, Markets, Trade and Institutions (MTI), IFPRI

From Commitments to Impact
Christina Zorbas, Postdoctoral Researcher, Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition in the Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University 
Shoba Suri, Senior Fellow, Health Initiative, Observer Research Foundation
Elyse Iruhiriye, Associate Research Fellow, IFPRI

Implications of Findings
Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy, CGIAR and IFPRI

Panelists
Mwandwe Chileshe, Director, Food Security Nutrition and Agriculture, Global Citizen
Oliver Camp, Environment and Food Systems Advocacy Advisor, The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)
Alexandre Brecher, Communications and Advocacy Advisor, Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement
Pedro Vormittag, Deputy Director for External Relations, Brazilian Center of International Relations (CEBRI)

Moderators
Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy, CGIAR and IFPRI
Asma Lateef, Policy and Advocacy Lead, SDG2 Advocacy Hub

Links:
The Rockefeller Foundation: https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/
From Promises To Action: Analyzing Global Commitments On Food Security And Diets Since 2015: https://cgspace.cgiar.org/items/c700ac9e-1b22-4319-b285-7e14e395b566
The SDGs And Food System Challenges: Global Trends And Scenarios Toward 2030: https://cgspace.cgiar.org/items/2961e6f2-5da4-41b4-80fe-8c61a02072a6

From Commitments to Impact

Co-organized by the Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF) & IFPRI

Undernutrition during childhood and early adolescence has long-term consequences for development and health, and for girls it can affect the survival and wellbeing of their children. Diet-related risk School meal programs are an effective way to boost children’s nutrition and wellbeing, including physiological development and academic performance. These programs can also play an important role in food systems transformation by ensuring access to healthy diets, supporting equitable livelihoods, and contributing to environmental sustainability. However, data on large-scale school meal programs have historically been fragmented and inconsistent, despite the global prevalence of these programs and evidence of their positive impact. The Global Survey of School Meal Programs © https://gcnf.org/global-survey/ seeks to address this gap, collecting the most comprehensive data to date on national and large-scale school feeding programs, with information on 167 countries. It provides comprehensive global data on school meal coverage, financing, food baskets, laws and policies, home-grown school feeding, and more, thus serving as a foundation for monitoring global progress over time.

The Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF) https://gcnf.org/ and IFPRI invite you to the official launch of the third Global Survey report, School Meal Programs Around the World, 2024 edition, with results from the 2022 school year. The survey is implemented by GCNF, with funding from USDA and The Rockefeller Foundation and expert input from IFPRI and other lead researchers and organizations.  The resulting data provide governments and other stakeholders with an up-to-date global database of standardized information on school meal programs to make informed decisions. 

GCNF and IFPRI will present results from the latest survey, which concluded in August 2024, and a distinguished panel of experts will discuss implications of the survey for policy, research, advocacy, implementation, and business. Highlights of the 2024 survey results are already available in English and six other languages on GCNF’s website here https://gcnf.org/global-reports/ . The full report, School Meal Programs Around the World, 2024 edition, and additional resources will be released on the day of the event.

Introductory Remarks
Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy; Acting Senior Director, Transformation Strategy, IFPRI
Mary Muinde, Chief of Staff to the First Lady of Kenya
Fabio Veras Soares, Researcher, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Development, Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPCid/IPEA), Government of Brazil 
Neo Sediti, Director, National School Nutrition Programme, Government of the Republic of South Africa
Dana Thomas, Managing Director, Food is Medicine, The Rockefeller Foundation

Overview of Survey Results
Arlene Mitchell, Executive Director, Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF)
Liliane Bigayimpunzi, Survey Coordinator for Africa, GCNF
Ayala Wineman, Research and Survey Specialist, GCNF

Panel: Putting the Survey Results into Use- Policy, Research, Advocacy, Implementation and the Business Perspective 
Marie Tamagnan, Senior Operations Advisor, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)
Mduduzi Mbuya, Director, Knowledge Leadership, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)
Beatrice Wamey, President, Nascent Solutions 
Mia Blakstad, Social Protection Specialist, The World Bank
Carmen Burbano, Director of School Meals and Social Protection, UN World Food Program (WFP) and Director of the School Meals Coalition Secretariat

Closing Remarks
Catherine Bertini, former Executive Director, UN World Food Program (WFP)

Moderator
Aulo Gelli, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Links
More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/official-launch-of-the-third-global-survey-of-school-meal-programs/

Official Launch of the Third School Meal Programs Around the World Report

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Established in 1975, IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 50 countries. It is a research center of CGIAR, a worldwide partnership engaged in agricultural research for development.

New tracks tagged #The Rockefeller Foundation