Mitigating the Nutritional Impacts of the Global Food Price Crisis Workshop Summary (2010) / Chapter Skim
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6 The Global Response to the Crises
6 The Global Response to the Crises
Pages 99-134
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agencies, bilateral government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, universities, research institutions, foundations, and the private sector. As described by moderator Hans Herren of the Millennium Institute, the follow ing presentations helped workshop participants understand the landscape of the global nutrition field, the people and organizations who work in it, and their respective roles, functions, and capacities to respond to the outcomes of the recent food price and economic crises.
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Supports government implementation of projects and policy reforms with technical assistance from The World Bank staff and consultants. World Food Implementation of emergency Programme response and food aid.
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Global Alliance for Supports public-private Improved partnerships to address Nutrition micronutrient deficiencies. Helen Keller International Intervention delivery; research, and advocacy functions.
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Unilever Partnership with the WFP to improve the nutrition and health of poor school-aged children. Philanthropies Bill & Melinda Gates Focus is on reducing Foundation micronutrient deficiencies and undernutrition in vulnerable groups, particularly women and children less than 2 years through Global Health Program; Global Development Program includes grant making to increase quantity and quality of staple foods.
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Depart ment for International Development, the European Union (EU) , and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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Nutrition is not very prominent on the global health agenda. Those in the nutrition community have a track record of talking within the nutrition community; they gravitate toward technical subjects and have difficulty broadly communicating consistent messages, not only about the importance of under- and overnutrition, but also about a set of actions that with sufficient resources could make a major positive difference.
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The Way Forward Recently, within the international nutrition community, much discussion has focused on the lack of institutional capacity and other weaknesses. There is a real recognition that there are institutional problems to solve.
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Where can the Foundation make the greatest impact? The Global Development Program The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gives about 50 percent of its resources to global health, about 25 percent to U.S.
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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation focuses on sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia simply because about 80 percent of the people who make less than $1 a day live in those regions. The results the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation seeks include increased household incomes, child weights, and the quality and quantity of diets.
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When such success is experienced by entire communities, it is development. Although it is not the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's core competency, the foundation has initiated some short-term, emergency grants around food security during the food crisis in multiple countries.
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The world population is projected to be 9 billion by 2050; nearly 50 percent more people will need to be fed on less arable land than currently exists today. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is optimistic about the future.
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This creates opportunities for food companies to support smallholder farm ing in a number of countries, as well as to employ those who do not currently have jobs. The long-term viability of the global food supply requires government action and corporate philanthropy aimed at helping farmers access higher-quality seed, microcredit, fertilizer, and efficient irrigation systems.
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THE GLOBAL RESPONSE TO THE CRISES TABLE 6-2 Examples of Food and Beverage Companies' Actions to Reduce Global Hunger Company Action Likely Impact General Mills Support of local high-value corn in Stimulating local economy; China supporting local agriculture PepsiCo Support of local potato farmers Stimulating local economy and in Peru, China, and South Africa; local agriculture; developing new citrus farmers in Indian Punjab; corn products and business models to farmers in Mexico; oats farmers address hunger worldwide; and investment in pilot projects to address hunger in Nigeria, South Africa, Mexico, and India Unilever Commitment to World Food Reduction of child hunger; Programme to combat child hunger improvement of child nutrition, in Kenya, Indonesia, Ghana, and health, and education; increased Colombia; creation of Annapurna school attendance; reduction iodized salt in Ghana of micronutrient deficiencies; improvement of health outcomes PepsiCo Foundation Investment in Save the Children Reduction of child hunger; for obtainment of food, deworming disseminating information; drugs, breast-feeding advice, and educating population; providing tools for proper hygiene in India and pharmaceuticals for achieving Bangladesh; invest in strengthening better health outcomes (overall the World Food Programme's disease reduction) ; disseminating distribution capabilities information for purposes of providing better food aid to populations Coca-Cola Commitment to Nets for Life for Reduction of malaria and distribution of malaria nets in sub- malaria-related diseases Saharan Africa Nestlé Development of Popularly Priced Reduction of hunger; Product portfolio to offer food and improvement of health outcomes beverage products high in nutrient quality for consumers in poverty Heinz Early supporter of Sprinkles' satchel Reduction of micronutrient of micronutrients and Britannia's deficiencies; improvement of iron-fortified biscuits in India health outcomes Danone Creation of innovative social Reduction of micronutrient business partnership with Grameen deficiencies; improvement of Bank in Bangladesh for distribution health outcomes; support of local of nutrients to undernourished agriculture populations
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Many food companies have taken their role in food fortification very seriously, especially when their products are widely consumed in the developing world. The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, through its corporate partnership programs, assists food companies in using their current product lines to meet nutrition criteria.
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In particular, PepsiCo supports the International Union of Nutritional Sciences, the International Nutrition Foundation, and the Tufts School of Nutri tion initiative to identify ways of building a global plan to enhance capacity for nutrition science in low- and middle-income countries. Innoatie Product Reformulation Aimed at Deeloping Low-Cost Nutritious Foods for All Markets Food companies are uniquely more capable than the public sector at making foods tasty and fun.
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to get nutrition on the global agenda. The food price crisis and the economic crisis have shone the spot light on the vulnerability that exists in the developing world.
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For example, the media frenzy around the current food crisis was very helpful in the United States as it galvanized a series of very high-profile initiatives. The Lancet series came just as there was growing awareness of the food price crisis, but the ensuing food riots, particularly from a national security angle, grabbed the attention of policy makers.
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THE ROLE AND CAPACITY OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN RESPONDING TO THE CRISES Tom Arnold, M.S., Chief Executie Officer Concern Worldwide There is a sense of opportunity amidst the current global food crisis -- a hopefulness that the hunger agenda will become a political focus. This opportunity is
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Such partnerships should be seen as learning communities, where the results that are generated from well-designed programs can feed into a learning loop for the benefit of all. Advocacy Civil society must play a crucial role in advocacy at the national and international levels if the hunger agenda is to change.
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Ireland playing a leadership role in advocating for change at the global level. MITIGATING THE NUTRITIONAL IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY CRISIS: THE ROLE AND CAPACITY OF UN AGENCIES IN RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS Daid Nabarro, M.D., Coordinator UN System High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis Context From the perspectives of the world's 2 billion poorest people, food and nutrition systems were in crisis long before food prices shot up in 2007.
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High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis The structure of the High-Level Task Force (HLTF) is such that it is a time-limited UN system entity established at the end of April 2008 by the UN Chief Executive Board.
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The second objective of the Comprehensive Framework for Action is to strengthen food and nutrition security in the longer run by addressing the underlying factors driving the food crisis. The desired outcome of this objective is to increase longer-term resilience and global food and nutrition security.
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In L'Aquila, there was real attention paid to vulnerabilities, particularly of young children and women, and to the commitment to support national efforts and regional initiatives to improve food security as well as to ensure a coordinated international response. There was emphasis on engaging producer organizations and civil society on the importance of the private sector and on producers having greater access to the value chain.
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The interna tional community will need to mobilize and use the necessary resources while obilize sustaining political commitment. There is a need to improve funding of food assistance, smallholder production, and social protection.
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For example, the REACH initiative involved four UN agencies and a significant number of NGOs who agreed upon a core set of interventions and approaches that are being piloted in Laos and Mauritania. UNICEF Reaction to Food Price Increases In July 2008 when food prices escalated, UNICEF was experiencing extremely limited progress in the reduction of malnutrition.
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UNICEF realized that the high food prices may have an impact on households affected by HIV, who likely already manage on a very meager income and are net buyers of food. Impact of UNICEF Response to Food Price Crisis UNICEF's funds were distributed quite rapidly.
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THE ROLE AND CAPACITY OF THE WFP IN RESPONDING TO THE CRISES Martin Bloem, M.D., Ph.D., Chief for Nutrition and HIV/AIDS Policy World Food Programme Evolution of the WFP's Focus on Nutrition Over the past 2 to 3 years, the WFP has undergone significant changes. Owing to the new leadership of Josette Sheeran in combination with external circumstances, the agency developed a new strategic plan.
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Early in 2009, the Gandolfo meeting was held in Rome to discuss the potential implications of the economic crisis, climate change, and high food prices on nutrition. A consensus from this meeting was published in the Journal of Nutrition.
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More recently, the impact of high and volatile food prices and the financial and economic crises have exacerbated the already high levels of chronic hunger and malnutrition in the world. The importance of these factors and their implications for world food security all highlight the need for a renewed mechanism of governance to address fundamental weaknesses in the mechanisms governing global food security.
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FAO must seize this opportunity to become a more effective and efficient organization in order to help address the needs of the billion undernourished people in the world. Initiative to Support Farmers During the Food Price Crisis A specific FAO initiative in response to the food crisis is to help farmers in developing countries increase their productivity in the short run through supply of seeds and fertilizers.
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THE ROLE AND CAPACITY OF WHO IN RESPONDING TO THE CRISES Francesco Branca, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Department of Nutrition for Health and Deelopment World Health Organization WHO Response to the Food Crisis WHO responded to the global food crisis by pursuing the following tasks: • Monitor the health and nutritional status of member states' populations. • Support countries in scaling up nutrition action, such as managing severe malnutrition, promoting breast-feeding and complementary feeding prac tices, improving access to specific micronutrient supplements, delivering primary health care services, and promoting food hygiene.
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As a normative agency, WHO must provide technical guidance to member states. Offering guidance in collecting nutrition information and establishing national nutrition surveillance systems is an important normative role WHO plays.
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There is no longer disagreement on these facts because data exist, but now convincing evidence needs to show that nutrition interventions can "deliver" at a reasonable price. Collaboration One workshop participant felt that real incentives to work collaboratively are still absent in the international nutrition community.
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Coordination Mechanism for Funding Funding for food and nutrition varies from level to level and subject to subject. One area where the food and nutrition community needs to move toward harmony is on the coordination of what happens with money that goes through multilateral channels.
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"Food and Nutrition Security" Tactic It was suggested that the international nutrition community begin referring to "food and nutrition security" all in one expression. Food security is on the map, but nutrition security and food security are not the same concept, and nutrition policies are somehow seen as separate from food security; if policies and programs for food and nutrition security are discussed jointly, it might make a big impact.
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2008. The role of business in addressing the long-term implications of the current food crisis.
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