Welcome to discussion room on "Addressing structural vulnerabilities and building human capital".


Structural vulnerabilities that undermine food security and nutrition include lack of education, nutrition, healthcare and social protection, as well as gender inequality. Addressing these structural vulnerabilities is essential for lifting households out of food insecurity and malnutrition and achieving sustained and equitable growth.

Progress on these key dimensions also determines how shocks – conflict, climate or economic – impact people and future trends unfold. For example, a shock-responsive and inclusive national social protection system affords people greater means to build their resilience to reduce or better manage risks and shocks, thus experiencing fewer negative impacts.


Please answer the following questions:

  1. What do you think are the critical long term and future shifts that are transforming how WFP can address structural vulnerabilities and building human capital?
  2. In that future, what WFP should do differently or better?

 

 

 

Comments (7)

Cecilia Roccato
Cecilia Roccato Moderator

Dear colleagues, 

welcome to this discussion room, where we want to hear from you about what WFP can and should do to address structural inequalities and building human capital. 

We encourage you to start by replying to the following questions:

  1. What do you think are the critical long term and future shifts that are transforming how WFP can address structural vulnerabilities and building human capital?
  2. In that future, what WFP should do differently or better?

And also: Is there anything WFP should start doing? or anything WFP should stop doing? 

What is the added value of WFP to address structural inequalities and building human capital? 

Think out of the box and be creative, we want to hear from you!

 

Francesco Greco
Francesco Greco

Dear colleagues,

Here is some input from our food procurement strategy, in particular for nutritious foods.

What do you think are the critical long term and future shifts that are transforming how WFP can address structural vulnerabilities and building human capital?

In a future where Governments and local communities increasingly take ownership of tackling their structural vulnerabilities, supporting local production of value-added products, such as SNF, will contribute to meet multiple objectives: it will help drive industrial investment and good manufacturing quality practices, with long-lasting payoffs for the food systems. At the same time, it will provide the food required to fight against malnutrition and stunting, two of the most critical obstacles to human development. Industrial development of local production of processed foods can also be a driver of cash-based interventions when local suppliers are able to commercialize their products on the market. The impact would be multiple:

  • Economic gain
  • Stimulate local production of raw materials and drive local farmers to produce higher quality harvest.
  • Address malnutrition
  • Knowledge transfer, by bringing knowledge and technology to the manufacturing sector.
  • Job creation in the agroindustry.

In that future, what WFP should do differently or better?

WFP should establish long-term financial support of local suppliers via purchase commitments, actively advocate to mobilize resources from international financial institutions and donors on behalf of the private sector and ensure that demand for nutritious foods is going to remain a key component of the nutrition intervention of WFP and of national governments in the coming years.

Francesco Greco
Francesco Greco

On behalf of @Isabelle Mballa:

What do you think are the critical long term and future shifts that are transforming how WFP can address structural vulnerabilities and building human capital?

In our operations: our role is clear in delivering nutrition intervention: nut specific, continue to expand our supplier base, engage with national entities on food fortification and use our demand to influence behavioral changes in diets etc...

School health also: diversification, adapting sourcing strategy to crisis or developing contexts.

In that future, what WFP should do differently or better?

Trainings delivered in PHL management, retailers trainings, knowledge around food safety and quality across the supply chain, at farmers, retailers, schools level etc..

National and regional food standards harmonisation, engagement with SMEs for nutritious food production etc...

Francesco Greco
Francesco Greco

On behalf of @Ludovic Salen :

Supporting the development of a gender-transformative approach to food security and nutrition:

Enabling Women-led Enterprises for Nutritious Crops will support women currently facing poverty and inequality to create small enterprises, generating economic empowerment and agency in decision-making in producing, selling, and eating nutritious foods. Cash-based transfers have contributed to improving protection, particularly of women. WFP can work towards engaging more women retailers to enhance women’s role in the retail sector and facilitated informal saving schemes and access to microcredit for women. It can consists of Activity : (a) leadership programmes for innovators at the community level, (b) small-scale women-led enterprises designed to work in local contexts, (c) nature-friendly food production. At its heart is developing women-led food enterprises with an explicit nutrition-related purpose and (d)attracting young women and men into agribusiness; and supporting traders and retailers in enhancing efficiencies in supply chains that will improve the affordability and quality of food for WFP beneficiaries and broader populations.

Cecilia Roccato
Cecilia Roccato Moderator

Dear Francesco and Ludovic, 

Thank you very much for these inputs. Indeed WFP as a key role to play in promoting the role of women producers and retailers, considering that economic independence is often the first step towards empowerment. 

We will also share your suggestions with the SAMS team. 

 

Edouard Nizeyimana
Edouard Nizeyimana

What is described in the introduction are the causes of the multidimensional poverty.

A lot of Country CFSVA analyse the correlation between literacy/level of education of the head of HH and the household food security and poverty. In general, the lower the level of education, the higher the food insecurity of the household.

School feeding is seen as the “game changing solution’ and clearly as an entry point for WFP to provide evidence that School meals are one of the most important enablers for human capital foundations.

As the world grows faster with the technological innovations (mostly through digitalization), so does the gap between the educated and the illiterate people, and this is pronounced for girls and women. Educated women are doing better in health and nutrition for children (and indeed for the whole family) as they have the capacity to engage in training and community work.

 

In the near future, WFP should join/shape the coalition with UNESCO, UNICEF, ILO, UNDP, Continental, RECs and other to improve education, health and social protection.

Specifically build and reinforce STR instruments to call Governments to engage IFIs in comprehensive social protection programmes of school meals, nutrition, strategic food reserves including community food banks, Smallholders markets support, and employment creation. These programmes would be implemented where possible through local food procurement.

WFP should leverage its strengths in Food security analysis and expand to  social and inequality enquiries and where possible partner with WB, UNIFEM and UNICEF in developing tools and addressing these challenges through joint programming/complementarity.

Lilian
Lilian

Addressing structural inequalities/vulnerabilities and building human capital requires long-term investment. The short-term nature of 'standard' WFP activities or programmes will not allow for this to happen.

We have to take a fresh look at our programme design and theory of change and combine that with a sound and regular analysis of the changing dynamics in the locations where we work.

We must invest in consulting and involving the people we serve more often and more organically and continuously throughout the project phases as they hold the key to the solutions to the problems they face and we are just enablers in achieving those solutions. This may require a mindset shift among all WFP staff and especially decision-makers, to see the people we serve as not merely beneficiaries but key partners and stakeholders. This is especially true when tackling gender and inclusion issues.

We need to have an honest conversation with our donors and partners (esp. governments) on their expectations and what we can do and what we cannot achieve with the support they give us- and advocate for more flexible funding to address root causes -which are often structural in nature.

Last but not least, while embracing the principle of localization, we should be strategic and intentional about the partners that we choose to work with. Rather than focus merely on operational complementarities and expediency, we should also choose partners that are experienced and committed to addressing structural vulnerabilities (especially in the areas of citizen engagement, governance, policy advocacy, and rights-based approaches) and leverage our footprint and the often great relationships that we have built with communities and governments over time to catapult change at the structural level. Engagement with CSOs  (rather than UN agencies) is key here because many of these have a successful track record in the areas of expertise highlighted and we stand to gain a lot from their experience, including achieving sustainable change at the local level. 


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