Food and Nutrition Security Exchange days 2016

Work more in alignment with Dutch partner countries, make better use of opportunities to link aid, trade and investment, and put into practice the policy of “no one should be left behind”. These are some of the conclusions of the Food and Nutrition Security Exchange days 2016 among food security experts and agricultural attaches from 11 partner country Embassies, policy makers in The Hague and food security and agricultural sector partners in the Netherlands. Another conclusion was that one of the real challenges of the Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) policy is working on sustainable food systems: both in terms of production, social and ecologically sound results.

The FNS Exchange days 2016 were a five-day event from the March 17 till March 23, 2016 organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Wageningen UR/CDI and the Food & Business Knowledge Platform. Its purpose is to bring Food and Nutrition Security policy staff working in the headquarters in The Hague (at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well Economic Affairs), Dutch Embassies and on UN Permanent Representative positions in Rome and New York together to create and facilitate knowledge exchange and dynamic discussions on FNS relevant topics.

FNS Exchange report

The outcome report is aimed to give a brief insight in the dialogues, debates and discussions which have taken place in the multiplicity of presentations and visits during the FNS Exchange. The structure of the report is based on the chronology of the event. A brief summary is made from each presentation, activity and workshop to generate a comprehensive overview of the topics addressed during the FNS Exchange.

The FNS Exchange in short:

• Dutch Embassies and policy staff at the HQ in The Hague shared their experiences and views on central and decentral programming, on regional cooperation in Africa, on measuring and communicating FNS results and the future implementation of food and nutrition security policy by showing inspiring examples from Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Rwanda.
• At the Wageningen UR Campus, a full day of interactions took place with the broader network of stakeholders from the private sector, civil society, and knowledge institutions. Thematic expert sessions were held with partners on a range of FNS topics indicated by Embassies as priority learning themes. These sessions were followed by a lively market with intensive networking with and among FNS actors from NGOs, companies and knowledge institutes, larded with short pitches.
• A full day was dedicated to visit the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) and the Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture location in Bleiswijk. This program was combined with the exchange days organized for the Agricultural Counselors.
• The provoking key-note speech of Lucas Simons, author of “Changing the Food Game”, was followed by an animated debate with the participants about the current Dutch FNS policies.
• The final day of the program was about “seeding” the plans for the future, while wrapping up the discussions on the previous days by Reina Buijs, Deputy Director-General for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Please download here the complete report of the FNS Exchange 2016.