Making food systems deliver where it counts

28 July 202513:00 - 14:15(EAT)Small Briefing Room SBR, ECA, Addis Ababa

Ensuring universal access to healthy, affordable, and sustainable diets is a cornerstone of food systems transformation. Yet despite bold global and national commitments, implementation remains fragmented, underfunded, and insufficiently aligned across sectors. 

As of 2024, over 2.8 billion people still cannot afford a healthy diet, and the systems intended to nourish them too often reinforce inequality, poor health, and environmental degradation.

Malawi's Ministry of Agriculture is partnering with the Ministry of Health, the African Development Bank, the Aquatic Blue Food Coalition, the Nutrition and Food Commission of Zambia, the SDG2 Advocacy Hub, the Zero Hunger Coalition, AUDA-NEPAD, GIZ and BMZ for a side event of the UNFSS+4 Stocktaking Moment taking place in Addis Ababa, titled "Making food systems deliver where it counts". The session is hosted by the Government of Malawi and the Government of Zambia.

This side event, which will take place on Monday, 28 July, from 13:00 to 14:15 EAT, will explore how countries and partners are bridging the gap between high-level political commitment and concrete dietary outcomes. It will highlight how governments are placing healthy diets at the centre of national strategies through integrated, nutrition-sensitive approaches, including school meal programmes, climate-smart food procurement, public health interventions, and targeted investments in dietary diversity.

The event will also explore strategies for supporting countries to align both public and private financing with national dietary priorities and broader development goals, ensuring that healthy diets are accessible as well as sustainably delivered at scale. The session will conclude with concrete proposals to embed healthy diets as a measurable outcome within the UNFSS+4 Stocktake and food systems accountability frameworks.

 

Agenda

  • Opening and welcome
  • Opening remark by H.E. Ambassador Nosipho Nausca-Jean Jezile
  • Country experiences
    • Mathews Mhuru, Zambia National Food and Nutrition Commission
    • HE Sok Silo, Secretary General of the Council for Agriculture and Rural Development and National Convenor, Cambodia
    • Dr Alfred Mwenifumbo, Ministry of Agriculture, Malawi
  • High-level panel discussion
    • Oluwafunmilola Shelika, Nigeria Chair, AWFISHNET / Blue Food Coalition
    • School Meals Coalition
    • Gunther Beger, UNIDO
    • Dr Andreas Schaumayer, BMZ
    • Estherine Fotabong, AUDA-NEPAD
  • Call to action
    • African Leaders for Nutrition
       

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