Why be concerned with food security?

Since 1971, Bangladesh has been making considerable progress to achieve food security, in particular through an impressive increase in food production. However, undernourishment has remained widespread, especially among women and children. Thus, in the absence of additional efforts, the Millennium Development Goal 1 of halving the proportion of undernourished in Bangladesh by 2015 will not be met, even less so the World Food Summit Target of halving the number of undernourished.

Chronic hunger is a result and a key manifestation of abject poverty, but it is also a major cause of poverty. The National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction recognizes that  ‘food security is a core element in the struggle against poverty’. This highlights the need for a comprehensive food security policy, integrating food availability, access and nutrition as the key dimensions of food security.

Getting the policy framework right: the National Food Policy (NFP)

Following the 1999 Paris Development Forum which emphasized the need to adopt a comprehensive food security policy, the Government of Bangladesh established a Task Force of nine ministries which gave rise to an initial draft of the NFP in 2001. After consultations with a Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Food and related key ministries, and with support from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the draft went through a series of revisions. The National Food Policy was finally approved by the Cabinet on 14 August 2006 and is available at http://www.nfpcsp.org/.

The courses delivered so far include introduction to economics; food security concepts and issues and impact of economic policies on food security; food and nutrition principles and policy applications; price and food policy monitoring for NFP implementation; and impact analysis of economic policies on food security. This provided participants with common knowledge of analytical tools to help them in their work towards the development of the NFP PoA and in their NFP implementation monitoring activities.

The NFPCSP also provides on-site continuous training, such as English language training and computer training. Short-term training overseas is also offered to respond to specific needs. Longer term overseas training has been initiated with the enrolment in the UK of one member of FPMU for a PhD and three others for Master programs in the fall 2007.

Promoting food security research: the Research

Grant Award Initiative

The Research Grant Award Initiative (RGI) aims at increasing civil society’s involvement in producing action-oriented research on food policy and food security issues to inform and strengthen policy. Civil society representatives can apply for research grants under two facilities, namely the Programme Funded Research (PR) and the Challenge Fund (CF). The former is geared towards supporting long-term substantive research by institutions, organisations and centres, while the latter will support complementary short-term research work on existing policies and interventions on best practices.

Research grants are awarded through a Research Grant Panel

chaired by the FAO Representative in Bangladesh and consisting of a representative from FAO headquarters, the NFPCSP Chief Technical Advisor, and representatives from the World Food Programme (WFP), civil society and the Government of Bangladesh. The first call for proposals took place in April 2007 and a total of 22 grants (8 PR and 14 CF) were awarded in the fall of 2007.

Making the National Food Policy work: the role of the NFPCSP

The National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme (NFPCSP) was initiated to enhance the national capacity to implement the National Food Policy and its ensuing Plan of Action (PoA). The first three year phase of the project started in the second half of 2005, with activities gaining momentum in 2006. A second four year phase is expected to follow.

The NFPCSP is implemented jointly by the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) under the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the FAO, with the financial assistance of the European Commission (EC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The programme has two components. The first one is designed to strengthen the capacity of the FPMU and the members of the policy wings and planning units in the partner ministries so that they can contribute to implementing the NFP and its PoA as well as to plan, monitor and assess the ongoing food security related activities that aim to improve food availability, enhance physical, social and economic access to food, and ensure good nutrition. The second component endeavours to expand and deepen the capacity of civil society to conduct high quality research on food security, enhancing the knowledge base on food security in Bangladesh and establishing an effective platform for dialogue between policy makers and researchers.

Key activities of the NFPCSP

Strengthening human capacities

Substantive capacity building activities began in April 2006

with the delivery of a Preliminary Intensive Training Program followed by the Second Intensive Program in 2007. Together, these programs consisted of more than 400 hours class training involving more than 37 officials from 11 partner ministries and the FPMU.