Workshop on Research to inform food and nutrition security policies held in Dhaka

A National Workshop to present inception reports on 14 research topics on Food Security and Nutrition in Bangladesh was held on 11 and 12 December at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel, Dhaka as part of the activities of the National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme (NFPCSP) in strengthening evidenced-based decision making for the Government of Bangladesh.
 
The Workshop was inaugurated on 11 December 2011 by Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, MP, Honorable Minister, Ministry of Food and Disaster Management as Chief Guest and attended by some 350 participants, including representatives from the Ministries and agencies of Government of Bangladesh, Researchers from national Institutions, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Development Partners, Donors, UN Organizations, national experts and international experts from FAO.
 
The Research Grant Scheme is a major component of NFPCSP, jointly implemented by the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management (MoFDM) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations with the financial support of the European Union and USAID, which funds policy-relevant food security research that is part of the policy research agenda of the FPMU. The research programme is expected to provide concrete policy options for improving food and nutrition security in the country.
 
The objectives of the Workshop were to enhance responsiveness to policy makers information needs of the research programme and to increase the technical quality of the research programme. During the two days, the 14 research teams from various public and private Universities and Research Institutions in Bangladesh presented and discussed with the audience their research inception reports, outlining the objectives, methods and expected outputs of their studies, so as to facilitate dialogue among the researchers and between researchers and policy makers. Therefore, the Workshop provided a platform to launch a new set of policy oriented researches on food security that the NFPCSP in collaboration with national research institutions is initiating in the thematic areas of (i) Nutrition: food composition and dietary intake (ii) Access to food: safety net and migration (iii) Food availability: land, water and credit (iv) Food availability: efficiency and diversification.
 
The inaugural session of the Workshop was chaired by Mr. Abdul Awal Howladar, Additional Secretary, Food Division and attended by Mr. Dominique Burgeon, FAO Representative in Bangladesh as Special Guest, by Mr. Richard Greene, Mission Director, USAID and Mr. Milko van Gool, Counsellor and Head of Cooperation, Delegation of the EU to Bangladesh as Guests of Honor, Mr. Naser Farid, Director General, FPMU and Mr Ciro Fiorillo, Chief Technical Advisor FAO-NFPCSP.
 
Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, MP, Honorable Minister, Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, in his inaugural address, expressed appreciation for policy research activities of the NFPCSP and FPMU and its relevance for improving design and implementation of food security policies in the country. He also recalled the importance of the Country Investment Plan, successfully prepared jointly by the Government of Bangladesh and FAO as a comprehensive plan aligned with the 6th Five Year Plan that aims at creating a conversion of the food policy plan of action and other planning frameworks into investment programmes to fill gap, scale up current positive interventions and develop new programmes prioritized by the Government. In renewing the commitment of the Government in achieving food and nutritional security to make the country a middle income one by 2021, the Minister wished all the participants a successful workshop. He was confident that the collective efforts of research by these organizations facilitated by the NFPCSP would add enormously to the body of knowledge so crucial for informed policy making in the country.
 
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