25/07/2018 Hanoi, Viet Nam. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Viet Nam, in collaboration with Viet Nam National University of Agriculture, today held a validation workshop for curriculum development to ensure food systems contribute to better nutrition through building of capacities of various stakeholders to mainstream nutrition in their policies and programs.

The workshop is part of a broader effort by FAO to promote multisectoral and multistakeholder engagement specifically the private sector, civil society organizations (CSOs) and academia, to promote nutrition-sensitive food systems. Under the five-year FAO project  “Strengthening capacities for nutrition – sensitive food systems through a multi-stakeholder approach” funded by the Japanese Government, around 40 participants representing  leaders and representatives from Ministry of Education and Training, FAO Headquarters and FAO Viet Nam,, National Institute of Nutrition,  Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry, Can Tho University, Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development  (IPSARD), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), experts from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),  and Vietnam Standards and Consumers Association (VINASTAS) reaffirmed the need for the project and vowed to support the initiative to bring it to successful completion.

This project also complements ESN’s on-going commitment to build capacities of the government and CSOs in nutrition-sensitive food systems through the development of toolkits and e-learning modules which are envisioned to be scaled up after adapting them to local context. The ultimate impact sought by the project is for the Vietnamese particularly the food insecure and nutritionally vulnerable to have increased access to diverse, nutritious, affordable and safe foods for healthy diets through sustainable food systems.  

“We need to change the way we think about food systems from feeding to nourishing people, ensuring that populations have access to high quality diets and explore as many possible entry points for nutrition in the food systems” said Maria Antonia Tuazon, Nutrition and Food Systems Officer at ESN in FAO Headquarters.

FAO in partnership with the Government of Viet Nam and Viet Nam National University of Agriculture and in collaboration with the 3 Universities represented in the workshop will promote the  integration of nutrition in agriculture curriculum to produce a critical mass of agriculturists and agro-engineers who have an appreciation and recognize the importance of adopting a nutrition-sensitive food systems framework in policy-making, programme planning and business development. 

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations