As part of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) programme, the OECD/SWAC Secretariat, is hosting a webinar on strengthening food and nutrition security governance in the Sahel and West Africa. Join us to explore how innovative governance tools, inclusive business models and regional partnerships can build more resilient food systems.
Background and rationale:
Over the past decade, the Sahel and West Africa region has experienced an increase in cereal and root crop production per capita. However, food and nutrition security has worsened, with an additional 30 million people affected in the last five years. This situation demonstrates that agricultural growth alone is insufficient to improve food security which is driven by complex, interconnected factors. The relationship between the two is neither direct nor guaranteed; it must be carefully established and sustained.
Current efforts to address food insecurity face three major challenges. First, countries’ ability to prevent food crises is limited. Second, food security responses are not sufficiently evidence-based, and their implementation often overlooks opportunities to co-ordinate different interventions for greater synergy and complementarity. Lastly, there is a lack of an intentional business approach to boost agricultural growth while tackling food insecurity.
The SWAC Secretariat at the OECD has organised this webinar at a timely moment, coinciding with the ongoing revision of the Agriculture and Food and Nutrition Security framework under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) initiative across various African regions and countries. For 40 years, the SWAC Secretariat has been the vehicle for the OECD to invest in food security, designing instruments, generating evidence, and organising policy dialogue to address these challenges. The SWAC Secretariat, in collaboration with the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), facilitates the Food Crisis Prevention Network (RPCA) under the political leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA). Through the RPCA network, the SWAC Secretariat has recently developed essential governance tools for food security and nutrition. This webinar will convene key policymakers and organisations working to strengthen countries' resilience to food crises by addressing the following key questions:
How prepared are countries to prevent food crises?
How can the effectiveness of the food security response be improved?
How can the impact of business investment on food security be enhanced?
The objectives of this event are to:
Promote innovative governance tools for food and nutrition security, and explore strategies for scaling them up to enhance the effectiveness of food security responses.
Facilitate dialogue between policymakers, the private sector, and international partners around inclusive business models that aim to improve food and nutrition security while boosting agriculture growth.
Key themes for discussion:
Country readiness to prevent food crises: What regional support and practical steps can countries take to strengthen their preparedness and early warning systems for food crises? How can promising practices be scaled up?
Effective response to food insecurity: How can food security interventions be better co-ordinated and tailored to local contexts for greater impact?
Business inclusion for enhanced food security: What are the most effective ways to engage the private sector in advancing food and nutrition security across the region?
Evidence to drive food and nutrition security governance (RPCA Information Management System): What evidence needs to be leveraged to inform and improve policy decisions on food and nutrition security?
Commitment for improving partnership: What are the key take-aways and commitments that could be made to advance food and nutrition security?
Expected outcomes:
Shared understanding of the latest food and nutrition governance instruments, good practices and ways to upscale their use.
Strengthened partnerships among policymakers, private sector actors, and international organisations to support co-ordinated action on food security and nutrition.
Actionable recommendations for scaling up the use of the governance instruments and strengthening country readiness, improving the effectiveness of food security responses, and scaling up business inclusion in food systems.
Follow-up mechanisms are set for ongoing dialogue, monitoring, and follow-up actions to ensure that recommendations and partnerships translate into measurable progress.
