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The overarching theme of this Independent Dialogue focused on creating healthier food environments by way of a package of effective and evidenced based policies (including front-of-package labelling, marketing restrictions and taxation of unhealthy foods) to help to address diet-related NCDs, leveraging the opportunity presented by the UN Food Systems Summit and beyond. Some of the key issues raised or emerging from this discussion were the need to identify common ground to improve diets, the importance of identifying the barriers and challenges that need to be addressed in order to pursue a f... قراءة المزيدood system transformation, also how policy packages can respond to specific local contexts. Further, the Dialogue emphasised the importance of strengthening appreciation that healthy or unhealthy diets are not a personal choice but rather a consequence of the food environment that needs to be shaped and nurtured with collective and coherent decisions around these policy areas, and how the pandemic has also shown the need to invest more in sustainable food systems and environments. The environment must enable and facilitate healthy choices and it must be coherent also in the sense that marketing restrictions, clear information on packaging and taxes of unhealthy products should be jointly promoted, while policies in areas such as trade, urban design and development and education should be complementary and coherent and not undermine the development of sound public health policy. It is important to level the playing field of competition, and incentives the availing of better options, so that unhealthy food steps back and healthy food comes forward. While the agenda influences consumers, producers and retailers, and supporting the environment, but also about changing the economic dynamics and levelling the playing field. It is difficult to prove large impact if the environment is not coherent. The idea behind a coherent policy package is that by implementation of it we are creating a health promoting food environment, and supporting all people’s right to health and food including children and those most vulnerable. قراءة القليل

The following key messages and themes emerged from the interactive dialogue and plenary with guided discussions among representatives from governments, civil society: - Consensus on the need for complementary package of policies to address diet related NCDs (restrictions to marketing and taxation of unhealthy foods, and front-of-package labeling systems on food products). Given the regulatory nature of these measures, and the evidence of industry interference in these types of nutrition policy-making processes, participants noted a need for tools, transparency and protective mechanisms to mini... قراءة المزيدmize risk of industry interference in public health policy and avoidance of conflicts of interest. It is not possible to have a one policy approach. A policy package approach is essential towards a vision of an environment that is coherent and all the messages that are coming from that environment come from a healthy direction. It is about saying to large food corporations what is acceptable and what is not and having a leverage playing field for healthier choices. - Participants recommended a common global definition of what is healthy or unhealthy food/diets, clarifying and including terms like ultra-processed food products. - Insights were gained on how India is responding to the double burden of malnutrition and building healthy food systems by recognizing that undernutrition and inappropriate nutrition (which contributes to diet related NCDs) are all interlinked. It was important also to recognize the need for good balanced nutrition policy during all the life course. India has an approach of eating healthy, eating safe and eating sustainably (including a health, environmental, sanitation, etc. connectivity). It was also highlighted the importance of bringing this connection to the SDG agenda and engage with multiple stakeholders across the country in a practical way at the district level (e.g. school meals). - The experience shared by Finland on notable wins and success factors in the country included the reduction of premature mortality through changes in the diet (e.g. reduction of salt and saturated fats); the adoption of a universal approach which targets the whole population and age groups: food belongs to everybody and every person need a good diet; the health-in-all-policies approach which is supported by legislation and intersectoral mechanisms; the economy of wellbeing approach emphasizing the interlinkages between social, economic and environmental sustainability; the political leadership for SDG’s in the Prime Minister Office nurtures coherent sectoral policies, supports government programmes, promotes healthy diets, coherent policies, and political leadership. As challenges, it was pointed out that the past 10 years it has become increasingly difficult to maintain success. School meals investment pays back (e.g. 1 dollar of investment pays 9 dollars back) but other approaches are needed (e.g., agricultural policies, fiscal measures, public procurement, warning labels, among others), Transforming food systems is a challenge but comes with opportunities and success stories. It is important that there is a joint effort towards better cooperation and coordination at the global level. - The majority of participants also showed interest in being part of a coalition in support of a policy package for healthy diets within the Summit context and beyond. Discussants also noted as main challenges to implementation of a package of policies: - Multiple stakeholders having a place at the table at the policy making level, including those with conflicts of interest. - The dominant prosperity/capita/development narrative being consistently focused on what will damage economies instead of also considering investment in health, environment and well-being aspects as keys to development and prosperity. - Silo policy making within governments and trade offs between government departments which are not fully transparent, understood and foster incoherence - The negative impact the food industry lobby has on political processes, funding and biasing research and driving the narrative and definition of what foods are unhealthy, coopting tenuous health and sustainability attributes as a marketing tool even when a product’s nutritional value is negligible or harmful. On immediate steps and shifts necessary to address the challenges participants agreed on the need to: - Engage and align with new allies from other sectors rather than only the health sectors. - Influence the influencers (the cooks, the bloggers, etc) to also influence policy making Build the bridge between academics and the policy makers to enable policy makers to be better informed. - Share tips and lessons learned between countries (peer to peer) and a global governance to encourage multiple country support - Increase transparency in policy discussions - highlight the iimportance of NCDs and dietary options, and making sure these are incorporated within the pandemic response. - Tackle and expose lobby power of food industry, build the evidence and take action - Build and grow civil society competency and national protection for underage consumers - Have more courageous Member States engaged in this agenda. قراءة القليل

From this Independent Dialogue and according to the questions discussed by the break-up groups, the main conclusions include de following: 1.Expectation of participants on what the UNFSS would achieve for diet-related NCDs: - That there is more policy cohesion between law, trade and nutrition - That the Summit considers health consequences of food systems - That nutrient-based approaches (deficiencies, fortification, reformulation) are balanced with a holistic approach including the consequences of food processing and food systems - That coalitions are formed to move the dial - That the Summit... قراءة المزيد facilitates a shift to health and sustainability (human, animal and planetary health) as a primary objective for policymaking - That food systems narrative is changed, that silos are broken and the mindset around multi-stakeholder action (risks and benefits) is changed - That an agreement is established between food systems and links with climate change and economic growth. Nutrition should be seen as a tool that can support both agendas. - That policies that shape the food environment are identified and invested in, not expecting individuals to have full control over diet behaviour - That there is stronger ministerial will and strong leadership from governments, such that diet is moved to the top of the priority list at the summit. - That there is a common definition of nutrient profiling -especially for children. - That better fiscal policies to promote healthy diets are recommended. - That there is recognition of the negative role of ultra-processed food industry in policy promotion (Conflicts of interest) - That more Indigenous people’s voices are heard قراءة القليل

2. Challenges to support a policy package to sustainably prevent diet related NCDs - Perception that health behaviour is a personal choice and government policy is made bearing that in mind - Infectious disease prevention, deficiency and treatment is a priority over health promotion and that is a bottleneck for policy promotion affecting also resources in place for the health promotion agenda - The economic narrative that these policies damage the economies - Silo policy-making within governments and the trade-offs between different government departments when implementing these policies - Not... قراءة المزيد enough public pressure for the promotion of these policies - Globalization - The impact of the food industry lobby (especially large multinational corporations) in building the narrative, funding research and influencing policy making - For small countries it is difficult to implement healthy food policies (e.g. locally grown foods) as larger countries have a lot of influence on the marketing of unhealthy commodities. - Trade not prioritising, and thus undermining, public health -Need for more evidence (e.g. cost-effectiveness analyses) on policy action focusing on implementation of the package of policies rather than instrument by instrument -There is no single silver bullet, multiple actions on multiple fronts are required - No sufficient tools to manage conflicts of interest and industry interference in policy shaping and making (especially when having multisectoral participation) - Ministries of health do not have the lead on the promotion of these policies - Need for demonstrating and communicating the broad public support base for these policies and the demand for change up against corporate capture of consultation processes and lack of access and poor infrastructure for civil society to influence decision making - Misconception driving a siloed approach to food policies and regulations (not including a life-course approach). - Weak collaboration within governments regarding food and nutrition, eg. with education, agriculture sectors. -Absence of a clear definition of what is “healthy” and “unhealthy” - Reformulating existing foods is necessary but not sufficient -COVID has made NCDs fall down the list - Companies are not being targeted. There is a need for policies that address power imbalance. - Industry resources to dominate consultation processes (need for guidelines on consultation processes). -Persistent argument against regulatory measures and deference of responsibility to the individual -Industry actions on the pandemic: Social responsibility actions (e.g. Sponsoring vaccination) -No plan for obesity prevention and the need of civil society to speak out - Worsening of some behaviors due to the pandemic. Pandemic also increased barriers to healthy foods, influenced affordability and increased exposure to unhealthy food marketing. - Multisectoral collaboration/policy coherence is absent - coordination of government agencies is very difficult - e.g. trade/industry or agriculture will often adopt policies that make unhealthy food cheaper, or foreign affairs will take trade-motivated positions in diplomacy -Lack of transparency in policy processes قراءة القليل

a) Domestic food supply chain needs to be optimized and made more efficient for both the accessibility of food and the welfare of farmers. b) International collaboration is needed through opening up trade linkages as complementary sources of food supply and through best practices sharing. c) Education on nutrition is important as the biggest drive for malnutrition is consumption behavior. d) Ensuring welfare for farmers at the community level through regulation and strengthening community-based farming. e) Ensure that low-income families have access to food through better targeted social prote... قراءة المزيدction. قراءة القليل

a)Optimizing food domestic supply chain and availability to guarantee safe and nutritious intake, b) Strengthen community-based farming c) Share responsibility for more stakeholders participating in the food systems, engage more with the private sectors and smallholder farmers d) Fortification to increase nutritious value of locally produced food, e) Increase social protection to make nutritious food more affordable f) Change production orientation from productivity to nutrition-sensitive agriculture g) Education for behavioral changes on nutritional consumption amongst low-income families. h)... قراءة المزيد Use import as a complementary strategy to meet national food demand. i) Create a clearer career trajectory to entice young farmers to enter the agricultural workforce and start the regeneration process. j) Collaboration with other agriculturally advanced Southeast Asian countries to learn best practices in agriculture قراءة القليل

The orientation for agriculture production, whether it is for businesses and profit or to fulfill the rights of the communities for food. The extent of the role of import as a source for domestic food supply. While some participants recognize the importance of import to fulfill domestic demands, some say that import should only be pursued as a complementary strategy.

The breakout room discussions covered (1) the impact of the long domestic supply chain on prices and food safety, (2) balanced international trade to fulfill domestic consumption, (3) the health and nutritional values of the food circulated in the market, (4) food loss and waste, (5) Equitable food production, (6) Youth and agriculture innovation, (7) Food prices disparity between producers and consumers prices, and (8) inability of policies to respond to challenges of food systems on the ground

1. The Issues and Challenges in the Food Systems identified through the dialogue - A lack of integration of women workers in production and consumption of food - Most of the policies, schemes and subsidies are associated to land and hence smallholder farmers, share croppers & agricultural laborers not unable to access them. - Despite women taking care of major field activities, they are “unpaid workers” as they rarely have access to market and the income as well as benefits linked to farming is received by the male members of the family due to them being the title-holders of farm lands... قراءة المزيد. According to a study done by World Economic Forum, 66% of the work done by women in India is unpaid work. - Women farmers do not have voice, visibility or validity in the decision-making process in mainstream agricultural practices and overall food system. - This lack of visibility results in disentitlement to benefits as well as lack of access to agricultural extension services - Increasingly frequent climate and market shocks make agriculture unprofitable, unsustainable and unviable. - Most of the training and capacity building programs on technology and farm activities being attended by male members of the family and women being deprived of the same opportunity. - Modernized, heavy farming machinery and equipment is not women-compatible and usable only by men, rendering the women unemployable. 2. Solutions suggested through the dialogue - An integration of the entire food system from “Seed to Food” i.e., the entire process from seed to cultivation, production, distribution & consumption of food to be integrated to achieve the goals of good nutrition for the people, income for small holder farmers and sustainability of the food system. - Capacity building and skill development of women farmers and laborers on farm planning, farm management, marketing and supply chain management. - Resilience building of the smallholder farmers to absorb climate and market shocks through an agriculture resilience and recovery fund. - Enabling women farmers to have the rights to the title of their land - Enabling women farmers to have a voice in decision-making & policy implementation in the Food System. - Addressing the issue of women’s unpaid labor and skewed balance of work. - Bringing about gender responsive agriculture & food system policies; bridging gender & technology gaps. - Understanding the role of “uncultivated greens” and encouraging its cultivation as it forms a major part of the diet of poor, rural families along with being a powerful source of nutrition. - Decentralizing and diversifying the food markets with a wide range of local products. - Linking the produce of smallholder women farmers to the Public Distribution System which would help in food grains produced by the farmers being available for their consumption, consumption for their family members and the local villagers. - Enabling the farmers to get assured markets and fair price of their produce to attain income security. - Promoting local agro-processing industry to increase employment opportunities for youth in villages & reducing migration to urban areas. - Organizing women to come together for collective marketing, bargaining & demand for better services. - Introducing progressive policies empowering women in food systems to reduce gender based violence. قراءة القليل

No divergent viewpoints were raised or identified.

While the Food Systems Summit workstreams and regional and state dialogues focused on the issues of gender, food systems and gender transformative approaches with multi-stakeholders, the issues and challenges of the people who make the base of agriculture i.e., the marginal rural women farmers and landless laborers had not been represented in the game changing solutions. We believe that women play major role in shouldering the responsibility of fulfilling the family’s food and nutritional needs as well as in the food systems – in production, processing, trading of food and in making decisi... قراءة المزيدons about consumption and purchase of food at household level. And yet their voices are barely heard. Thus, the dialogue was intentionally created to promote their participation in the food systems and bring their voices. The dialogue was organized by SEWA to engage small and marginal women farmers and informal sector women workers in the food systems across India and provide a platform to bring forth their issues, challenges and solutions to enhance their visibility, identity and livelihood in the food system in the presence of appropriate policymakers, private sector organizations, scientists and individual consumers. قراءة القليل

The dialogue established that in order to enable real progress for the smallholder women farmers and landless laborers, there is a need for a comprehensive and inclusive approach that integrates women producers into mainstream agriculture and food system activities, provides them long-term, sustainable support and creates for them better access to financial services and markets. Further, to achieve truly transformative changes in the Food System, it is critical that all the issues, challenges and solutions identified should not be considered in silos, but viewed holistically, with the implemen... قراءة المزيدtation of solutions and policies being done in complete synergy between the Private Sector, Public Sector, NGOs and the grassroot members. Replication of SEWA’s models of social enterprises and cooperatives across the country can bring about truly transformative changes in the lives of millions of informal workers in our country. قراءة القليل

The third group discussed action track 3, Boost nature-positive production. Farmers from various parts of India shared examples where the development of pasture land, and commons, was taken up focusing on water conservation and plantation and that led to livelihood generation as well as value addition and forward linkages. One of the most discussed solutions was preserving, strengthening and promoting women’s traditional knowledge of the bio resources. Participants in the third group proposed three game changing solutions as below. 1. Preserve and promote eco-regenerative food production met... قراءة المزيدhods including climate, seeds, traditional methods and knowledge. 2. Policies to encourage and promote management of commons (including but not limited to water, barren and wastelands, grass and forest lands) by local women’s collectives 3. Policies to promote decentralized food production systems, thereby promoting affordable and traditional methods and techniques such as local inputs, local seeds, bio-fertilizers and clean energy solutions قراءة القليل

The fourth group discussed action track 4, Advance equitable livelihoods. The key issues discussed in the group in the context of women and the current food systems include: 1) Lack of visibility, identity and recognition of women workers despite them playing significant roles at all stages in the food supply chain 2) Women’s limited access to resources including land, finance, information - leading to a lack of access to government schemes and subsidies as well as financial services. 3) The majority of the women informal workers in the food system are into home based informal enterprises �... قراءة المزيد� making them invisible in the food systems. The group proposed four game-changing solutions, including a cross-cutting solution. 1. Organizing is the key to empower rural women workers and small holder women farmers and make the food systems equitable and just. 2. Policies that treat the farm as an enterprise, promote women-owned and managed social enterprises and bring in technology and skills to strengthen the decentralized supply chains. 3. Policies that promote asset ownership by women farmers, direct procurement from women farmers - thereby facilitate decent and enhance livelihood opportunity. 4. Improved access to finance and Market access has emerged as a cross-cutting solution across all five ACTION TRACKS. قراءة القليل

The last group discussed action track 5, Build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stress. In this group, participants discussed several issues that prohibit women’s involvement in food systems, including patriarchal environment, exploiting women’s labor, limited access to markets and loans for women. The group proposed four game-changing solutions. 1. Explicit recognition of the rights of women who are structurally disadvantaged: mobilizing them, enabling their access and rights to land and finance, and other assets. 2. Policies that 1) treat family as a unit for entitlements and ca... قراءة المزيدpacity building; 2) bring visibility and recognition to family farming and promote it as an economic activity; 3) create awareness and redistribution of labor across family members 3. Organize access to freedom of association and collective bargaining for women workers and women smallholder farmers; safeguarding the social protection mechanisms, including fair pay, safe and dignified space for women, cash transfers, etc. 4. Promote, Scale and Replicate existing successful models of women owned and managed food value chains. قراءة القليل

Participants shared mostly similar views on the issues related to women and food systems. While organizing rural women workers and enabling access to financial services and market linkages was identified as a key game changing solution, other solutions such as promoting local decentralized value chains fully owned and managed by the women farmers / producers / workers themselves also came up across all five discussion groups.

Women are the back-bone of an informal worker’s household and most commonly shoulder the responsibility of fulfilling the family’s food and nutritional needs. At the same time, women play a major role in the Food system – in production, processing, trading of food and in making decisions about consumption and purchase of food at household level. Despite their importance in the food system, women are constrained by their lack of land ownership and access to other resources due to patriarchal farming systems and gender discrimination. Additionally, agricultural support systems in India are... قراءة المزيد mostly composed of men, affecting women’s access to resources to increase their incomes. Therefore, tackling gender injustice and truly empowering women is not only a fundamental prerequisite for food systems transformation but also a goal. Building more inclusive food systems will be key to supporting vulnerable populations affected by the pandemic. Inclusive food systems have the potential for integrating the poor and marginalized into food supply chains, enabling them to escape poverty, improving nutrition, and thereby, reducing national and global inequalities. To discuss and deliberate on these issues and possible game changing solutions to address these issues, IFPRI, SEWA and RECOFT co-hosted a regional dialogue on Women, Work and Food Systems on 4th March. As the dialogue mainly focused on the Action Track 4: Advance Equitable Livelihoods, this dialogue served as one in a series of regional dialogues to discuss how we can achieve the triple goal of gender equality, sustainable and healthy food systems. The dialogue brought together over 100 participants including economists, academicians, scientists, farmers and farmer organizations, policy makers, consumers, private sector and others from over 10 different sectors. In order to engage different stakeholders actively in the dialogue, five breakout groups were created based on the five action tracks. The opening remarks about the dialogue theme, Women, Work, and Food Systems, were delivered before the breakout group discussion to provide the context of women in food systems to participants. Each group was encouraged to come up with three game changing solutions at the end of the discussion. Cross-cutting solutions across all breakout groups were identified. قراءة القليل

At the end of the discussion, each group came up with 3 game changing solutions. Some of these game-changing solutions are as below. 1. Organizing is the key to empower rural women workers and small holder women farmers and make the food systems equitable and just. Promoting their own member-owned and managed supply chain will help building their collective strength, bargaining power and decision-making agencies. 2. Policies that treat farm as an enterprise, promote women-owned and managed social enterprises and bring in technology and skills to strengthen the decentralized supply chains. 3. P... قراءة المزيدolicies that Explicitly recognize and promote the rights of women who are structurally disadvantaged. 4. Focus on Affordability and accessibility to enable increased effective reach of nutritious food for all. 5. Promote traditional food through pro-poor and pro-women farmer policies as well as linking consumer directly to producers through producer-led-value chains. 6. Reviving, promoting and implementing indigenous practices through technological integration. 7. Promote local production and distribution to address the issue of food wastage as well as localization of agricultural value chain to generate better, just and equitable livelihood opportunities. 8. Educate and create awareness about hidden environmental costs of food production to the commons. 9. Promote eco-regenerative solutions, management of resources and commons by rural women workers. Additionally, organizing rural women workers and enabling access to financial services and market linkages came out as a cross-cutting solution across all groups. قراءة القليل

The first group discussed the first action track, Ensure Access to Safe and Nutritious Food for all. Participants discussed how to promote a member-owned food supply chain, member-owned agriculture tool, and equipment library for small holder women. The group proposed three game-changing solutions as below. 1. Organizing poor smallholder farmers and women workers, promoting their own member-owned and managed supply chain and thus building their collective strength, bargaining power and decision-making agencies. 2. Focus on increasing affordability and accessibility to nutritious food for all t... قراءة المزيدhrough women producer food systems and supply chains. 3. Preserving, promoting and practicing indigenous practices through technological inclusion. قراءة القليل

The second group discussed action track 2, Shift to sustainable consumption patterns. Some concerns were raised in this group discussion. The key issue highlighted was “what is being produced is not eaten and instead, is exported. What is being eaten is what has been imported.” Some participants also noted that there is a disconnect between the producers and the consumers due to change in food preferences and consumption patterns. Other issues related to food wastage, hoarding of food grains by traders and middlemen leading to inflation, lack of markets for small surplus produce, governmen... قراءة المزيدt policies around PDS (the government subsidized Public Distribution System) which allowed distribution of low-quality grains, and distribution of non-local grains like wheat and rice were mentioned. Additionally, participants discussed issues related to policies. Current policies do not ensure ownership of land to women, or disassociate access to resources and land ownership, thus leading to women’s inability to access financial resources, extension services, benefits and entitlements from government as a small farmer. The group proposed three game changing solutions as below. 1. Address the issue of food wastage by training local producers to produce contemporary nutritious food using locally grown traditional food grains and produce. 2. Educate and create awareness about hidden environmental costs of food production to the general consumers. Address the role of media, celebrities and large corporates / brands in promoting harmful dietary habits and junk food. 3. Policies that Promote traditional food through a. Emphasizing on local procurement and distribution through PDS b. Enabling market access and support for small women farmers c. Promoting FPO’s that connect Producers directly to Consumers. قراءة القليل