Nigeria Women in Food, Agriculture and Nutrition Dialogue

The Government of Nigeria align with the call by the United Nations (UN) Secretary General that a Global Food Systems Summit should hold in New York in September, 2021.  In preparation for the global summit the UN required member country of the UN to engage at three levels of Dialogue for a robust submission into the Global Dialogue. The Summit is part of the strategic approach to actualize the decade of action for accelerating the achievement of food and nutrition for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030.  It is expected that the Summit will bring about new actions and strategies that will assist the countries deliver on all the 17 SDGs, with sustainable and inclusive functional food systems that will address poverty and food security.

The Government of Nigeria in an efforts to ensure that Nigeria makes a credible and actionable submission to the Global Food system summit appointed the Permanent Secretary Budget and National Planning, Mrs Olusola Idowu as the  National Convenor to coordinate the various levels of Dialogues in Nigeria as required by the UN System. The National Convenor was expected to coordinate dialogues at both national, subnational including Community and Local Government, organizational and individual which will eventually produce a report for discussion during the Consolidatory Dialogue. This is to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are engaged for country ownership and a comprehensive solution to address the challenges of food and nutrition in Nigeria. It is also to ensure that no one is left behind in the Dialogue.

The dialogue by Women Group  in food, nutrition and agriculture is to consult with various stakeholders to identify gaps and proffer solutions that can catalyze the much-needed transformation of local and global food systems to improve food and nutrition security, promote economic growth, create jobs and impact positively on security.

2. Objectives of the Women in Food, Agriculture and Nutrition Dialogue

The objectives of Women in Agriculture Exploratory Dialogue are to:

1. Interact with women in Food, Agriculture and Nutrition as critical stakeholder in the food system with a view to suggest the way forward to the challenges of the food system in Nigeria;
2. Galvanize inputs of Women Group into the submission of Nigeria to the Global Food System Summit;
3. Recommend the way forward to addressing food and nutrition challenge through dialogue and renewed commitment by Women stakeholders in the sector; and
4. Encourage a collaborative approach towards building an effective Food Systems in Nigeria.

RATIONALE FOR WOMEN GROUP EXPLORATORY DIALOGUE

The UN recommended three level dialogues at country level which is expected to form the basis for submission of inputs to the Global Food System Summit that is planned to hold in September, 2021. The three levels Dialogues includes Inception National Dialogue, Exploratory Dialogue and Consolidatory Dialogue.  The Government of Nigeria therefore organized an Inception National Dialogue on the 23^rd February, 2021 while the Regional  Exploratory dialogues in the six Geopolitical zones were held from 6^th – 9^th April, 2021. There have also been various independent Exploratory Dialogues by Groups, Individuals and organisations in collaboration with the Government under the coordination of the National Convenor. The Community and Local Government Exploratory Dialogues were also held in 8 states on 18^th May, 2021 while the Organised Private sector led by the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) organized a Dialogue in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (FMFBNP) on 25^th May, 2021. The Value Chain Group in collaboration with the FMFBNP and Federal Ministry of Agriculture (FMA) organised a Dialogue on 27^th May, 2021. It is in view of the above that it is considered necessary that Women in Food and Agriculture Group should organize a Dialogue that will bring together all women in food and Agriculture to galvanize ideas that can move the food system forward.

METHODOLOGY

The Women Group in Food and Agriculture will engage all women in the food system in a dialogue that will be led by a Curator and five Facilitators vide a virtual interactions that will elicit inputs based on issues, challenges and recommendation in a communique that will feed into the outcomes of other Exploratory Dialogues from other stakeholders which will eventually feed into the Consolidatory dialogues scheduled for the last week in June, 2021. The Women in Food and Agriculture will run the Dialogue on the following five Action Tracks as prescribed by the UN:

1. Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all.
2. Shift to sustainable consumption patterns.
3. Boost nature-positive production.
4. Advance equitable livelihoods.
5. Build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stress.

Engagement Modalities

The following principles of engagement will also suffice:

1. Act with urgency
2. Commit to the Summit
3. Be respectful
4. Recognize complexity
5. Embrace multi-stakeholder inclusivity
6. Complement the work of others
7. Build trust

Dialogue

In preparation for the dialogue, participants will be encouraged to register in the online Registration platform that will be backstopped by the United Nations Information System (UNIC) Nigeria Office where participants will be encouraged to register and choose their Track of interest from the five Action Tracks.

The Dialogue will be held virtually via zoom, with 5 different syndicate groups to deliberate on each Action Track while one Facilitator will lead the group discussion. There will also be a note taker for each Action Track while the entire Dialogue will be moderated by an experienced and knowledgeable Curator. Facilitators will be expected to submit the report of their Group outcomes in a customized Template to the Curator who will later submit it to the National Convenor for transmission to the designated UN Portal and also integrate into the national report.