AUDA NEPAD Guidelines for the Design and Implementation of Home-Grown School Feeding Programmes in Africa (2022)

The Guidelines for the Design and Implementation of African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) Home Grown School Feeding Programmes in Africa is the result of a collaborative effort supported by the African Union Commission for Education, Science, Technology and Innovations (AUC-ESTI) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Home Grown School Feeding has been recognized by African leaders for its contribution to human resources and capital development in the continent and for having an important role in inclusive development, health, rural development, gender equality and inclusive education, particularly for the poor and socially marginalised communities.

These HGSF guidelines are meant to provide general direction or guidance to African Union Member States who wish to establish HGSF programmes or review existing school feeding programmes to link them more directly with smallholder farmers and other role players in the school food value chain, while addressing the nutrition component more adequately.

The five school feeding quality standards form the organizational structure of these guidelines, namely,
i) policy and legal framework,
ii) financial capacity and stable funding,
iii) institutional capacity for implementation and coordination,
iv) design and implementation,
v) and community participation.

The mandate of AUDA-NEPAD is to:
a) Coordinate and Execute priority regional and continental projects to promote regional integration towards the accelerated realisation of Agenda 2063; and
b) Strengthen capacity of African Union Member States and regional bodies, advance knowledge-based advisory support, undertake the full range of resource mobilisation and serve as the continent’s technical interface with all Africa’s development stakeholders and development partners.

AUDA NEPAD Home Grown School Feeding Handbook (2020)

This African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) Handbook was prepared primarily based on the experience and lessons from Botswana, Ghana and Nigeria.

These three countries are among the most advanced countries in implementing HGSF which are supported and led by their national government.

The handbook is one of the tools to share an example of a multi-tiered approach to country level interventions for effective delivery on nutrition and food systems.

The mandate of AUDA-NEPAD is to:
a) Coordinate and Execute priority regional and continental projects to promote regional integration towards the accelerated realisation of Agenda 2063; and
b) Strengthen capacity of African Union Member States and regional bodies, advance knowledge-based advisory support, undertake the full range of resource mobilisation and serve as the continent’s technical interface with all Africa’s development stakeholders and development partners.

FAO Global Roadmap for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) without Breaching the 1.5°C Threshold (2023 Dec)

Don’t have time for the whole report?
Read the Brief!

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) developed the Global Roadmap for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) without Breaching the 1.5°C Threshold aimed at eliminating hunger and all forms of malnutrition without exceeding the 1.5°C threshold set by the Paris Agreement. The roadmap outlines a comprehensive strategy spanning the next three years that encompasses a diverse portfolio of solutions across ten distinct domains of action.

It challenges the prevailing narrative that increasing production is synonymous with higher emissions and environmental degradation. Instead, it emphasizes the opportunity within agrifood systems to enhance production efficiency while aligning with climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience objectives.

The roadmap identifies 120 actions and key milestones within ten domains, supported by evidence gathered by FAO over several years. These domains include clean energy, crops, fisheries and aquaculture, food loss and waste, forests and wetlands, healthy diets, livestock, soil and water, and data and inclusive policies — the latter two identified as overall systemic enablers.

Concerning food and nutrition, it sets a path to eliminate chronic undernourishment by 2030 and ensure access to healthy diets for all by 2050. Additional milestones include halving per capita global food waste by 2030 and updating Food-based dietary guidelines (FBSG) by countries to provide context-appropriate quantitative recommendations on dietary patterns.

The roadmap also emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between agrifood systems transformation and climate actions, urging the mobilization of climate finance for implementation.

Highlighting a just transition at its core, the roadmap envisions transforming agrifood systems from a net emitter to a carbon sink. It calls for alternative production methods, adjusted consumption patterns, refined forestry management, and innovative technologies such as carbon capture.

Advocating for global resource optimization beyond crop production, the plan suggests rebalancing consumption patterns and promoting healthy diets for all. It stresses that adaptability to specific contexts is crucial, cautioning against one-size-fits-all solutions.

The process, unveiled at the United Nations Climate Conference COP28 as a concrete package of solutions, will undergo extensive fine-tuning and elaboration over the next three years. COP29 will delve into regional adaptation and financial options, while COP30 will outline concrete investment and policy packages at the country level.

The text above was extracted from an FAO press release.

Regenerative Aquatic Foods (RAF) Roadmap (2023)

Citation: Food + Planet, CGIAR & GAIN. Regenerative Aquatic Foods Roadmap (Rockefeller Foundation, 2023); https://go.nature.com/3T9Tx7a

During a convening at the Bellagio Center in July 2023, a group of experts co-created the RAF Roadmap, aligning closely with the SDGs. The experts, with backgrounds in nutrition, environmental conservation, aquaculture, policy development economics and community practices, recognized the need for a universal cross-organizational effort to advance regenerative aquatic foods, emphasizing sustainability and equitable food systems.

It was agreed that RAFs are aquatic foods from systems that enhance ecosystems, rather than deplete, and also offer restorative benefits, fostering positive relationships between people and nature. A four-dimensional (4D) framework of sustainable food systems (Fig. 1) was employed to identify the diverse benefits of RAF across nutrition, planetary, socio-cultural, and economic dimensions.

Figure 1: 4D Framework

This roadmap identifies strategic areas essential for upscaling RAF production sustainably:

  • Consumption:
    • integrate RAFs into diets by creating appealing products, gaining endorsements from food champions, including RAFs in dietary guidelines and food composition tables, and supporting efforts in consumer education.
  • Community-based practices:
    • enable local and Indigenous communities to steward and benefit from RAF resources, enhanc-ing food sovereignty and sustainable management.
  • Ecosystem services:
    • monetize services such as carbon cycling, species recov-ery and nutrient reduction to promote economic systems that value ecological restoration and conservation.
  • Capital investment:
    • encourage innova-tive, environmentally friendly production methods through sufficient funding and effective financial mechanisms.
  • Technology and innovation:
    • utilize advanced technologies (for example, environmental monitoring and forecast-ing technology, and native species breed-ing programs) to optimize production and participatory incentive structures designed by local communities to ensure sustainability.

The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bellagio Center provided the facilities and funding to host this historic convening. Support (monetary and in-kind) were also provide by GAIN, The Nature Conservancy, Builders Initiative, and Food + Planet.

This text was adpated from: Vogliano, C., Kennedy, G., Thilsted, S., Mbuya, M. N. N., Battista, W., Sadoff, C., White, G., Kim, J. K., Pucher, J., Koome, K., D’Cruz, G., Geagan, K., Chang, K., Sumaila, U. R., Palmer, S., & Alleway, H. (2024). Regenerative aquatic foods can be a win–win for human and planetary health. Nature Food, 5, 718–719. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-01043-5.

Austrian Dietary Guidelines (2024)

The 2024 Austrian Dietary guidelines were developed by the Competence Center for Climate and Health of Austria GmbH (GÖG) together with the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) and the Austrian Society for Nutrition (ÖGE). Both health and climate aspects were taken into account.

Visit the link to also download the brochure “Healthy eating, good for the climate” (in German) or it can be accessed or ordered via the brochure service of the Ministry of Social Affairs. The brochure contains healthy and climate-friendly recipes based on the plate model. It was developed by three universities of applied sciences for dietology on behalf of the Ministry of Health.

Exploring the barriers and facilitators for following a sustainable diet: A holistic and contextual scoping review (Barcelona, 2024)

Muñoz-Martínez, J., Cussó-Parcerisas, I., Carrillo-Álvarez, E. Exploring the barriers and facilitators for following a sustainable diet: A holistic and contextual scoping review. Sustainable Production and Consumption (2024). 46, 476-490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.03.002 (pay wall)

Relevant to: 

Dietitians, nutritionists, and public health professionals aiming to promote a shift towards sustainable and healthy diets.

Question: 

Identifying the barriers and facilitators people experience when following a sustainable and healthy diet.

Bottom line for nutrition practice: 

This research recognises the intricate net of factors that influence individuals to adopt a sustainable and healthy diet. Such influences vary significantly in magnitude and direction among different individuals. The complexity surrounding food decisions demands that interventions and actions targeting food behaviour are tailored to the characteristics and needs of the target population.

Abstract: 

  • Changing current dietary patterns to more sustainable ones is paramount to decrease the pressure food systems are putting onto the planet and people’s health and wellbeing. However, modifying consumers’ behaviour is extremely challenging since multiple factors of variable nature (i.e., personal, socioeconomic, cultural, external…) influence food choices.
  • For this reason, we aim to identify consumers’ barriers and facilitators for following a sustainable and healthy diet, and explore how these are perceived among people from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
  • To do so, we conducted a scoping review of the literature with a consultation phase with citizens from Barcelona with different socioeconomic backgrounds.
  • Results revealed one hundred intricate factors that influence people’s food behaviour, which were grouped into internal, and external factors. Although the literature generally agreed on the direction of influence from the identified factors, the consultation phase generated substantial disagreements given the participants’ diverse perspectives and motivations. However, some limiting factors were commonly mentioned across groups which corresponded to feelings of distrust towards the food industry, lack of time, disgust towards specific foods, and the high cost of foods. Differences across socioeconomic groups were not observed except for the latter. All participants agreed that cost acted as a barrier, although participants from higher socioeconomic backgrounds were more capable to find arguments to overcome the price barrier.
  • Results are necessary to acknowledge the particularities embedded in each person and the need to design context-based interventions to effectively overcome people’s barriers and enhance their facilitators.

Details of results: 

  • The scoping review revealed 100 intricate factors influencing consumers in following a sustainable and healthy diet.
  • The consultation phase allowed to identify the nuances surrounding the findings from the literature review.
  • Significant differences across socioeconomic groups were not observed except for how cost was considered as a barrier. For individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds, the high cost of food is a decisive factor for not purchasing sustainable food, whereas for those from high socioeconomic backgrounds, the cost barrier can be dissipated by factors linked with knowledge and consciousness.
  • Additional commonly identified decisive limiting factors were the distrust towards the food industry, lack of time, and disgust towards specific foods.
  • Newly recognised determining factors included knowledge of ethical aspects of food production, trust in small producers and food sellers, emotional involvement with producers, food addiction, lack of interest, selfishness, the belief that legumes put on weight, being a time-oriented individual, access to culture, food safety, social media, and perceived lack of time.

Of additional interest: 

The results from the literature review barely covered the socioeconomic and cultural dimensions of sustainable diets. Although efforts were made to address this limitation by purposely covering this dimension during the consultation phase, future research should take these aspects into account to address sustainable diets in their broadest understanding.

Conflict of interest/ Funding:  

None

Corresponding author: 

Irene Cussó-Parcerisas, PhD
irenecp2@blanquerna.url.edu

Sustainability-informed dietetics education: key messages for educators and national dietetics associations (2024)

Browne S,  Corish C,  Nordin S,  Carlsson L.  Sustainability-informed dietetics education: key messages for educators and national dietetics associations. J Hum Nutr Diet.  2024; 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.13322

Background

Dietetics curricula currently fail to meet the educational needs of the future dietetic workforce to contribute expertise in sustainable, healthy food systems in the settings in which dietitians work. A ‘Global Networking Event on Sustainable Food Systems in Nutrition and Dietetics Education’ was held in June 2023 with the goals of building relationships among international stakeholders and informing the development of shared curricula.

Methods

Plenary lectures, panels and roundtable discussions were held over 2 days, designed to provide the background required to generate informed actions. Topics included recent research from practice and education, competency standards and relevant policy documents, examples from the field, ‘big questions’ about scope and student perspectives. Key messages were summarised thematically to inform educators and national dietetics associations.

Results

Fifty-five delegates attended from 11 nations representing education, research, dietetic associations, industry and diverse practice backgrounds. Key priorities identified for educators included co-development of curricular frameworks and pedagogical theory, practical training supports and solutions to limited time and expertise. Key recommendations for national dietetics associations included strategic promotion of sustainable food systems in dietetic roles and practical supports.

Conclusions

Outcomes are anticipated to stimulate ongoing discussion, collaboration and actions on sustainable food systems education within the dietetics profession leading to shared curricular models and supports.

Highlights

  • Sustainable food system (SFS) competency requirements and curricular integration are inconsistent globally and lack robust frameworks to support dietetics education.
  • There is a need to define the scope of practice for SFS within dietitians’ roles.
  • Current opportunities in education include scaffolding existing topics and activities with signature pedagogies for sustainability, harnessing transferrable knowledge and skills to adapt to future SFS roles, and establishing interdisciplinary food systems teaching and learning activities.
  • National dietetics associations can act to support SFS in the professional role of dietitians.

Related links

🌍 Global Networking Event on Sustainable Food Systems in Nutrition & Dietetics Education (2023 Jun 7-8) – this is the link to the detailed information about the event in the ICDA SFS Toolkit which includes links to the UCD site, and the full event report is available along with speakers slides, photos, and resources shared from the participants.

British Dietetic Association (BDA) – The BDA is the professional association & trade union for UK dietitians.

How Practitioners Can Influence Planetary Health (2024)

Published by Orgain, written by Mary Purdy, MS, RDN.  This 12-page article is inclusive of a useful list of resources and references with 9 suggestions for putting recommendations into practice.

In addition to the topics they raise, two other issues are key for Sustainable Food Systems:

🥤 🛒 PLASTICS are a huge part of the problem in all parts of the food system from production to processing to consumption.  We can avoid plastic and help our clients and networks to do the same.

🌳 🦗 There are thousands of INDIGENOUS SPECIES around the world – diverse flora, fungi, and fauna – which can help to heal our planet & people.

Playbook for Guiding Diners Toward Plant-Rich Dishes in Food Service (2020)

World Resources Institute (2020). Playbook for Guiding Diners Toward Plant-Rich Dishes in Food Service.

To help food service companies support diners in choosing more plant-rich meals, this playbook from WRI’s Better Buying Lab outlines the top 23 ‘behavior change’ strategies drawing on cutting-edge academic research into how people choose food, as well as insights from experts in the food service industry about what works and what doesn’t.

Producing beef emits 20 times more greenhouse gases than common plant-based proteins, which is why shifting diets toward containing less beef, and more plants, is an important climate action.

The playbook is designed to be used by anyone working in the food service sector wishing to make changes within their operations to encourage diners to choose more sustainable, plant-rich options — including chefs, food servers, managers, sales people, marketing and communications professionals, food operators, distributors, researchers, nutritionists, dietitians, and procurement teams.

Sustainability by the Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group (Website)

The Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group (VN DPG) is the leading authority on evidence-based plant-based nutrition for the public and health professionals who wish to learn more about the benefits of plant-based diets for health and sustainability.

VN DPG professionals are at the forefront of educating the public about vegetarian nutrition and its relationship to disease management and prevention. The VN DPG comprises about 1,400 members. The membership comprises a significant number of Americans, Canadians and overseas members from Europe, Australia, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. VN DPG members work as consultants, clinical dietitians, researchers and in other job settings.

Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Vegetarian Diets: “Plant-based diets are more environmentally sustainable than diets rich in animal products because they use fewer natural resources and are associated with much less environmental damage.”