TURFS Consortium launched to transform urban-rural food systems with cities as entry points
The Transforming Urban Rural Food Systems (TURFS) Consortium launched its Strategy for Food Systems Transformation at COP28 on ‘Food, Agriculture and Water’ day.
GAIN celebrates innovative MRS award for our Global Diet Quality Project
GAIN announce that the Global Diet Quality Project (GDQP) has been honored with the prestigious Best International Research Award 2023 by the UK's Market Research Society.
Reaching Lower-Income Consumers with Nutritious Foods: Increase value through convenience
From the consumer perspective, product costs can include not only monetary costs but also time and effort costs of acquiring, preparing, and consuming foods: for the consumer, these jointly shape the product's effective affordability. The cost of time and fuel to prepare food is not insignificant in many low- and middle-income countries.
Reaching Lower-Income Consumers with Nutritious Foods - Using small package sizes
One of the simplest ways to alter affordability is simply to sell products in small package sizes. This is probably the most common strategy used for reaching lower-income consumers across product types and contexts.
In a world of rising conflict, we must cultivate the fields to grow peace
As thousands congregate in Iowa for the 2023 Borlaug Dialogue to search for ways to end global hunger and celebrate this year’s World Food Prize Laureate, his words ring truer than ever.GAIN@COP
Background
COP28 will be GAIN's third COP, and our first as an accredited NGO. At COP27, we participated in two key sessions on the Presidency programme (including the official high-level launch of the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition and a roundtable session on food security and climate), as well as a wide range of events in the Food Systems Pavilion, Food4Climate Pavilion, Food and Agriculture Pavilion, and other pavilions where food systems were featured. Highlights included the Food Systems Pavilion plenary event on nutrition and climate, and a side-event with the Government of Bangladesh and ICCCAD at the Bangladesh Pavilion.
We published a wide range of blogs and articles (all of which can be found on the GAIN@COP27 web page) and participated in media interviews and press conferences, all seeking to highlight the various ways in which climate and nutrition are linked - and how climate action can improve nutrition outcomes. We also co-signed a joint letter from the Food Systems Pavilion calling for stronger commitment to food systems transformation in the Koronivia negotiations, as they threatened to stall.
During our two weeks at COP27, we had the opportunity to meet many colleagues and partners, notably at the Eat4Change Dinner co-organised by WWF, the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, the Rockefeller Foundation and GAIN. And we established new relationships with the UAE Presidency ahead of COP28, meeting officials at for a consultation and dinner event on the sidelines of the conference.
Road to COP28
The impact of malnutrition in
all its forms is estimated to be
US$3.5tn
each year...
...and climate change is
predicted to cost
US$3.7tn
each year.
Building on the progress made for food systems at COP27, the last year has been a busy one for GAIN and partners. The UAE Presidency has been highly engaged in organising a strong food agenda at COP28, resulting in the first formal Food Day on the official programme.
Throughout the year, GAIN (along with many other partners) has given significant input into the Presidency's strategic planning, attending workshops in Abu Dhabi and participating in various consultations. GAIN supports the Presidency Initiatives planned for COP28 and will play an active role in promoting them and delivering on the objectives.
GAIN and partners also provided multiple submissions to the Sharm El Sheikh Joint Work on Implementation of Climate Action on Agriculture and Food Security, with a view to influencing the negotiating agenda at COP28.
GAIN also had a presence at Africa Climate Week, the African Food Systems Forum, New York Climate Week / UNGA, CFS, the World Food Prize, the Micronutrient Forum, and Asia-Pacific Climate Week.
Strategy
GAIN Strategy for COP28
GAIN's Environment programme focuses on the two-way relationship between food systems and the environment. Food systems are a driver of environmental harm, and also a victim of climate change and the degradation of our natural ecosystems. To learn more about these linkages, please take a look at our Environment-Nutrition Infographic or watch our Interview Cruncher on Climate Change, Nutrition and Food Security. Our focus at COP27 was to highlight the importance of this two-way relationship to promote integrated action to achieve multiple outcomes across human and planetary health.
We will bring a similar message to COP28. Whereas last year we joined a global call to action, this year we will shift our focus to country-level implementation.
Firstly, the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition addresses multiple ways in which interventions can be designed to benefit both climate and nutrition at national level. For example, it considers integration of nutrition in NDCs, NAPs, and other key climate policies - and, on the reverse, the integration of climate in key nutrition policies. This builds on the paper published in October 2023 about the current state of integration and opportunities to accelerate action.
Secondly, events at country pavilions offer the opportunity to engage with key stakeholders directly, as well as to share tangible examples of coherent action across food systems. Building on the success of last year's event at the Bangladesh Pavilion, we will seek further opportunities to engage with our national partners.
Thirdly, the official negotiations and the Presidency agenda on food systems present multiple entry points for country-level action, including the Leaders' Declaration, Alliance of Champions on Food, and the Sharm el Sheikh Joint Work on Implementation of Climate Action on Agriculture and Food Security. We will work with partners to amplify and support these initiatives, including in GAIN countries.
GAIN Events at COP28
Scroll through the list to discover all the events GAIN is leading and attending at COP28. Please also check out GAIN's work at COP27 and the initiatives we're building on here:
As well as our letter to the stakeholders of COP26.
If you have any questions you can contact Oliver Camp at ocamp@gainhealth.org.
Event title |
Description |
Organiser |
Date |
Time |
Location |
Livestream |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Great Food Debate | A debate on the role of animal-source foods and action required across production, consumption, and nutrition | ILRI, ProVeg | 1.12.2023 | 10:00-12:00 | Food4Climate Pavilion | View |
| I-CAN at the Egypt Pavilion | TBC | Government of Egypt | 3.12.2023 | 10:00-10:45 | Egypt Pavilion | |
| Scaling up integrated actions to address malnutrition and climate change | Pavilion Event focusing on actions that can achieve co-benefits across nutrition and climate mitigation and adaptation. | FAO | 3.12.2023 | 11:00 - 12:00 | Food & Ag Pavilion | View |
| I-CAN at the Food Systems Pavilion | Presenting the integrated nutrition-climate agenda with a view to highlighting win-wins and opportunities in greater coherence. | CGIAR Nutrition, FOLU, FSP Partners |
3.12.2023 | TBC | Food Systems Pavilion |
|
| Building Climate-Resilient Health Systems through Partnerships like ATACH | High-level event with WHO, ATACH, IsDB, and Member States discussing climate-health interactions and the Alliance for Transformative Action on Food (which hosts the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition). | WHO, FAO, OHCHR, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA | 4.12.2023 | 13:15-14:45 | UNFCCC SE Room 5 | |
| Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition ATACH event |
An event led by WHO on the Health Pavilion day focusing on the Alliance for Transformative Action on Health, showcasing the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition. | WHO | 4.12.2023 | 16:00-17:15 | WHO Pavilion |
View |
| Breakfast event on animal-source foods | A debate-style invitation-only event to address some of the challenging complexities and nuances around the role of animal-source foods in healthy and sustainable diets. | CGIAR, ILRI, SNV, FSP |
6.12.2023 | 07:30-08:45 | Food Systems Pavilion |
|
| UNFCCC Sustainable Food Systems Futures Event | An official UNFCCC side-event in partnership with Clim-Eat and the Government of Vietnam, discussing the sustainable food system of the future | Clim-Eat, GAIN, Government of Vietnam | 6.12.2023 | 13:15-14:45 | SE Room 8 | View |
| Cities leading the way on sustainable food and climate |
A Presidency event highlighting the essential role of cities in ensuring nutritious, safe, sustainable food for all | UAE Presidency, C40, ICLEI |
6.12.2023 | 10:00-11:30 | One of 4x Presidency spaces | |
| GAIN-Government of Bangladesh Event: Climate change Adaptation in Bangladesh Agriculture and its financing | An event in partnership with the Government of Bangladesh on adaptation in agriculture and food systems | GAIN & Bangladesh MoA and MOEFCC | 8.12.2023 | 13:30-16:00 | Bangladesh Pavilion | |
| Connecting Climate Action and Nutrition: Paving the Way to Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems |
An event where I-CAN will feature as a part of efforts to link climate and nutrition | Healthy Diets Coalition, EDF, Nordic Council of Ministers |
8.12.2023 | 19:30-20:30 | EU Pavilion (online only) | View |
| Animal-source foods' contributions to healthy diets and sustainable food systems |
A Pavilion event on animal-source foods and their impacts on health and the environment. | IICA. Protein PACT, RedFlag |
08.12.2023 | 13:30-14:30 | IICA Pavilion |
View |
| Healthy and sustainable diets for nurturing people and planet | A WHO Pavilion event on healthy and sustainable diets, featuring I-CAN | WHO, Brazil, Switzerland/OPN SFS Programme, UN-Nutrition and WHO EURO | 10.12.2023 | 09:30-10:45 | WHO Pavilion | View |
| I-CAN Make a Difference: Innovative Solutions to Address Climate Change and Malnutrition | A fire-side chat format on nutrition-climate links at national level, framed around I-CAN | UNFCCC, FAO |
10.12.2023 | 10:00-11:00 | Global Innovation Hub | View |
| Sustainable Consumption, Diets, and FLW Presidency Event | A Presidency event on healthy and sustainable diets and food loss and waste, taking an urban view and linking to the effects on rural areas | UAE Presidency, TURFS | 10.12.2023 | 10:30-12:00 | One of 4x Presidency spaces | |
| Accelerating Transformation at the Nutrition-Climate Nexus | A high-level Presidency event on the links between nutrition and climate, and opportunities to accelerate action by taking an integrated approach to both issues | UAE Presidency, GAIN, SUN | 10.12.2023 | 13:00-14:00 | Connect Conference, Green Zone | NA |
| The role of livestock in meeting our global climate, food security and nutrition goals | A discussion on the challenges and benefits of livestock to climate and nutrition goals. |
Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Meat and Livestock Australia |
10.12.2023 | 15:00-16:00 | Australia Pavilion | View |
| Tackling Micronutrient Malnutrition in a Warming World |
A WHO Pavilion event on tackling micronutrient malnutrition through interventions including (but not limited to) fortification and biofortification | GAIN, SUN, UNICEF, WFP, MNF, ST4N, IFSBH | 10.12.2023 | 15:15-16:30 | WHO Pavilion |
View |
| Food Systems & Healthy Diets for Climate Action | The event will bring together experts and thought leaders to highlight the interconnectedness between food systems, health, nutrition, and climate. How can we eat for our health while preserving the health of our planet? What interventions can be put in place to promote sustainable food systems and just food environments? | Nordic Council of Ministers with UN Coordination Hub | 10.12.2023 | 16:45 - 17:30 | Nordic Pavilion | View |
| Financing Nutrition for a Healthier Climate: The Power of Sustainable Diets |
An event in the Food and Agriculture Pavilion discussing the crucial issue of finance for healthier and more sustainable diets |
WHO | 11.12.2023 | 17:00-18:00 |
Food & Ag Pavilion |
View |
| Health, Food and Climate: A Systems Perspective | An official UNFCCC side-event on the interlinkages between food, health and climate | Finland, Nordic Council of Ministers, WHO | 11.12.2023 | 18:30-20:00 | SE Room 4, UNFCCC Pavilion |
Attendees from GAIN
Dr. Lawrence Haddad
Executive Director, GAIN
Jessica Colston
Lead, Environment and Nutrition
Ty Beal
Senior Technical Specialist
Bhuvaneswari Balasubramanian
Country Director, India
Wubet Girma
Ethiopia Country Director, GAIN
Oliver Camp
Environment and Food Systems Advocacy Advisor
Tanvi Sood
Digital Community Associate & Comms Focal Point for Environment
Sophie Healy-Thow
Lead Group Member, Scaling Up Nutrition Movement (SUN)
Genet Gebremedhin
Head of Policy and Advocacy, GAIN Ethiopia
Catherine Lok
Executive Director’s Office Analyst
Taotao Li
Junior Associate - Environment
Mohammad Monirul Hasan
Country Advisor, Foresight for Food Systems, Social Protection, and Environment
Mehedi Hasan Bappy
Project Coordinator, Youth and Adolescent Nutrition
Discover all GAIN's Environment publications
We must address the interconnected challenges of climate change and nutrition
Launching today are two reports outlining both the pathways through which nutrition and climate are connected and the current state of action on addressing these two issues. The reports will be launched at a side event co-hosted with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), and the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement, along with an official reception hosted by Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.Programmes
Our programmes strive for excellence and always aim to be accountable in what we do.
For over two decades, GAIN programmes have achieved local impact and inspired policy initiatives. Our programmatic activity directly benefits over one billion people around the world and forms the basis for the policy changes we advocate with partners. The focus of our programmes is to transform food systems so that they deliver sustainable, healthier diets for all – particularly for those most at risk of malnutrition and vulnerability. We respond holistically to the needs and opportunities of different communities with a strong commitment to equity. We work in partnerships at local, national, regional and global levels — we trust, empower, and believe in others. To solve malnutrition and improve diets requires engaging with and building alliances between governments, civil society, producers, academia, and the private sector.
We strive for excellence and always aim to be transparent and accountable in what we do. We also have a number of cross-cutting themes, these are co-benefits of work that we do with the primary aim of improving nutrition and healthier diets for all.
GAIN’s Programmes have three goals
GAIN helps design, implement, and scale a defined set of programmes, all with the following three goals :
IMPACT
GAIN programmes aim to measurably improve the quality of the diets of those most vulnerable to malnutrition, increasing the consumption of safe and nutritious foods and decreasing the consumption of harmful foods through sustainable means. Where possible, we also seek to improve other social goals under our Cross-Cutting Themes.
SUSTAINABILITY
We strive to achieve a legacy of lasting nutritional improvements that are economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable, including developing and supporting business models that are commercially sustainable.
SCALE
We work closely with governments and like-minded partners and continually seek to share our learnings, and to incorporate improvements in view of maximising our impact at scale. Malnutrition affects billions, our responses need to have the ambition to change this.
GAIN’s programmes are split as reported below:
Fortification
Food systems often fail to sufficiently deliver foods rich in essential vitamins and minerals and the resulting micronutrient deficiencies affect approximately 2 billion people around the world. Potential solutions include adding vitamins and/or minerals during food processing (Large Scale Food Fortification, or “industrial fortification”) and the promotion of nutrient-enriched crop varieties (“biofortification”). Both approaches have demonstrably led to better health outcomes such as reductions in birth defects, blindness, and anaemia.
Enhancing Value Chains for Under Consumed Foods
All foods are not created equally—some have exceptionally high levels of one or more nutrients that are important to human health, and, if consumed in greater quantities, could contribute significantly to improving dietary quality among population groups most vulnerable to malnutrition. Under this programme of work, GAIN has set out to: identify high-potential foods in the countries where we work; to understand the cultural and economic constraints to higher consumption, and to design and implement integrated solutions that will result in higher consumption. Some of this work includes crop and plant varieties unique to particular settings that are no longer commonly consumed, despite their nutritional value.
Enabling Coherent Food Systems Policies
We support governments to institutionalise processes which will help them to develop and implement more coherent food systems policies. This improves access to healthier diets delivered through more sustainable food systems. We do this by developing tools and evidence to support the design and implementation of integrated food systems action plans and by helping to engage and build the capacities of key stakeholders. We document and share experience on best practice approaches and adopt these learnings to improve development partner collaboration.
Thriving Nutrition Enterprise
Despite their pivotal role in driving food systems in low- and middle-income countries, Small- and Medium-Enterprises (SMEs) face significant barriers linked to limited technical know-how, difficulty accessing financing, and challenging operating environments. These barriers affect their capacity to contribute to the consumption of safe and nutritious foods , particularly by low-income consumers. Since 2013, GAIN has been working with over 1000 SMEs in nutritious food value chains to deliver sustainable solutions to the challenges they face.
Nutrition Investing SUN Business Network Nutrition Enterprise Development
Workforce Nutrition
GAIN’s Workforce Nutrition programme aims to improve the nutrition of workers and farmers in low- and middle-income countries and communities. It focuses on improving access to, and demand for, healthier diets through workplaces (e.g., garment factories) or supply chains (e.g. tea estates, smallholder maize farmers). As co-convenor of the global Workforce Nutrition Alliance, GAIN brings together experts and thought leaders, provides employers with tools and resources, and curates data on best practices.
Social Protection for Nutritious Diets
Millions of people around the world struggle to afford minimally nutritious diets, and social protection is critical for making healthy diets accessible. GAIN supports governments and other key stakeholders to accelerate system innovations that can make social protection investments work harder for the nutrition of the most vulnerable.
Find out more about the programme
Shifting Demand for Safer and Healthier Food
Consumers are important players in a market-based food system. Motivating them to prefer nutritious diets and safe foods is critical for improving diets on a sustained basis. While the importance of demand generation is widely acknowledged, there is a lack of effective and scalable approaches to generate consumer demand.
Consumer demand generation EatSafe Food Culture Alliance Food Safety
Empowering Food Systems Actors
All people should be protagonists for food systems to be inclusive, equitable, and resilient.
The Empowering Food Systems Actors Programme addresses barriers to substantive participation in transforming food systems to advance prosperity and access to safe and nutritious foods to support healthier diets. We focus on children and young people, gender, and good governance in food systems.
Enhancing Nutrition with Food System Data & Evidence
Through our food systems data and evidence initiatives, we seek to make a substantial contribution to the broader research, programme, and policy landscape, enabling GAIN and others to address local and global challenges, foster innovation, and catalyse positive change on a global scale.
Food Systems Countdown Initiative Global Diet Quality Project Food Systems Dashboard Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition (I-CAN)
Saul Morris
Director of Programme Services
Penjani Mkambula
Chief Technical Officer
