Knowledge

In the framework of the EU-RBA Joint Programme on Gender Transformative Approaches for Food Security and Nutrition, these Guidelines aim at enhancing the capacity of research and development partners to design, implement, monitor and evaluate gender transformative interventions.

The 2023 edition of the Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean presents an update of the data and trends in food security and nutrition in recent years.

This year in review is a snapshot of the Joint Programme on Gender Transformative Approaches for Food Security and Nutrition in 2022.

Urbanization, agrifood systems transformation and healthy diets across the rural–urban continuum.

This report combines the results of an exploratory country mapping commissioned by IFAD on overweight and obesity.

This literature review explores how IFAD can contribute to food system transformation and mitigate the rising incidence of overweight and obesity in low and middle-income countries.

This paper presents the findings of a literature review of the main drivers of overweight and obesity, described using a food systems framework and illustrated with examples from five countries.

This booklet highlights the stories of some of the participants to the Community-based Agricultural Support Project in rural Tajikistan.

Cette étude de cas montre comment l'adoption d'une approche holistique des systèmes alimentaires sensibles aux enjeux nutritionnels peut conduire à des résultats durables.

This publication offers a regional overview of the socioeconomic state of the region; national and regional data and trends regarding the costs and affordability of healthy diets; the possible drivers behind the high cost of healthy diets and their unaffordability; and introduces policies and investments around the region that aim to reduce the cost of nutritious foods and improve the affordability of healthy diets.

FAO, IFAD and WFP are leveraging South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) to support national Home-Grown School Feeding Programmes (HGSF).

This guide provides assistance on formulating indicators to measure changes in gendered social norms in the context of food security and nutrition.

With eight years remaining to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition (SDG 2), the world is moving in the wrong direction.

This paper argues that food systems transformation should incorporate a dietary perspective that is guided by information on diets, dietary trends, consumer motives, and the food environment characteristics.

This background paper examines the linkages and interactions between women’s empowerment, food systems, and nutrition.

This article reviews how food system activities contribute to climate change and how dietary changes affect food systems. It shows that while emissions from food production are increasing in most regions, emissions from land use change are decreasing.

This toolbox provides guidelines on how to design and assess food biodiversity and dietary diversity projects with local communities, with the aim of improving the diets and nutrition of Indigenous Peoples.

This glossary provides standardized terms in Arabic, English, French, and Spanish in order to share knowledge and widen understanding of nutrition.

This report offers a consolidated analysis of pre-COVID food security and nutrition challenges across the Pacific Islands and outlines key actions needed to respond to the current impacts, inform medium- to long-term recovery planning, and better prepare for future crises.

The Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean 2021 gathers the latest data on the food security and nutrition situation in Latin America and the Caribbean region, showing a worrisome landscape.

This is the official flyer of the JP GTA. It provides information about the Joint Programme's overview, background, objective, expected results, key components and country-level activities as well as key issues related to gender transformative approaches.

This report describes the findings of the country study carried out for the design of IFAD project on Livelihood and Productivity Enhancement of Smallholder Farmers (PROSPER) in Ghana.

This report describes the findings of the country study carried out for the design of IFAD Smallholder Agriculture Cluster Project (SACP) in Zimbabwe.

This report describes the findings of the country study carried out for the design of IFAD project on Restoration of Landscapes and Livelihoods (ROLL P) in Lesotho.

Dietary diversity is a big problem in Northern Laos. Many rural families regularly consume only 4 out of 10 major food groups, with rice often forming the majority of the meal.

This How to Do Note is part of a series of five Notes that accompany the NUS Operational Framework.

This How to Do Note is part of a series of five Notes that accompany the NUS Operational Framework.

This How to Do Note is part of a series of five Notes that accompany the NUS Operational Framework.

This How to Do Note is part of a series of five Notes that accompany the NUS Operational Framework.

This How to Do Note is part of a series of five Notes that accompany the NUS Operational Framework.

A guide to the Summit and a summary of IFAD’s core messages on food systems.

This report examines the impact of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on the analysis of territorial inequalities and calls on countries to focus their investments and policies on lagging territories.

Sorghum, finger millet and pearl millet are the most important staple foods for most households in the semi-arid tropics of East Africa, as these crops grow in harsh environments where other crops do not grow well. 

Transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets.

This report explores food systems in the Arab States and the policies that support them. 

This brief highlights a project in Niger that is tackling climate change and land degradation and scaling up sustainable natural resource management for family farming.

Discover how the Resilient Food Systems programme is enhancing long-term sustainability and resilience for food security in sub-Saharan Africa.

Today we stand at a critical juncture – historic progress in reducing hunger has stalled and the successes of recent decades are being reversed.

In this study, we show that rural transformation processes are associated with improvements in rural youth nutrition – malnutrition and underweight – in nearly all regions, although the pace of change varies considerably across countries.

Development projects that integrate investments in rural indigenous people, youth and women with measures to adapt to climate change are more likely to be successful in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a new report launched today by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

A new report from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) shows that by working with women, men, young people and indigenous peoples as change agents we are best placed to beat back the impact of climate change on rural communities in West and Central Africa (WCA).

This report presents selected achievements and lessons from the growing portfolio of fisheries and aquaculture investments supported by IFAD.

This How-to-do Note is a practical step by step operational guidance on mainstreaming nutrition in IFAD-supported country strategies and investment projects for use by IFAD staff, consultants and partners.

Around one third of the food globally produced is estimated to be lost or wasted along the supply chain. These losses affect disproportionally developing countries.

After years of decline in hunger, the number of undernourished people has been on the rise for several years in a row. 

IFAD’s support for the better use of agrobiodiversity with specific reference to neglected and underutilized species (NUS) and a greater recognition of the traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples are important for fighting food and nutrition insecurity

On 22-23 October 2018 IFAD and Save the Children Italy, with the support of the Government of Canada organized the International Conference “Leaving no one behind: making the case for adolescent girls”. 

This year’s report presents evidence that the absolute number of people who suffer from hunger continues to slowly increase. The report also highlights that food insecurity is more than just hunger.

Since 2006, IFAD and the European Union have partnered to invest over EUR 230 million in agricultural research programmes carried out through the CGIAR system.

Since 2006, IFAD and the European Union have partnered to invest over EUR 230 million in agricultural research programmes carried out through the CGIAR system. 

Since 2006, IFAD and the European Union have partnered to invest over EUR 230 million in agricultural research programmes carried out through the CGIAR system. 

Since 2006, IFAD and the European Union have partnered to invest over EUR 230 million in agricultural research programmes carried out through the CGIAR system. 

This guide provides validated guidance for design of nutrition-sensitive value chain (NSVC) projects for smallholder farmers. The guide comprises two volumes.

This paper aims to better understand the context in which smallholder farms operate. 

FAO, IFAD and WFP have developed joint actions in the Latin American and Caribbean region with the common goal of eradicating hunger and malnutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development.

Canada is partnering with the United Nations Rome-based agencies (RBAs) – the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) – to further test in the field their joint Conceptual framework for strengthening resilience for food security and nutrition. 

The Nutrition-sensitive value chains: A guide for project design has been produced to fill a key knowledge gap in the emerging field of value chains for nutrition by providing guidance on how to design nutrition-sensitive value chain (NSVC) projects, with a particular focus on smallholder producers.

This paper addresses an important gap regarding the systematic knowledge and evidence on how value chains can contribute to nutrition, while remaining financially viable and inclusive of smallholder farmers. 

New evidence in The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2018 confirms a rise in world hunger: the number of people who suffer from hunger has been growing over the past three years, returning to levels from almost a decade ago.

Understanding contemporary migration, both international and internal, remains a challenge. The decision by people to migrate either within their own countries or across borders is influenced by an intricate set of factors. This report examines the complex interlinkages between migration, agriculture, food security and rural development and the factors that determine the decision of rural people to migrate; including economic factors, employment opportunities, conflict, poverty, hunger, environmental degradation and climate shocks.

This paper aims to explore the influence of nutrition-sensitive interventions on dietary profiles of the beneficiaries of IFAD-funded projects.

With funding from the German government, IFAD recently carried out a set of studies in Nigeria and Indonesia to determine how to
design nutrition-sensitive value chain (NSVC) projects for smallholders. Such projects seek to shape thedevelopment of value chains for
nutritious commodities in ways that are likely to address nutrition problems.

In Indonesia’s eastern Maluku and North Maluku provinces, malnutrition levels are high. Nutrition challenges include monotonous diets with inadequate levels of energy, micronutrients and protein. Studies commissioned by IFAD suggest that strengthened value chains for foods such as bananas, cassava, maize, spinach, sweet potatoes and fish could make business sense for smallholders and lay the foundations for a strong local food system that sustainably delivers nutritious foods for healthy diets.

Cash transfer and agricultural support programmes are both used to improve nutrition outcomes in developing countries. This paper examines previous reviews of the impact of these programmes and compares the evidence between the two. The paper finds that, although there are about the same number of programmes of each type, many more papers have been written about the cash transfer programmes than the agricultural programmes. While evidence suggests that both programme types improved the quality of food consumption, the paper concludes that both types show weak evidence of improvements in anthropometric outcomes.

This year’s edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World marks the beginning of a new era in monitoring the progress made towards achieving a world without hunger and malnutrition, within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, the report will henceforth monitor progress towards both the targets of ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition. 

It will also include thematic analyses of how food security and nutrition are related to progress on other SDG targets. Given the broadened scope to include a focus on nutrition, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) have joined the traditional partnership of FAO, IFAD and WFP in preparing this annual report. 

We hope our expanded partnership will result in a more comprehensive and integral understanding of what it will take to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition, and in more-integrated actions to achieve this critical goal.

Climate change and malnutrition are among the greatest problems in the twentyfirst century; they are “wicked problems”, difficult to describe, with multiple causes, and no single solution.

To grow and lead productive lives we need good nutrition, and good nutrition starts from what we eat. Food systems have great potential to make diverse and nutritious food available and affordable to all. To do that, however, there is a need to strengthen the focus not only on how food is produced, but also how it is processed, distributed, marketed and delivered to consumers, the series of activities that together comprise a value chain (VC).

Approaches and experiences in five countries from East and Southern Africa.

​IFAD Investments have opportunities for improving food security and nutrition outcomes. In 2016 ESA conducted a mapping exercise on nutrition sensitive interventions to provide insight for an effective nutrition mainstreaming and operations at project level.

The purpose of this study is to map nutrition-sensitive interventions in IFAD-funded projects in the ESA region, and to provide guidance for effective nutrition mainstreaming operations. 

The specific objectives are to: 

(1) map the various interventions used in delivering nutrition-sensitive activities; 

(2) identify pathways for nutrition outcomes; 

(3) evaluate the scale and scope of intervention implementation; 

(4) assess the effect of the project on beneficiaries; 

(5) identify and map areas of opportunities for scaling up; 

and (6) identify challenges, weaknesses and gaps. 

Bananas (Musa spp.), including dessert banana, plantain and cooking banana are the eighth most important food crop in the world, and the fourth most important in least
developed countries (FAOSTAT, 2013). They are produced in 135 countries and territories across the tropics and subtropics. The vast majority of producers are smallholder farmers
who grow the crop for either home consumption or local markets. Less than 15 per cent of the global production of more than 130 million metric tons is exported. Today, the
international banana trade, totaling around 17 million metric tons, is worth over US$7 billion per year (FAOSTAT).

The Platform for Agricultural Risk Management (PARM), an outcome of the G8 and G20 discussions on food security and agricultural growth, is a four year multi-donor partnership between developing nations and development partners to make risk management an integral part of policy planning and implementation in the agricultural sector.

Climate change is the most compelling challenge facing the world today. It affects rural smallholders across the developing world, with effects that pose a grave threat to their own, and to the world’s food security.

Since its founding, IFAD has focused on enabling smallholder farmers to increase agricultural production and productivity as a means for reducing poverty.

However, experience shows that increased productivity and incomes do not automatically translate into improved nutritional status of poor rural people, especially women, young people and children. 

This note presents lessons learned on integrated homestead food production (IHFP) emerging from projects and programmes implemented by IFAD and other development actors around the world. It aims to complement the How To Do Note (HTDN) on the same subject by illustrating success stories and good practices through case studies.