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Creating a Stronger Enabling Environment to Combat Undernutrition in Bangladesh: the Much Project - GCP/BGD/059/USA

Year of publication 2020

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Project

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Bangladesh faces a wide diversity of challenges concerning food insecurity and undernutrition. Around 39 million people, representing about one fourth of the country’s population, live below the poverty line, many of whom are dealing with extreme poverty. This high level of poverty, together with the rapid rates of population growth and urbanization, place extensive pressure on Bangladesh’s food and agriculture system. Further complicating matters, Bangladesh remains highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and is one of the most flood-prone countries in the world, which has significant implications for food production. Both to address the existing rates of stunting and micronutrient deficiencies, as well as the underlying determinants of access to safe, affordable and nutritionally-adequate food, a concerted national effort that takes a multisectoral approach is required. The mainstreaming of food security and nutrition (FSN) into sectoral policies and programmes, along with suitable cross-sectoral governance and coordination mechanisms will prove crucial to the success of these efforts. The Meeting the Undernutrition Challenge (MUCH) project was therefore designed to develop a strengthened enabling environment for responding to FSN challenges in Bangladesh, focusing on capacity development for the Government and national stakeholders, as well as the formulation and implementation of improved policies, strategies and programmes.

Language English

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    Evaluation of the “Meeting the Undernutrition Challenge (MUCH): Strengthening the enabling environment for food security and nutrition” programme
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    The Meeting the Undernutrition Challenge (MUCH) programme, funded jointly by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the European Union, had the overall objective to improve the enabling environment to eradicate food insecurity and malnutrition in Bangladesh. The programme enhanced a national policy shift toward addressing nutrition by improving policy processes with more participation of civil society and subnational stakeholders, enriching policy and programming to address needs throughout the country. The programme supported significant enhancement of technical capacities to gather and analyze food security and nutrition evidence, innovative approaches for engaging students in nutrition learning activities, and improved the links between research and policy-making. Subnational capacity development support was initiated in the middle of the programme, identifying important opportunities for impactful multi-stakeholder collaboration on implementing national policy. The evaluation noted important effort on gender issues, but pointed out that emphasizing women’s empowerment and gender equity within all FSN programming is critical to success. To eradicate food insecurity and malnutrition throughout Bangladesh more work is especially needed in formalizing improved food-sector collaboration and multi-stakeholder governance mechanisms to continuously develop, learn, share and implement good practice at all levels.
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    The Government of Bangladesh has set access to food and nutritious diets as one of its priorities. Thanks to the government’s pro-poor policies, an increase in maternal literacy and improved access to health and hygiene services, the country has achieved remarkable success in reducing stunting in children under the age of five in recent decades, and the prevalence of undernourishment dropped from 16 percent in 2016 to 10 percent in 2020. That said, challenges to food security and nutrition (FSN) remain in the country, including the threats to agricultural production and livelihoods that are posed by climate change. The Meeting the Undernutrition Challenge (MUCH) project was therefore designed to build upon the success of Bangladesh’s National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme(2005–2014) and to work towards increasing FSN through the provision of policy advice and capacity-development activities for government staff and other stakeholders so that they can successfully implement, monitor and assess the effects of FSN policies and strategies.
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    Creating Enabling Environments for Nutrition-Sensitive Food and Agriculture to Address Malnutrition - TCP/RAS/3602 2020
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    A contributing factor to malnutrition in the Asia and the Pacific region is a lack of crop diversity, which leads to a lack of diversity in diets as well. A major reason for this is that many countries in the region only focus on cultivating a small number of staple foods. Diversifying local crops is a cost-effective and sustainable way to strengthen local agriculture and food systems and combat malnutrition. The first step in supporting local agriculture and food systems by promoting crop and dietary diversification as a means of reducing malnutrition is creating an enabling environment to do so. This TCP project aimed to facilitate the development of this environment through the forming of links, the closing of gaps, and the development of policy recommendations in four countries in the Asia and the Pacific Region: Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Nepal. Its design included national policy reviews, evidence-based studies, and field studies to assess the existing issues related to crop diversity, dietary diversity and malnutrition, and their interdependence, as well as the preparation of national reports and policy documents to be synthesized and disseminated in the region. Drawing on FAO’s previous experience in the region, this project was based on a multisectoral, holistic food system approach that takes into account every step of the food value chain. It involved international development and research institutes, local and national ministries, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and all actors along the food value chain. A major focus of the project was the identification of Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) that could be cultivated in the targeted countries and integrated into national policies on food and agriculture. In addition to supporting bio- and production diversity, NUS also address malnutrition, owing to the fact that they can provide essential vitamins, micronutrients and protein. Many are also climate resilient, sustainable, locally available, adaptable to marginal conditions and have commercial potential. These NUS are classified as Future Smart Foods (FSFs), and the project promoted their cultivation, as well as their integration and mainstreaming into national policies and plans.
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