BIFAD Public Meeting: Demand-Side Interventions and Approaches for Healthy Diets
Hybrid Public Event
Tuesday, September 17 from 9:30am-12:30pm ET
National Press Club, Holeman Lounge, at 529 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20045 and livestreamed via Zoom
Register to participate in person or virtually!
Healthy diets that are diverse, safe, and nutritious are central to all development efforts. They are core to the work of USAID and Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. However, food security investments have historically focused on supply-side interventions to increase the production of staple crops, and on livelihoods strengthening to broadly increase consumer purchasing power. Relatively less attention has been paid to promoting safe nutritious foods and generating consumer demand for them. Emerging evidence indicates that a supply-side approach, which largely neglects incorporating a nutrition-sensitive lens, may not be sufficient to achieve healthy diets and overcome malnutrition.
BIFAD, an independent advisory committee to USAID on food and agriculture issues, will convene a public meeting on September 17, Demand-Side Interventions and Approaches for Healthy Diets, to shape the next steps in USAID’s strategic thinking and policy prioritization toward the objective of achieving healthy diets for all. This meeting will address evidence and evidence gaps, areas for additional research, and prioritized approaches and actions for USAID, centered around demand-side interventions and approaches to improve the processing, storage, distribution, sale, purchase, and consumption of safe and nutritious food. Please find an agenda for the meeting at this link.
The meeting will include a presentation of key findings and opportunities from a draft evidence review prepared for BIFAD. Written feedback on the evidence review is welcomed and may be submitted using this public comment form until October 4.
Questions to be addressed at the meeting include:
- How can USAID work better with communities, national governments and private sector stakeholders to enhance consumer demand for safe and nutritious foods in ways that improve the diets of whole households, including women and children?
- How can demand-focused interventions improve the affordability of healthy diets?
- How can the progress and outcomes of demand-focused interventions be measured and evaluated?
REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
The event is open to the public and will be hosted in person September 17, 2024, from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm, at the National Press Club, Holeman Lounge, at 529 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20045 and livestreamed via Zoom. All in-person attendees are invited to attend a light breakfast and coffee networking session from 9:00am to 9:30am EST.
Please register in advance to in person or virtually. For registration inquiries, please contact Tommy Crocker at tcrocker@usaid.gov.