RAES participates in workshops in Rome to discuss school feeding and public food procurement

The Sustainable School Feeding Network together with representatives of the Brazil-FAO cooperation are participating in workshops in Rome to discuss school feeding and food procurement for school feeding.

The objective of the technical workshop Leveraging local and traditional food markets and public food procurement to improve the availability of nutritious food, which will take place from 24-26 June, is to provide a platform for technical experts, development practitioners and market and public food procurement actors to:

  • explore how local and traditional food markets and public food procurement programmes can offer scaling-up opportunities for small-scale suppliers and small and medium-sized enterprises to provide nutritious food;
  • discuss whether and how local and traditional food markets and public food procurement programmes can influence other dimensions of food environments, such as the accessibility and convenience of nutritious foods;
  • discuss the existing evidence on the role of local and traditional food markets and public food procurement programmes in contributing to the availability and accessibility of nutritious food for consumers, and identify the gaps and constraints that hinder their ability to function at maximum efficiency;
  • explore the challenges and opportunities for unlocking the potential of local and traditional food markets and public food procurement programmes to provide scaling-up opportunities for small-scale supply chain actors and small and medium enterprises to provide nutritious food; and
  • reflect on how local and traditional food markets and public food procurement programmes can influence other dimensions of food environments that can affect consumer demand for more nutritious food, such as accessibility, convenience and expediency under the three pillars of sustainable development.

The technical workshop will focus beyond theoretical considerations, putting focus on practical experiences that have successfully translated this potential into action points.

Audience:

  • Researchers/academics.
  • Representatives of UN agencies, development agencies, IFIs and international NGOs.
  • Representatives of farmers’ associations and market associations.
  • Public food procurement staff and other actors involved in public food procurement initiatives.

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On 27 June, the International Workshop on Sustainable Public Procurement for Sustainable Food Systems will take place in order to validate the preliminary results of the project and identify priority recommendations for the implementation of sustainable public procurement of food applicable at global level and review a draft policy brief with key recommendations for the implementation of sustainable public procurement of food, focusing on the environmental dimension.

Audience:

  • Researchers/academics
  • UN agencies, development agencies and INGOs
  • Representatives of farmers’ associations and local NGOs
  • Food procurement staff and other actors involved in public food procurement initiatives at global, national and local levels.