Food security and nutrition as keys to human development

The increase of severe food insecurity is a major point of concern. At the request of the Parliament’s Development committee, two briefings were prepared to explore the role of food security and nutrition as basic interventions in development policies. By drawing on a series of ‘stories from the field’, the first briefing showed the importance of focusing on supporting local food systems, while incorporating a household-centric view of crop diversification and resilience. The second briefing built further on those field insights to formulate a set of critical policy principles that can generate a sustained impact, and be applied to all food security programming environments, from relief to development to fragile food system environments resulting from extreme weather, pandemics, or violent conflict. The aspects raised by the briefings were further discussed at a DEVE hearing on ‘food security and nutrition as keys to human development’, which brought together various international and regional experts. This report presents the briefings together with the hearing report to highlight key aspects in the execution of the ‘right to food’ principle and the commitments from the Food Systems and Nutrition for Growth Summits as well as good practices in achieving food and nutrition security in different countries.