Speakers

Inge Brouwer, Wageningen University | Jordania Valentim, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition | Bram Wits | Paul Ilona | Kyla Stockdale | Raymond Okrofu, Safi Ghana Limited | Otieno Okello

Session overview

Businesses are a part of the problem and a part of the solution for reducing malnutrition and improving diets within food systems. The private sector is the main investor in the food system in every stage from farm to fork. If the incentives are not right, sustainable agricultural development and nutrition will not be a key driver of their activities in addition to profit maximization. GAIN and WUR have been working at the interface of business, food, diets and nutrition for the past decade.  We wish to transfer this knowledge and learning to the knowledge sector, to help them make partnerships that support the transformation of businesses to become a bigger part of the solution and less of a contributor.

Learning objectives/outcomes

The objective of this learning lab is to enable researchers within food systems to develop productive relationships with business to accelerate sustainable and healthier diets. Learning include understanding the role of various partners in the fight against malnutrition, identifying problems when promoting sustainable diets and articulate them with clarity to private sector, idenfying the right private partners to work with and how to approach and work with them, identifying areas where nutrition and profit can be maximised and assessing whether joint efforts are yielding results in terms of profit and reduction of malnutrition. The desired outcomes of the learning are: participants will be more likely to work with other (private) stakeholders and build trust-based partnerships; participants will be more likely to develop joint research projects that promote sustainable diets, advance nutrition and create value to their institution and to the agricultural sector and participants will become champions of partnering for sustainable diets and will share their knowledge with others.

Target audience

Researchers and academic professionals leading units, departments, programs and projects that have an influence on diets in developed and developing countries; private sector employees.

Format, level or prerequisites

Presentation of content, interactive discussions, case studies and working in groups. Level is Basic. Ideally, attendants will have experienced some engagement with the private sector or are preparing themselves to such engagement in the short term.