Policy recommendations on Data Collection and Analysis Tools for Food Security and Nutrition (CFS process)
In 2019, the Committee on World Food Security(CFS) established a multi-year program of work that included a task to produce a report on “Data collection and analysis tools for food security and nutrition“,for the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (CFS-HLPE). The report which was presented in October 2022 had a goal to create actionable policy recommendations aimed at enhancing countries’ ability to gather, analyze, and utilize high-quality data for improved decision-making regarding food security and nutrition policies.
During the 51st Plenary Session of the Committee on Food Security (CFS), the CFS Policy Recommendations on strengthening the collection and use of food security and nutrition (FSN) data and related analysis tools to improve decision-making in support of the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security, were endorsed.
The CSIPM Data Working Group acknowledges these policy recommendations contain useful elements like a human rights framework that recognises the collection and use of data should serve the realisation of the right to food, a broad definition of food security and nutrition data (FSN data), and a section on governance, among others, and developed an evaluation of the policy recommendations, recognising this process is a starting point, and that discussions around data and digital technologies must continue.
In January 2023, an Open-Ended Working Group on Data was initiated.
The Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSIPM) raised concerns about the limited scope of the proposal and sought to address a broad range of issues related to data collection and analysis for food and nutrition security. These issues encompassed digitalization of food systems, unregulated utilization of big data, ownership of data infrastructure, and methodological assumptions for data collection and analysis. In addressing these matters, the CFS Policy Recommendations need to formulate a clear definition of data for the public interest, one that takes into account the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples, women, peasants and family farmers, workers across food systems, fisherfolk, pastoralists, and consumers.
This vision statement was formulated by the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism’s Data working group. It involved input from individuals and organizations across various regions and constituencies who are engaged in the digitalization of food systems or are affected by its consequences, experiencing both the advantages and risks associated with digital technologies. (Download the CSIPM Vision Statement)
On 25 October 2023, During the 51st Plenary Session of the Committee on Food Security (CFS), the CFS Policy Recommendations on strengthening the collection and use of food security and nutrition (FSN) data and related analysis tools to improve decision-making in support of the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security, were endorsed.
The evaluation of the Data Working Group on the Policy Recommendations can be found here
The Vision Stamenten of the Data Working Group is also available on the CSIPM website. Please read and share to amplify our voices: https://www.csm4cfs.org/csipm-vision-statement-on-data-for-food-security-and-nutrition/
The intervention delivered by the CSIPM Working Group member Patty Nailor written through a collaborative effort and based on the discussions and analysis done in the working group over the 2023 can be found here
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