Course Details - Making Agriculture Work for Food and Nutrition Security
Malnutrition rates unacceptably high
Considering all people in the world affected by moderate levels of food insecurity, together with those who suffer from hunger, it is estimated that over 2 billion people do not have regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food (SOFI 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic is aggravating the current situation and it is estimated that this number will only increase. This situation leaves the world population undernourished, micronutrient deficient and/or overweight and/or obese, posing a burden on social and economic development. Malnutrition has a life-long detrimental impact on learning capacity, productivity and income-generating potential of populations. Hence the second Sustainable Development Goal aims to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture by the year 2030.
A key role for agriculture
Agriculture plays a key role in the provision of food and nutrition security. Yet, agricultural programs and policies do not automatically lead to better nourished populations. In some cases these programs and policies can even be detrimental to the nutritional situation of vulnerable groups. Agricultural programs and policies need to guarantee a reliable and sustainable income and need to contribute to household food security and optimal nutritional status of household members.
Recent research shows that different forms of malnutrition coexist but are being tackled at different rates, vary between populations, and overlap with each other in various ways (GNR 2018). Improving nutrition requires integrated approaches and cohesive work between stakeholders and domains. Progress will be highest at the intersection of agriculture, health and nutrition. Agricultural programs and policies need to become nutrition sensitive, as to increase the availability, accessibility and consumption of diverse and nutritious foods.
Develop insights & work on your cases
This course is highly interactive, and builds on the participant’s own experiences and cases. The thematic approach in the program offers the flexibility to elaborate on specific themes which participants would like to address (.e.g. gender and./youth empowerment, climate resilience, consumer behaviour, monitoring and evaluation) . As a participant you will take home; tangible results for your cases and new in-depth insights to address nutrition issues through agriculture development programs.
Food systems, a thematic approach
The course addresses issues through the food system approach with state of the art concepts, tools and background information. Issues dealt with are, amongst others:
- Insight into the broader (international) food and nutrition policy framework and the stakeholders involved;
- Identifying the local nutrition issues, which are to be solved with agricultural programs and policies;
- Pathways, key concepts and approaches to link value chain development to food and nutrition security;
- Design effective intervention strategies to reach Bottom of the Pyramid consumers (Including a focus on project cycle management);
- An introduction to monitoring and evaluation, including selection of key indicators essential for organisational learning agenda’s
Courses are currently online
Our courses are currently online and follow this format:
- Pre-course assignments for you to get to know WCDI and for us to get to know your work environment and your expectations about the course;
- Interactive plenary sessions where we share content, review assignments and facilitate exchange of experiences. During those interactive sessions we work with a number of online tools like Google Jamboard, Mural and Mentimeter. We will invite key note speakers working in nutrition sensitive agriculture to speak and engage in Q&A sessions.
- Group work either online or offline where you with other participants address a specific question or do an assignment. Results of these assignments are also shared and discussed during online sessions;
- Individual assignments where you will read literature, watch videos, and do exercises on your own. These assignments are an essential part of learning and most of them count for getting the certificate. They are meant to introduce or deepen knowledge and make the link between theory and your own situation. These assignments are reviewed either by peers or facilitators.
In some, but not all courses we go on virtual field visits – showing you ‘live’ situations in the field, or with companies or organisations that we collaborate with. We offer coaching trajectories where we support you one-on-one or in small groups to review your individual learning path in the course and help with specific questions you may have.
Online platforms: Zoom and TalentLMS
Internet connection is important for the completion of the course. Not sure about the connection in your area? Send training.cdi@wur.nl an e-mail about your situation.
We use Zoom as a facilitating platform for all our online courses. Our courses take place in general over a 6-8 week period to make the workload and time you spend online manageable.
Our online learning system is TalentLMS. Everything you need — our course programme, chatrooms, assignments, background information are in this system. TalentLMS is easy to operate, can also be accessed by your phone and has an on-and offline functionality. We even organise a technical check-in before the course starts, to test your facilities and get familiar with the tools.
Course planning and certificates
The course workload is approximately 16-20 hours a week (2-2.5 workdays).
The exact data of your course will be available 2-3 weeks before the start of the course. If you’ve successfully completed your course, you will receive a digital certificate.