Contributing to the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition: lessons from Bangladesh

This paper assesses Bangladesh's progress towards eradicating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, and how the National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme (NFPCSP) implemented by FAO and the Government of Bangladesh contributed to this progress. To this effect, it uses FAO's Food Security Commitment and Capacity Profile method to assess changes in Bangladesh's food security commitments and capacities and compares the food security situation prior to and eight years into the NFPCSP intervention. It finds that although progress has been made in particular in income poverty, this has not resulted in commensurate nutritional outcomes. Substantial progress in Bangladesh's commitment and capacity to improve food security and nutrition has been made with specific reference to policies, programmes and legal frameworks for FSN, human and financial resources allocated to FSN, stakeholder coordination mechanisms. Decision-making in FSN issues is now increasingly based on evidence generated through a relatively functional information system although the production and dissemination of information to policy-makers needs to be further improved. NFPCSP has clearly contributed to these changes through its innovative approach. The paper concludes with a series of lessons learned from the Bangladesh experience as well as a set of recommendations for improvement of the FSCCP methodology.