21st April 2023, Kathmandu
The South Asian Policy Leadership for Improved Nutrition and Growth (SAPLING), a multi-stakeholder regional cooperation platform for food systems, is hosting the Kathmandu Dialogue on food systems from 24-25 April, the second in a series after Dhaka Dialogue.
Over 100 delegates from SAPLING member countries, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Bhutan, and Nepal, will discuss regional collaboration and build consensus for improving food systems and nutrition across South Asia.
The event is co-hosted by the Nepal Planning Commission (NPC), with BRAC Bangladesh – the current SAPLING Secretariat and the largest non-governmental development organization in the world, IPE Global Limited, an Indian development sector think and do tank, and Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS), Nepal, a not-for-profit think-tank headquartered in Kathmandu.
The Dhaka Food Systems Dialogue held in December 2022 focused on unbundling three thematic areas, namely climate-smart food systems, reducing post-harvest losses, and food safety standards, as possible levers for regional cooperation.
The deliberations highlighted the need for technological collaboration and transfers, strengthening knowledge systems, and fostering cross-border private sector investments as levers of regional cooperation. The event in Kathmandu will refine the three levers for building resilient food systems in South Asia.
Experts from research and academic institutions, civil society, the private sector, bilateral and multilateral organizations, and philanthropies will attend the Nepal food systems convention.
The event will also host a high-level inter-governmental policy roundtable with government representatives from the Nepal Planning Commission, Ministries of Agriculture in Bhutan and Sri Lanka, the Indian High Commission in Nepal, and a2i, Bangladesh.
Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, SAPLING aims to establish consensus among the five South Asian nations through mainstreaming evidence-based policy, action, and leadership.
About SAPLING
Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the South Asian Policy Leadership for Improved Nutrition and Growth (SAPLING) Initiative was launched in 2019.
It aims to drive a ‘food systems approach to combat malnutrition in South Asia in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The initiative was launched to establish a regional platform for consensus building among various stakeholders by mainstreaming evidence-based policy, action, and leadership in line with policymakers’ needs and priorities. SAPLING’s priority countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
The current SAPLING Secretariat is anchored at the Health, Nutrition, and Population Programme at BRAC, Bangladesh.
Since its inception, several activities have been undertaken. SAPLING has established a Steering Committee, bringing together a high-level group of credible individuals from the South Asian Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) arena.
It has attempted to establish a regional platform to bring the FNS agenda to the table by initiating multi-stakeholder engagements, dialogues, discussions, and workshops, albeit virtually, given the pandemic.
