In 2019-20, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) jointly developed a methodology and a guiding document for carrying out an assessment of the capacity of agricultural extension and advisory services (EAS) to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA).

The methodology was piloted at the national level in five countries (at the national level in Chile, Côte d’Ivoire, Malawi and Tajikistan, and at State level in the Indian State of Telangana). A global workshop was held on the 22nd, 24th, 26th and 29th June and 1st July 2020 to present and review the methodology and the outcomes of the piloting process, to identify entry points for integrating nutrition objectives into agricultural extension structures, programmes and policies, to decide on future steps, and to develop a strategy and a way forward for the GFRAS Nutrition Working Group (NWG).

Forty-one participants from eleven countries took part over the five online sessions. Many were struck by the similarities among different countries, which often faced the same issues in this field. The principal needs identified included an institutional mandate for nutrition in EAS organizations, improved cross-sectoral cooperation and coordination at all levels, integration of nutrition into academic training in agriculture, and capacity building at all levels.

The report of the finalization workshop is now available here: