ISLAMABAD: The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Pakistan on Friday conducted daylong training session for capacity building of government statisticians monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2 targets.
The training was focused on teaching the methodology to compute two of the indicators related to the overarching goal of ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. The two indicators, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), were prevalence of under nourishment and severe food insecurity in the population. Accurate computation of these two indicators has been included in the list of factors of the global monitoring framework for the SDGs.
Statistician and Voices of the Hungry Project Manager Carlo Cafiero conducted the training. Around 20 people representing various organisations from the government and development sector, including the Ministry of National Food Security and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, participated in the training session.
Speaking on the occasion, Cafiero said, “The global monitoring framework for SDGs is a product of the United Nations (UN) Statistical Commission, which is composed of the chief statisticians of all UN member countries. To develop the indicator framework, the UNSC appointed an Interagency and Expert Group composed of 28 member countries in representation of all regions of the world. Membership is on a rotational basis, while China, India and Philippines, currently representing Asia in the group, have endorsed this indicator. In his remarks, FAO Deputy Representative Francisco Gamarro said, “the FAO’s work links hunger, under nutrition and poverty with agriculture and natural resources. The closeness of FAO’s own objectives to the SDGs has helped raise awareness of our role and there is greater recognition of the breadth of our work.” FAO Pakistan is assisting the government in integrating the SDGs into their development processes and plans. It is also lending support to raise awareness about the goals among the general public and stakeholders.
