I attended the Global Hunger Today: Challenges and Solutions conference at the Centre for Global Development, University College Cork (UCC) along with two of my MSc CCAFS colleagues today. There was an inspiring group of presenters and attendees committed to improving nutrition and food security. We heard about several projects funded by Irish Aid, including a Self Help Africa project in Zambia and a Concern Worldwide project that included Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices to build resilience in Chad.
In terms of funding, my takeaways were that financing for nutrition-sensitive interventions is increasing; there is potential of mobile technology for cash transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa; there is a great appreciation from NGOs for flexible funding from donors; there is a need for greater investment in data and evidence generation to measure the impact of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and it is important to differentiate the support required for famine vs. hunger which are disaster relief and development, respectively.