The Network for Capacity Development in Nutrition is a working group of the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition. [1] The committee established a set of working groups on capacity development in close collaboration with United Nations University. [2] Reports are available on the Network's website. [3]
The network had an initial meeting in 2005 and five meetings between 2006 and 2010; its results are published in scientific journals. The Standing Committee on Nutrition formed nine working groups, of which the Network for Capacity Development in Nutrition was one. The network's capacity development includes human resource development, organizational, institutional and legal framework development. Capacity development is a long term, continuing process. It gives primacy to national priorities, plans, policies and processes. Participants came from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Macedonia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and facilitators came from the Netherlands and Norway.
The general objective of the Network for Capacity Development in Nutrition is to initiate and support capacity development activities in research and training in Central and Eastern European countries based on country-specific needs. The objectives will be linked to CEE[ clarification needed ]-specific topics of interest. This is to be open for new challenges following the changes in the various countries over time.
The European System of Cooperative Research Networks in Agriculture was established in 1974 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and European research institutions. It became an umbrella for cooperation between research institutions focused on food, agriculture and related fields. Since its foundation, it has expanded to include 19 networks, including Network for Capacity Development in Nutrition CEE.[ clarification needed ] In 2009, with the financial support of Food and Agriculture Organization REU [ clarification needed ] and technical support of the Food and Agriculture Organization, a new server was set up in Rome to serve as common technical background for the AgroWeb Network, the European System of Cooperative Research Networks in Agriculture, and the Thematic Knowledge Networks.
The network links to multiple European Economic Community projects:
The United Nations University (UNU) is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve global issues related to human development and welfare through collaborative research and education.
The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with extending the nation's scientific knowledge and solving agricultural problems through its four national program areas: nutrition, food safety and quality; animal production and protection; natural resources and sustainable agricultural systems; and crop production and protection. ARS research focuses on solving problems affecting Americans every day. The ARS Headquarters is located in the Jamie L. Whitten Building on Independence Avenue in Washington, D.C., and the headquarters staff is located at the George Washington Carver Center (GWCC) in Beltsville, Maryland. For 2018, its budget was $1.2 billion.
A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of cancer cachexia. Many dietitians work in hospitals and usually see specific patients where a nutritional assessment and intervention has been requested by a doctor or nurse, for example if a patient has lost their ability to swallow or requires artificial nutrition due to intestinal failure. Dietitians are regulated healthcare professionals licensed to assess, diagnose, and treat such problems. In the United Kingdom, dietitian is a 'protected title', meaning identifying yourself as a dietitian without appropriate education and registration is prohibited by law.
The British Dietetic Association (BDA) is a trade union for dietitians in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1936 and became a certified union in 1982. It is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress and the Scottish Trades Union Congress.
The United States National Agricultural Library (NAL) is one of the world's largest agricultural research libraries, and serves as a national library of the United States and as the library of the United States Department of Agriculture. Located in Beltsville, Maryland, it is one of five national libraries of the United States. It is also the coordinator for the Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC), a national network of state land-grant institutions and coordinator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) field libraries.
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is an international agricultural research center founded in 1975 to improve the understanding of national agricultural and food policies to promote the adoption of innovations in agricultural technology. Additionally, IFPRI was meant to shed more light on the role of agricultural and rural development in the broader development pathway of a country. The mission of IFPRI is to provide research-based policy solutions that sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a 501(c)(6) trade association in the United States. With over 112,000 members, the association claims to be the largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. It has registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs), nutrition and dietetics technicians registered (NDTRs), and other dietetics professionals as members. Founded in 1917 as the American Dietetic Association, the organization officially changed its name to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2012. According to the group's website, about 65% of its members are RDNs, and another 2% are NDTRs. The group's primary activities include providing testimony at hearings, lobbying the United States Congress and other governmental bodies, commenting on proposed regulations, and publishing statements on various topics pertaining to food and nutrition.
Superfood is a marketing term for food claimed to confer health benefits resulting from an exceptional nutrient density. The term is not commonly used by experts, dietitians and nutrition scientists, most of whom dispute that particular foods have the health benefits claimed by their advocates. Even without scientific evidence of exceptional nutrient content, many new, exotic, and foreign fruits or ancient grains are marketed under the term – or superfruit or supergrain respectively – after being introduced or re-introduced to Western markets.
The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) was established in 1983 under the Lomé Convention between the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and EU member states. Since 2000 CTA has operated within the framework of the ACP-EU Cotonou Agreement with a mission to “strengthen policy and institutional capacity development and information and communication management capacities of ACP agricultural and rural development organisations. It assists such organisations in formulating and implementing policies and programmes to reduce poverty, promote sustainable food security, preserve the natural resource base and thus contribute to building self-reliance in ACP rural and agricultural development.”. The centre is closed in 2020, after the end of the Cotonou Agreement and the subsequent end of its financing.
Bioversity International is a global research-for-development organization that delivers scientific evidence, management practices and policy options to use and safeguard agricultural biodiversity to attain global food- and nutrition security, working with partners in low-income countries in different regions where agricultural biodiversity can contribute to improved nutrition, resilience, productivity and climate change adaptation. In 2019, Bioversity International joined with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture to "deliver research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives".. Both institutions are members of the CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future.
EuroFIR is a non-profit international association, which supports use of existing food composition data and future resources through cooperation and harmonization of data quality, functionality and global standards.
The College of Human Ecology is one of the eleven degree-granting units of the University of the Philippines at Los Baños. It is one of only a few institutions in Asia that offers a degree program in Human Ecology and is the first and only one to offer the degree in the Philippines. It is also the first in Asia to offer a degree program in Food and Nutrition Planning.
The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition, food, health, community development, and agriculture. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption, distribution, and disposal of food and food-related items. It also includes the inputs needed and outputs generated at each of these steps. Food systems fall within agri-food systems, which encompass the entire range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities in the primary production of food and non-food agricultural products, as well as in food storage, aggregation, post-harvest handling, transportation, processing, distribution, marketing, disposal, and consumption. A food system operates within and is influenced by social, political, economic, technological and environmental contexts. It also requires human resources that provide labor, research and education. Food systems are either conventional or alternative according to their model of food lifespan from origin to plate. Food systems are dependent on a multitude of ecosystem services. For example, natural pest regulations, microorganisms providing nitrogen-fixation, and pollinators.
Canada is a member of various international organizations and forums. Canada was a founding member of the United Nations in 1945 and formed the North American Aerospace Defense Command together with the United States in 1958. The country has membership in the World Trade Organization, the Five Eyes, the G7 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The country joined the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1990, and seeks to expand its ties to Pacific Rim economies through membership in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC). Canada ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, and seven principal UN human rights conventions and covenants since then. As of 2023, Canada is a signatory to 15 free trade agreements with 51 different countries, and has diplomatic and consular offices in over 270 locations in approximately 180 countries.
Vegan nutrition refers to the nutritional and human health aspects of vegan diets. A well-planned vegan diet is suitable to meet all recommendations for nutrients in every stage of human life. Vegan diets tend to be higher in dietary fiber, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, and phytochemicals; and lower in calories, saturated fat, iron, cholesterol, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12.
The Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) focuses on agricultural research and extension in irrigated rice-based ecosystems. In partnership with national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) and the private sector, the IRRC provides a platform for the dissemination and adoption of natural resource management (NRM) technologies in Asian countries. The IRRC is currently active in 11 countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. It aims to strengthen NARES-driven interdisciplinary research, link research and extension, facilitate rice farmers' uptake of technological innovations, and enable environmentally sound rice production to expand to feed growing populations.
The European System of Cooperative Research Networks in Agriculture (ESCORENA) is a web-based networking and knowledge sharing platform for people around the world. ESCORENA Network is a European initiative which asserts the use of information and communication technology to further the goals of agriculture and food security as well as safety. ESCORENA acts as a neutral platform where members from various parts of the world can participate.
Ann Reed Mangels is a registered dietitian and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, specializing in vegan and vegetarian nutrition. She is the author or co-author of numerous papers and books on the subject, including the American Dietetic Association's position paper on vegan and vegetarian diets, Vegan & Vegetarian FAQ (2001), The Dietitian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets (2004), and The Everything Vegan Pregnancy Book (2011).
Fatima Denton is a British-Gambian climatologist. She is the director at the Ghanaian branch of the United Nations University, at the UNU Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) in Accra. She focuses on innovation, science, technology and natural resource management. She partners with countries such as Benin and Liberia to develop and implement country needs assessment missions.
Zeremariam Fre is an agriculturalist, specialising in the drylands, and is of dual Eritrean-British nationality. He is the founder and former director of the Pastoral and Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa (PENHA), where he now serves on the Board of Trustees as Treasurer.