The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition works with international, multi-sector stakeholders, to help governments in low and middle-income countries develop evidence-based policies that make high-quality diets safe, affordable and accessible.

The Panel is an independent international group of leaders who hold, or have held, high office and show strong personal commitment to improving nutrition. It was formally established in August 2013 at the Nutrition for Growth Summit in London and is jointly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development.

The Panel is co-chaired by His Excellency John Kufuor (former President of Ghana) and Sir John Beddington (former UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser) and works across food, agriculture and nutrition, bridging gaps and examining food systems in a wider socio-political and economic context. This is described in the Panel’s technical brief on food systems.

In country Panel members convene international and regional high-level round table meetings and use their extensive networks in governments, civil society, academia and industry to bring together and influence policymakers from different sectors in the food system.

Their influence is delivered through evidence-based technical and policy briefs, the Foresight Report and tailored country/regional papers, that are produced by the Global Panel Secretariat in London, Panel members and experts. These documents contain recommendations for potential policy interventions at a national and regional level.

COMMITMENT

The Panel will continue its in-country engagement through its members, representatives and the Secretariat, to influence and leverage impact in low and middle-income countries.

Building on the Foresight report and its role in developing the African Leaders for Nutrition initiative, the Panel will continue to work closely with the other international partners to help countries deliver their Sustainable Development Goals and WHO Global Nutrition Targets 2025, as well as country-level commitments, for example the African Union’s Malabo Declaration.

The Panel’s outputs will also play a part in the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016 to 2025), with the Foresight report already being used in the development of the United Nations report on Nutrition and Food Systems, 2017.