València: The first city in the world to appear on The Food Systems Dashboard
The need was imminent: in-depth understanding of food systems to make better decisions. Because, without accessible, organised and proven information on food systems, it is difficult to identify actions that could improve them. To tackle this problem, CEMAS is obtaining metadata, supplied by the València City Statistical Office, and thus making València the first city in the world to appear on The Food Systems Dashboard.
This interactive tool provides detailed information on the challenges and opportunities we face in terms of different food systems. According to the designers, it is based on the three D’s:
- Describe national food systems
- Diagnose them to prioritise areas of action
- Decide what action to take depending on options tested in other countries.
In other words, it will make available detailed information on regional, national and global food systems, helping to assess the challenges to improve diets, nutrition and health. In addition, the Board guides its users to set priorities and decide on actions. This information is especially useful for policymakers at the national, regional and global levels; workers of the national statistics agency; policy analysts in government ministries; UN and NGO development professionals; civil society workers; business leaders and entrepreneurs; researchers; scholars; and students.
The Dashboard is the product of careful work driven by Johns Hopkins University and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), with collaborators at Harvard University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Agriculture-Nutrition Community of Practice. The team focused on six pillars to find more than 170 indicators describing the different components of food systems, based on high-quality data from more than 230 countries and territories.
Regarding the inclusion of the city of València on the Dashboard, CEMAS researcher Marta Alandí explains that “comparing high quality data at a city level (as well as at a national level) is essential for sustainability and the application of policies at a municipal level”. She adds: “The FAO has always been committed to cities, and for CEMAS it is a great achievement that València can benefit from this tool”.
Moreover, Lawrence Haddad, CEO of GAIN, said that “the Board has the potential to halve the time required to collect relevant data, helping public agencies and private entities to understand the three D’s faster”. FAO Director-General QU Dongyu stressed that “the Dashboard is open to all and will foster much-needed cooperation to transform our food systems”.
Do you want to know more about this tool? Click here!