Attachments
Commissioned by WFP at the request of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, this strategic review involved a cross-sector, multi-stakeholder approach to better understand how Lao PDR can achieve the bold targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and specifically SDG 2.
Executive summary
This report presents the findings of the strategic review on food and nutrition security in Lao People’s Democratic Republic – a strategic assessment undertaken from January to June 2016. The strategic review does not comprise a new country strategy for food security, but rather a thorough investigation into strategic issues most important for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Commissioned by WFP at the request of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, this strategic review involved a cross-sector, multi-stakeholder approach to better understand how the country can attain the bold targets of the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Sustainable Development Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote adaptive, sustainable agriculture within healthy ecosystems and biodiversity.
Using a participatory, consultative methodology built upon bilateral discussions with 49 stakeholders in Vientiane, and consultations in 17 provinces across the country with more than 500 people, viewpoints of capital-based policymakers were combined with the experiences of province-based counterparts. The strategic review synthesises findings from both primary and secondary sources, and provides a summary of institutional arrangements and strategic recommendations in a form that is easily accessible to national stakeholders.
Formally known as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Development Goals represent the overall global framework for development for the next 15 years. All these goals are interlinked and must be seen in an integrated manner. As the first review specific to a single Sustainable Development Goal, this strategic review is an important contribution to the process of localizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the national context.
Sustainable Development Goal 2 is the centrepiece of a joint endeavour, underscoring the Lao Government’s commitment to address food and nutrition security, as demonstrated at the 2015 roundtable meetings (Ministry of Planning and Investment, 2015a). The five individual goals within Sustainable Development Goal 2 (plus three additional targets: 2a-2c) are challenging, complex and extraordinarily ambitious.
Based on the progress during 2000–2015, this review confirms positive gains related to food and nutrition security in a number of sectors including policy leadership, economic growth, poverty reduction, and overall food availability. However, challenges remain in terms of environmental policy and climate change adaptation, social protection, decentralized governance and chronic malnutrition. Emerging concerns include urbanization and migration, off-farm employment, food safety (for both producers and consumers), disaster risk and resilience, and institutional sustainability.
Based on an analysis of the present context and future trends, the review provides situation, response and gap analyses for Sustainable Development Goal 2 targets 2.1 to 2.5, assessing the pre-conditions for reaching the target by 2030.