WFP AND IIT BOMBAY SIGN MoU TO STRENGTHEN ECOSYSTEMS FOR FOOD SECURITY, NUTRITION, CLIMATE, AND LIVELIHOODS
MUMBAI: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for contributing towards improving food security, nutrition, climate resilience, and livelihoods.
“The MoU provides a collaborative framework between WFP and IITB to leverage their collective expertise and resources for advancing and promoting technological and programmatic solutions. These solutions will enhance existing systems and facilitate the effective utilisation of evidence in the critical areas of food, nutrition, climate, and livelihoods to benefit those most,” said Prof. Sachin C. Patwardhan, Dean (R&D), IITB
“Our immediate areas of collaboration will include a micro study to understand the effect of climate change on food security, nutrition, and livelihoods of the vulnerable households in a select geography in India. We will also leverage upon the qualified senior students of IIT Bombay to support us in the data quality monitoring work for a massive evaluation of the NITI Aayog for which WFP facilitates the technical support,” Elisabeth Faure, Representative and Country Director of the World Food Programme in India, said.
Deputy Director Prof Krishna Rao and Head of the Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA) Prof Anand Rao attended the signing at the IITB Campus on 14th September.
As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay will work together to establish a comprehensive knowledge management system. This system will involve identifying and analysing relevant data, research, and evidence generation related to food and nutrition security. Through various platforms, they plan to share knowledge, best practices, and insights on nutrition, food security, and sustainable agriculture. In addition, they aim to design and deliver training and capacity-building programs for government agencies, civil society organisations, and nutrition and food security stakeholders.
Furthermore, the partnership will focus on ecosystem development for technology and innovations, where sustainable technological solutions will be identified, developed, and scaled to bolster government food safety net programs. Real-time monitoring systems and dashboards using administrative data sets will be created to generate actionable evidence concerning food and nutrition security in India.