Armed with both knowledge and a commitment to working across disciplines, individuals will be better equipped to provide the MENA region with sound policies that support food and nutrition security.
The Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the American University of Beirut (AUB) established the Food Security Program (FSP) in 2014 to promote food and nutrition security through education, research, community action, and policy-oriented professional practice. The FSP is the first graduate-level academic program in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to focus specifically on food and nutrition security. The FSP emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of food and nutrition security and the application to policy and programming: Sound, well-structured policies and programs are essential to advance food and nutrition security in the MENA region.
The 2007-2008 global food price crisis and subsequent upheavals in Arab countries revealed the devastating impacts of food insecurity on livelihoods, political stability, and human health. Continued demographic pressures, intensification of agricultural systems, globalization and market integration, environmental limitations and climate change, and rapidly evolving nutritional transitions demand renewed attention and sustained efforts to improve food and nutrition security, particularly in Arab countries.
Unfortunately, a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to food security is too often missing in the MENA region. Food security is still equated with food self-sufficiency and proposed solutions focus heavily on expanding agricultural production. Such a narrow view of food and nutrition security is particularly ill-suited to the region, given limited land and water resources, and neglects important issues including food accessibility, post-harvest loss and food waste, food safety, environmental sustainability, and linkages with nutritional health issues and economic development.
The complexity of food and nutrition security demands skilled policymakers and program implementers who understand – or at least recognize – the interconnections between agricultural production and value chains, human nutrition, economic development, and consumer behavior. Armed with both knowledge and a commitment to working across disciplines, individuals will be better equipped to provide the MENA region with sound policies that support food and nutrition security.
The MENA region is home to more than 650 universities, 250 schools of engineering, 140 schools of agriculture, and 20 schools of public health. But until recently, there was no graduate-level educational program that approached food security through an interdisciplinary lens.
The FSP at AUB has been established to meet these needs and fill the gap in graduate-level education in the MENA region. Through its holistic approach and pioneering curriculum, the FSP provides a unique opportunity for students and faculty members to overcome compartmentalized thinking, engage across relevant disciplines, and consider and address the complex challenges of food and nutrition security with a particular focus on the MENA region.
The FSP will educate a new generation of leaders through two academic programs: An innovative graduate Diploma in Food Security, launching in summer 2015, will offer the first interdisciplinary food security program in the MENA region, and will cater to individuals aspiring to enhance or complement their technical and decision-making tools in the area of food security. A full Master of Science in Food Security will be offered beginning 2016. With regard to research, the FSP prioritizes demand-driven topics that will not only enhance classroom leaning for our students, but will also inform food and nutrition security policies and programming. Finally, the FSP seeks to direct and lead efforts to translate research and education into action and intervention at the local level, by engaging the wider university community (students, faculty and staff, and the AUB neighborhood). Such engagement will help raise awareness in and around the university community, working through the student body and with our partner organizations to advance food and nutrition security over time.
