"www.fao.org/about/meetings/sustainable-food-systems-nutrition-symposium The International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition was jointly held by FAO and WHO in December 2016 to explore policies and programme options for shaping the food systems in ways that deliver foods for a healthy diet, focusing on concrete country experiences and challenges. This Symposium waas the first large-scale contribution under the UN Decade of Action for Nutrition 2016-2025. This presentation was part of Parallel session 3.3: Empowering women as key drivers of food system change"

2. EMPOWERING WOMEN FOR
IMPROVED HOUSEHOLD ACCESS
TO HEALTHY DIETS IN LEBANON
The Food Heritage Foundation
Dominique Anid, MPH, LD

3. Women
Empowerment
Higher investment
in children’s
education, health &
nutrition
Long–term
economic growth
(DFID, 2010)
• Global Action to end all form of Malnutrition (ICN2):
Need to develop policies on women & women’s empowerment
• Framework for Action (ICN2):
 Recommendations: strengthen local food production &
processing by small holders & family farmers with special
attention to women’s empowerment to promote SFS for healthy
diets
Towards Sustainable Food Systems

4. • Lebanese non-profit organization striving to promote and
revive local food heritage through the empowerment of
women and small producers.
•To become a major drive of economic
development through the promotion
of local food heritage
Vision
• To document and revive the traditional
cuisine and promote the livelihoods of
rural producers and processors through
the creation of rural-urban linkages
Mission
The Food Heritage Foundation

5. Farmers’
Market
Community
Kitchens
Food Tourism
Our Programs

6. • Mobile Farmers’ Market “Bringing the farm to the city” – Traditional
& healthy food promotion and preservation (since 2013)
• Linking small women producers/farmers to urban citizens for
direct sales
• Visits universities and schools to connect new generation to local
food heritage
• Capacity Building: Food Safety, Healthy Nutrition, Best
agriculture practices, marketing skills…
Farmers’ Market

7. • Women-led initiatives (since 2012)
• Syrian, Palestinian, Lebanese women working jointly to provide food
assistance (hot meals) or healthy snacks to schools
• Capacity Building: Food Safety, Healthy Nutrition for the Family,
Recipe Standardization, Kitchen management skills…
• Healthy, traditional, culturally acceptable meals/snacks; raw material
procured locally; recipes chosen by women themselves
• Reaching around ~200 vulnerable families/d (locals & refugees) per
CK
Community Kitchens (CK)

8. • “The Generosity Trail”: food tourism trail
connecting 9 Lebanese villages  increase the
income of small farmers, women producers, local
guides, and bed and breakfast operations through
the development of touristic packages
• Capacity Building: Food safety, Healthy eating, food
tourism, menu development…
• Raising awareness about the origin of a food
product or a traditional dish and its cultural and
emotional ties to the destination.
Food Tourism

9. • Our programs seek to:
 Empower small producers/farmers (women)
 Promote local food systems / traditional eating 
inherently healthy
 Create stable livelihoods opportunities (income generating)
 Build capacities of women around food production
Conclusions
•Food-related skills &
knowledge
•Stable income-generating
activities promoting
traditional food
Women
Empowerment
•Direct transmission of
skills & knowledge from
mothers to family
•Financial mean + power
to improve family’s diet
Improvement of HH
access to healthy diets

10. A Community-Based Intervention Improves
Economic, Social and Food Security Outcomes
of Refugee Women – The Healthy Kitchens Experience
 Study on 2 CKs in Palestinian camps led by 32 women to provide daily
healthy meals to school children to assess the effect of participating in the
healthy kitchens program on women’s economic, social and food security
outcomes
 Methods: questionnaire + open-ended questions
(Jamaluddine et al, Center for Research on Population and Health, American University of Beirut,
Lebanon; Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland, MD, 2014-2016)
Total HH and
Food
Expenditures
Significant
Increase
(p=0.001)
Decision making
by women over
minor HH
expenditures
Significant
Increase
(p=0.001)
HH Food
Insecurity
Significant
Decrease
(p<0.01) HH Food-related
Coping
Strategies
Significant
Decrease
(p<0.01)
Conclusions

11. Take Home Message
Programs such as farmers’
markets, community kitchens &
food tourism can empower
women to become
ambassadors of traditional food,
helping to
preserve local food systems &
reinforcing healthy diets within
families & communities

12. Thank you!