Food and Nutrition Security Strategy for Guyana

The Food and Nutrition Security Strategy for Guyana is a national sectoral strategy of Guyana. Its main objective is to improve the health and well-being of all persons living in Guyana through enhanced food and nutrition security.
The document aims to facilitate sustainable and stable employment-generating opportunities that would increase availability of and accessibility to food, especially among vulnerable groups. For this objective it provides to enhance the production and availability of quality non-traditional agricultural commodities for domestic consumption and export markets; to facilitate the marketing (storage and distribution) of quality and safe food for domestic consumption and exports; to enhance employment opportunities and access to food among non-agricultural vulnerable groups; to reduce rural and urban poverty; and to reduce the vulnerability/ risk to natural disasters – in particular, coastal flooding.
In addition, the Strategy targets to promote systems (information, education and communication/dissemination) for use and consumption of healthy foods for increased nutrition of all Guyanese and especially vulnerable groups. To this end, it provides to assure food safety and quality control through the introduction of appropriate institutional and legislative framework; to promote hygienic and safe food practices by food processors, food handlers and consumers; and to improve dietary and nutritional practices at the household level (including proper dietary maternal and child care practices).
Also, the document intends to promote increased institutional coordination and functioning for improved food and nutrition security. For this objective, it aims to establish effective mechanisms to facilitate inter-sectoral dialogue on critical issues impacting food and nutrition security; to expand the knowledge base of food security concepts and issues at senior public sector and relevant civic organization and non-governmental organizations levels; and to establish effective coordinating of programmes and monitoring mechanisms.
The highest monitoring mechanism for the strategy is the Inter-Ministerial Committee composed of a social and an economic cluster. According to the document, it will be necessary to establish regional and national structures to provide an organizational framework for widespread stakeholder involvement in monitoring and evaluation. The monitoring and evaluation system will include the determining of relevant indicators to be used to provide key benchmarks on the progress of the implementation of the Strategy as well as regular surveys, focus group discussions and other investigative at all levels in order to solicit the opinion and guidance of all stakeholders, including the public and private sectors and civic society.