Goals, processes, and indicators for food and nutrition policy and planning

The goals for food and nutrition policy and planning should include far more than the meeting of minimum physiological needs. They should include economic, social, psychological, and political considerations, as well as such factors as human rights and cultural integrity. In determining the goals of national planning to overcome malnutrition there must be as much concern for the processes of distribution and consumption as for the production of food. If goals can be defined, it should be possible to formulate appropriate indicators in such a way as to permit the application of these indicators to specific parts of the national planning effort.

To discuss these aspects, the World Hunger and Human and Social Development Programmes of the United Nations University are planning a joint workshop on Goals, Processes, and Indicators for Food and Nutrition Policy and Planning, to be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 26 - 29 March 1979. The discussions will include consideration of different concepts of development; differences in national strategies of development as well as food and nutrition policy; the effect of differences in socio-economic and socio-political structures on the satisfaction of human needs; the relation of income district button and employment, and environmental constraints. The discussions should also help in identifying research needs at the interfaces of food, nutrition, and development.