On June 15-16th, Oxfam organized and hosted the International Conference on Food Security and Nutrition in Tbilisi. ISET President Eric Livny was a panel member for the session on Food Security (FS) monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and discussed the major findings of a research piece entitled “Assessing Food Security Data Relevance and Collection Mechanisms in the South Caucasus” conducted by APRC at the end of 2015. He emphasized the importance of tailoring data collection to the needs of stakeholders and ensuring that (M&E) systems are not only created but properly utilized. He focused on the efficient allocation of resources and pointed out the importance of collaboration between various stakeholders in the field of FS. The panel session started with a presentation by Professor Nedka Ivanova from the University of National and World Economy. She discussed the complexity of FS concepts and their inter-sectorial nature covering the three major policy areas of agricultural, social, and health. She also talked about the objectives of FS M&E systems focusing on the identification and monitoring of FS risks and opportunities at both the national and household levels. Professor Ivanova emphasized the need for measuring FS in the most vulnerable groups of the population.

Other points raised during the conference were related to the engagement of civil society into the FS M&E process and their role in the FS research and policy.

All the stakeholders agreed that FS is closely related to national security, and although both the Georgian and Armenian governments started to work actively in this direction, there is still a lot to be done in the future.