World Food Day feature post by Dr. Julie Delforce, Principal Consultant with Alinea International based in the Asia-Pacific.

This year’s World Food Day comes at a particularly concerning time for global food security. More and more people are struggling to make ends meet, stay healthy, put food on the table and cope with the impacts of climate change and COVID-19.

The day also comes just three weeks after the UN Food Systems Summit, which focused global attention on the complex and interconnected systems through which food is produced, aggregated, processed, distributed, consumed and disposed of.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that one billion people globally are employed in the agri-food system, making it the world’s largest economic sector. In one way or another, we are all part of this system and have much to lose if it does not work well – as captured in the 2021 theme for World Food Day: Our actions are our future.

It has been clear for a long time that “the system” needs urgent attention. The 2019 EAT-Lancet Commission Report reinforced the urgency, warning that a radical transformation was essential if the growing world population was to be provided healthy food without further damaging the environment.

Our food systems both contribute to and are impacted by climate change. According to the Secretary-General’s Chair Summary and Statement of Action on the UN Food Systems Summit , it is estimated the agriculture sector is responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions and 80 per cent of biodiversity loss, and uses more than two-thirds of the world’s fresh water supplies. Rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and extreme weather events such as cyclones, droughts and floods severely affect agricultural production and change the availability of other food resources, such as tuna stocks in the Pacific.

Food insecurity persists. Following years of steady progress, the number of hungry people in the world started creeping upwards slightly from 2014. By 2019, before COVID-19 struck, almost 690 million people were chronically undernourished – more than half of them in the Asia-Pacific region. According to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020, nearly 200 million of these were children.

COVID-19 has put these challenges into even sharper relief and according to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020, world hunger is estimated to have risen 20 per cent in just one year. Smallholder farmers already struggling with poverty and climate change have found it even more difficult than before to access markets. Job losses, transport disruptions and movement restrictions have made it harder to buy nutritious food. Rising prices for fresh local foods are hurting consumers, but not translating to higher returns for farmers. Many rural areas are being overwhelmed by “returning” migrants escaping the cities. Women and girls are especially vulnerable. Millions of school children have been missing out on the school meals that had often been a critical part of their food intake.

COVID-19 has also reinforced the One-Health principle that animal health, human health and environmental health are fundamentally intertwined. Around three-quarters of new human diseases are thought to have spread from farmed or wild animals – including COVID-19.

The agriculture sector has always been somewhat of a poor cousin when it comes to national budget allocations. In the Pacific region for example, the budget share allocated to agriculture has fallen from about 3.6 per cent in 2015 to under 2 per cent by 2019. Pacific countries now average just 0.12 on the Agriculture Orientation Index – a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator measuring government expenditure relative to the sector’s contribution to GDP (a value below one means expenditure share is less than GDP share).

When it comes to development assistance, agriculture has often struggled to compete with sectors such as infrastructure and governance. Australia has been allocating around 7-8 per cent of its aid to agriculture in recent years, but with a decline in its overall aid budget, its spending on agriculture in 2019-20 was about 70 per cent of the 2014-15 figure (in real terms). The international agricultural research system – credited with transforming global agriculture through dramatic productivity gains from the mid-1960s – now struggles to attract funding.

While aid is only a small part of the picture for many developing countries, it can play an important role in supporting and catalysing change. For more aid-dependent economies such as in the Pacific, the need for well-targeted external assistance is now even greater. Although many Pacific island states have successfully dodged the health impacts of COVID-19, according to the COVID-19 and food systems in the Indo-Pacific: An assessment of vulnerabilities, impacts and opportunities for action, the economic consequences along with existing challenges such as cyclones have had significant impacts on food security.

In response to the pandemic, both national governments and aid donors have – appropriately – swung more resourcing into strengthening health systems. However, more resourcing to develop more climate-resilient, nutrition sensitive agriculture – particularly for small-scale producers, women and other vulnerable groups – will also be imperative to support economic and social recovery. Technical leads in the donor community agree on the broad parameters, but influencing budget allocations will remain a challenge.

COVID-19 has provided a stark reminder of the interconnectedness of our global community. Just as the fight against COVID-19 cannot be won by only protecting our own citizens, similarly our own food security is best ensured through a well-functioning global food system. The massive shock of the pandemic has reinvigorated calls for urgent action to transform the food system.

With the fanfare of the Food Systems Summit now behind us, the challenge will be to keep up the momentum and deliver improvements to the lives of the most vulnerable. As development practitioners, we can all play our part.

alinea’s whistleblower policy

1.1 Purpose

The following Whistleblower Policy has been established to provide guidance to Alinea International employees and sub-contractors on how to deal with known or suspected improper conduct within the organization. The objectives of this Policy are to:

Create awareness of the Policy and available whistleblower protections
Act as a reference guide to potential whistleblowers wishing to make a disclosure
Define the structure of the whistleblower system, including reporting and investigation procedures, whistleblower protections, and confidentiality, among others
Improve the communication and transparency in the processes associated with whistleblowing and assure protection against derogatory consequences, namely reprisals and detrimental action
Complement the current communication channels between employees, sub-contractors and immediate managers, and hierarchical channels flowing to the President and Senior Management team
Provide guidance to all parties involved in either whistleblowing or whistleblower protection.

1.2 Scope

Alinea requires all employees and sub-contractors to observe high standards of business and personal ethics in the conduct of their duties and responsibilities. All employees and sub-contractors of Alinea are required to comply with applicable laws and regulations of Canada and the countries where we operate. Any allegations of known or suspected improper conduct or mismanagement of organizational resources will be dealt with in accordance with this Policy, and reasonable steps will be taken to protect those who come forward with allegations. Alinea’s Whistleblower Policy covers both internal and external whistleblowing, and establishes the controls and procedures for dealing with allegations of malpractice, fraud and violations of our code of ethics and/or laws or regulations that govern our operations. This Policy is intended to encourage employees and sub-contractors to report known or suspected improper conduct or mismanagement of organizational resources and to enable Alinea’s Senior Management team to address and correct inappropriate action. It is the responsibility of all Board of Directors’ members, the Senior Management team, employees and sub-contractors to report concerns about known or suspected malpractice, fraud and violations of our code of ethics and/or laws or regulations that govern our operations. This Policy is applicable to all employees and sub-contractors of Alinea International.

1.3 Reporting Procedures

Alinea recognizes the value of transparency and accountability in its administrative and management practices and supports the making of disclosures that reveal improper conduct or mismanagement of organizational resources. Our internal controls and operating procedures are intended to detect and prevent malpractice, fraud and violations of our code of ethics and/or laws or regulations that govern our operations. As detailed in Alinea’s Employee Policy and Onboarding manuals, employees and sub-contractors are encouraged to share complaints and/or concerns regarding ethical or legal violations with their immediate managers. If the employee or sub-contractor is not comfortable speaking with their immediate manager or is not satisfied with the response, they are encouraged to speak with the Gatineau or Calgary Office Managers, the Vice Presidents or, as required, the Chief Financial Officer. All members of the Senior Management team are required to report complaints and/or concerns about suspected ethical or legal violations in writing to Alinea’s Ethics Committee who has the responsibility to investigate all reported complaints and/or concerns. In the event that the complaint and/or concern is about the President, it should be raised by the employee or sub-contractor to their immediate manager or the Ethics Committee who will determine how the investigation will proceed. All reports will be promptly investigated and appropriate corrective measures will be taken if warranted by the investigation. Alinea’s Ethics Committee is responsible for acknowledging receipt of the suspected violation and notifying the whistleblower of the outcome of the investigation. Anyone filing a written complaint concerning suspected improper conduct or mismanagement of organizational resources must be acting in good faith and have reasonable grounds for believing the information disclosed indicates a violation. Personal grievances or complaints related to employment are not covered under Alinea’s Whistleblowing Policy. For cases such as this, employees and sub-contractors are advised to first refer to Alineas Employee Policy and Onboarding manuals when considering a disclosure under the Whistleblowing Policy. Any allegations that prove not to be substantiated and which prove to have been made maliciously or knowingly to be false will be viewed as a serious disciplinary offense.

1.4 Confidentiality

Maintaining confidentiality is crucial to ensure reprisals are not made against the whistleblower. Alinea is committed to safeguarding the identity of the whistleblower and to protecting the whistleblower against detrimental action taken in reprisal for allegations of suspected improper conduct or mismanagement of organizational resources. The Ethics Committee is responsible for ensuring whistleblowers are protected from direct and indirect detrimental action, and that the culture of the workplace is supportive of suspected allegations being made. Any employee who retaliates against someone who has reported a violation in good faith is subject to discipline up to and including termination of employment.

1.5 Review

Alinea is committed to implementing ‘best practice’ policies and procedures for dealing with allegations of suspected improper conduct or mismanagement of organizational resources (as defined by this Policy) and the management and protection of whistleblowers making allegation(s). This Policy will be reviewed periodically to ensure it meets the objectives of relevant legislation and remains effective for Alinea, and may be changed at the discretion of the Board of Directors at any time. For allegations of fraud, securities law, or human rights concerns, or when you are not satisfied or uncomfortable with following the Company’s open door policy, individuals should contact the Company’s Ethics Committee directly.

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World Food Day: Why the global food system needs urgent attention

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