Getting rid of hunger. What else is SDG 2?

In 2020 more than 800 million people in the world faced hunger and malnutrition in all its forms remains a great challenge. This is one of the issues that 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) tackles. SDG 2 is aimed at eliminating hunger and ensuring food security and improved nutrition.

In Kyrgyzstan, there is a high number of people living just above the global poverty line. Therefore, the population is vulnerable to minor income shocks that could push them back into poverty. Households living below the poverty line spend, on average, 70% of their income on basic food needs. The large share of income spent on food leaves little room for other expenses, such as education and health services, hindering their ability to move out of poverty.

"The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in poverty. High food prices continue to be one of the biggest threats to the food security of the most vulnerable, which combined with a depreciating national currency, reduces purchasing power. In the current context of sharp economic decline, rising poverty and rising prices of basic foods, it is crucial to continue monitoring food security in the country to take all necessary measures to reduce it," Hilke David, World Food Programme Deputy Country Director in Kyrgyz Republic said.

Why is this important? Extreme hunger and malnutrition is an obstacle to sustainable development. Hunger and malnutrition cause people to be less able to work and increases their vulnerability to disease, often impeding on their ability to earn and improve their living situations. Whereby, food shortages can also be caused by factors such as unsustainable harvesting methods and food waste. 

Why is this goal important to every citizen of Kyrgyzstan? We all want our families to have enough safe and nutritious food. Eradicating hunger can have a positive impact on the economy, health, education and even peace, promoting equality and social cohesion. It is an important prerequisite for building a better future for everyone, and to reach SDG 2, nobody can be left behind.

Kyrgyzstan, similar to other areas of the world, after years of economic progress the path to reaching the Zero Hunger target of SDG2 is being threatened by climate, conflict and COVID-19. Shocks and stresses from climate risks, closed borders and interrupted trade, as well as the health toll of the global pandemic and worsening pollution affect those who contributed the least to these developments: the poor and otherwise left behind, who are also the least prepared to address the accelerating threats from climate change and in many ways broken food systems.

High consumption of starchy rather than nutritious foods is at the root of nutritional problems, including vitamin and mineral deficiencies. While the prevalence of stunting, wasting and undernutrition has fallen among children and adolescents, overweight and obesity have increased. There are growing concerns around the prevalence of diet-related non-communicable diseases, which are often caused by the non-affordability of nutritious foods and the limited knowledge around nutrition.

Across WFP’s programme activities, a productive and shock-responsive safety net approach ultimately helps strengthening the national social protection system while improving food security and nutrition.

In 2013, the WFP began supporting the government, working with the Ministry of Education and Science and other partners, to streamline the existing national school feeding programme. The new school meals programme is an upgrade to the existing "tea and bun" model to a hot and nutritionally diverse meal for children in grades one to four. The programme aims to ensure that "all primary school-age children in the Kyrgyz Republic have access to safe, adequate and nutritious food all year round.”

WFP’s school meal activities reach 185,000 primary school students in 640 pilot schools. With the critical support from national and local authorities, communities and donors, as well as WFP’s global thought leadership - Kyrgyzstan’s national school meals programme has become a true success story.

“Healthy nutrition during a child's stay at school, as well as at home, is one of the prerequisites for maintaining health and academic success. We are proud that WFP supports the government to provide healthy meals in more than 700 schools across the country. It’s an investment that pays off in the future with better educated, stronger and healthier adults, and it’s also a critical safety net to prevent the most vulnerable children from suffering in times of economic difficulties,” Hilke David, World Food Programme Deputy Country Director in Kyrgyz Republic said

WFP’s livelihood support to rural communities and smallholders provides the productive safety net in which participants benefit from training or short-term employment. In areas where community assets are created, they enhance agricultural productivity or improve community infrastructure. The Kyrgyz Republic is a mountainous country and prone to recurrent and devastating natural disasters such as floods, mudflows, avalanches, landslides, and droughts. These risks are increasing due to global climate change and pose a threat to food security, as 60% of the country’s population rely on agriculture for their livelihood. WFP and the Government are working together to implement various structural disaster mitigation and climate change adaptation projects to improve the ability of disaster-prone and climate-risk vulnerable communities to withstand shocks, build resilience, and with a recently approved Green Climate Fund grant WFP will do even more in this area.

Operating the full spectrum from prevention to preparedness to response, WFP managed to maintain business continuity and to intensify its effort to guarantee food security to people who have become even more vulnerable due to the pandemic. For this, WFP introduced a new Strategic Outcome to its Country Strategic Plan (2018-2022) to launch crisis response and early recovery programmes to support the additional vulnerable populations affected by crisis, including COVID-19. As part of its new activities, WFP expanded its safety net support  with cash-based and e-wallet transfer modalities, and increased its beneficiary caseload in 2020 by another 80,000 people (for a total of 252,000 people) to cover the ‘new poor’ in urban and peri-urban areas.

“WFP continues to provide life-saving assistance in the country and in 2020 distributed 6,400 tons of food aid to 234,000 people through a joint programme with the Ministry of Health and Social Development. More importantly, by enabling the government and civil society, as well as the local communities to prepare and better respond to shocks and stresses, many of WFP’s food systems strengthening initiatives are changing the lives of the Kyrgyz people for the better,” Hilke David, World Food Programme Deputy Country Director in Kyrgyz Republic said.

This material was developed as part of the Accelerator Program project, with the informational support of the United Nations Development Programme.