Islamabad: (Parliament Times) : PARC launched Pakistan Sub-National Food System Dashboard formally during an august gathering where high level govt officials, heads of development partners
including FAO, WFP, IFAD, CABI, ADB, CIMMYT, CABI, and other international organization, media personnel, and agricultural scientists participated.
This Dashboard has been developed in collaboration of PARC, FAO, WFP, IFAD, Johns Hopkins University, and the Columbia Climate School at Columbia University with the leading role of GAIN- Pakistan.
Federal Secretary M/o National Food Security and Research, Capt. (R) Muhammad Mahmood inaugurated the dashboard in front of all development partners and agricultural scientists and took
keen interest in various sections of the dashboard. He appreciated efforts of all stake holders for their role in developing this dashboard and advised the scientists to maintain it on sustainable bases and to
draw meaningful inferences from available data. He also advised PARC scientists to develop Pakistan Food Outlook biannually using data of the dashboard. He emphasized that data and information is vital
in decision making and this dashboard will help policy makers in right decision making.
Chairman, PARC highlighted PARC contribution in strengthening Pakistan Food System. He appraised the efforts of all stakeholders and development partners especially GAIN, FAO and WFP for their contribution in developing this prototype Sub-national Food System Dashboard.
Country heads GAIN, FAO, IFAD, WFP and others ensured their technical and financial support to PARC for maintaining and updating this dashboard. Representative from Pakistan Bureau of Statistics also
endorsed their role in provision of relevant data timely for further strengthening the Dashboard. Dr. Ghulam Sadiq Afridi, Member Incharge, Social Sciences, PARC ensured to expand scope of the
dashboard horizontally and vertically to bring this dashboard at par with other developed countries.
A diverse range of participants from government, academia, research, civil society organizations, and
the development sector participated in the event. Key representatives highlighted the importance of the Pakistan Sub-national Food Systems Dashboard in bridging the evidence gap in the country by
collecting national and local (city/district) data across a range of key food systems indicators to support stakeholders with the data they need to better understand and take actions for national, provincial, and
local food systems.
Leading partners from the federal government and development partners agreed that the way forward is a commitment to using data and evidence for decision-making, policy formulation and multi-sectoral
collaboration to transform Pakistan’s food systems. The Pakistan Sub-national Food Systems Dashboard holds the potential to track the progress and accountability of action plans that support food systems
transformation, support policymakers in strengthening the country's policy landscape, and ultimately benefit people at risk of hunger, malnutrition, economic and climate shocks, and environmental
degradation.
