The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, in collaboration with Punti di Vista - [http://www.puntidivista.land] is presenting the X edition Food Security Summer Institute in Italy (2016). The campus is the Convento S.Maria del GIglio in Bolsena (www.conventobolsena.org and http://www.facebook.com/conventobolsena). Italy is home to United Nations food security agencies and important international organizations and institutions:
- UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (Rome)
- UN World Food Programme (Rome)
- UN International Fund for Agriculture and Development (Rome)
- UN Humanitarian Response Depot (Brindisi)
- European Food Safety Agency (Parma)
- UN International Labor Organisation Training Center (Turin)
- Slow Food International (Bra)
- UNICEF Innocenti Research Center (Florence)
Three courses are offered that present essential elements of Food Security policy and programming. By taking these courses, students will broaden their understanding of food systems, issues of food
availability, access and utilization, and the role of international organizations in strengthening Food Security
The Food Security Studies in Italy team partners with these organisations to provide students the opportunity to study current food security policy and practices and then discuss emergent issues with the foremost experts in the field. In summer 2013 the following three courses are offered:
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June 13th–24th, 2016
Food Security and Food Assistance in Humanitarian Context
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The United Nations' World Food Programme is the largest humanitarian organization in the world and the logistics leader for the UN system. The innovative UN Joint Logistics Center (UNJLC) was established by the Interagency Standing Committee and then hosted at WFP. A number of pioneering efforts in food security information systems began at the UN Rome-based agencies. The Food and Agriculture Organization is the UN agency tasked with collecting and sharing global food security related statistics and is home to a number of early warning initiatives covering threats such as drought, locusts, market shocks, and natural disasters. WFP, with its operational mandate, is a leader in preparedness and contingency planning. The UN Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in Brindisi is an excellent example of UN and civil society coordination. Beginning as a joint project of WFP, World Vision International, INTERSOS, and the Red Cross, the center has grown to serve the pre-positioning and immediate transport requirements of more than 40 emergency response organizations
This course offers a unique opportunity for students to interact with logistics and information systems experts from the UN and international civil society. Learning is reinforced by field visits to the organizations and the UNHRD where students can see the logistics and information systems sup-porting ongoing responses around the world.
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June 26th – July 8th, 2016
Food Security and Resilience
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The purpose of this course is to understand what are the elements and dynamics of resilient food systems – as well as the people, communities, relations, and policy that contribute to resilience. The course will explore and evaluate the impacts of rapidly globalizing food systems on food and nutrition security at local, household, and intra-household levels, highlighting how gender identities are impacted by - but also influence - it. These issues promote a great deal of debate and have encouraged the development of a number of modern initiatives to counterbalance socio-economic and environmental effects related to these changes. The course makes the most of the location in Italy to draw lessons from local, sustainable agriculture as well as the policy and programs that protect it. Rome-based agencies of the United Nations provide an unparalleled opportunity for students to meet and learn from the professionals who research, create normative guidance, and regularly convene the World’s foremost thinkers on food, food security, and food systems. The course will includes visits to the Slow Food Academy, the European Food Safety Agency, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development. Speakers from other organizations (Italian Universities, World Food Programme, NGOs) also give lectures at the Bolsena Campus
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The courses in Italy are realised with the collaboration of cultural organisation Punti di Vista and held in the ancient Franciscan Convent S.Maria del Giglio in Bolsena [https://www.facebook.com/conventobolsena?ref=ts&fref=ts], in the very center of Italy, at the junction ofTuscany, Latium and Umbria, about 70 miles north of Rome. www.conventobolsena.org
