Crawford Fund Submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry on Aid Effectiveness

June 22, 2018

The Crawford Fund has made a submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia’s aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role in supporting our regional interests.

To coincide with this, The Hon John Anderson, chair of the Crawford Fund and former Deputy PM, and the Fund’s CEO, Dr Colin Chartres, penned an opinion piece that argues that Australia can take a leadership role in improving the understanding of the relationship between agriculture, food, nutrition and health.

They maintain that a more integrated approach to aid across the agriculture-food-diet-health spectrum is needed if aid is to be really effective and they explain what they see wrong in agriculture, both at home and overseas, that needs significant attention in terms of research and development through to application in the field.

“Focus on gender equity, governance and agricultural careers and training can go so far both here and abroad. However, as should be clear to all, the issues of nutrition, diets and health are complex and cross disciplinary. We think that new coalitions of agricultural scientists, dietary specialists, and health professionals will be needed to tackle the growing problem of over nutrition. Furthermore, companies involved in food processing and retailing need to work with the above specialists and further engage in provision of foods fit for healthy lives. Globally and regionally we need new goals that encourage healthy eating for a healthy life and healthy planet.”

The Crawford Fund’s 2018 annual conference is titled ‘Reshaping Agriculture for Better Nutrition: The Agriculture, Food, Nutrition, Health Nexus,’ and will be held in Canberra on 13 and 14 August. Registration is now open with an early bird discount prior to 30 June. The website has further details.