Adequate food: the human right of us all

06/12/2023

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The FAO Development Law Service (LEGN) at the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean warmly welcomes you to the self-paced course "Adequate food: the human right of us all".

This course aimed at the general public seeks to disseminate key concepts about the right to adequate food. The course was developed in response to the identification of the need to strengthen general knowledge regarding the existence and content of the human right to adequate food and the importance it has in the lives of all human beings.

The right to adequate food is a fundamental right inherent to all people, recognized in the main international instruments for the protection of human rights. As such, it is essential to understand the scope of its content and components to guarantee the effective realization of this right for all. In this regard, the right to food is not limited to being free from hunger or having a guaranteed minimum of daily calories, but also involves economic, social, cultural and environmental elements that must be considered for its fulfilment. Furthermore, the specific implications of the right to food regarding various population groups with different food and nutritional needs, such as children, women, Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendants and others must be considered.

The participation of all actors in society is especially important at crucial moments, such as during the definition of a country's development model, as is currently happening in countries of the region with ongoing constitutional reform processes, to explicitly recognize the right to adequate food in the Constitution, as well as in legislative processes aimed to adopting a framework law on food and nutrition security.

It is hoped that this course will contribute to the empowerment of all sectors of society interested in food matters, in order to strengthen their participation in the generation of public policies and regulatory frameworks that promote the guarantee and fulfilment of the right to adequate food for all.

Course description:

Name: Adequate food: the human right of us all

Code: DAAEN202312

Language: English

Type of course: Self-paced course

Total duration of the course: 10 hours

Start of the course: December 6, 2023

Course modality and methodology:

To achieve the course objectives, an online self-paced methodology will be followed. The course will take approximately 10 hours to complete, and participants will be able to study at their own pace following the navigation instructions through the course provided by FAO Capacitación. To obtain the final certificate, participants must approve a final evaluation consisting of a multiple-choice test.

The course will consist of the following elements:

• Introductory video to welcome participants to the course.
• Contents: Sections of basic theoretical content relevant to the entire course that will be available on FAO Capacitación platform, which will be exportable to PDF format once the course is completed. During the course, drop-down windows will provide additional information. The course will also incorporate three videos of 3-5 minutes addressing the specific situation of the right to adequate food in Barbados, Guyana, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
• Video and final summary/thank you section with key messages of the course.
• Final evaluation with a test format of 20 multiple choice questions.
• Final list of supplementary reading materials.

Audience:

The course is aimed at members of the general public interested in learning basic concepts related to the right to adequate food.

General objective:

The purpose of the course is to: Provide an educational activity for the general public that will enable people to acquire basic concepts about the right to adequate food and the situation of this right in their country.

Specific objectives:

• Contribute to the dissemination of knowledge about the right to adequate food among all the countries in the region.
  
• Raise awareness among the general public about the importance of the right to adequate food in the daily life of all people and the role that each person plays in helping to guarantee this right.
  
• Provide technical inputs that contribute to the empowerment of all sectors of society interested in food matters, in order to strengthen their participation and impact in the generation of public policies and regulatory frameworks that promote the protection and realization of the right to proper nutrition.

Contents:

In this course you will acquire basic concepts about the human right to adequate food and the situation of this right in different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The topics that will be addressed in this course include: the content of the right to adequate food; the components of this right; its linkage with other human rights; the obligations of States with respect to this right; the measures that can be adopted to protect it; the role of actors other than States; the groups that enjoy special protection, and the protection of this right in emergency situations.

The course will be divided into seven parts, under the following structure:

PART I. Human Rights

• What are human rights? Concept
  
• Origin and development of human rights
  
• Principles

PART II. The right to adequate food

• What is the right to adequate food? Concept
  
• Components of the right to adequate food
  
• Difference between the right to adequate food and other related concepts
  
• International instruments that recognize the right to adequate food
  
• PANTHER Principles
  
• How is the right to food linked to other human rights?

PART III. Obligations of States and the role of other stakeholders

• General obligations of States regarding human rights
  
• Specific obligations of States in relation to the right to food
  
• What is the role of other actors in society regarding the right to adequate food?

PART IV. The right to adequate food and its special protection in certain groups of people

• Children and adolescents
  
• Women
  
• Indigenous Peoples
  
• Afro-descendants
  
• Older people, people with disabilities, people under detention or imprisonment and other groups

PART V. Protection of the Right to Adequate Food

• Legal instruments
  
• Policies, plans and programmes
  
• Budgets
  
• Monitoring and evaluation

PART VI. The protection of the right to adequate food in emergency situations

PART VII. Final comments

FAO strategic "Better" to which the course contributes: BN1 (MN1: Healthy diets for all), BN2 (MN2: Nutrition for the most vulnerable)  

Technical team:

• Manuela Cuvi Rodríguez (LEGN), responsible for course content
  
• Carolina Flores Barros (LEGN), author and content editor
  
• Course implementation: FAO Capacitación
  
• Supervising officer: Manuela Cuvi Rodríguez (LEGN)

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