About the Global Panel
The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition works with international, multi-sector stakeholders, to help governments in low- and middle-income countries develop evidence-based policies that make high-quality diets safe, affordable and accessible.
The Panel is an independent international group of leaders who hold, or have held, high office and show strong personal commitment to improving nutrition. It was formally established in August 2013 at the Nutrition for Growth Summit in London and was funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) up until April 2021. From April 2021 - October 2022 the Global Panel were funded by The African Development Bank Group, Children's Investment Fund Foundation, Irish Aid and The Rockefeller Foundation. From October 2022-2023, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation and ClimateWorks funded the Global Panel. We are now funded by Irish Aid in 2024.
The Panel is chaired by Sir John Beddington (former UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser) and works across food, agriculture and nutrition, bridging gaps and examining food systems in a wider socio-political and economic context. This is described in the Panel’s technical brief on food systems.
Panel members convene international and regional high-level round table meetings and use their extensive networks in governments, civil society, academia and industry to bring together and influence policymakers from different sectors in the food system.
Their influence is delivered through evidence-based technical and policy briefs, the Foresight Report and tailored country/regional papers, that are produced by the Global Panel Secretariat in London, Panel members and experts. These documents contain recommendations for potential policy interventions at a national and regional level.
The Panel’s Secretariat is hosted within the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). This gives us unique access to the world class research, academic facilities and scientists within LSHTM, with whom we share many common goals. Although we operate as an independent body, our strategic ambitions align well with LSHTM, particularly the LSHTM Nutrition Group, for example taking an evidence-led approach to sustainably improving global health, nutrition and and food-related problems in low and middle income counties.
“Nutrition is not about just feeding people, it is about powering life and the growth of individuals, communities and nations.”
H.E. John Kufuor, former President of Ghana and former co-chair of the Global Panel.
What is the role of the Global Panel?
Our commitment
The Panel will continue its in-country engagement through its members, representatives and the Secretariat, to influence and leverage impact in low and middle-income countries.
Building on the Foresight report and its role in developing the African Leaders for Nutrition initiative, the Panel will continue to work closely with the other international partners to help countries deliver their Sustainable Development Goals and WHO Global Nutrition Targets 2025, as well as country-level commitments, for example the African Union’s Malabo Declaration.
The Panel’s outputs will also play a part in the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016 to 2025), with the Foresight report already being used in the development of the United Nations report on Nutrition and Food Systems, 2017.
“The level of effort required to address this problem is not dissimilar to the fervor with which the international community confronted HIV/AIDS, malaria and other pandemic diseases.”
Sir John Beddington, former UK Chief Scientific Advisor and chair of the Global Panel.