Food insecurity remains one of the clearest expressions of gender inequality worldwide. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by hunger and malnutrition, often eating last and least within their households, while also carrying the greatest burden of unpaid agricultural and care work. As climate change increasingly disrupts food systems, these inequalities deepen further, making food security a core concern for Soroptimist International’s work on gender equality, health, and economic empowerment. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) is the United Nations’ foremost intergovernmental platform for food security and nutrition policy, bringing together governments, UN agencies, civil society, and the private sector to build coordinated global responses.
Blog by Liliana Mosca, reporting from the launch of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition’s (HLPE-FSN) 4th note, held on 4 September 2026 at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Headquarters in Rome
“What elements will impact food security and nutrition moving forward? Worldwide advancements have reduced hunger and food insecurity; nonetheless, 645 million people continued to experience hunger in 2025, with progress remaining uneven and unpredictable. A rapidly evolving world is reshaping the challenges facing food systems and the opportunities for addressing them.
This theme was central to the discussions of the HLPE-FSN, which examined how the international community can progress beyond 2030 and explored ways to address the growing complexity and interconnectedness of challenges affecting food security and nutrition.
The Steering Committee of the HLPE-FSN has identified ten themes that require focus, joint effort, and active policy measures in response to the significant challenges currently confronting food systems:
- The post-2030 development agenda and food systems transformation
- Food security and nutrition in climate crises
- The links between food security and nutrition and the three Rio Conventions: Biodiversity, Desertification, and Climate Change
- Geopolitical uncertainty and polycrises
- International trade
- Corporate concentration in food systems
- Digital innovation and artificial intelligence
- One Health
- The affordability of healthy diets
- Agency for food security and nutrition
According to the 4th note, all speakers — including the HLPE-FSN Coordinator, the CFS Chairperson, and the FAO Chief Economist — generally stressed that power imbalances, gender inequality, human rights, governance fragmentation, and agency are interconnected across all ten themes, highlighting the importance of moving from fragmented approaches to more cohesive policy strategies.
The ten themes are presented in no particular order. Collectively, they highlight where the effects of inaction may be most severe, where at-risk communities bear unequal consequences, where gaps in global governance remain, and how the CFS can strengthen policy coordination.
Developed by two successive HLPE-FSN Steering Committees and informed by public consultation, the 4th note will be a key input to discussions at the 54th plenary session of the CFS (19–23 October 2026, FAO Headquarters), helping to shape the Committee’s forthcoming Multiyear Programme of Work (MYPoW).”
Several of these themes speak directly to Soroptimist International’s advocacy priorities. The links between climate crises, the Rio Conventions, and food security connect closely to our environment pillar; the affordability of healthy diets and the One Health approach relate to our health pillar; and agency for food security and nutrition — alongside the cross-cutting emphasis on gender inequality and power imbalances — speaks directly to our empowerment pillar. SI will continue to follow this work as it feeds into the CFS’s MYPoW, ensuring that the voices and needs of women and girls remain central to global food security policy.
