Communiqué: West Africa CAADP Regional Nutrition Programme Development Workshop

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), West Africa Health Organization (WAHO), CILSS and Development Partners hosted the West Africa Regional CAADP Nutrition Programme Development Workshop November 9-12, 2011 at Le Meridien Hotel in Dakar, Senegal. The workshop was organized in recognition of the critical need to integrate nutrition in National Agricultural and Food Security Investment Plans and development agendas of ECOWAS member states. The opening ceremony was honoured by Ms. Maimouna Lo Gueye, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Senegal.

The workshop opened with a warm welcome from Bibi Giyose, NEPAD’s Senior Advisor and Head of Food and Nutrition Security. During her welcome speech, Ms. Giyose expressed her enthusiasm to have such a multitude of sectors converging with the common objective of addressing the challenges of malnutrition and exploring how best to coordinate efforts to effectively deliver nutrition services where they are most needed. Ms. Giyose emphasized the important role this workshop will play in ensuring that each ECOWAS member states will fully utilize this opportunity to do nutrition business differently in order to improve their food and nutrition security situation. Welcoming remarks were also given by representatives of the WHO Regional Office, CILSS, REACH and FAO.

The workshop was organized within the context of the CAADP Framework for African Food Security (FAFS) which sets out a plan of action for achieving MDG1: to reduce hunger and poverty in Africa in half by 2015. FAFS aims to assist in achieving this goal through agricultural-led growth aimed at reaching the following objectives: a) reducing risk at all levels; b) increasing the supply of affordable and safe food; c) increasing the incomes of the poor, and d) increasing dietary diversity.

The workshop, the first CAADP regional nutrition workshop of this magnitude, brought together approximately 180 representatives of government Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Finance and Economic Planning, and Civil Society from the 17 countries in West Africa. Donors including World Bank, USAID and the Gates Foundation, UN organizations (WHO, UNICEF, FAO), non-governmental organizations (HKI), and academia provided critical technical support for the workshop. Importantly, this workshop was the first in a series of CAADP regional nutrition workshops which will be delivered in other regions including COMESA, (ECSA), SADC, ECCAS and AMU.

The main goal of the workshop was to assist countries to develop action plans and programs for integrating and implementing nutrition objectives within their respective National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans (NAFSIP). To achieve this, the workshop sought to; (a) provide information and hands on practical tools for program design, and (b) promote sharing of knowledge and best practices about what works and makes nutrition programs successful.

Specific objectives were to identify and integrate nutrition-related best practices and approaches into program design and promoting implementation that aligns with National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans, increase knowledge of available tools, technical resources, and program experiences to strengthen nutrition program design, identify opportunities for partnership and capacity building to support nutrition program scale-up.

Participants were organized into country-specific teams to develop draft action plans which incorporate relevant nutrition interventions to address their specific nutritional problems. Country teams examined the objectives and framework for strengthening the nutrition component of the NAFSIP; partners and coordination mechanisms; monitoring, evaluating, and learning about the nutritional impact of agricultural policies and programmes; public-private and public-public partnerships; capacity development; budgeting and financing.

Participants also deliberated on constraints and strategic solutions to effective action plan implementation and on priority actions required to improve nutrition in ECOWAS member states. Country teams exhibited exemplary zeal and commitment in going through the process of developing their actions plans.

As a major component of the workshop, many distinguished speakers from multi-sectoral institutions, both public and private, gave presentations to provide technical expertise on program design and facilitate knowledge sharing on the best practices for developing successful nutrition programs that are contextualized to identify and address priorities at the country level.

The action plans aim to strengthen coordination among appropriate sectors and stakeholders (e.g., donors, government, technical partners) in aligning ongoing and new nutrition programs with current or planned agriculture programs. Country teams were encouraged, upon return to their countries, to meet with other nutrition and agriculture colleagues among others, to discuss the draft nutrition action plan prepared at the workshop. Following the workshop, technical assistance will be available to assist country teams in finalizing their action plans at country and regional levels in partnership with AU/NEPAD, ECOWAS institutions and regional food security and nutrition stakeholders such as the Nutrition Working Groups in each country.

The major constraints identified for the promotion of nutrition-sensitive agriculture food-based approaches included low political commitment, lack in understanding of the role agriculture plays for nutrition within the agriculture sector and too few food security programmes having nutrition improvement as an explicit objective and component.

Recommendations included strengthening capacities of institutional structures dealing with agriculture issues, promoting advocacy activities to decision makers to ensure better visibility of nutritional aspects in projects and programmes under implementation, ensuring adequate financial resources for food and nutrition activities, further consideration of nutrition in a cross-sectoral manner and use of all opportunities and potentialities to mainstream nutrition in the development agenda.

The workshop ended with a commitment by country teams to undertake follow up actions to complete their action plans and to mainstream nutrition in the development process in ways that result in increased food and nutrition security in their countries and region at large.