FAO attends AfDB led-High Level meeting of the African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN)
Joining commitment to check and accelerate progress on nutrition on the continent
17 October 2016, Abidjan – The Director-General of FAO, Jose Graziano da Silva, praised Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group, for the bold steps he has taken with African leaders and partners to highly position nutrition in Africa.
The message was addressed by Bukar Tijani, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, at the first official meeting of the African Leaders for Nutrition, convened by the African Development Bank (Abidjan, 17 October 2016).
“The African Leaders for Nutrition Initiative launched today by the African Development Bank and partners is a timely milestone in supporting acceleration of progress in ending hunger and malnutrition in Africa”, said Graziano.
In November 2015, African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina and former President John Kufuor of Ghana proposed the creation of the African Leaders for Nutrition, including the FAO Director-General, to provide guidance and insight to the Bank regarding interventions that will mitigate the challenges of malnutrition.
As part of the Malabo Declaration processes and other initiatives by partners, FAO is driving the Nutrition Sensitive Food Systems Post ICN2. Existing ppolicies and actions that would have an impact on nutrition contribute to promote the diversification of food production; strengthening the supply chain to reduce food loss and waste due to lack of processing, storage facilities, transport facilities and poor access to markets; and encouraging research and development for the production of nutrient-rich foods.
FAO is committed to collaborating with the African Development Bank in championing African Leaders for Nutrition as part of the Banks’ “High-Fives” application, in particular the “Feed Africa” initiative, and in fostering the linkages with the UN Decade for Action in Nutrition towards ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition.
A leading engagement with parliamentarians in Africa to create the Pan-African Alliance for Food and Nutrition Security in Africa (PAPA-FNS) was recently endorsed through a Memorandum of Understanding signed between FAO and Pan-African Parliament, on 13 October 2016 in Cairo.
The African Leaders for Nutrition aims to put in place a high-level political engagement call to action to all African governments to proactively support and promote nutrition accountability.
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