IFNA will initiate partnerships with 40 nutrition development partners to support government food and nutrition priorities.

Nutrition improvement in Africa

Sustainable food systems are at the heart of better food security and nutrition outcomes for any population and contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 on ‘Zero Hunger.’ Increases in incomes and rapid urbanisation provide great opportunities for growth and expansion of agriculture and food systems. However, various changes have also taken place that are affecting food systems in Africa. These include reduced adoption of agricultural technologies and innovations, global trade, poverty and inequalities and Covid-19, among others.

According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021 (SOFI), world hunger increased in 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic playing a significant role in this trend. Compared with 2019, about 46 million more people in Africa were affected by hunger in 2020. About one in five people (21%) were facing hunger in Africa in 2020 – more than double the proportion of any other region. This represents an increase of 3 percentage points in one year. The elevated levels of hunger in Africa are complicated by the high cost of healthy diets amid increasing poverty and unemployment.

The continent is part of several global and regional food security and nutrition commitments, declarations and initiatives. There are also regional and sub-regional food security and nutrition-related documents that guide implementation of initiatives in the continent, all with an aim of contributing to the achievement of set targets. However, the continent is making very slow progress towards achieving key nutrition targets, including the Malabo Declaration that aims to reduce child stunting in Africa by 10%.

When it comes to nutrition financing within Africa, many countries allocate less than 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) to nutrition improvement. There is a need for more action and financial commitments that will critically impact the role of food systems in increasing access to healthy diets, strengthening the supply of and demand for better food, improving food environments and leveraging the role of other key supportive systems like health, education and trade.

Through the IFNA implementation framework for 2016–2025, IFNA aims to support governments to work towards an Africa that is free from hunger and malnutrition. Currently, IFNA is supporting countries in the development of concept notes and implementation of pilot projects in several countries. The pilot projects are linked to the priorities identified by countries.

Moving forward, IFNA commits to:

1. Initiating partnerships with 40 nutrition development partners to support government food and nutrition priorities.

2. Strengthening its partnership with Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) to promote multistakeholder coordination at the subnational level in 25 countries.

3. Playing a key role in capacity development, in collaboration with governments and regional economic commissions (RECs), by strengthening and improving the skills and knowledge of government technical officers and other stakeholders at the subnational level.

4. Facilitating at least 25 countries to access resources to support governments and partners in implementing IFNA priorities by 2025.