The African Development Bank (AfDB), the Aliko Dangote Foundation and Big Win Philanthropy have renewed their commitment to end child stunting and other forms of malnutrition through the Banking on Nutrition Partnership.
Development Diaries reports that the development partners renewed their commitment to the fight against stunting in Africa during a high-level panel discussion this month.
The Banking on Nutrition Partnership, which commenced five years ago, aims to generate long term economic growth for Africa by investing in ‘Grey Matter Infrastructure’.
At the July 2021 gathering organised by the AfDB, the development partners agreed to prioritise ten countries – Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Sudan, Madagascar, Kenya, Burundi, Mali, and Burkina Faso – in the next phase of the partnership.
In 2020, 61.4 million African children were registered as stunted, with Africa being the only continent where the number of stunted children has risen and 40 percent of all stunted children in the world live in Africa.
‘The bank is relentless in pursuing bold targets to unlock Africa’s human and economic potential. It is our aim to inspire other actors to recognise nutrition as central to that agenda’, AfDB’s Vice President, Agriculture, Human and Social Development Complex, Beth Dunford, said in her opening address.
‘We need urgent action from all sectors to rise and renew commitment towards nutrition to help speed up the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and accelerate achievement of nutrition targets’.
Other interventions during the program came from Kesete Admasu, CEO of Big Win Philanthropy, Zouera Youssoufou, CEO of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Joel Spicer, CEO of Nutrition International and Martin Fregene and Chanda Osward, directors from the African Development Bank.
Also speaking, CEO of Big Win Philanthropy, Zouera Youssoufou, said, ‘When we have a practical result driven success story based on partnership, it is important to showcase it’.
‘The value of the partnership is for all of us to come together and look at how to incorporate nutrition more deliberately as part of a comprehensive protective wall of immunity around people from the inside and out’, CEO of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Joel Spicer, said.
The partnership has provided support to Ethiopia’s Seqota Declaration – a commitment to end stunting in children under two by 2030.
‘Positive results of the Banking on Nutrition Partnership include integration of nutrition into 18 percent of African Development Bank projects, with 21 percent of project interventions prioritising focus on women and children’, a statement from the bank read.
‘The bank also surpassed its 2025 targets of 15 percent and ten percent nutrition-smart investments in the WASH and social protection sectors respectively’.
Source: AfDB
Photo source: UNICEF Ethiopia
