Global and Local Partnerships Advance Nutrition

By: Tina Lloren, Director of Country Programs, USAID Advancing Nutrition?

2021 was a “Year of Action” for nutrition. The global community rallied around several milestone events, including the launch of the Scaling Up Nutrition 3.0 Strategy , the UN Food Systems Summit , the launch of the U.S. Government Global Nutrition Coordination Plan 2.0 , and—the culminating event—the 2021 Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit . As USAID Advancing Nutrition’s Director of Country Programs , I’m proud of the contributions we have made toward strengthening policies and programs to improve nutrition globally. Our 58 country program staff continues to work hand-in-hand with governments and organizations across 12 countries around the world to improve the nutritional status and health of vulnerable populations, all while navigating the challenges brought on by a global pandemic. This past year, we expanded our reach by establishing partnerships in Niger, Burkina Faso, Kenya—in addition to strengthening existing ties in Ghana, Tanzania, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Kyrgyz Republic. As a direct result of the incredible work of our staff and partners, we are now in the midst of developing key relationships in four additional countries: Honduras, Uganda, Nigeria, and India.?

Tackling Nutrition Together??

Some of our most notable achievements this past year were the product of collaborative efforts focused on national multi-sectoral nutrition initiatives. These partnerships lay the foundation for tailored solutions that countries can sustain. To name a few:

• In Ghana, we supported the National Development Planning Commission to establish food security and nutrition planning guidelines and conduct a training of trainers on guidelines for technical staff from the 16 Regional Coordination Councils across the country.
• We facilitated four co-creation workshops in Kenya on nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive issues, bringing together national and county-level stakeholders to develop a joint action plan for nutrition.
• USAID Advancing Nutrition reached more than 12,000 adolescent girls, pregnant women, and women of reproductive age in the Kyrgyz Republic with nutrition-specific activities through both community-level interventions and health workers consultations on infant and young child feeding and anemia.
• We supported the Ministry of Health in Mozambique to finalize a first-of-its-kind comprehensive supervision tool for nutrition services.
• In Tanzania, we supported the Prime Minister’s Office to develop a resource mobilization strategy for the next Tanzania National Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Action Plan.

Laying the Foundation for A Better-Nourished Future

We are proud to share that USAID Advancing Nutrition will be expanding to support nutrition initiatives in Honduras, Uganda, Nigeria, and India this year. In Honduras we’ll be working to reduce underweight and increase diet quality, and consumption of animal source foods among households in the four departments of the western region of the country including Ocotepeque, Copán, Lepira, and Santa Bárbara. Our work in Uganda will focus on strengthening compliance with food fortification standards, as well as enforcement and monitoring related to the country’s fortified food products—maize flour, wheat flour, and edible oil. We will work collaboratively with the government and partners in Nigeria to provide technical support and generate evidence to enhance nutrition programming in Kebbi, Sokoto, and Bauchi States. Finally, in India, we will implement nutrition-sensitive agriculture activities through partnerships and create related knowledge exchange platforms to improve nutrition among socioeconomically disadvantaged families in Assam State.?

I invite you to visit our website to learn more about our work worldwide, and comment to share your thoughts on how we can continue to work together to create a world where countries, communities, and families are well nourished, resilient, and able to thrive.