Achieving Nutrition Goals in Africa Post-Malabo: African Union Summit high-level nutrition side event

March 1, 2024 - Last update: March 4, 2024

On February 16th, 2024, on the side of the 37th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, the Government of Ethiopia, African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, and Results for Development, with support from esteemed partners including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID, hosted a high-level side event on nutrition financing.

The side event convened nutrition experts from around the world for a discussion on how to mobilize more funding for nutrition, how to leverage sources of funding to strategically maximize nutrition gains, and how to engage the private sector to improve nutrition.

Approximately 200 participants joined in-person and virtually from across 45 countries, with 83% of participants joining from Africa. Four key messages emerged from the high-level side event to strengthen sustainable nutrition financing for countries in Africa, which are important for the Post-Malabo Agenda:

KEY MESSAGE 1: Institutionalize guidelines for nutrition financing and resource tracking within annual budgeting.
KEY MESSAGE 2: Intensify country–led resource mobilization to ensure sustainability of funding and reduce the risk of fragmentation across partners.
KEY MESSAGE 3: Strengthen existing country investments to maximize their impact on nutrition outcomes and ensure more strategic use of funding.
KEY MESSAGE 4: Mainstream nutrition within national planning and budgeting processes as a priority at all levels of government -national and subnational.

Full list of speakers from the African Union Summit High-level Nutrition Side Event:
The Official Session:

Moderator: Mrs. Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong, Director of Agriculture, Food Security and Environmental Sustainability - AUDA-NEPAD
H.E. Mrs. Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO, AUDA-NEPAD
Dr. Hameed Nuru, United Nations Representative to the AU and ECA
ASG Afshan Khan, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Coordinator (virtual)
Dr. Mohamed Kadah, COMESA Assistant Secretary General
Mubita Luwabelwa, Director of Policy, Planning and Resource Mobilisation SADC
Keynote Address: H.E. Dr. Dereje Duguma, State Minister of Health, Ethiopia

The Technical Session:

Moderator: Dr Namukulo Covic, Director General’s Representative to Ethiopia, CGIAR Ethiopia Country Convenor, CGIAR Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, President of the African Nutrition Society
Dr. Sisay Sinamo, Senior Programme Manager, Seqota Declaration, Federal Programme Delivery Unit & SUN Focal Point, Ethiopia
Mrs. Chito N. Nelson, Deputy Director/Head Food and Nutrition Division, Dept of Social Development, Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Nigeria
Mr. Blessings Muwalo, Deputy Director of Nutrition, Ministry of Health, Department of Nutrition, Malawi
Mrs. Mary Mpereh, Technical Advisor, Food Systems and Nutrition Security, National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Ghana
Dr. Patricia N'Goran, Adviser to the President of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire and SUN Focal Point
Ms. Providence Mavubi, Director, Agriculture and Industry, COMESA
Ms. Kefilwe Moalosi, Nutrition and Food Safety, Programme Officer, AUDA-NEPAD