Frealem Shibabaw of Ethiopia – 2016 Transform Nutrition Champion

When Frealem Shibabaw was running a private school in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, a five year old child approached her and asked to be registered at the school despite him not being able to afford it. He was enrolled and performed very well until third grade, when he started bringing in an empty lunch box to school. This made Frealem realise how malnutrition affects child development and in particular school performance. She explains, “this was the incident that really stopped me and got me thinking about this whole nutrition issue. Right from that moment I started reading about nutrition in general, I began to ask how big this problem is in Ethiopia? how many kids are suffering because of this?, what is nutrition and what is it we need to know about it?”

Continue reading Frealem’s inspiring story at Transform Nutrition

Transform Nutrition Champions

This follows a first round of Nutrition Champions in 2013, awarded by Ellen Piwoz from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at the 2013 SUN Movement Global Gathering. In 2016, Transform Nutrition in partnership with Save the Children, announced ten individuals as the 2016 Transform Nutrition Champions. These individuals have been recognised for their significant success in transforming thinking or action in nutrition. The 2016 Transform Nutrition Champions are Basanta Kumar Kar of Bangladesh and India, Christina Muyama of Uganda, Christopher Dube of Zambia, Debjeet Sarangi of India, Frealem Shibabaw of Ethiopia, Manaan Mumma of Kenya, Neerja Chowdhury of India, San San Myint of Myanmar, V. Ramani of India and William Chilufya of Zambia. Read their inspiring stories at Transform Nutrition

Learn about the 2013 Transform Nutrition Champions Luis Enrique Monterroso of Guatemala, Banda Ndiaye  of Senegal and Terry Wefwafwa of Kenya.

In the video below, Nick Nisbett (Institute of Development Studies) and Marie Rumsby (Save the Children) discuss the Transform Nutrition Champions 2016 initiative.