Gabon
Joined Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement:
December 2016National multi-stakeholder platform for nutrition:
Multisectoral and Multi-Stakeholder Food and Nutrition Security Platform (PMMSAN)Country nutrition status
- Yes
- In process
- No
- Costed
- M&E framework
National multi-stakeholder platform (MSP)
National nutrition plan
Advocacy and communications framework/plan
Subnational nutrition coordination mechanism
SUN networks in-country presence
Finance for nutrition
Country priorities 2022
- Formalizing the legal status of the Multisectoral and Multi-Stakeholder Food and Nutrition Security Platform (PMMSAN) through legislation establishing the Multisectoral and Multi-stakeholder Committee for Food and Nutrition Security.
- Developing an advocacy plan.
- Increasing resource mobilization for nutrition.
- Providing capacity-building for nutrition-sensitive and -specific sectors.
- Setting up a tripartite platform for discussion during COVID-19 (government, parliament, United Nations organizations).
Progress towards SUN 3.0 Strategic Objectives (SO)
Gabon is on track to achieve its food and nutrition security goals and has a National Food and Nutrition Security Policy (PNSAN) 2017–2025 with a budgeted action plan. The country also has national dietary recommendations and a food guide, a national communication plan for these recommendations and a subregional strategy that includes nutrition-sensitive sectors. Gabon has no formal advocacy frameworks or plans, but there has been advocacy towards stakeholders. Advocacy for the Government to formalize the PMMSAN will be a priority in 2022.
In 2021 the Ministry of Agriculture coordinated a national dialogue on food systems, which included nutrition. Costings for the PNSAN have been validated but mobilization to fund its implementation has been hampered by the PMMSAN’s lack of formal legal status. Advocacy to change this is ongoing. Three main stakeholders promote nutrition in the country: the Government, the United Nations and SUN Movement technical assistance. Funding is aligned with national priorities but remains very limited. Budget analysis for the nutrition sector is carried out every two years.
Leadership development for three members of the PMMSAN and support from the SUN Movement via the Technical Assistance to Strengthen Capabilities (TASC) project helped finalize the PNSAN action plan, while also strengthening leadership among members. The country attended webinars run by the SUN Movement and contributed to the development of the third phase of the SUN Strategy. Capacity-building for nutrition-sensitive and -specific sectors is ongoing but is hampered by a lack of funds and human resources and the PMMSAN’s lack of formal legal status. Capacity-building needs to be integrated into the PMMSAN’s annual action plan.
Gabon has two entities that govern nutrition: the National Nutrition Centre, created in 1982, and the PMMSAN, which has around 60 active members and meets regularly. However, this platform needs to be given legal status, members need to be appointed from technical departments, a budget needs to be allocated, and gaps need to be filled. The nutrition information system currently relies on the Gabon Demographic and Health Survey, the national health information system at the Ministry of Health (which includes data on nutrition) and the General-Directorate of Statistics, which is undergoing restructuring.
2021 shared country good practice
Classes vertes project in Gabon
Nutrition education
The lessons learned from the Classes vertes [Green lessons] project, launched in 2019 to produce nutritious food in schools through school gardens, continued in 2021. It is the result of the combined efforts of the Ministries of Education and Health and demonstrates good cross-sector collaboration.
