ABIDJAN,
Ivory Coast, April 29, 2021/ -- The Board of Directors of the African
Development Fund has approved a grant of $31.2 million to the Government
of Ethiopia to increase access to multi-sectoral nutritional services
for children under-five years, by boosting access to services
for improved health, a more diverse and nutritious food, and improving
knowledge, attitude and practices on feeding, care and hygiene. The
Multi-sectoral Approach for Stunting Reduction Project (MASReP) will
target forty districts or woredas in the country’s Amhara and Tigray
regions.
The project, with a total cost of $48 million, has three
programmatic components: climate-proofed infrastructure development for
effective service delivery; livelihood support, production and
promotion of nutritious foods; and strengthening institutional systems
and capacity building.
“With its strong emphasis on using a
comprehensive package of systemic and mutually reinforcing
multi-sectoral interventions to simultaneously address the
multidimensional causes of stunting, the project will significantly
contribute to building the grey matter infrastructure of the children in
the target areas and lead to improved productivity in the future,” said
Nnenna Nwabufo, Director General for the African Development Bank’s
East Africa Region. “The project is also a demonstration of the Bank’s
efforts to accelerate the implementation of the Bank’s Jobs for Youth in
Africa Strategy as well as operationalize the African Nutrition
Accountability Score Card (ANASC) launched in 2019.”
The ANASC, a
data driven advocacy tool, was developed by the African Leaders for
Nutrition, an initiative of the African Development Bank, the Global
Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation and the African Union.
Child
malnutrition remains a significant development challenge in Ethiopia. In
the project target area, nearly 50% of children under age 5 are
afflicted by stunting. A range of factors contribute to the prevalence
of undernourishment, including low dietary diversity and poor access to
clean drinking water.
The project aligns to the Ethiopia’s
Sequota Declaration (SD), signed in 2015 as a commitment to end stunting
in children under two by 2030 under the leadership of the national
ministries of health; agriculture, water, irrigation and energy;
education; women, children and youth; labour and social affairs;
transport; and finance.
The project also contributes to
Ethiopia’s effort to achieve the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable
Development Goal 2 to end hunger, achieve food security and improved
nutrition, which is strongly aligned with the African Development Bank’s
Ten-Year Strategy 2013–2022 and two of its ‘High Five’ operational
priorities seeking to ‘Feed Africa’ and ‘Improve the Quality of Life for
the People of Africa’.
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