Protecting family farming in Guinea: A successful advocacy journey - NaijaAgroNet

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Guinea recently adopted the country’s first agricultural policy law, which now needs to be implemented. This follows four years of consultation and advocacy, during which Guinean civil society has actively engaged with the government in the drafting of that law. Aïssata Yattara and Macky Bah reflect on how the law’s inclusion of grassroots’ and national stakeholders’ key concerns represents a decisive step towards protecting and promoting family farms, and tackling land grabbing in the country.

The Guinean government tends to favour large-scale intensive agriculture. This means opening up the agricultural sector to foreign capital, often to the detriment of family farming, which supports nearly 70% of the population and supplies two-thirds of local markets to meet food needs.

Lagos LGAs to partner CS-SUNN on nutrition advocacy - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet: 

The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs, Dr. Taiwo Olufemi Salam, has assured the readiness of his office to partner with the Civil Society-Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) at local levels of governance, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Dr Salam gave this assurance in his remarks during a courtesy advocacy visit by the leadership of CS-SUNN led by the Executive Secretary, Mrs. Beatrice Eluaka, National Steering Committee Chair on Advocacy, Mrs Aji Robinson, and Coordinator, Lagos CS-SUNN, Dr Modupe Akinyinka.

He pledged to ensure active participation of local government chairmen across the state during a proposed sensitization nutrition workshop.

As said by him, this is crucial to help in championing and deseminating correct nutrition information down to the grassroot governance.

He also advised that CS-SUNN make pamphlets available as part of the programming to deepen the understanding of participants, especially those who make laws at the local levels.

Although, Salam acknowledged that often requisite resources are not readily available and often population accuracy become an issue.

He urged families to make certain they take good care of their families in alignment with their economic status.

Men, he advised must control their third legs and manage what they can afford by ensuring control of children.

“We must start with education at the grassroots,” he declared.

Earlier in her address, leader of the delegation, Mrs. Eluaka noted that CS-SUNN is part of the six major networks actively involved in nutrition emancipation globally under the Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP).

She explained that these include the government, United Nations (UN) agencies, Civil Society Organisations, Businesses, Donors and Academia Networks respectively.

In Nigeria, she traced the root to the November 14, 2011, when the Federal Government of Nigeria joined the global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN Movement) by then Minister of Health, Dr Onyebuchi Chukwu; an indication that Nigeria was ready to join forces in addressing malnutrition in the country.

At the states, she noted that there are Committees on Food and Nutrition, just as she called for cash-backing of budget lines on nutrition and related subjects.

Lagos, she said, has a high malnutrition rate of 17.2 per cent, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

In addition, Mrs. Eluaka pointed out that WHO further revealed that Lagos has high stunting rate of 6 per cent, whereas stunting above 5 per cent has been classified as high by this world health body.

Eluka, equally sought for collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs towards ensuring Lagos State Executive Council endorse relevant policies to scale up nutrition in the state.

Other members of the CS-SUNN on ground for the advocacy visit included, Mrs. Ebere Okey-Onyema, Secretary, Lagos CS-SUNN, Mrs. Ewa Ekpeyong, Assistant Secretary, Lagos Chapter, Remmy Nweke, Editor at NaijaAgroNet and Natioanl Coordinator, Media Centre Against child Malnutriton (MeCAM), Director of Outreach & Research, MeCAM, Mrs Julie Ekong, Member-CS-SUNN, Sam Akinyolode of Revive Agriculture Africa, to name a few.

Isaac Oyimah/Editor

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Egube applauds CS-SUNN on advocacy, explains why Lagos voted N7bn on health insurance – NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The Lagos State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Samuel Egube, has applauded the Civil Society Scaling-up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), over the advocacy at ensuring Nigerians eat healthy meals, reports NaijaAgroNet.

CS-SUNN, NaijaAgroNet gathered, is a non-governmental, non-profit making coalition, made up of organizations with a shared vision to transform Nigeria into a country where every citizen has food and is nutrition secured.

Welcoming the delegate from CS-SUNN on a courtesy visit to his office and led by the Executive Secretary, Mrs. Beatrice Eluaka, the Commissioner noted that nutrition has become a multi-sectoral subject that should be embraced by all.

He applauded CS-SUNN for championing nutrition education in the country, which longterm effect is good health for the citizens.

“Nutrition is a deliberate attempt to make life better for the citizen,” he declared.

Lagos, Egube said, has to push for the social health insurance and even voted the sum of N7 billion for this scheme.

ALSO READ: CS-SUNN commends Lagos over nutrition budget lines in 9 MDAs - NaijaAgroNet

He equally charged Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) not to relent on their efforts, but to encourage Lagosians to take the scheme seriously.

“Nutrition is everyone problem and CSO have lots to do than the government,” he asserted, stressing that more could be do with partnership.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary, CS-SUNN, Mrs. Eluaka in the company of Aji Rachael Robinson - Sub-Committee Chairman Research, Programme Manager, Mr. Sunday Okoronkwo, Lagos State Coordinator at CS-SUNN, Dr (Mrs) Modupe Akinyinka, National Coordinator, Media Centre Against Child Malnutrition (MeCAM), Mr. Remmy Nweke.

Equally in attendance were the Lagos State Director in the ministry, Mrs. Otuyalo and State Nutrition Officer (SNO) Mrs Olubunmi Braheem among others.

Nenye Dom/Editor

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PHSAI advocacy boosts FP funding in Lagos - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet: 

The Public Health Sustainable Advocacy Initiative (PHSAI) has declared that its efforts gave boost to the family planning (FP) funding in Lagos State, reports NaijaAgroNet.

PHSAI chairman, Mr. Ayo Adebusoye made this disclosure in his address to mark the 2019 World Contraception Day with the support of Pathfinder International under the theme: FP Funding Advocacy Overview in Lagos State.

According to him, the Lagos State Family Planning (FP) Advocacy Working Group (LAWG) known formally as the Public Health Sustainable Advocacy Initiative (PHSAI) was established in January 2015 with the support of Pathfinder International.

PHSAI, he said, comprises civil society, faith-based organizations, the media, and local government units for budget and reproductive health and family planning.

As said by Adebusoye, between 2015 and 2018, PHSAI efforts is beginning to manifest through series of meetings with the key stakeholders in Lagos State, including policy makers in the health sector, local government executives, community leaders and Reproductive Health and Family Planning Managers among others.

The essence of these meetings, he said, was to identify ways to leverage funds for Family Planning.

As such, he disclosed that presently, some 18 Local Government Areas cum Local Council Development Authorities “are now reported to be funding family planning consumables in 2018.”

In addition, he said that Lagos State budget for family planning doubled “from N86,740,000 ($240,944.44) in 2017 to N177,500,000 ($493,055.56) in 2018.”

In 2017, for instance, he said, the Lagos State Primary Healthcare Board for the first time in history “created a specific budget line for family planning consumables in the sum N50,000,000 ($140,000). The same amount was allocated in the 2018 budget.”

PHSAI’s advocacy intervention, he said, is to improve family planning funding, reiterating the group committed to scaling up the lessons learnt by sharing with the state and local governments throughout Nigeria.





Nenye Dom/Editor




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FARA, NEPAD in high level joint advocacy for nutrition in Africa - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

As part of efforts to promote Food and Nutrition Security for Sustainable Agriculture on the continent, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), have joined forces in a high level advocacy for nutrition in Africa, reports NaijaAgroNet.

They jointly organised a one-day high level advocacy event during the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) in in Cairo, Egypt, which saw notice on increased efforts and support from governments and stakeholders to improve nutrition and food systems are still needed.

The FARA Executive Director, Dr Abdulrazak Ibrahim noted that African governments and stakeholders have over the years been implementing several strategic interventions, among which include food fortification, dietary diversification, vitamin and mineral supplementation, public health interventions such as deworming and of late, biofortification.

He also said embracing food-based approaches should encompass biofortification in national and regional agriculture and nutrition policies, strategies, programmes and investment plans,’ was the theme of this event.

Chairperson of the PAP Committee on Agriculture, H.E Hon Kone Gognon, opened the meeting, saying that the theme for the meeting was pertinent, with a focus on ensuring food and nutrition security, pointing out that biofortification was already flagged as crucial in Africa.

Further, Dr. Ibrahim disclosed that FARA recognised the debilitating effects of hidden hunger, and highlighted FARA’s efforts, over the last years, in mainstreaming FNSSA within the National Agricultural and Innovation System (NAIS).

This was echoed by Dr Rose Omari, from FARA’s Building Nutritious Food Basket project, who elucidated the fact that micronutrient deficiency and its consequences are not widely known, as this is ‘hidden hunger.’

“Therefore, enhancing micronutrients content of staple crops during production is a critical intervention,” Dr Omari said.

Senior Advisor on Nutrition, Ms Bibi Giyose, who spoke on behalf of the NEPAD Agency’s CEO, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, brought to the fore the fact that nutrition should not be viewed as a technical issue, as it also has political, structural and numerous other dimensions that dictate the need to find multi-sectorial solutions.

Prof Francis Zotor from the University of Health and Allied Sciences and African Nutrition Society, expressed a similar sentiment with a call to strengthen synergies in moving the nutrition agenda forward on the continent.

Present at the event were legislators from the following countries: Central African Republic; Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Niger, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.

The meeting concluded that while hidden hunger is real, reversing it is also possible to increase micronutrient content of commonly consumed foods through biofortification, especially to improve nutritional status of low income households will go a long way in redressing hidden hunger.

African Parliamentarians were called upon to follow up on declarations made by governments to ensure their implementation.

Remmy Nweke/ED, Ops

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Nigerian stakeholders get FPMAWG

NaijaAgroNet:

The Nigerian stakeholders have setting up the Family Planning Media Advocacy Working Group (FPMAWG) as part of efforts at advancing their commitments on issues of family planning in the country, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The FPMAWG executive committee includes Chioma Umeha – Chairperson, Angela Onwuzoo - vice chairperson, Mayuwa Adeniran – Public Relations Officer (PRO), Bukola Ajiboye – Secretary, Ijeoma Ukazu - Assistant Secretary, and Appolonia Adeyemi as Financial Secretary.

Setting up the FPMAWG in Lagos, the Associate Director of Reproductive Health and Family Planning (RH/FP) at Pathfinder International office in Nigeria, Dr. Habeeb Salami, defined advocacy as “organized, deliberate, systematic, and strategic process intended to bring about a new or revised social or economic policy or programme.”

He also said that advocacy involves setting of actions undertaken by a group of committed individuals or organizations to introduce change or obtain support for specific policies, programmes, legislation, issues or causes, precisely on Family Planning.

Salami urged FPMAWG to seek to draw and sustain the attention of critical decision makers at national, state and local and community levels on an issue of common interest to an individual, or a group of individuals or organizations, with the goal of getting these issues addressed in a mutually beneficial manner.

FPMAWG, he said, is a group of committed individuals who share a common social, political and economic interest over an issue.

“Willing to work together to change the FP situation,” he said.

Salami equally pointed out that advocacy groups could be very influential, but their influence is informal because they do not hold or control power, but try to influence people who either hold power or who may hold power, such as a candidate for an elective office, to support the positions the group is committed to.

“Advocacy groups are important players in local, state, federal, and even international social economic milieu,” he said, thus as diverse as the people and ideas they represent.

He urged for partnership with like-minded individuals or groups, noted that essentially, FPMAWG should advocate to national and local leaders that Family Planning needs high-level attention and improvements in quality and access.

Therefore, he encouraged FPMAWG to ensure the usage of the power of the media through deploying various platforms.

“Influence and make the political, policy, legal and community environments more suitable for FP,” he said.

Positing that qualities of a good and effective media AWG is predicated on the passion which he described as critical, even as membership is constituted from diverse team who are truly and genuinely committed to FP and willing to push for a change in that direction.

In her acceptance speech, the FPMAWG chairperson, Mrs Chioma Umeha assured stakeholders that her team will be up and doing in contributing their quotas to improved family planning in the country and solicited for support and understanding of all, especially the international partners.

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Pix: A cross session of stakeholders at the inaugural meeting.