A leadership strategy for reducing hunger and malnutrition in Africa: the agriculture-nutrition advantage

This paper reviews the aspects and outcomes of the Agriculture- Nutrition Advantage project implemented in Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, and the United States. The aim of the project was to cultivate a network of leaders and advocates in sub-Saharan Africa who would promote an approach to combating hunger through linking agriculture and nutrition, while also accounting for gender.

The main conclusions from the project include:

• evidence-based advocacy: the teams achieved change not only because they were widely respected leaders, but also because they used evidence from their own case studies, from empirical data, and from the literature to make their case, and could present their case in a compelling manner to strategically chosen audiences
• power of participatory processes: the teams’ successes also stemmed from their ability to use participatory processes to promote the project’s approach. Such processes provided opportunities to involve stakeholders, ranging from technical specialists to policymakers, in policy and programme development, and in decisions regarding allocation of resources
• capacity strengthening and learning: the project’s annual workshops strengthened the team members’ knowledge of agriculture and nutrition linkages, skills in using gender analysis as a planning tool, and leadership and advocacy skills
• gender knowledge and skills: network members improved their understanding and use of gender analysis as a research and planning methodology.

Recommendations from the project include:

• African leaders should enlist the support of potential allies, such as health and budget specialists and economists, in framing the agriculture-nutrition-gender case, promoting its adoption, and ensuring it is translated to action at the community, institutional, and policy levels
• international partners should support the country leaders in identifying and accessing resources to implement country specific or regional projects to address the most critical institutional factors that inhibit building stronger links between agriculture and nutrition, and use of gender strategies and methods
• donors should develop a compendium of materials that articulate the approach and how to apply it in programme development and implementation.