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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CARE INTERNATIONAL AND GRAÇA MACHEL TRUST ANNOUNCE A JOINT COLLABORATION ON NUTRITION ADVOCACY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

By placing nutrition high on the development agenda, we can ultimately end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition outcomes and promote sustainable agriculture in Africa.

Thursday, 18th May 2017 – Johannesburg, South Africa. CARE International (CI) in Southern Africa and Graça Machel Trust (GMT) have today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for joint collaboration on nutrition advocacy in Southern Africa.

Under the agreement, both organisations will work together to influence Government, the private sector and local civil society organisations to ensure that nutrition is placed high on the development agenda.

Michelle Carter, CARE International Managing Deputy Regional Director: “Malnutrition affects every stage of life and has severe consequences that can impact generations. Malnourished mothers are more likely to die in childbirth and have low birth weight babies and children born to malnourished mothers are at greater risk of disease and death. Furthermore, statistics show that chronically malnourished children face lifelong consequences in reduced mental capacity, lower retention in school and reduced lifetime earnings.”

The Graça Machel Trust, through their Nutrition Programme, is committed to strengthening civil society voices across Africa. They engage with leaders at national, regional and global levels to develop and apply evidence based policies on nutrition that promote multi-sectoral interventions to improve health and wellbeing.

Nomsa Daniels, CEO Graça Machel Trust: ‘’Access to adequate nutrition forms the bedrock of healthy, educated and productive communities. We recognise that if we are to realise our aim of developing our full human capital potential, we need to provide an enabling environment where nutrition plays a central role, to ensure that our children thrive, regardless of where they are born. We look forward to collaborating with CARE International to achieve a shared vision of a malnutrition and hunger free Africa.”

Michelle Carter: “CARE International brings a wealth of experience to this collaboration from our implementation projects in Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania, Madagascar, and other African countries. We hope to leverage the Trust’s convening power to influence governments and their nutrition policies.”

Through the partnership, both organizations will advocate on the importance and role of nutrition in development, and influence the implementation of the Malabo Declaration on accelerated agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity endorsed by the African Union in June 2014. In the process they will raise the profile of nutrition in the national governments’ planning processes.
Read more on the Malabo Declaration http://bit.ly/2rqi6NM

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ABOUT
The Graça Machel Trust works across the continent to drive positive change across women’s and children’s rights, as well as governance and leadership. Through our support of local initiatives and connecting key stakeholders at a regional, national and sub-national level, we help to catalyze action where it is needed. By using our convening power the Trust seeks to amplify the voices of women and children in Africa; influence governance and promote women’s contributions and leadership in the economic, social and political development of Africa.

ABOUT:
CARE International
CARE International is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty and delivering lifesaving assistance in emergencies. In more than 90 countries around the world, CARE places special focus on working alongside poor girls and women to equip them with the proper resources to lift their families and communities out of poverty. To learn more about CARE International’s work on climate change, please visit: www.careclimatechange.org

Issued by:
CARE International
Email: info@care.org /mcarter@care.org
Website: www.care.org
Graça Machel Trust
Communications Unit
Email: info@gracamacheltrust.org – Website: www.gracamacheltrust.org