This week we commemorate World Food Day, a day that focuses on achieving #ZeroHunger by the year 2030. One of the suggestions that the United Nations made on what farmers and agribusinesses can do to help achieve food security was that “farmers and smallholders should promote gender equality and the empowerment of women, indigenous peoples and youth, because Zero Hunger can only succeed in a society that is fair and equal for all.”
With this in mind, the Graça Machel Trust commemorates World Food Day by running a series of stories that illustrate the various roles men, women, civil society, the media and the youth can play to address the challenge of food security. We also draw our attention to what the government needs to do to complement these efforts by investing more in nutrition.
In this piece, we explore the work that our network in Zambia is doing to empower journalists so that they cover nutrition related issues effectively and become nutrition advocates.
Engaging the media in Zambia
The media is critical in influencing the well-being of communities. This blog highlights how vital it is, for advocacy campaigns and visibility, to engage the media in educating the public and raising awareness on the importance of nutrition, as well as its long-term effects. The media can use its collective power to lead and mobilize social actions for nutrition. Media engagement has been key to the successful advocacy work the Civil Society Organisation Scaling up Nutrition Zambia (CSO SUN) has been doing.
“The media has the power to influence decision. The media sparks issues that get politicians attention. The more attention the topic gets, the higher it gets the attention of authorities,” – Mathews Mhuru, Country Head – Scaling Up Nutrition, Zambia
CSO-SUN has been working with HIVOS (a development aid organisation), Nutrition Association in Zambia and the National Food and Nutrition Commission to conduct bi-annual media training sessions focusing on increased and accurate reporting on nutrition specific issues. Training sessions to date include:
- The Nutrition situation in Zambia
- Nutrition and National Development
- Actions needed by government and other stakeholders. The role of the Media in Nutrition Advocacy and Media Action Plans.
The trainings gather representatives from radio, TV and print. The sessions present a platform for networking, building media friendly advocacy campaigns, and capacity and skills development. The impact is a shift in thinking about nutrition. SUN CSOs are becoming a trusted source of information for journalists and this is a window of opportunity to educate communities and drive regional and global nutrition targets towards #ZeroHunger.
The Graça Machel Trust is the current secretariat of the Eastern and Southern Africa Civil Society Nutrition Network. Its members; the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) national civil society alliances (CSAs) and its partners, CARE International and SUN Civil Society Network (CSN) have launched a campaign aimed at increasing government expenditure on Nutrition by three percent in three years. As we celebrate World Food Day this 16th October, we call other media practitioners to join the call to action for #ZeroHunger world by 2030.
Read more on our Nutrition Programme here
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.