Niger: Niger Childhood, food security and nutrition Program
JOINT PROGRAMME QUICK FACTS
Delivery Rate
Participating Agencies UNICEF, WFP, FAO, WHO, UNFPA
Main Achievements
- 89% of children under 5 years old and 82% of pregnant women suffering from severe malnutrition have been treated, reducing considerably the infant and maternal mortality rate.
- Food security improved due as a result of increased availability of food.
- Use of community-based medical and social services has been reinforced. School gardens, latrines and food storage areas introduced to increase good nutrition practices among children.
The programme will be implemented with the aim of ensuring sustainability and investment for the medium to long-term, with a focus on drafting and adopting legal texts to promote better nutritional and food security. The programme is based on five outcomes that form a set of consistent interventions which will allow the program to contribute to the improvement of nutritional and food security situation by 2010 while reinforcing the governmental system in Niger as the following: 1) Continuum of nutritional care is established in order to reduce the prevalence of stunting and underweight in children aged from 6 to 59 months 2) The food security and nutrition status of households and particularly young children is improved 3) Nutrition topics and Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) are introduced in the country's school curriculum. 4) The management capacities of nutrition and food security programmes are strengthened 5) A functional system of advocacy is supported and implemented to promote nutrition and food security
The program coverage will be nationwide for all the actions connected with outcomes related to the institutional support such as the introduction of teaching nutrition and behaviour Change Communication (BCC), improvement of in the country's school curriculum, improvement of management capacities of nutrition and food security programmes, and advocacy.
For food security and nutrition related results, as the program implementation period will be short, it is suggested to focus on the areas where the programme will significantly impact national wide measurable data, such as Zinder region where the malnutrition rate is very high and has an influence on the global rate of malnutrition in the country.
The selection of these areas will be meticulous during the upcoming phases of the program implementation. To be sustainable, the program implementation will be focused on the community involvement and participation.
The proposed joint program will be implemented during two years period and its budget is about $ 4,000,000 US. The program implementation will be done in collaboration with Niger (Ministry of Health, Ministry of Woman Promotion and Child Protection, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Secretary of Rural Development and CCA) and 5 UN agencies will be directly involved in the management of the program (UNICEF, FAO, WFP, UNFPA and WHO).
A joint Program Steering Committee (PSC) will be formed and will involve all the program stakeholders with UNICEF as leading organization. This committee will work very closely with a Program Coordination Unit (PCU) which will be placed within the Governmental Institutions to daily manage and coordinate all the program interventions. A joint implementation plan will be prepared before program starting.