Transform Nutrition West Africa: Time to build on the momentum

BY ROOSMARIJN VERSTRAETEN

The COVID–19 pandemic, ongoing conflicts, and other problems made 2020 a difficult year for global nutrition. Knowledge will be crucial in addressing current nutrition issues and advancing the nutrition agenda for 2021 and beyond. Transform Nutrition West Africa (TNWA), a project led by IFPRI and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2017-2021 and now concluding, has worked to put stakeholders and knowledge generation at the heart of decisions about policies and programs for maternal, infant, and young child nutrition.

TNWA’s aim is to support effective policy and programmatic decisions and actions to improve maternal and child nutrition. It has pursued this goal by encouraging an inclusive and collaborative process of knowledge generation and mobilization among the many stakeholders involved. As a regional platform, the project’s overall West Africa approach has been anchored in four focal countries where more-intensive work has been done: Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Burkina Faso.

Photo credit: IITA