Issue
In Namibia, an estimated 43% of people living in multidimensional poverty are extremely food insecure. The government is committed to improving food security, having revised its National Food and Nutrition Security Policy and developed an action plan to improve nutrition.
How we are helping
This project aims to enable civil society organisations to empower communities across the country with a participatory training approach towards better nutritional knowledge and practices.
About the project
In Namibia, an estimated 43% of people living in multidimensional poverty are extremely food insecure, with stunting rates over 30% and over 2,500 child deaths per year directly associated with undernutrition. Marginalised communities, particularly women, children, and those in rural areas, are disproportionately affected. Namibia’s revised National Food and Nutrition Security Policy (2021) provides a framework for change but requires much stronger coordination mechanisms and better collaboration with civil society to ensure effective implementation.
Project partners, Nutrition and Food Security Alliance of Namibia will help capacitate and coordinate the work of CSOs implementing food and nutrition-related projects in Namibia. The participatory training approach: ‘Nutrition for Health – Embracing our Namibian Food Systems’ (N4H) was developed in collaboration with GIZ Namibia’s Farming for Resilience Project, the Ministry of Health and Social Services, the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, leading national academic institutions, CSOs, as well as UNICEF and WHO.
This project aims to address challenges in nutrition, health, and livelihoods by supporting CSOs to educate communities about, and advocate for, equitable policies and practices.
This will be achieved by:
- Training, mentoring and supporting facilitators from ten civil society organisations implementing the N4H approach.
- Establishing a ‘nutrition hotline’ as a form of helpdesk to provide technical support to N4H facilitators and community members.
- Producing advocacy materials on nutrition, health and equality, in form of videos, radio messages, infographics, and briefing papers, hereby incorporating feedback from communities engaged in the N4H training roll-out.
- Facilitating regular engagements with decision-makers to advocate for policies and innovative approaches aimed at strengthening universal access to nutrition and health, such as maternity leave extension, the introduction of a sugar tax, and an unconditional basic income grant.
As a result of the project, it is hoped that CSOs will have a strengthened capacity to integrate key nutrition aspects into their work and advocate for effective nutrition and health policies. Community-driven insights will shape national dialogues, fostering inclusive and sustainable solutions, and leading to increased investment in nutrition and health, benefiting Namibia’s most vulnerable populations. Public awareness campaigns will empower communities to adopt healthier practices, reducing malnutrition in all its forms and advancing health equity across the country.
Project Partners
NAFSAN is a vibrant alliance of civil society, academia and momentarily the private sector that is part of the global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement to eradicate all forms of malnutrition. NAFSAN is one of the drivers of Namibia’s multi-sectoral efforts to enhance nutrition and food security through developing and providing practical information, effective systems for coordination, public awareness, advocacy, and innovation. They support coordinated actions, policy analysis, and provide platforms for communication and collaboration to promote sustainable food security and optimal nutrition for all.
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