The African Union (AU) Commission Department of Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development (HHS) through the Health Systems, Diseases and Nutrition (HSDN) Division, AU Member States from Southern Africa Region joined by experts from National Statistics, ‎Health and Nutrition offices build their capacity towards the use of data from the Continental Accountability ‎Scorecard to identify gaps and take evidence-based decisions to drive Africa’s nutrition agenda. ‎

This was during a two days workshop jointly organized by the African Union Commission and ‎African Development Bank’s African Leaders for Nutrition and Southern Africa Development ‎Community (SADC) on the 24th and 25th of July. The main objectives of the workshop were to ‎sensitize focal points from the Member States on the digital version of the Continental Nutrition ‎Accountability Scorecard (CNAS) and the indicators, to share experiences on the use of nutrition data ‎and scorecards in promoting accountability among the AU Member States, and to promote standardization of ‎data analysis approaches in developing nutrition reports.

The Continental Nutrition Accountability scorecard is aimed at supporting the tracking of progress by ‎countries toward the achievement of nutrition targets set through the Malabo Declaration, World ‎Health Assembly (WHA), and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Developed and launched ‎in 2019 by African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN), in conjunction with the AU Commission, ‎AU Member States are expected to use data from the Continental Nutrition Accountability ‎Scorecard to assess progress made toward meeting national, continental, and global targets on ‎nutrition and hold leaders accountable for the same. At the regional level, the Regional Economic ‎Communities (RECs) can use the CNAS to inform the development of the annual nutrition report.‎

Speaking during the workshop Ms. Duduzile Simelane, Director for Social and Human Development ‎at SADC, underscored the importance of the Scorecard, highlighted the importance of investing in ‎child nutrition in the first 1000 days as it has long-term positive effects on cognitive development, ‎educational attainment, and productivity in adulthood.

The scorecard has proven to be a timely tool to support the identification of gaps and evidence-based ‎decisions to drive Africa’s nutrition agenda. In particular, the CNAS provides evidence that helps ‎Africa Leaders for Nutrition and African Union Nutrition Champion to frame the messages while ‎advocating for the enactment of policies and strategies to address malnutrition and more specifically ‎when calling for additional resources and investments in nutrition. Since its launch, data from ‎National Statistics Offices (NSOs) for scorecards has shaped the reports developed by the AUC on the ‎status of malnutrition in Africa.‎

George Ouma, African Leaders for Nutrition Coordinator, used the occasion to explain to participants ‎that ALN's vision was to empower African governments to utilize the Continental Nutrition ‎Accountability Scorecard as a robust framework for developing nutrition-smart projects, budget ‎allocation, policies development, and accountability tools across the African Union's regional ‎economic communities.‎

The CNAS is expected to provide a unified approach to report on progress made in achieving the ‎continental and global targets on nutrition, and a framework to guide the development of interventions ‎to address malnutrition.‎

The AU Commission also presented the finding of the first African Union Nutrition Report ‎‎(2022), ‎calling on all AU Member States to make use of the findings of the report, which is one of the ‎key ‎tools of nutrition accountability in the continent.

The meeting participants included AU Member ‎States ‎representatives from, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and ‎Zimbabwe; ‎and partners organizations including African Leaders Malaria Alliance, Food and ‎Agriculture ‎Organisation, Nutrition International, UNICEF, and World Food Program.‎

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For further information, please contact:

Ms. Inas Mubarak I Head of Health Systems, Diseases and Nutrition Division | Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development | African Union Commission Tel: +251 901 091 175 | E-mail: AbbasI@africa-union.org | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia|

Ms. Whitney Mwangi I Health Communication and Advocacy Specialist | Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development | African Union Commission Tel: +251 901 097 067 | E-mail: WhitneyM@africa-union.org | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Information and Communication Directorate, African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org
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