AfDB to End Child Stunting

The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (AfDB) said it has approved a grant of $31.2 million to the Government of Ethiopia to increase access to multi-sectoral nutritional services for children under-five years, by boosting access to services for improved health, a more diverse and nutritious food, and improving knowledge, attitude and practices on feeding, care and hygiene.

The Multi-sectoral Approach for Stunting Reduction Project (MASReP) will target forty districts or woredas in the country’s Amhara and Tigray regions. The project, with a total cost of $48 million, has three programmatic components: climate-proofed infrastructure development for effective service delivery; livelihood support, production and promotion of nutritious foods; and strengthening institutional systems and capacity building.

“With its strong emphasis on using a comprehensive package of systemic and mutually reinforcing multi-sectoral interventions to simultaneously address the multidimensional causes of stunting, the project will significantly contribute to building the grey matter infrastructure of the children in the target areas and lead to improved productivity in the future,” Director General for the African Development Bank’s East Africa Region, Nnenna Nwabufo said.

“The project is also a demonstration of the Bank’s efforts to accelerate the implementation of the Bank’s Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy as well as operationalize the African Nutrition Accountability Score Card (ANASC) launched in 2019.”

The ANASC, a data driven advocacy tool, was developed by the African Leaders for Nutrition, an initiative of the African Development Bank, the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the African Union.