Issue 22: January 2003

Nutrition capacity development
initiative shifts into high gear

UNU Food and Nutrition Programme (UNU/FNP) has launched the implementation phase of its Global Capacity Development Initiative, a series of 10-year capacity development action plans outlined by ad-hoc groups in Southern, East, West and Central Africa and Latin America.

Programme coordinator Dr. Cutberto Garza said that efforts so far had focused on Africa, where a series of leadership workshops have begun based on formats developed in Europe and emulated in the US and Latin America. Main objectives of the workshops are to enhance leadership skills among promising young African food and nutrition professionals, to promote the development of strong networks among future leaders and to facilitate links between junior and senior professionals. The first workshop was held in in South Africa last October.

Dr. Garza said that other specific training programmes also have begun. In some regions, the objective is to provide  broad-based nutrition support to those with HIV/AIDS, while others aim to enhance the acceptance of nutritional advocacy and establish policies leading to nutritional advocacy modules. 

"Importantly, individual efforts in both areas are responsive to specific elements of the 10-year plans developed by the UNU-sponsored regional ad hoc capacity development groups," said Dr. Garza. Key workshops were held between July and November last year in Mombasa (Kenya), Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) and in Pretoria.

UNU/FNP is also sponsoring the organization of a global network of African graduate students studying abroad.  Among the projects to be undertaken by the group is a counterpart linkage programme with students pursuing graduate studies in Africa.  An inaugural conference is being planned for later this year.

Other recent activities of UNU/FNP include:

• A meeting in Cuernavaca, Mexico, on the use of isotopes for evaluation of nutrition intervention programmes in Latin America. In addition to defining a role for isotope usage in addressing key policy evaluation needs in Latin America, the scope of nutritional problems facing the Latin American region and their impact on human and social development were also highlighted.  The establishment of a collaborative review process among Latin American researchers was a main objective. A subsequent regional forum held in December focused on obesity and its metabolic consequences in Latin America.

• A 10-year capacity development plan for Asia, following three meeting of the Asian ad hoc group. The plans will be presented at the annual meetings of all UN and bilateral agencies and many NGOs with food and nutrition mandates to be held in India in March.  Preliminary discussions also have been held for a similar initiative in the Middle East expected to start this year.

• The Ellison Fellowship Program, funded through the US-based International Nutrition Foundation in support of the Global Capacity Development Initiative. Fellowship candidates have been interviewed in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. The programme expects to support 18 to 20 fellows at any one time for short- or longer-term doctoral training.

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