This, according to him, is evidenced by the participation of Sierra Leone in the Scaling Up Nutrition movement since 2012.
Dr. Foh went on to say with one in three children in Sierra Leone being stunted, (a sign of chronic malnutrition), there is a need for concerted and coordinated government-led initiatives to harness the commitment and resources of multiple sectors to reduce the levels of malnutrition.
In this perceptive, Dr. Foh furthered, Sierra Leone engaged in a Nutrition Stakeholders and Action Mapping Exercise with support from the REACH and the UN Network for SUN Secretariat.
He said the mapping tool collects and collates data about which actor do what, in which geographic zones and through which delivery mechanisms.
The process Dr. Foh revealed, also calculates the geographic and population coverage of nutrition action, adding that the result will contribute to improving planning at national and sub-national levels as well as other multi-sectorial nutrition processes such as coordination and implementation of core nutrition actions.
Minister of State Office of the Vice President, Mrs. Francess Piagie Alghali thanked stakeholders for their commitment to the National Nutrition Stakeholder and Actiona Mapping Exercise, while noting that the vice president’s office acknowledge the teamwork especially between the SUN Secretariat and the UNN-REACH.
She said the UNN-REACH Scaling Up Nutrition Planning and Monitoring Tool introduced in 2018 will support government and key stakeholders to gain an overview of the country’s nutrition situation and nutrition actions, a multi-sectorial view/coverage on who is doing what and where and engage in a stakeholders dialogue and guidance for planning how and where to scale up nutrition.
The exercise she went on, will inform government, donors, UN, civil society, private sectors and particularly district councils identify their partners, promote coordination, minimize duplication and improve on planning together for a common result.
“We acknowledge stakeholders mapping as a key part of stakeholders management. It does not preclude the interests of the stakeholders overriding the interests of the other stakeholders affected, but it ensures that all affected will be considered. This information is used to assess how the interest of those stakeholders should be addressed.” Mrs. Alghali concluded.
