April 24, 2025

ZCSOSUNA engages Parliament for food and nutrition security advocacy

Byron Adonis Mutingwende06 mins
ZCSOSUNA project inception meeting participants
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The Zimbabwe Civil Society Organisations Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance (ZCSOSUNA), with financial and technical support from UNICEF and in collaboration with key government ministries and departments, launched a new project titled ‘High-Level Nutrition Advocacy and Parliamentary Engagement’ to enhance national efforts in nutrition advocacy and deepen engagement with policymakers on child nutrition and development.

 

Speaking during the launch at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Harare today, Kudakwashe Zombe, the ZCSOSUNA Coordinator, said the initiative aims to enhance nutrition advocacy and strengthen policymaker engagement on child nutrition and development.

 

“As part of its implementation strategy, the project will conduct workshops and seminars to provide in-depth briefings and facilitate expert discussions on nutrition. It will also include parliamentary tours and training sessions to ensure policymakers gain a comprehensive understanding of nutrition issues and recognize the urgency of addressing malnutrition in Zimbabwe.

 

“A Budget Analysis for the 2024 fiscal year will be undertaken to assess domestic investments in nutrition and track progress on national commitments. Additionally, the project will identify and empower nutrition champions, while leveraging the media to amplify their voices and raise public awareness. The production and dissemination of knowledge products will further enhance citizens’ understanding of nutrition challenges and solutions,” Zombe said.

 

One of the outputs to be looked at is the number of parliamentarians who are going to be trained in nutrition and early childhood development.
“Our target is 140 out of the 280 parliamentarians, plus the 60 proportional representation and the 80 senators. We are targeting 15 nutrition champions – both in the Senate and in the national assembly. In the media, we are targeting 40 across the whole country, and we are only targeting one policy brief that we’re going to submit to Parliament after conducting the public analysis using the second checking tool.”
In her address, Siboniso Chigova, the Deputy Director of Nutrition of the Food and Nutrition Council (FNC) said the project is important for the country and it’s coming at an opportune time to gather voices to amplify the key nutrition issues affecting communities.
“We even talk about the food systems. How are the diets being framed? Are our consumers aware of what they are consuming? So some of those key issues are supposed to be amplifying the issue of climate change and its implication on the quality of diets within the different provincial or district settings. Regarding NDS2,  we have to interrogate whether nutrition issues are being highlighted there. I think it’s an advantage to ensure nutrition will not be left behind within the next five years of the strategic national document,” Chigova said.
She highlighted the importance of increasing investments in nutrition across the different sectors.
“So while we are talking about the school feeding program and social protection issues, is the nutrition basket provided in our communities nutrition-sensitive? Let’s not forget those nutrition aspects whilst we are continuing with our advocacy. Our work must be aligned with the standard frameworks and the AU frameworks that speak to nutrition.
“Food systems should ensure that productivity also includes nutrition and have linkages with the school feeding environments. Consumer education around key nutrition issues is also important,” she added.

 

In a speech delivered on his behalf, Dr. Tonderayi Matsungo, the Head of the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences at the University of Zimbabwe who is the Secretary General of Scaling Up Nutrition Research and Academic Platform (SUNRAP), said the academia provides research and monitoring; strengthens the capacity of stakeholders; spurs advocacy and communication, and gives advisory services on nutrition issues.

 

Lenin Makenga, the Project Officer of Save the Children Zimbabwe, said he was hopeful that the implementation of the project would be successful so that stakeholders achieve the set outcomes to ensure children and communities are nutrition secure.

 

 

 

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