ECOWAS Plans Workshop Against Hunger, Malnutrition

In its effort to eradicate
hunger in West Africa, the ECOWAS is planning a three-day inception workshop on ‘ Zero Hunger Initiative’ scheduled to hold from February  24 to Feb. 26, in Accra, Ghana.
The ECOWAS Acting Director of Communications, Mr Sunny Ugoh, made this known to The Tide in Abuja recently
Ugoh said that the strategies for achieving a zero hunger in the region would form the basis of the workshop, adding that the initiative was in line with the UN Secretary-General’s vision for a future where no person was hungry but enjoyed their rights to food.
He said that the workshop would consider empowering women and giving priority to family farming, towards promoting sustainability and resilience in the fight against food insecurity and malnutrition.
“To ensure that the zero hunger initiative adds value to national, regional and global efforts to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition, an inception workshop is planned in Accra, Ghana, from February  24 to 26.’’
According to him, “the Zero Hunger Initiative is neither a programme nor a plan, but an invitation to action.”
He further described it as a means to unite all who were working for food security and an end to hunger in the West African region.
This initiative, he said, would encourage them to identify how they could contribute effectively from their own perspective, and stimulate a dramatic scale-up of collective efforts.
Ugoh said that the state of chronic and acute malnutrition affected 10 per cent of the West African population, thus undermining the region’s human resource potential.
“It has become very necessary to take the nutritional considerations into account for a more efficient approach to the problem of healthy and adequate food for West Africa’s population.
“Zero Hunger Initiative for West Africa is focused on results-oriented set of actions that reinforce and strengthen existing strategies and programmes aimed at eradicating hunger in the sub-region.
“It also proposes to be a new approach to the governance of agricultural, food and nutrition issues in West Africa,’’ he said.