Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries:
Being a key player in meeting food and nutrition security in the nation, the Ministry of Agriculture has been in collaboration with the NFNC towards the attainment of a nutrition sensitive agriculture sector. Emphasis has been placed on reducing malnutrition with focus on stunting through promotion of home gardens to increase production and diversity of crops and livestock. This is expected to lead to dietary diversity and thus improve nutrition at household level. In addition, promoting safe food processing, preservation and storage to increase availability during the dry seasons is also being advocated for.
Ministry of Community Development and Social Services:
The MCDSS by virtue of its mandate focuses on ensuring the provision of quality maternal and child health services in order to reduce maternal and child morbidity and mortality. Moreover the MCDSS also has a social protection department that provides equitable social protection services to communities in order to improve their livelihoods and reduce extreme poverty. Currently, the department is working with NFNC to develop social protection messages that are nutrition sensitive. Some interventions like the Food Security Pack (FSP), social cash transfer, social cash transfer scheme and women clubs are already integrating nutrition messages.
Ministry of Water Development, Sanitation and Environment:
The Ministry of Water Development, Sanitation and Environment is responsible for ensuring the provision of safe water and good sanitation aimed at improving health. Over the years the ministry has been collaborating with NFNC to address one of the immediate causes of malnutrition that is, reduction of diseases such as diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, malaria and intestinal worms by not only improving water and sanitation but also incorporating nutrition sensitive messages. The ministry implements its activities through the National Rural Water and Sanitation Supply Programme (NRWSSP) and the National Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (NUWSSP).
Ministry of Health (MoH):
The Ministry directs the food and nutrition policy development and implementation and manages the operations of the NFNC. The ministry contributes to reduction of malnutrition through various women empowerment schemes. It provides more of curative services such as the Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition and supports lower levels through procuring of equipment (e.g. scales, height boards, iodine test kits etc.), materials (especially IEC, procedure & training manuals), supplements such as vitamin A and iron, and other logistics needed to carry out nutrition interventions.
Ministry of General Education:
MoGE is a channel through which the nutrition sector promotes and supports nutrition activities in schools (see School Health and Nutrition). This is in the hope of improving good nutrition behaviour practices among learners and eventually in the households and communities. The ministry is also a host to majority of the training institutions that offer nutrition courses either as a training programme or covered as short courses. University of Zambia and the Natural Resources Development College (NRDC) for instance currently offer a BSc degree in Human Nutrition and Diploma in Nutrition respectively.
Other ministries
The NFNC is also strengthening relationship with other ministries such as Gender and Child Development; Youth and sport; and Chief and Traditional Affairs and Environment and natural resources to ensure that their mandate of addressing nutrition as a development issues is given attention.
Programme Against Malnutrition (PAM):
In the fight against malnutrition, PAM runs programmes to improve the livelihoods of women farmers through improved fruit and vegetable gardening, food processing, utilization and value addition; rearing of small livestock to mention a few. PAM has been collaborating with the NFNC in various researches, and NFNC provides technical backstopping in most of its activities.
Civil Society Organisation – Scaling Up Nutrition (CSO SUN):
CSOSUN is a movement of national civil society organizations working to raise the profile of nutrition on the national development agenda through strengthened policy, financial commitment and adequate programme implementation. The NFNC works with CSOSUN in the area of nutrition communication and advocacy as well as provides technical backstopping in some of the organizations activities.
The Nutrition Association of Zambia (NAZ):
Formed in the early 1990s the association has a mission to provide leadership in addressing issues around the nutrition profession through effective and efficient advocacy and linkages contributing to improved nutrition status of Zambians. The association has membership of over 100 professionals, including nutritionists from NFNC, who provide a rich team of technical experts drawing from their professional practice. NAZ has been the co-chair in the Nutrition Capacity Building Committee and a member of the SUN Fund dispersing group to ensure accountability.
Nutrition Groups
Nutrition groups are non-profit making organisations registered and guided by the NFNC. Their major objective is to assist communities address the problems of malnutrition. Their work complements the mandate of the NFNC in that they operate as the implementing agency at community level. The main activities carried out by nutrition groups include home visits, identification of malnourished children and referring them to the relevant institutions, providing nutrition education to mention a few.
University of Zambia (UNZA)
UNZA through the School of Agricultural Sciences offers a 5 year degree in Human Nutrition whose first cohort of graduates is expected to complete their studies in 2016. The aim of the degree is to create a cadre of health professionals who can work in dietetics and nutrition with individuals, families and communities. The NFNC has also conducted some research with the school of Agriculture such as the determination of food composition which was used to revise the 2008 food composition tables.
National Institution of Scientific and Industrial Research (NISIR)
The institute with its unique laboratory facilities and experience is a leading research and development institution in Zambia. Key to nutrition is the Post-harvest Food Processing and Nutrition unit which develops post-harvest food processing technologies and provide services for the food industry and communities. NISIR has also been collaborating with NFNC in areas of food fortification such as the fortifying of sugar with vitamin A.
Tropical Disease Research Centre (TDRC)
TDRC was set up in 1975 by WHO/TDR as one of three World’s Regional Centres for research in tropical diseases such as malaria, schistosomiasis,
trypanosomiasis, filariasis etc. TDRC has had collaborative work with the NFNC such as the recent 2011 Food Consumption Survey, 2009 Iodine deficiency disorders study and several others.
Natural Resource Development College (NRDC)
NRDC is a government institute positioned under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. It offers full time and distance learning in agricultural related courses underwritten by the University of Zambia. For several decades, NRDC has been offering a 3 year diploma in Food and Nutrition. The NFNC participated in the review of the diploma curriculum and development of the degree programme curriculum. For many years, students have been attached to the commission during vacations.
World Fish Centre (WFC)
The main aim of the World Fish Centre Project is to reduce poverty and hunger by improving fisheries and aquaculture among the poor communities. NFNC has been collaborating with the WFC in this area.
CARE International Zambia
CARE International aims to prevent the spread of disease, increase access to clean, safe water and sanitation, and improve maternal infant and young child nutrition. It has worked with NFNC in the area of research and is also the main fund manager of the Scaling Up Nutrition movement for the 1st 1000 MCDPs. NFNC has provided technical backstopping in some of its projects.
World Vision
Currently, World Vision Zambia conducts targeted emergency relief projects in partnership with the government, other non-governmental organisations and churches. Other large scale initiatives implemented in the past three years include the USAID funded programmes RAPIDS (Reaching HIV and AIDS Affected People with Integrated Development and Support) and STEPS OVC (Sustainability Through Economic Strengthening, Prevention And Support For Orphans & Vulnerable Children).
World Health Organisation (WHO)
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is the UN coordinating body providing leadership and technical support in various health related areas. In Zambia, WHO is working with NFNC in conducting the Baseline Survey for the first 1000 MCDP in the fourteen pilot districts. It is also supporting nutrition monitoring, evaluation and surveillance systems in the same districts.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF has been supporting Zambia for decades. Specifically, it has supported the nutrition sector in the development of the MAIYCN guidelines; the management of severe acute malnutrition through the provision of therapeutic nutritious foods, medicines, anthropometric equipment, training of health care workers; water, hygiene and sanitation interventions; the development of the food and nutrition strategic plan; the 1st 1000 MCDP and Field Worker’s Reference Guide for community health care providers. It has also supported the development, implementation and supervision of micronutrient supplementation and fortification programmes and much more.
World Food Programme (WFP)
WFP has been supporting the nutrition sector in areas of emergency programming and policy. It supported the NFNC in hosting the 2011 Food and Nutrition Consultative Forum together with USAID Zambia, Concern Worldwide Zambia, and Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), the private sector and other partners. It also developed multi-sector National Food and Nutrition Strategic plan for 2011-2015, it conducted the Mapping and Gap Analysis (MGA) for the First 1000 MCDP to create a strong understanding of district needs in order to implement the 1000 MCDP and more.
World Bank
The Bank has collaborated with the NFNC on assessment of nutrition institutional strengthening aimed at providing key inputs for government to review the positioning of the NFNC and the implications of the legal framework. It also costed the National Food and Nutrition Action Plan and has provided support in the area of multi-sectorial nutrition monitoring and evaluation.
UK Department For International Development (DFID)
The DFID has contributed to improving the nutrition situation in the country by supporting nutrition programmes especially the first 1000 MCDP. It has played a critical role in capacity building which led to the development and sustaining of the BSc in Human Nutrition at the University of Zambia. It is currently supporting the development of the MSc programme in Human Nutrition. It supported the development of the research agenda for Zambia in 2012 through Care International Zambia which lead to supporting of researches in various areas of the nutrition specific and sensitive interventions. Generally it has supported the country to scale up implementation of various programmes listed in the minimum package and to develop the coordination structure of the nutrition sector.
IRISH AID
Iris Aid has been one of the organisations that are putting funding in the SUN fund basket to scale up the nutrition interventions of the 1st 1000 MCD programme.
