Back to Annual Report 2018
2018 was a year in which A4NH worked to deepen partnerships with national stakeholders. As we seek to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG2—ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and SDG3—ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all, we align with and support country-owned and led plans and processes. A4NH research is relevant to a wide range of countries, especially in Africa and Asia. We have engaged most intensively in five: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Viet Nam. These countries span a range of regions and stages of economic development. In each focus country, a portfolio of A4NH research is supported by a team of researchers based in the country who work closely with national partners, governments, civil society, and the private sector. We rely on one of our CGIAR Center managing partners to provide a strong institutional presence in each country and to facilitate relationships with other CGIAR research programs and their partners. This purposeful engagement in focus countries enables us to adapt our planning, theories of change, and partnerships to fit national processes and realities. From these five countries, we can then link and share methods, evidence, and lessons with regional networks, such as the African Union and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and global networks to support learning between and across countries. The relationships, knowledge, and understanding we are collectively able to achieve in this country-focused process embody the goals laid out by CGIAR for the integrative research programs. Already, we are seeing much progress in this work, and are pleased to share our successes, lessons, and future plans with you in this report.
--John McDermott, Director, A4NH
A4NH successfully built on past achievements and had many new significant accomplishments in 2018. As the lead center for this CGIAR Research Program, IFPRI is pleased that A4NH and its partners together have developed the leading global research entity linking agriculture, nutrition, and health. New research by HarvestPlus strengthened the evidence base that micronutrient-enriched or biofortified crops measurably improve micronutrient status and health—these crops are now reaching 38 million people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Rigorous evidence from agriculture and nutrition interventions in early childhood development programs in Malawi revealed new insights on improving children’s diets and nutrient intake. Innovative work on measuring women’s empowerment in agricultural development is being used by more than 85 organizations in over 50 countries, and a new project-level gender index was released that measures changes in women’s empowerment over the course of agricultural development and nutrition projects. The third annual Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health (ANH) Academy Week in Ghana drew more than 350 scientists from 50 countries to learn how innovative results can influence policies and programs. These are just a few of many exciting significant results and outcomes from 2018 highlighted in this report. IFPRI is proud that A4NH’s research with its partners is contributing to improved nutrition and health through agricultural systems for people throughout the world.
--Shenggen Fan, Diector General, IFRPI
