Regional Center of Excellence: a ray of hope for West and Central Africa

So, what is a regional Centre of Excellence against Hunger and Malnutrition?

First of all, it offers countries in the (west and central African) region and elsewhere the opportunity to share knowledge and experiences that will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)of ending hunger by 2030. It is about teaming up and learning from one another to fight against hunger and malnutrition. As the Vice President of Cote d’Ivoire, Daniel Kablan Duncan, said during the inauguration on 25 March 2019: “Alone, we go faster, but together we go further.”

Concretely, what will the Center be used for?

The center’s primary objective will be to document, promote and share — at both regional and national levels — the good practices for the eradication of hunger and malnutrition learned from Cote d’Ivoire and other countries of the region. It will have to build partnerships and conduct research. It will also provide technical assistance in the implementation of policies and programmes to fight against hunger and malnutrition, and mobilize resources for the adoption of good practices and innovative solutions.

But do we really need this Center?

“Whenever a child is suffering from hunger in the world, the entire world suffers,” David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), said when the center was opened. “This Center of Excellence shall be the beacon of hope where we can take best practices, scale them up and implement them in Africa — so we can end hunger not just in Cote d’Ivoire, not just in Africa but all over the world.”

These words capture the essence and importance of this center in the context of achieving SDG 2, which focuses on ending hunger and malnutrition in the world.

West and Central African governments committed to reach the SDGs. In this context Zero Hunger Strategic Reviews have been implemented in 18 Central and West African countries to allow the establishment of national strategies to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030. These Reviews were supported by the World Food Programme (WFP) to analyze contexts of food security and nutrition, go through the different policies and programs implemented and identify the bottlenecks in the achievement of the SDG2 in the different countries. The Center will serve as an incubator of innovative solutions to contribute in achieving this goal.

How will the Center function ?

As a result of its successful partnership with the government of Cote d’Ivoire, WFP will be in charge of the Center with a dedicated team. It will organize study visits to countries with particular expertise to share. It will bring together experts and specialists from various countries to provide technical assistance on the elaboration of various strategies, policies and toolkits.

Does the Center replace WFP’s office in Cote d’Ivoire?

No. The WFP Country Office in Cote d’Ivoire will carry on implementing its activities on school feeding, support to small producers and voluntary returnees and nutrition in the country.

Well, now what ?

It’s time for action. The technical team to manage the center is getting to work. The massive presence of high personalities involved in the fight against hunger and malnutrition including the King of Lesotho his Majesty Letsie III, the Vice-President of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire and National Facilitator of the Zero Hunger Strategic Review, Daniel Kablan Duncan, the WFP Executive Director, David Beasley, the SUN Movement coordinator, Gerda Verburg, and facilitators of the Zero Hunger Review process from several countries suggests that the center has enough backing to ensure it successfully achieves its goals as an efficient reservoir of hunger and nutrition solution for the Region !