Since NAFSAN’s Urban Gardening and Nutrition Project in 2020, we have been developing a comprehensive and highly participatory training on “Nutrition for Health – Embracing our Namibian Food Systems”, which includes a manual for facilitators, flipcharts/slides, other facilitation tools and informative handouts for participants. Nutrition for Health now also features in the global SUN Movement’s Action Brief on Namibia.

With strong financial and technical support from GIZ Namibia’s Farming-for-Resilience (F4R) Project and in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS), the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform (MAWLR), the University of Namibia (UNAM), the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and with the involvement of UNICEF, WHO and WFP, this innovative training approach was tested, piloted and finalised, with the first groups of facilitators having been successfully trained in March 2023.

Since May 2023, over 530 N4H-Facilitators from different CSOs and government have been trained by NAFSAN and/or GIZ-F4R, having reached a total of over 50,000 community members across all 14 regions of Namibia so far.

These trainings-of-facilitators and efficient printing of necessary Nutrition-for-Health training materials (in August 2024) were only possible through generous support from a variety of donors and partners, namely the European Union, World Health Organisation, the Government of Japan, the Commonwealth Foundation, as well as local foundations, such as the Capricorn Foundation and the FirstRand Namibia Foundation.

Continuous status updates can be found in recent reports to the Capricorn Foundation, to the WHO and Japan and to the FirstRand Namibia Foundation, which underline the need for more capacity to support and monitor the implementation of Nutrition-for-Health by trained facilitators. An evaluation of N4H implementation from 2023 to 2025 is currently on the way with support from the SUN Civil Society Network.

In 2026, NAFSAN will continue scaling up this innovative approach as it is suitable for a variety of sectors, including health, agriculture sectors, education, and especially for early childhood development.

The four key areas covered in this training are:

1) Nutrition & Malnutrition,

2) Food Groups & Healthy Eating,

3) Right Start for Our Children, and

4) Food Systems & Cycles.

NAFSAN aims to reach over one million Namibians (> 40% of the population) by 2026, through the implementation of this training at community-level across the country by its member organisations and in partnerships with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health and Social Services, with support from international partners and local businesses.

In support of future implementation, NAFSAN also plans to establish a Nutrition Hotline for all N4H-trainers and the general public.

Why is Nutrition-for-Health important?

As Namibia is suffering the triple-burden of malnutrition, with almost ¼ of all children under five years being stunted, leading to annual losses of ± 11 billion NAD (= 5.22% of GDP), according to Namibia’s COHA study, there is an urgent need for better knowledge, awareness and practices around nutrition.

This comprehensive training approach brings together nutrition (health) & food security (agriculture) aspects in very participatory ways to bring information, awareness and positive behaviour changes to families, communities and  workplaces – including home gardening.

The first Trainings-for-Facilitators (T4F) took place in 2023, and we are currently looking for strategic partnerships to provide more T4Fs for government and non-governmental organisations to implement this approach across Namibia as a key step towards greater Food and Nutrition Security in Namibia; and over one million Namibians can be reached by 2026.

Some of the images and other content of this locally developed material is ideal for being used in upcoming National Campaigns on Anti-Stunting, Malnutrition, First 1,000 Days etc.