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ADVOCACY TO REDUCE MALNUTRITION IN UGANDA 165


seen as everyone’s problem but no one’s responsibility, resulting in a failure to take collective action.


2. There is low awareness among the relevant stakeholders of the roles and respon- sibilities they should take in implementing nutrition policies.


3. The general low awareness of the significance of malnutrition for Uganda’s development has led to poor prioritization of nutrition issues and, in turn, low investment of financial and human resources for sustainable and broad-scale nutritional improvement.


Despite these reasons, the level of political commitment to address malnutri-


tion in Uganda has been improving over the past three years, and the change is in part attributable to aggressive advocacy campaigns. Building consensus among stakeholders around the nutrition issues in African


countries is a key step to successful resource mobilization and to implementation of strategies and programs. Uganda’s steady scaling-up of efforts to address malnutri- tion can serve as a model for this advocacy approach.


Recent Nutrition Advocacy in Uganda The ministries—health, agriculture, education, gender, trade and industry, finance, and local government—that can play a role in reducing malnutrition in Uganda have not made the issue a high priority. There is no national nutrition plan and only limited human and financial capacity committed to implementation. Political leaders have little interest in or understanding of the need for nutrition activities. Indeed, until quite recently, implementation of initiatives to address malnutrition in Uganda has depended on donor-driven agendas. In 2008, however, leadership for nutrition was strengthened in both the health and agricultural sectors. Both sectors began campaigns to strengthen capacity at the central level to provide leadership for efforts to address malnutrition, and both sectors committed increased financial resources for nutrition activities. Several notable activities have resulted.


1. The health sector convened a national nutrition stakeholder forum, with several objectives: (a) to provide an opportunity for information dissemination; (b) to initiate coordination between health and agriculture sector activities; and (c) to offer a mechanism for designing improved nutrition programming. Initially external development agencies and civil society organizations (some external while others are domestic but funded mostly by external donors) contributed most of the technical and financial support for the forum; currently leadership


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