HD4A.eu

The Africa Projects Development Project (APDC) yesterday 15th April, launched an opening ceremony for a training program: the European Commission financed HealthyDiets4Africa (HD4A) Cohort 2. Developed in collaboration with prestigious partners like the European Union Commission, African Development Bank Group, African Agribusiness Incubators Network (AAIN), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice), among others, these programs aim to tackle unemployment and malnutrition, two of Africa’s most pressing challenges for its young population. These initiatives directly contribute to achieving the SDG Goals by 2030.

Targeted at young people, the programs emphasize discipline, dedication to hands-on training at the demonstration facility, and leveraging the expertise of trainers and mentors to equip participants with the knowledge and skills to become successful agripreneurs.

Dr. Chiji Ojukwu, the Managing Director, APDC, in his welcome address, encouraged trainees to be focused, and disciplined and to actively contribute to the projects’ success. He reminded them that they should count themselves lucky to be selected among the 38,000 who applied for the very few places open to these initiatives.

Mr. Maaruf Yakub, the Multinational SYMUF Project Coordinator covering Uganda, the DRC, & Nigeria, and the Centre’s Director of Programmes Policy and Partnerships, commended the new trainees on their remarkable achievements. He emphasized the Centre’s expectations for dedication and responsible utilization of the program to deliver results and become successful agripreneurs.

Ms. Amaka Chime, the HD4A Living Lab Coordinator at the Centre, highlighted the program’s interdisciplinary nature. With over 12 partners in Africa and nine in Europe, it includes specialists in communication, educational institutions, and youth incubation hubs. She expressed hope that the project empowers other nutrition actors like canteens and schools, ultimately contributing to the diversification of Africa’s food systems. Additionally, she emphasized the robust curriculum of the project, which also covers risk management and malnutrition.

The full article is available here: https://apdcgroup.org/blog/apdc-opening-ceremony-for-hd4a-cohort-2-and-symuf-cohort-4

Delighted to have met Le Centre d’Excellence Régional contre la Faim et la Malnutrition (CERFAM) – our consortium partner leading HD4A’s work on mapping, improving, and monitoring changes in policy as well as promoting engagement for healthy diets – at their office in Abidjan, Coted’Ivoire. It was a fruitful encounter with encouraging words shared by CERFAM’s Director, Dr. Marc Nene, who reiterated CERFAM’s commitment to the project’s success, and continuing the excellent collaboration.

Policy and Communications is an important part of the HD4A project as effective policies plays a pivotal role in shaping healthier diets by establishing guidelines, regulations, and incentives that promote the consumption of nutritious foods. Policies can influence various aspects of food production, marketing, distribution, and access, and with communications and awareness raising, can ultimately impact consumer choices and behaviours.

Dr Tiziana de Magistris from Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón (CITA), a consortium partner leading HD4A’s work on enhanced consumer acceptance of novel food items and diversified diets – led a 2 day (19-20 March 2024) webinar and a training session, on how to design and conduct a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) at Africa Rice Campus at Bouke, Ivory Coast.

The 18 – 23 March was a week-long journey packed with field visits, training and knowledge sharing sessions on scientific methods and experimental design, engaging meetings with stakeholders, and strategic planning sessions allowing us to assess progress, while paving the way for a healthier and more nutritious future!

On 15 February 2024, at the launching of FoodSafety4Africa project, an EU funded project coordinated by IITA, Dr Emmanuel Donkor and Prof Michael Frei Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (JLU) presented the HealthyDiets4Africa project, along with other partners. Bridging the gap between food safety and healthy diets in Africa requires concerted efforts to transform food systems, making nutritious food accessible and safe for everyone, and HealthyDiets4Africa is excited to work with FoodSafety4Africa to do just that! We’re excited to be part of this transformative journey!

The Africa Projects Development Centre (APDC), one of the partners of HealthyDiets4Africa Project, successfully launched the project in Abuja, Nigeria on 16th May 2023. Several stakeholders including government officials, scientists, trainees, international organizations, financial institutions, and hotels.

Dr. Sali Ndindeng, a Principal Scientist at Africa Rice Center Abidjan and Partner of HealthyDiets4Africa Project, sharing insights on scaling nutrition innovations through diversified delivery.

Our kick-off workshop took place from March 20-24th, 2023 in a quiet, tranquil, and beautiful castle in Rauischolzhausen, Giessen, Germany. Over 50 participants (including universities, research institutions, international organizations, development organizations and non-governmental organizations) from 12 different African countries and 8 European countries attended this great workshop to share ideas. It was wonderful to meet great, friendly, and loving experts from Africa and Europe. The workshop was an unforgettable experience for us. After the workshop all partners were enthusiastic and full of energy to start their respective activities in their countries.

Prof. Dr. Michael Frei, the project coordinator, giving an opening speech at the inception workshop at Rauischolzhausen, Giessen.

Prof Dr. Dr. Martin Kramer, the vice president for research and graduate studies at Justus Liebig Universität Giessen, giving an open speech at the workshop.

Alina Kozacenko, our EU project officer, giving a presentation at the workshop.

Living lab, food tasting session at the kick-off workshop.

A visit to Justus-Liebig Universität Giessen Farm at Rauischolzhausen.

Cluster 1 meeting (Mapping & monitoring dietary diversity and determinants of dietary diversity within food environment): brainstorming session during the kick-off workshop

Cluster 2 meeting (Nutrient diversity in traditional and novel foods, diversifying agricultural production and food processing): brainstorming session during the kick-off workshop.

Cluster 3 meeting (co-design & acceptability of diversified diets, enhancing food safety through dietary diversification, impacts of diversification on health outcomes): brainstorming session during the kick-off workshop.

Cluster 4 meeting (scaling, policies & communication): brainstorming session during the kick-off workshop.