The 11th Annual ECOWAS Nutrition Forum was held in Freetown, Sierra Leone from the 22nd to 26th September, 2008 under the theme “Food Security and Nutrition”. The main objectives of the Forum were to (i) Share experiences and review nutrition interventions and programs implemented at country level, (ii) Develop a regional profile of nutrition and identify adequate resources needed from African institutions and partners to support the implementation of activities, and (iii) Provide a technical update focusing on a crucial and relevant topic: “Food and Nutrition Security” in the sub-region.

To achieve the Forum’s objectives, the participants adopted a 5 day program. The detailed agenda is presented in Annex 1.
Nine (9) of the 12 ECOWAS Member Countries represented provided update on the status of implementation of the recommendations from the 10th ECOWAS Nutrition Forum held in Cape Verde in 2006.

The technical update session was organized and coordinated by the FAO (as member of the SCN). Dr Ismael Thiam, Nutrition and Child Survival Officer of WAHO outlined the specific objectives of the Technical Update session as follows: (i) to provide participants with the most recent information on food security and nutrition in the sub-region (ii) to enhance the understanding among participants of key issues related to food security and nutrition in the context of ECOWAS countries, (iii) to provide successful experiences and examples of activities implemented by different actors/sectors in various settings that have contributed to improved food security and nutrition, and (iv) to assist countries to develop outlines of 2-year action plans to be implemented in ECOWAS member countries linked to improving Food Security and Nutrition at regional and country levels.

Key issues addressed during the technical update sessions were Food and Nutrition Security in West Africa: a) Problematic, Opportunities and, Challenges ; b) The link between Agriculture and Health/Nutrition Sectors; c) Integration of nutrition indicators in Food Security Information Systems; d) Role of Regional Institutions in the framework of improving Food Security and Nutrition situation; (ECOWAS Parliament), e) Role of civil society, and experiences of small scale food producers and others stakeholders in Food Security and Nutrition.

At the end of the forum, the participants identified a number of key recommendations directed at ECOWAS member states, WAHO/CILSS, Partners, and ECOWAS Parliament for implementation before the next forum to be held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire in 2010.

The meeting was attended by 122 participants comprising 49 delegates from 13 ECOWAS member countries, 43 delegates from the host country, Sierra Leone, 30 participants from WAHO, ECOWAS Parliament, and other partners that included UNICEF/WCARO, Helen Keller International Regional Office, WFP, Africa Health 2010/USAID, ICCIDD, USAID, OFDA-USAID, and CILSS. See Annex 2 for the list of participants.