The European Commission (EC) is committed to addressing all forms of malnutrition, with a particular focus on young children’s nutrition.
Formulated Complementary Foods (FCF) are foods for children from 6 to 24 months old that are specifically formulated to meet their nutritional needs.
Making FCF available, affordable, and accessible to the most vulnerable ones contributes to reducing young children’s malnutrition, preventing them from having irreversible long-term consequences on cognition, health and educational performance.
Together with the African Union, and thanks to an analysis conducted by the International Trade Centre (ITC), the EC has identified Formulated Complementary Foods as one of the priority Regional Value Chains (RVC) that has the most potential for development in Africa (see report “Made by Africa” Made by Africa: 94 value chains to boost intra-African trade | ITC).
Investing in local production of FCF in Africa is a priority for the EC.
Local producers of FCF are facing multiple challenges, but there are also plenty of opportunities for all the stakeholders of these value chains, to come together and improve the accessibility, availability and affordability of safe and nutritious foods for young children who need it the most.
This InfoPoint conference will be the occasion to bring together different actors to speak about those challenges and opportunities.
- the EU's international role | international cooperation
- Tuesday 18 February 2025, 14:00 - 15:30 (CET)
- Brussels, Belgium
Practical information
- When
- Tuesday 18 February 2025, 14:00 - 15:30 (CET)
- Where
- InfoPointBrussels, Belgium
- Languages
- English
- Organisers
- International Partnerships InfoPoint
Description
This Info-Point conference will build on insights from the “Regional dialogue on improving access to locally produced nutritious and safe complementary foods in LMICs” held in Dakar on December 1-3, 2024.
With the upcoming Nutrition For Growth Summit (N4G) in March 2025, it is important to sensitize on the importance of improving the access and availability of locally produced complementary foods and keep it high in the agenda.
The main objectives of this Info-Point Conference are to:
- Discuss the challenges that the African local producers of Formulated Complementary Foods (FCF) are facing (e.g. raw material sourcing, regulatory constraints, high production costs, challenges in accessing finance), and to identify areas where they need support, in order to boost their production and make FCF more accessible and available for the children who need it the most.
- Identify priority actions for support to enhance FCF production, ensuring improved availability and affordability for the children who need it most
- Share information on EC’s work with ITC on Regional Value Chains and give an update on where we are at now.
- Discuss how financial institutions can support local producers including: innovative financing mechanisms tailored for SMEs in the food sector; opportunities for blended finance, grants, and impact investments and examples of successful funding models for local food production.
Speakers
- Leonard Mizzi, Head of Unit, INTPA F3- Sustainable agri-food system
and fisheries - Federica Angelucci, Project Coordinator for Regional Value Chains, International Trade Centre (ITC)
- Halatou Dem, Director of Les Cereales de Tatam
- Myrtho Vlastou, Funds Manager, Incofin
- Marti van LIere, Director of Programs, Micronutrient Forum
- Fadoi Chaouki, Nutrition Programme Manager, INTPA F3
Language: English and French
Q&A session languages: English and French
Registration
Registration for onsite participation at the InfoPoint premises
Register for online participation to the Webex meeting (Webex link will be communicated upon registration)
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