Multisectoral food security programme including early childhood education

active

The project supports the Malawian government in implementing the Scaling Up Nutrition Initiative (SUN), which began in 2011, and the First 1,000 Days program with a financial contribution of EUR 26.55 million. Phase III will run for five years (beginning in 2020). The target group is primarily pregnant women, infants and young children, and women of reproductive age. In the project districts, a package of measures will be implemented in line with the SUN initiative, which includes: - Supply of micronutrients and medicines for the prevention and treatment of nutrition-related diseases - Multisectoral measures to change behavior in the sense of better nutrition for pregnant women, mothers and young children, including in the areas of hygiene and health. Phase III includes the following components: (1) Regional expansion of SUN activities to at least one additional district, including the new component of Early Childhood Development (ECD); (2) Inclusion of the ECD component in the SUN activities in Dowa and Lilongwe (Phase I districts) and Nsanje and Phalombe (Phase II districts); (3) Extension of the duration of the activities in Lilongwe and Dowa (Phase I) and, if necessary, regional expansion to other Traditional Authorities (TAs) in these two districts; (4) Additional costs of EUR 1 million incurred in the Nsanje and Phalombe districts (Phase II) due to the effects of Cyclone Idai. In addition, EUR 0.3 million was made available to co-finance the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). An increase of EUR 2.25 million was used to prevent and manage the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of the nutrition of pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children. An increase of a further EUR 5 million in 2023 served to mitigate the sharp price increases as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and to repair the damage caused by Cyclone Freddy.