REPUBLIC OF KENYA
THE NATIONAL TREASURY AND PLANNING
Cabinet Secretaries, present
Principal Secretaries, present
Board Members, KNBS & KIPPRA, present
Director General, KNBS
Executive Director, KIPPRA
Senior Government Representatives, present
EU Head of Delegation, Kenya
Representative of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Representatives of Development Partners, present
Representatives of Non-Government Organizations, present
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good evening,
I am delighted to join you today in celebrating KIPPRA Silver Jubilee and the launch of the National Information Platform for Food Security and Nutrition (NIPFN) project web portal.
For 25 years, KIPPRA, has continued to play a critical role in strengthening the capacity for public policy making process. Through policy research and analysis, KIPPRA has assisted the Government to quantify the nutrition situation in Kenya. The Cost of Hunger study that KIPPRA undertook together with The National Treasury established that undernutrition is costing the Kenyan economy KSh 373.9 billion, which represents a loss of 6.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This implying a lot more is required to address nutrition issue in Kenya.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The National Information Platform for Food Security and Nutrition (NIPFN) is an initiative of the European Union with support from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to address the burden of malnutrition in Kenya. Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) of 2014 indicate that about 26% (1.5 million) of children under the age of five years are stunted while nearly 4% are wasted and 11% are underweight.
This initiative addresses the following:
1) Lack of a repository for multi-sectoral datasets to create and operate an information platform for nutrition;
2) Low capacity to monitor national objectives on preventing under-nutrition and monitoring nutrition investments; and
3) Limited capacity of policy makers and programme planners to make better use of evidence in policy making.
The Government is committed to improving food security and nutrition as articulated in the Constitution and in national development plans. Through the National Treasury and Planning, the Government of Kenya signed a grant agreement with the European Union to set up the NIPFN project.
KNBS and KIPPRA are mandated to implement the NIPFN project in Kenya. This project, which is a big milestone for this country, has the overall goal of facilitating multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder to dialogue on food security and nutrition through supporting the use of existing data and information to develop or refine policies and programmes.
The NIPFN project has been in existence since 2019. Over the period, it has achieved a number of outputs namely, a Policy Brief on Stunting for Children under 5 years, a Review of Food and Nutrition Policies and 3 Statistical Reports which include:
1. An Analysis on Nutritional Anthropometric Trends in Kenya
2. An Analysis of the National Progress and Household Characteristics Associated with Stunting
3. Food Security Situation during Covid-19 Pandemic
These products were disseminated to the public during the project launch.
The project approach constitutes of three broad steps: policy question formulation; data analysis; and communication of findings. Policy question formulation is aimed to provide a basis for data and information analysis based on stakeholder needs. Currently, 5 policy and programme questions have been prioritized and their concepts developed which would inform on the methodology and data required to answer the questions. KIPPRA is spearheading this process as we look forward to the launch and dissemination of these special policy papers next month.
As part of tracking food and nutrition progress, the project was required to develop a multi-sector web portal that we are launching today. The portal hosts data and information from various sources to facilitate a multi-sectoral analysis of food security and nutrition situation in Kenya. Multiple sectors contribute to the immediate, underlying, and basic determinants of food security and nutrition.
It is envisioned that the platform will enhance the dissemination and use of information, to better inform strategic decisions and thereby advance achievement of optimal nutrition. Furthermore, through the NIPFN portal, KIPPRA and KNBS are identifying areas to advise Government priorities to accelerate progress of preventing malnutrition and mitigate food security.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Further, NIPFN project involves collaboration across key sectors whose initiatives have potential to impact on Food and Nutrition Security outcomes such as:
- The National Treasury and Planning
- Ministry of Health
- Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives
- Ministry of Education
- Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation
- Ministry of Public Service, Gender, Social Protection, Senior Citizen Affairs and Special Programmes
- Ministry of Industrialization, Trade, and Enterprise Development
- Council of Governors
- UN agencies that contribute to Food and Nutrition Security outcomes
- Scaling Up Nutrition movement actors in Government and Civil Society.
These sectors continue to share food and nutrition data resources to the centralized One Stop Shop portal to assist in tracking nationally agreed indicators as defined in the 5-year Kenya Nutrition Action Plan (KNAP). This provides opportunity for synergized Government partnerships and accountability to the Kenyan population.
The web portal has summarized statistics on food and nutrition, visualized data information and has a central repository of data accessible At a Click of a Button and in a ready to use format, to guide on Government policies and strategies.
At a glance, the web portal validates the nutrition situation in Kenya for children and adults. For children under 5 years, 1 in every 4 is too short for their age. This means they are at risk of not reaching their full intellectual capacity. The situation for the adult population is equally grim. Almost 1 in every 3 adults in Kenya is overweight or obese while 1 in every 5 women is anemic. This means that such women are at risk of carrying an unhealthy pregnancy.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As phase I of the project is coming to an end, I am glad that the European Union has approved a one year “no cost extension” of the project. EU has further proceeded to fund phase II for a further 4 years (up to 2025) with UNICEF as the grant manager to sustain the gains made in Phase I.
As I conclude, let me take this moment to recognize support that we continue to receive from our development partners for purposes of strengthening country capacity in areas of food security and nutrition. I acknowledge with thanks the financial support from the European Union together with Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the NIPFN project. The country still welcomes such support to ensure that food and nutrition security issues are adequately addressed.
Also, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to thank representatives from Government, Development partners, Non-Governmental Organizations and all those who spared their time to attend this celebration.
Distinguished Guest, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is now my honor and pleasure to declare the web portal officially launched! I now call upon policy makers, academia and the general public to make use of the web portal by following the link https://nipfn.knbs.or.ke
I am also encouraging your full participation in celebrating 25 years of Public Policy Research and Analysis.
Thank you and God bless you all
