Developing transformational nutrition leaders in Africa

Abstract

Most African countries are burdened by undernutrition and all indications are that we are set to be particularly hard-hit by the growing burden of overnutrition. Despite significant investments, progress to optimize nutritional status is variable. Nutrition in Africa is about change – it is a multisectoral process that has to lead. Leaders are change agents and are required throughout the whole system at all levels. Effective leaders develop a special combination of values, attitudes, orientations and behaviours in addition to their excellent technical skills. The African Nutrition Leadership Programme (ANLP) has hosted a series of leader development events since 2002 and has built a Pan-African network of more than 380 leaders in 35 African countries working in multiple nutrition-related sectors. The ANLP’s focus is on the development of the individual’s leadership capabilities. Since 2010 the ANLP has also developed a number of needs-based leadership development programmes for multisectoral teams and organisations at national and subnational level who contribute towards scaling up nutrition interventions. Programmes have been hosted in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia with more being developed for implementation in the near future. Recognising the urgent demand, the ANLP has started developing a larger group of master trainers to facilitate the scaling up of leadership capacity building across the continent. Leader development is also of importance to enhance the employability of science graduates. The NWU has developed a personal development programme which includes aspects of self awareness, contextualizing your behavior in the workplace and conflict resolution among others. The programme has been piloted in a cohort of graduate interns and the second cohort are now engaged with the programme. The self-awareness created set participants up for a process of life-long learning and growing. In addition the need has been identified and programme initiated to embed leadership development in the dietetics curriculum to ensure that we develop a workforce that have the ability and the necessary orientations and values to stand up and lead from where they are. These programmes are examples of ongoing capacity development initiatives that are African-led and that impact the functional capacity of our nutrition workforce