Nutrition Leadership in Action: Mobilizing Nutrition Champions for Greater Impact
YADAM Foundation convened a historic consultation event at the Sheraton Addis, bringing together leaders from government, development partners, academia, the private sector, civil society, and community institutions to explore one critical question: nutrition is no longer only about what needs to be done, but who will lead the action.
Opening the event, H.E. Demeke Mekonnen, Founder and Chairman of YADAM Foundation, called for a shift from awareness creation to champion creation—leaders at every level who can influence institutions, mobilize resources, and drive change. He highlighted three essential shifts: from policy to practice, from endorsement to implementation, and from pilots to scale, with stronger leadership needed in food fortification, maternal nutrition, social protection, and nutrition financing.
In his keynote, Mr. Stanley Chitekwe chief of nutrition at UNICEF emphasized the need to move from food poverty to food prosperity and from evidence to scale, systems, and sustainable financing. He stressed that malnutrition persists not because evidence is lacking, but because systems, financing, markets, scale, and leadership have not kept pace.
A dynamic panel discussion, moderated by Dr. Paulos Getachew, brought diverse perspectives on becoming effective Nutrition Champions. The discussion underscored the importance of multisectoral leadership, evidence-informed decision-making, community ownership, accountability, adequate financing, and translating research into action.
Experiences from participant further highlighted progress and remaining challenges, including strengthening enforcement of food fortification standards, post-market surveillance, nutrition-sensitive social protection, and responding to conflict, climate shocks, and gaps in nutrition literacy. At the closing
The event concluded with a commitment from H.E. Demeke Mekonnen and YADAM Foundation to continue convening stakeholders and, together with partners, develop a standardized Nutrition Champion framework, package, and recognition system to support, celebrate, and recognize champions for their contributions and achievements.
The message was clear: Ethiopia needs Nutrition Champions at every level—leaders who can turn commitments into coordinated action and lasting impact.
“Ethiopia needs Nutrition Champions at every level—leaders who can turn commitments into coordinated action and lasting impact.”
