{"id":17915,"date":"2026-06-20T13:00:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/cerfam-and-iita-strengthen-partnerships-for-a-healthier-africa\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T16:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:56:09","slug":"cerfam-and-iita-strengthen-partnerships-for-a-healthier-africa","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/cerfam-and-iita-strengthen-partnerships-for-a-healthier-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"CERFAM and IITA strengthen partnerships for a healthier Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Leslie
Leslie Kouadio (L), CERFAM\u2019s Communication Advocacy and Marketing Officer and Sapna Gorajia (R), CERFAM\u2019s Programme Policy and Partnerships officer listening to IITA Deputy Director General Partnerships for Delivery, Kenton Dashiell.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partners from the Regional Center of Excellence against Hunger and Malnutrition<\/a> (CERFAM), C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, visited IITA<\/a>-CGIAR<\/a> on 20 November. Established through a partnership between C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s government and the UN World Food Program<\/a> (WFP), CERFAM aims to combat hunger and malnutrition across Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Titilayo Falade<\/a>, IITA Food Safety Scientist and Coordinator of the Food Safety for Africa<\/span>\u00a0Project<\/a>, and a team of scientists, lecturers, and researchers working on the HealthyDiets4Africa Project received the partners at the IITA headquarters in Ibadan. In a brief meeting with IITA Deputy Director General Partnerships for Delivery, Kenton Dashiell, the CERFAM team stated the purpose of their visit, which was to gather and learn best practices to replicate in other regions of their engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sapna Gorajia, CERFAM\u2019s Programme Policy and Partnerships Officer, said, \u201cWe are meeting stakeholders to learn from their best practices. Within the HealthyDiets4Africa Project, we aim to gather insights to improve our interventions in countries that need them most. We map and monitor partner policies while ensuring effective communication and visibility for shared initiatives.\u201d Accompanying her was Leslie Kouadio, CERFAM\u2019s Communication Advocacy and Marketing Officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"CERFAM
CERFAM and IITA team working on the HealthyDiets4Africa Project with IITA DDG Partnerships for Delivery, Kenton Dashiell.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dashiell emphasized the critical importance of nutrition-focused research. \u201cAll our efforts\u2014whether in crop breeding, storage, mechanization, or processing\u2014must ultimately benefit the health and nutrition of millions of Africans,\u201d he stated, drawing from his extensive experience in agricultural research, partnerships, delivery, and his passion for nutrition. He highlighted CGIAR\u2019s cross-institutional nutrition program, encouraging further collaborations between CERFAM and IITA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further discussions on food safety and IITA\u2019s interventions with focus on biocontrol measures gave the opportunity for aligning some areas of mutual interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was followed by a tour of the institute to see activities at the laboratories and fields related to the project and living labs at the\u00a0Akinyele Abattoir<\/a>, Entojutu Sustainable Development Foundation and Harvestfield Industries Limited. Thereafter, the team visited IITA Benin station to see the activities at the station and with living lab partners.<\/span>\u00a0These initiatives showcase IITA\u2019s commitment to sustainable agriculture and food security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of the visit, both teams reaffirmed their commitment to shared goals. The CERFAM team seeing IITA\u2019s groundbreaking work is poised to replicate successful models across Africa. For both organizations, the collaboration underscores the power of partnerships in driving the fight against hunger and malnutrition\u2014a mission critical to the continent\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contributed by Folake Oduntan<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/www.iita.org\/news-item\/iita-and-wfp-strengthen-ties-to-achieve-a-world-free-from-hunger\/<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Partners from the Regional Center of Excellence against Hunger and Malnutrition (CERFAM), C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, visited IITA-CGIAR on 20 November.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":17916,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[32],"news-type":[],"hub":[61],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[202],"class_list":["post-17915","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-nigeria","hub-western-africa","item-year-202"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/17915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-item"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/17915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20479,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/17915\/revisions\/20479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17915"},{"taxonomy":"science-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/science-area?post=17915"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=17915"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=17915"},{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=17915"},{"taxonomy":"hub","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub?post=17915"},{"taxonomy":"crop","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crop?post=17915"},{"taxonomy":"impact-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/impact-areas?post=17915"},{"taxonomy":"item-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/item-year?post=17915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}