THE SEQOTA DECLARATION

INTRODUCTION


In 2015, the Government of Ethiopia made a high level fifteen-year commitment to end stunting in children under two years by 2030. This commitment, known as the Seqota Declaration (SD), is operationalized through a multi-sectoral program involving nine different sector ministries including Ministries of Health; Agriculture; Education; Water, Irrigation and Energy; Women, Children and Youth, Transport and Finance, Ministry of labour and Social Affairs and Culture and Tourism. The Seqota Declaration has a 15-year roadmap divided into three phases: Innovation, Expansion and Scale-Up phases. Seqota Declaration builds on and accelerates the implementation of the food and nutrition strategy. It aims to save a total of 7,852,216 children from stunting in 15 years period. 

VISION


To see Ethiopian children being free from malnutrition

GOAL


To end stunting in children under two by 2030

MISSION


Seqota Declaration works to end stunting in Ethiopia for children less than two years through effective coordination and collaboration of sectors, communities and development partners, focusing on high impact nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions and social behavior change communications with special consideration for cross-cutting issues such as gender mainstreaming, environment and integrated community development approaches.

SEQOTA DECLARATION 15 YEARS ROAD MAP 
15 Year Road MAP

IMPACT OF THE INNOVATION PHASE (2016 – 2020) 
Impact study was conducted jointly with John Hopkins University with financial support from Big Win using LiST methodology. 
The impact of the Innovation Phase interventions has a lagged effect on stunting, as changes in disease incidence and nutrition in early ages translate to aversion of child deaths. By the year 2021 the Innovation Phase interventions has resulted in: 

  • 7.9% absolute reduction or 15.5% relative reduction in stunting in Amhara during the Innovation Phase. 
  • The Innovation Phase interventions resulted in a 6.7% absolute reduction or a 18.5% relative reduction in stunting in Tigray. 
  • Prevented almost 1,031 child deaths in Tigray and Amhara  
  • Averted over 109,831 stunting cases in the intervention woredas  

The innovation phase has been successful due to: 

  • Federal and Regional Government commitment and ownership: 
    • Rigorous planning, approval and leadership during implementation at all levels; 
    • Financial allocations from the treasury and regional governments;
    • Deployment of PDUs staff at federal, regional and woreda levels;
  • Collaboration and effective networking with development partners: 
    • Joint financing for innovations and implementing new innovations; 
    • Deployment of technical partners and assistances to support the innovations;
  •  Innovations and contributions towards Innovation Phase outcomes;
  • Gender responsive planning   

THE EXPANSION PHASE WOREDAS (2021 – 2025) 


Based on the learning from the innovation phase, the Expansion Phase will be implemented in 240 woredas across the country.  
Expanssion Woreda

EXPANSION AND SCALE UP PHASES INVESTMENT PLAN  

 

The Expansion and scale up phases investment considers the following strategic assumptions: 

  • Stunting as the main outcome. 
  • 3% or more annual stunting reduction among children under the age of two years. 
  • Sustained high level political commitment to act at scale. 
  • 28% as the baseline stunting prevalence (MEDHS 2019)
  • Minimum coverage of at least 70% for all high impact interventions.

The investment needed for Expansion and scale up phases (2021-2030), which is within the food and nutrition strategy cost, is estimated with R4D technical support through NI TAN funding.  The total estimated funding need for the Expansion Phase is estimated as 85 Billion Birr. 
Seqota