THE SEQOTA

DECLARATION
COMMITTED TO ENDING
STUNTING IN CHILDREN
UNDER TWO BY 2030

Background Stunting Levels Remain High

Although Ethiopia has recorded a steady and The Seqota Declaration Baseline Study found
impressive reduction in stunting over the past decade, that 41% of children aged 6-23 months are
levels remain high and stark geographical inequalities stunted.
persist. On 15th July 2015, the Government of Ethiopia Prevalence of stunting among
made a declaration to end child malnutrition by 2030, 60%
children 6-23 months
reaffirming its commitment to nutrition as a foundation
for economic development. Accelerating progress
towards this goal, set out in the Seqota Declaration, will
require coordinated multisectoral efforts to increase
nutrition smart investments in infrastructure and 40% 42% 41%
technology, drive behavior change, and empower
communities to innovate and identify localized solutions
to address malnutrition. Tigray Amhara Overall

The Declaration in Numbers

2 regions; 40 woredas (districts); 1,970 schools; 11 hospitals; 179 health centers; 741 health posts; 227,700
households; 4,685,744 people; 255,106 children under two; 158,659 pregnant and lactating women.
 Ten Strategic Objectives of the Seqota Declaration
1 Improve the health and nutritional status of women, children under two and
adolescent girls

2 Ensure 100% access to adequate food all year round

3 Transform smallholder productivity and income

4 Ensure zero post-harvest food loss

5 Enhance innovation around promotion of sustainable food systems

(climate-smart agriculture)

6 Ensure universal access to water supply, sanitation and adoption of good hygiene
practices

7 Improve health and nutritional status of school children

8 Improve nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women and children

9 Improve gender equity, women’s empowerment and child protection

10 Improve multisectoral coordination and capacity

Implementation Strategy

Fifteen Year
Nine Ministries Six Innovations
Roadmap

Health Federal and Regional-level

Program Delivery Units Phase 1: Innovation
(2016-2020)
Agriculture Learning by doing
Community Labs
Water, Irrigation & Energy
First 1,000 Days Plus
Education Public Movement Phase 2: Expansion
(2021-2025)
Reaching more
Labour & Social Affairs Agricultural Innovation & vulnerable communities
Technology Center (AITEC)
Women & Children’s Affairs
Costed Woreda-based
Multisectoral Nutrition
Finance Investment Plan Phase 3: National
Scale-up
(2026-2030)
Transport Data Revolution

Culture and Tourism

COMMITTED TO ENDING STUNTING IN CHILDREN UNDER TWO BY 2030

Baseline Findings
Study background: This study was conducted by the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) with
technical support from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and with
financial support from Big Win Philanthropy, Nutrition International and UNICEF. A total of 2,696
households from 13 Seqota Declaration woredas (5 in Tigray and 8 in Amhara) were interviewed from
March to April 2018.
100% of households experience post-harvest losses,
and only 29% of households practice at least one
post-harvest technology
69% of
households
11% of households benefit from small-scale irrigation
lack
adequate schemes; 69% of these households use surface
access to irrigation
food all year
round Less than 1% of children aged 6-23 months and
9.8% of pregnant and lactating women consume a
diversified diet (at least 4 food groups) when fasting

Less than 1% of households had access to a fixed

hand washing set-up with water and soap 38% of households had
available access to clean and safe
drinking water
58% of households report practicing open
defecation; prevalence is especially high in Tigray

21% of children aged 6-23 months had diarrhoea

in the last two weeks

Overall Implications
Challenging geographical terrain. The Seqota Declaration is
focused on food insecure areas with low soil fertility, severe land
degradation, deforestation, low agricultural productivity and with
high stunting prevalence.

Shortage of water resources. These areas are water-stressed with

erratic and insufficient rainfall patterns. Food production is
exclusively rain-fed, resulting in low yields and income. Over 50%
of households lack access to clean drinking water.

Agricultural technology use is low. Smallholder farmers have

access to land but lack essential inputs, irrigation infrastructure
and access to technologies, which inhibits improvements in
agricultural productivity and contributes to post-harvest loss.

Food insecurity is a critical issue. There is a need to increase

consumption of diverse range of nutrient-rich foods to improve
diets.

Open defecation remains widely practiced. There is a need to

improve access to sanitation facilities, complemented by
appropriate social and behaviour change communication (SBCC)
programs.

Double win opportunities. A cross-sector approach can deliver a

much greater social and economic return on investment alongside
achieving nutrition impact, resulting in a double bottom line for
every dollar spent.

COMMITTED TO ENDING STUNTING IN CHILDREN UNDER TWO BY 2030

 Seqota Declaration Priority Interventions
July 2019 - June 2021

Ministry Priority Goals Priority Interventions Performance Targets

Ensure access to · Construct multi-village water supply · Double rural water supply cover
safe drinking schemes in 33 woredas age rates from 42% to 85%
water for 3 million
· Rehabilitate 33 deep wells and 1,674 · Reduce by half the non-functional
Water, people by 2021
non-functional water schemes rates of water schemes from 15%
Irrigation to 7%
and
Energy
Provide access to · Create solar power access for 88 water · Reach 2.1 million people with
off-grid power for supply schemes and 350 kebeles off-grid power solutions
2.1 million people
by 2021

· Construct multi-use water systems for · Increase irrigation coverage by

Ensure 100% irrigation to support crop and feed 20,000 hectares
access to production for livestock and rearing of
Ministry of adequate food livestock · Reach 167,000 households
Agriculture (including animal through livestock distribution
source protein) all · Distribute 1 million chickens, 800,000 program
year round for 3 milk goat and sheep, and 200,000
million people transition and improved beehives

· Increase access to focused antenatal · Increase coverage rates of

care (ANC) and facility-based delivery pregnant women accessing ANC
Reach 150,000 services for pregnant women services to 85%
households with a
· Increase participation of children under · Increase coverage rates of
defined package
2 in community growth monitoring and children under 2 participating in
of high-impact promotion (GMP) programs GMP programs to 85%
Health nutrition specific
and nutrition · Increase household use of improved · Increase coverage of household
smart interven- latrines utilization of improved latrines to
tions by 2021 85%
· Ensure availability of safe drinking
water and improved latrines in all health · Provide 1,120 health facilities with
facilities safe water and improved latrines

· Upgrade shed schools into model · Upgrade 628 shed schools

Transform 1,984 schools in Amhara and Tigray regions
schools to healthy · Provide 1,607 schools with access
and safe learning · Ensure access to safe drinking water in to safe drinking water
Education environments by schools in Amhara and Tigray regions
2021 · Equip 1,607 schools with
· Ensure access to gender segregated improved latrines and handwash-
improved latrines and handwashing ing facilities
facilities in Amhara and Tigray regions

· Significantly improved dietary diversity and high-quality caloric intake

year-round by pregnant and lactating women and children under two
· Significantly improved access to safe water and adequate sanitation for
more than 4 million people
· Drastically reduced incidence of open defecation and water-borne
Expected diseases

Results · Increased hectares of land irrigated

· Improved livelihoods and overall wellbeing of households

*The government of Ethiopia has allocated over $16 million from its treasury resources to support the implementation of a
sub-set of these priority interventions, designed to reach over 450,000 people between July 2019 – June 2020 in the Amhara
and Tigray regions.