WORLD FOOD DAY

LUSAKA, 22 October 2018 – International advocacy organisation Global Citizen last week announced that Siya Kolisi will become an advocate for the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100, a free-ticketed event on Sunday, 2 December 2018 at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.  In his role as official advocate for Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100, he intends to focus on hunger and education, both of which are very close to his heart. Siya, alongside fellow Global Citizens Nandi Madida, South African Singer/Songwriter; Television Presenter; and Cleo Ice Queen Zambian Singer/Songwriter; Radio Personality were speakers at one of two(2) World Food Day Dinners in Lusaka Zambia and Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday 16th October.

The events gathered actors from across nutrition, agriculture and food to showcase the two countries’ commitment to addressing hunger and malnutrition which saw Global Citizens in Zambia addressing the Zambian Ministr of Agriculture, Hon. Michael JZ Katambo.

This announcement kicked off Global Citizen: Mandela 100 Action Journey 3, the third in a series of opportunities for fans and activists to earn their tickets to the event. Actions include:

• Calling on South Africa’s Minister of Labour to achieve equal pay for equal work — regardless of gender
• Asking the African Union and Government of Burundi to end discriminatory policies that force expectant teen mothers out of school
• Urging Tanzania, Mozambique, Botswana and Nigeria to tackle neglected tropical diseases, especially trachoma.

Global Citizens have been calling on the Government of Zambia to commit & show leadership at the December 2nd Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 by increasing nutrition spending by R581 (USD$40) per child. This would mean spending an additional R364M (USD$25M) per year towards nutrition. Currently, 40 out of 100 children are stunted, and at risk of cognitive and physical limitations that can last a lifetime.

To date, Global Citizens have directly taken over 38,000 actions in support of this ask to the Vice President as part of the Mandela 100 campaign. These actions are in support of local grassroots advocates and NGOs such as the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network, and the National Food and Nutrition Commission. The campaign is led by Global Citizen local campaigner, Mwandwe Chileshe.

“Stunting limits children’s potential in school, in employment, and development throughout life,” said Michael Sheldrick, Vice President of Policy & Advocacy at Global Citizen. “It also costs the Zambian economy 2-3% of its potential GDP per year in lost productivity. Prioritizing funding for nutrition in the national budget is a smart investment — for every R14.50 (USD$1) invested, the median return is R233 (USD$16).”

In addition, Global Citizens have been calling on the Government of Kenya to reach 10% for agricultural spending as outlined by the Malabo Declaration. The actions have asked to move from current spending of 3% to 5% with an initial ask of $70M. For Nutrition, Global Citizens are asking for an additional spending of R145 (USD$10) per child totalling R1.05 billion (USD$73M).

Global Citizens are calling on the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta to attend GCF: Mandela 100 and announce an additional R1.05 billion (US$73M) in nutrition spending and R1 billion (US$70M)in agricultural spending.

On all accounts, both events were a success and we look forward to more commitments from governments, business leaders and the public in the fight to end extreme poverty by 2030.