Nanlong wins AU Agenda 2063 pitch award on nutrition, food security

• To focus on challenges of food scarcity, malnutrition, others

The Plateau State Correspondent of Vanguard Newspapers, Marie-Therese Nanlong has emerged winner in one of the categories of the African Union Agenda 2063 Pitch Zone Awards.

The female journalists selected as the finalists were announced on December 9, 2022 at the African Women in Media (AWiM) conference 2022 held in Fes, Morocco.

Recall that yearly, during the yearly AWiM conference, five female journalists are allowed to pitch their story ideas to the African Union, according to set categories, and winners are awarded cash grants to support the production of in-depth and evidence-based stories that reflect the progress and impact of the implementation of Agenda 2063 on the continent, under each thematic area.
 
At the ceremony in Fes, winners were announced for three of the five categories – Marie-Therese Nanlong (Nigeria) was selected the winner in the category on the AU Theme of the Year 2022 – The Year of Nutrition “Strengthening resilience in nutrition and food security on the African continent: Strengthening agro-food systems, health, and social protection systems for the acceleration of human, social and economic capital development.”
 
Her series of stories will delve into how to scale actions that address the challenges of food scarcity, malnutrition and how regional and continental trade offers exponential potential for the continent to meet the food demands of every African citizen.

Ms. Elizabeth Angira (Kenya) won in the category of Promoting efforts towards the Economic and Financial Inclusion of African Women (Agenda 2063 Aspiration 6, AU Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy (GEWE); the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), and the AU Constitutive Act.

Ms. Melody Chikono (Zimbabwe) was selected as the winner in the category on Promoting the Rights of Children in Africa (Agenda 2063 Aspiration 6, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children).

While announcing the winners on behalf of AU Director of Information and Communication, Ms. Leslie Richer, the Head of Communication, Mrs. Wynne Musabayana, restated the commitment of the AU driven by the desire to ensure that the media engage with Africa’s development from a position of knowledge about the different key issues.
 
She stated, “With the funding received, each winner will have sufficient means to produce relevant, evidence-based, and timely content in their chosen format: content that digs deep into the issues to answer the famous five W’s and one H of journalism.”

She concluded, “We are encouraged by the presence of so many professional women journalists who are determined to make their mark in telling the many stories of success, challenges, and mitigation measures, as well as the concrete plans for a brighter future, that are made by our heads of state and government and other policy and decision-makers, with the participation of the African public.”

However, Dr. Yemisi Akinbobola, Co-founder & CEO, of African Women in Media, restated the vision of the Pitch Zone since its inception in 2017 as a platform to create opportunities for women journalists to produce the kind of stories that will give them the level of visibility, they need for their career development.