Advocacy and Use of Advocates as a Quick Win in Scaling Up Biofortification in Nigeria: The Case of Building Nutritious Food Basket (BNFB) Project

The Building Nutritious Food Baskets (BNFB) Project explored advocacy and the use of advocates as a model strategy for scaling up biofortification in Nigeria during its three-year implementation. In addition to its direct advocacy efforts, the BNFB project identified and selected key personnel across disciplines, gender and sectors, based on some selected criteria, as Advocates to support the scaling up of biofortification by raise of investments, resource mobilization, the inclusion of biofortification in relevant policy documents, strategies and plans of action. To realize these, the selected 32 Advocates were empowered to mainstream biofortification into their existing and/or potential programs/projects, as well as create awareness and demand for biofortified crops within their spheres of influence. Training and retreats were organized for the Advocates to strengthen their capacities in advocacy and promotion of biofortification and biofortified crops, while a social platform was launched to share opportunities, experiences and address issues around biofortification within the Advocates. As a result of these efforts, biofortification was included in three key national policies, strategies/plans of actions with resource allocation, and investments, over USD3 million were raised for biofortification. The Federal Government of Nigeria and some external governments became committed to biofortification programs while biofortified crops were mainstreamed in at least two national