At the N4G Summit, we need concrete action, not sound bites 

What is N4G?   

Since 2013, the Nutrition for Growth Summit (N4G) – organised every 4 years in parallel to the Olympic Games – has been striving to make nutrition a priority on the international development agenda, especially through financial and political engagement. Previous editions managed to mobilise significant financial resources, but this dynamic must be further bolstered.  

The event in Paris is to be attended by heads of state, ministers, civil society representatives, UN agencies, international donors, companies and research institutes. To guarantee the success of the N4G Summit, active involvement from the highest authorities in France is essential. The presence of President Emmanuel Macron and the Minister of Foreign Affairs is crucial in order to encourage participation from other heads of state.  

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Across the world, 3 out of 10 people do not have access to adequate healthy, nutritious food. Though there is enough food on our planet to guarantee everyone’s right to food, 1 child aged under 5 dies of hunger every 11 seconds. As malnutrition gets worse all over the world, additional financial needs are estimated at between 13 billion and 15 trillion US dollars per year from now until 2030. The cost of inaction for the next 10 years is some 41 trillion US dollars.  

What is missing right now is the political will, guided by the principle of humanity, to provide assistance to people in need, regardless of political interests. The questioning of multilateral governance spaces and initiatives, such as the WHO, the UN Human Rights Committee and even the Paris Agreement on climate, is an illustration of this lack of political will. We refuse to allow the N4G Summit to become part of this trend.   

Programme for the 2025 edition  

• 24–25 March: The Civil Society Pavilion in Paris, initiated by Action contre la Faim, will welcome more than 250 individuals and organisations concerned by the Summit to Porte de Versailles in Paris’s 15th arrondissement  
• 26 March: Conference on scientific research into nutrition, organised by the French Development Agency with participation from Action contre la Faim    
• 26–28 March: Opening of the Solutions Village, the Summit’s official forum and a meeting place for exchanges surrounding the issue of malnutrition across the world, at Paris Convention in the 15th arrondissement of Paris  
• 27–28 March: Nutrition for Growth Summit at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Paris Convention, 15th arrondissement  

Involvement from civil society organisations from the global south   

Given that Action contre la Faim advocates for the transformation of governance systems in order to make them more participatory, inclusive and transparent, we encourage civil society organisations to participate fully in the N4G Summit in Paris. Civil society organisations are often excluded from spaces for dialogue, either on purpose or indirectly, due to restrictive participation options, diary clashes, a lack of resources or severe power imbalances linked to financial and private interests. Their role is minimised, when in fact their voices should be fully included in the debate and in any recommendations so that populations’ fundamental rights may be recognised and integrated entirely. Ensuring real, diverse inclusion of civil society organisations is therefore crucial – especially those from the Global South – in order to guarantee legitimate, effective commitments to fight malnutrition. Take a look at the CS4Nut declaration. 

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Our expectations  

Action contre la Faim has many expectations for this Summit.  

The deep causes of hunger – conflict, inequalities, the climate emergency and attacks on the civil space – must be addressed to put an end to this health catastrophe. Yet, despite the urgency, hunger and its underlying causes are still not a political priority in France. Even worse news is that funding for international solidarity is falling, with a drastic drop in public development aid in France and further afield in Europe. These cuts, combined with frozen American funding, put aid and development programmes at risk in already fragile contexts and contribute towards pushing back human rights. More specifically, we call upon France as the host of the Summit to make this event a success by inviting as many heads of state as possible and ensuring participation from the international community.  

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France must also confirm the major role it seeks to play in the fight against malnutrition through a financial commitment equal to the seriousness of the issue.  This translates as two demands:  

1. At the N4G Summit, France must commit to adopting an ambitious strategy to fight world hunger for the 2026–2030 period in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal ‘End hunger’ by 2030. This strategy must : 
   • Be based on an evaluation of France’s previous international strategy for food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture (2019–2024);  
   • Address the underlying causes of hunger by making ambitious commitments to respect and uphold international humanitarian law, to guarantee access to public services, to contribute to the transformation of food systems and to ensure the inclusion of civil society organisations in governance spaces;  
   • Employ the necessary financial and human resources by pledging 300 million euros to nutrition per year between 2025 and 2030, and support the goal of 2.8% of public development aid being spent on nutrition by 2030, which has been recommended by the World Bank.  
2. At the N4G Summit, France must also commit to supporting and promoting the adoption of a renewed EU political framework for nutrition in partner countries by 2026. 

Collective action by french civil society organisations  

For over a year and a half, Action contre la Faim has been coordinating a coalition of international NGOs that collectively mobilise around the N4G Summit. We do this because we believe we are stronger, louder and more legitimate together. We have taken our shared recommendations to the French government and worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and certain French MPs with a view to seeing our recommendations come to fruition.   

Nutritional crises in many countries provide further justification for the need for an ambitious summit 

Afghanistan 

Impact of the climate emergency and gender injustices in Afghanistan  

Some 23.7 million people – half of the Afghan population – require humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs, such as health care, food and drinking water.¹ The climate emergency is a threat to the country’s agricultural production systems. The lack of infrastructure for essential services means that many communities are exposed to the risk of not receiving adequate health care.² Aggravating the problem are gender-based injustices and violence, which have intensified since the Taliban took power in 2021 and have a major impact on malnutrition among women.   

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mass displacements and violence in DRC: A glimpse of the situation in 2024  

Around a quarter of the population is experiencing a high level of acute food insecurity. Armed violence and intercommunity conflicts continue to affect livelihoods. They also exacerbate gender-based violence: thousands of women and girls have been the victims of gender-based violence in the camps for displaced people in the east of the DRC. In 2024, over 1,400,000 people were displaced again in the DRC, which brought the total to around 6.4 million displaced people. The population is also suffering from fragile essential services and macroeconomic and socio-economic shocks.   

Nigeria 

Nutritional crisis in Nigeria: The impact of economic instability and the healthcare system’s shortcomings  

In the North West region of Nigeria, nutritional insecurity due to insufficient food intake is rife because of economic instability and rising prices of food products. Problems linked to the healthcare system also play a significant role in the area’s nutritional crisis. Access to essential health services remains extremely limited, especially in remote areas affected by conflict. A lack of drinking water and sanitation and hygiene facilities (WASH) brings about frequent epidemics of waterborne diseases, which puts children’s health in danger and increases their vulnerability to malnutrition.   

In the face of reduced international solidarity funding, concrete measures must be taken for nutrition 

In this unstable political context, where societal rifts are widening, the French government and the European Union must show the international community their leadership during the N4G summit in order to maintain dialogue, collaboration and multilateralism, by committing to put the fight against hunger at the heart of their development policies.   

Funding for international solidarity is currently falling. The reduction in France’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the uncertain future of the USA’s ODA put our projects in a fragile position and increase the insecurity of those we support.  

The US is by far the biggest contributor to global humanitarian aid, providing more than 64 billion dollars in 2024 according to estimates. That is 42% of the total humanitarian aid in the world. Globally, Action contre la Faim faces a funding loss of almost 120 million dollars. This has an impact on around fifty programmes in countries like Haiti, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Madagascar and Afghanistan.   

More than ever, we need donors from all over the world to mobilise so that we can support the most vulnerable communities. The main donor countries are reducing their funding (USAID, but also France, Germany, Sweden, etc.) as humanitarian needs are intensifying and our teams are facing major humanitarian emergencies, such as those seen in Gaza, Sudan, the DRC and Ukraine.