UN Network Q1 2018 Quarterly Update

 UN Network for SUN (UNN) communications, materials, meetings & events

• The new Executive Director of UNICEF, Henrietta H. Fore, is appointed as the Chair of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Lead Group.
• Purnima Kashyap joined the UN Network Secretariat in March 2018 as the new Global Coordinator.
• On 8 March 2018, the UN Network Steering Committee gathered in Rome to discuss strategic issues, including priorities for 2018.
• In March, Chad’s UN Network for SUN released a UN Nutrition Agenda for reducing malnutrition in all of its forms (Agenda des Nations Unies pour la nutrition au Tchad [2018-2021]). The Agenda foresees broadening UN Network membership to all UN agencies engaging in nutrition with focal points identified for each region, particularly emergency-affected Sahel localities. LEARN MORE
• Members of the UN Network for SUN Secretariat participated in the SUN Network Facilitators retreat on 14-15^th February in Geneva and the follow-up MEAL meeting on 16^th February, where the REACH mapping tool was presented– including how the exercise is increasingly being undertaken in non-REACH countries with support from the UN Network for SUN Secretariat.
• The multi-stakeholder and nutrition action mapping in Zimbabwe is catalysing strategic reflection and district-level action. LEARN MORE
• On 31^st January-1^st February, an Asia UN Network meeting was held with UN colleagues working at the regional level, where participating agencies agreed to jointly support four work streams. The meeting took place in Bangkok and was hosted by WFP and chaired by UNICEF. LEARN MORE
• Following the December UN Network webinar, an English translation of the DRC presentation (slides and presentation recording) is now available online. The presentation, initially delivered in French by a UNICEF Nutrition Specialist from the country office, outlines how recommended UN Network actions (e.g. UN Nutrition Inventory exercise) have helped to foster increased UN coherence on nutrition.
• The UN Network Secretariat worked with REACH colleagues in Haiti and Myanmar to prepare an article in the Emergency Nutrition Network’s (ENN) Nutrition Exchange and a supporting podcast on how the Compendium of Actions for Nutrition (CAN) was applied in-country. Similarly, the 9^th Issue of Nutrition Exchange features an article about Decentralizing nutrition management and coordination in Chad, including the role that REACH is playing.
• Learn about the findings of a 5-country, End of Term Evaluation of REACH, commissioned by the UN Network for SUN Secretariat, to foster accountability and learning. The evaluation covered the period from June 2014 to August 2017 and assessed the effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of REACH. Evaluation materials are available in both English and French.

Developments at the UN Agencies and other UN nutrition bodies

• Looking to catch-up on some nutrition reading? UNICEF Nutrition staff have authored or co-authored ten peer-reviewed papers during Q1-2018 contributing to the evidence base on topics such as breastfeeding, complementary feeding, adolescent nutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and supplementation, fortification food supplementation, or overweight and obesity. Similarly, UNICEF has prepared a compilation of peer-reviewed publications authored or co-authored by UNICEF staff in 2017, covering a range of nutrition issues related to children, adolescents and women.
• UNICEF has produced a video, demonstrating the inputs and processes needed for the Safe Preparation of F75 and F100 Therapeutic Milks.
• UNICEF and GAIN issued a joint report, urging immediate action to increase access to iodized salt to help control iodine deficiency disorders. The report includes case studies regarding salt iodization from a range of countries, considering various aspects along the policy to implementation spectrum.
• View a short video about how UNICEF and GAIN are working with the Government of Ethiopia on a Community-Based Complementary Food (CBCF) production project, which enables children ages 6-24 months to improve their diets by consuming quality, locally-produced complementary foods in four regions.
• UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have launched the Regional Initiatives for Sustained Improvements in Nutrition and Growth (RISING) partnership for Maternal and Child Nutrition in Africa and Asia.
• WHO, UNICEF and Nutrition International have jointly prepared a series of articles on implementation considerations for micronutrient supplementation in pregnancy, which have been recently published in Maternal & Child Nutrition.
• Two new WHO nutrition publications are available: (1) Reducing stunting in children: equity considerations for achieving the global targets 2025; and (2) a new guideline on Implementing effective actions for improving adolescent nutrition.
• Researchers from the University of Oxford and WHO teamed up to conduct a systematic review which indicated that many poverty reduction and development interventions in low and lower-middle income countries have the potential to impact non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – prevalence and risk. However, most fail to measure or report these outcomes.
• A new publication is also available on Developing Nutrition-Sensitive Value Chains in Indonesia following a research project undertaken by IFAD, in partnership with the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health. This is the first of a series of publications on the topic. A second brochure in this series has also been published, illustrating how the production and consumption of 5 crops (cowpea, groundnut, soybean, millet and sorghum) can improve the diets and livelihoods of smallholders in Nigeria while also promoting women’s empowerment and resilience in the face of climate change.
• Cornelia Richter recently assumed duties as the new Vice-President of IFAD, and is likewise serving as the UNSCN chair. She brings extensive experience in different fields of international cooperation, including managerial positions at GIZ (Managing Director, Director General for Asia and the Pacific and Director General for Global and Sectoral Issues).
• WFP’s Centre of Excellence against Hunger recorded a brief interview with social protection expert, Stephen Devereux, which promotes South-South learning between similar countries, such as the BRICS countries, to help end hunger and malnutrition. In particular, Devereux speaks to the role of evidence and the value of employing an integrated approach.
• WFP has developed an application to improve the management of CMAM programming: SCOPE Conditional On-Demand Assistance (CODA). The application merges programme management functions with WFP’s existing identity management system, SCOPE, to meet the information needs of nutrition treatment programmes and reduce information silos among programmes.
• The WFP country office in Afghanistan piloted the use of the minimum dietary diversity indicator for women (MDD-W) through a rapid phone (mVAM) survey in four provinces. Data was collected with the mobile phones of health workers and WFP focal points, who work at 8 health clinics, where malnourished women received Supercereal through a WFP-supported, targeted supplementary feeding programme. Additional information about the pilot is outlined in a summary report.
• The WFP country office in Lebanon is implementing a cash-based transfer programme, whereby eligible individuals can use their beneficiary cards to buy fresh produce at a local Farmers’ Market. In addition to making nutritious food more accessible to vulnerable populations, the approach boosts the local economy by connecting farmers with potential new customers.
• WFP teamed up with Anthropologica and released an insightful, four-country study (Cambodia, Guatemala, Kenya and Uganda) to better understand the needs, priorities and perceptions of adolescent girls as well as how to reach them. The study took into consideration the need to address early pregnancy, overweight and obesity, women’s empowerment as well as social norms, access to education, technology and other factors that influence the complex realities of adolescents.
• View a gender video, produced by WFP, which outlines the links between gender equality, food security and nutrition in an effort to underscore why food assistance needs to be gender-transformative.
• Read a full evaluation report and synthesis which assessed the Impact of WFP Programmes on Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts in the Sahel. The evaluation covered four countries, namely: Chad, Mali, Niger and The Sudan.
• Read The Midstream (Issue 1, Vol. 2), a Food Systems Newsletter, prepared by WFP, to learn about newly released resources and other current events related to food systems.
• FAO and WFP have also published a Home-Grown School Feeding Resource Framework: Synopsis – March 2018. The document is intended to support policy-makers, development partners, governments, civil society and community-based organizations as well as the private sector to design, implement and scale-up school feeding models in order to provide children in schools with safe, diverse and nutritious food, sourced locally from smallholders. This publication is the result of a collaborative effort by WFP, FAO, IFAD, the Global Child Nutrition Foundation, Partnership for Child Development, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and WFP’s Centre of Excellence in Brazil.
• FAO’s Toolkit on Agriculture and Food Systems and eLearning module on Improving Nutrition through Agriculture and Food Systems are now available in French.
• FAO has developed guidance materials regarding food loss, including an e-learning course on its case study methodology for the analysis of critical food loss points. A guidance note is also available, highlighting the links between gender equality and food loss.
• View the Technical Note on Trade and Nutrition, issued by FAO.
• IAEA issued its nutrition newsletter, which highlights activities undertaken during the second semester of 2017.
• Learn more about the IAEA’s nutrition work in flyer, available in English, French, Spanish and Russian, including how its Technical Cooperation Programme supports national and regional projects on strengthening capacity for evidence-based nutrition programming, using stable isotope and related techniques. To discuss potential project ideas, please contact the IAEA National Liaison Officer (NLO) in-country, or the nutrition team at headquarters (nahres@iaea.org) if you don’t know the NLO.
• The official website on the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition 2016-2025 went live. Learn more at un.org/nutrition.
• The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the 15th agency to join the UN Nutrition Standing Committee (UNSCN).
• On 8^th February, the UNSCN and IFPRI organized a joint policy seminar on Investment for Nutrition, which was held in Washington D.C. The event raised awareness about the multiple entry points through which food systems can be leveraged to support desired nutrition outcomes.
• The Nutrition Cluster has prepared a Nutrition Sector Dashboard for the Cox’s Bazar emergency response, covering the period from September 2017 to February 2018. The dashboard highlights both funding and programming gaps as well as other programming indicators, primarily focused on nutrition-specific interventions. The Cluster has also supported the development and monitoring of Humanitarian Response Plans for nearly 20 countries annually, including the development of a 2018 global dashboard for nutrition coordination in emergencies.
• The Afghanistan Nutrition Cluster Quarterly Situation and Response Dashboard is available for Q1 2018. In addition, the Afghanistan Nutrition Cluster Bulletin, Issue I for 2018, was disseminated.
• The Yemen Nutrition Cluster Bulletin, Issue 1 (Q1 2018) is available. This issue profiles progress made with integrated programming for famine risk reduction (IFRR) as well as the 2017 Nutrition Cluster Hall of fame laureates, key contacts and other information about the Yemen Nutrition Cluster.
• The Nutrition Cluster released a dashboard, which highlights progress against Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) indicators (January 2018) for the Whole of Syria (WOS) Nutrition Sector Reach.
• The Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC) in collaboration with the ENN is delighted to share Issue 56 of Field Exchange, a special edition focused on Nutrition Cluster coordination experiences. The issue also features a guest editorial by Josephine Ippe, GNC Coordinator, and Carmel Dolan, ENN Technical Director and GNC Strategic Advisory Group member.
• A donor webinar was organized jointly by the Global Nutrition Cluster’s (GNC) Strategic Advisory Group and UNICEF (31^st January), which provided an overview of the history and accomplishments of the GNC and solicited donor views on the GNC’s strategic priorities moving forward. Additional materials are available online.

International nutrition meetings & events with considerable UN participation

• The UN Interagency Task Force on NCDs convened at IAEA Headquarters in Vienna on 20^th-21^st The meeting was attended by 17 UN agencies, programmes, funds and intergovernmental organizations, including the WHO Nutrition Department.
• WHO hosted a Global Workshop on the Alma-Ata 40^th Anniversary Process in Geneva (13-14^th February), attended by a UNICEF delegation, including its Nutrition Section, and other stakeholders. They event was jointly organized by the Government of Kazakhstan, WHO and UNICEF, leading up to the 40^th Anniversary of the Alma-Ata Declaration at the end October 2018.
• An HLPE consultation on the zero draft of the Report, Multi-stakeholder Partnerships (MSPs) to Finance and Improve Food Security and Nutrition in the Framework of the 2030 Agenda, was held from 30^th January to 19^th The e-consultation was an opportunity to gather inputs, suggestions, and comments on the current draft from a range of actors before finalizing the report.
• WFP, as a member of the Japanese-funded, Initiative for Food and Nutrition Security in Africa’s (IFNA) Steering Committee (SC), attended the second SC meeting in Johannesburg (7^th February), convened to share progress, discuss critical issues and reflect these in the next steps for 2018 and beyond.
• The World Economic Forum was held in Davos, where food systems were prominently discussed, including side events held at the WFP tent onsite, such as the Social Gastronomy, Food and Peace: A Recipe for Change campfire event (25^th January), hosted by the WFP Executive Director, the Founder and President of Gastomotiva, and the Vice President of Cargill.
• On 22^nd January, the SDG2 Advocacy Hub convened a networking and 2018 priority setting conference call, providing opportunities for practical information sharing and increased synergies.
• The Rome launch of the Global Nutrition Report took place on 11^th January at WFP Headquarters, underscoring the importance of integrated action and domestic financing. The event attracted high-profile figures such as David Nabarro, Special Adviser on the SDGs.
• Following the International Symposium on sustainable food systems for healthy diets and improved nutrition (December 2016) and as a contribution to the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, Regional Symposia were successfully held throughout 2017 in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia, Near East and North Africa and Asia and the Pacific. These symposia gathered stakeholders from all dimensions of food systems, focusing on making further progress towards the achievements of commitments made at the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) in 2014.