UNICEF, the Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), and SPRING carried out an evaluation of the Community Infant and Young Child Feeding (C-IYCF) Counselling Package in Nigeria. In September 2017, two SPRING staff members and one consultant traveled to Nigeria.
These images capture some of the key moments from the day-long joint MIYCN-FP-Immunization meeting on June 14, 2017. The 46 attendees (plus 13 remote participants) listened to eight technical presentations facilitated by their colleagues and engaged in large-group plenary discussions as well as small-group breakout sessions. The goal of the meeting was to share experiences, findings, and lessons learned in order to identify ways to increase synergy and use existing platforms to integrate and strengthen provision of nutrition, FP, and immunization services.
Immunization, family planning (FP), and maternal, infant, and young child nutrition (MIYCN) are all important aspects of primary care for women and children. There are many missed opportunities for integration which could further improve these services. To address this issue, on June 14, 2017, the MIYCN-FP Integration Working Group hosted a joint meeting with the FP-Immunization Integration Working Group to discuss ways to increase synergy and use existing platforms to integrate and strengthen global service provision.
Recent evidence underscores the need for commitment from multiple sectors to end malnutrition. While the concept of increased coordination and collaboration across sectors is widely accepted, working across diverse disciplines with different missions has proven to be a challenge in many countries. SPRING developed a brief to document lessons learned from our work with Feed the Future USAID Missions and their implementing partners in Guatemala, Bangladesh, and Rwanda to strengthen their vision, plans, and approaches for coordination and collaboration around nutrition.
On January 18, 2017, SPRING/Senegal facilitated a one-day workshop on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the region of Kaolack. The workshop was organized as part of SPRING’s strategy to improve the nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of two. Women in Senegal often play several key roles in the household: they are responsible for cultivating vegetables and other crops, preparing food at home, keeping the household tidy, and caring for their children.
In November 2016, SPRING facilitated a two-day workshop to help the Community Health and Improved Nutrition (CHAIN) project partners define collaboration goals and expectations and to develop an integrated workplan. The CHAIN project is a collection of USAID-funded activities that are carried out by local and international organizations that share complementary goals of improving nutrition and health in Rwanda.
In July, the annual Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) conference, “Ensuring Availability and Sustainable Management of Water and Sanitation for All,” was held in Kumasi, Ghana. SPRING/Ghana took advantage of this in country opportunity to host a side table event to present on its nutrition sensitive WASH activities in the Northern and Upper East Regions. SPRING/Ghana WASH Advisor, David Nunoo, and SPRING/DC WASH Technical Advisor Steve Sara presented on the WASH 1,000 approach.
Maternal & Child Nutrition, May 2016.
Experts from across several sectors are meeting this week in Bangkok at the Asia regional Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy Global Learning & Evidence Exchange (MSN-GLEE) hosted by SPRING in partnership with USAID. This diverse group of USAID Mission staff, implementing partners, and academics will discuss multi-sectoral approaches to address malnutrition and plan for global action. The attendees represent programs in social and behavior change communications (SBCC), humanitarian response, agriculture, women’s empowerment, health, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).
The Government of Sierra Leone disseminated its nationally-representative, comprehensive micronutrient survey (2013 SLMS (PDF, 3.6 MB)) on December 3, 2015 with approximately 50 government, partner, and donor staff participating.