34th Session

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UNITED NATIONS SYSTEMStanding Committee on
Nutrition

• 34th Session Working Together
• Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and
  Evaluation

Mark Smulders, FAO Agnès Dhur, WFP
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SCN 34th Session Working Together

• Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and
  Evaluation

Discussion points

• What is TF AME expected to do?
• What has been done so far?
• What could/should the TF do?
• Membership
• Resource requirements

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SCN 34th Session Working Together

• Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and
  Evaluation

• 6 -7 areas of work identified in SCN Action Plan
• measurement and monitoring of food nutrition -gt
  MDGs
• indicators for assessment, monitoring and
  evaluation
• methods and tools for AME
• ME frameworks and criteria (evidence
  effectiveness of projects and programmes)
• defining standards, strengthening analysis for
  health and nutrition information in emergencies
  (NICS HNTS)
• build on existing initiatives, including SCN-WGs,
  IASC, FIVIMS initiative and others

Expectations
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SCN 34th Session Working Together

• Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and
  Evaluation

• (i) 3m budget in SCN Action Plan for
• Interagency Nutrition Initiative (2m)
• Nutrition Information in Crisis Situations
• Monitoring indicators for Right to Adequate Food
• ME framework for the realization of RtF
• (see briefing note)
• (ii) Concept note for TF-AME initial feedback
• (iii) Pre-session meeting of a partial TF
  expression of interest from Brazil

Where are we?
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SCN 34th Session Working Together

• Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and
  Evaluation

Assessment, Monitoring, Evaluation for what
purpose?

• baseline understanding (FS,N,H) (for whom?)
• surveillance/monitoring of HHFS, nutrition
  status, health status? child growth?
• early warning? of what?
• emergency needs assessment and response?
• development planning? policy formulation?
• at which level?
• accounting of investments made (human/)?
• research?
• advocacy?

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ACTORS ACTION AREAS information system activities / functions information system activities / functions information system activities / functions
ACTORS ACTION AREAS assessment monitoring evaluation
level 1 community community development planning of FS/N activities extension work raising awareness participatory appraisal for intervention projects Health facility data growth monitoring ME of local small-scale projects (usually externally driven)
level 2 district development planning prioritization targeting rapid, ad hoc, assessments sentinel site surveillance - ME of specific intervention programmes (usually externally driven)
level 3 national development of national FS/N strategies, programmes policy formulation budget prioritization fundraising repeated national surveys (nutrition, hh budget, agric, ..) census baseline assessment analytical studies research monitoring and surveillance of programmes national routine statistics ME of specific intervention programmes Impact assessment
level 4 global advocacy global initiatives cross-country comparison fundraising United Nations agencies' international data banks Global assessments studies global studies on trend analyses ME on intervention programmes
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SCN 34th Session Working Together

• Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and
  Evaluation

Core questions (for TF-AME)

• focus and scope?
• value added?
• target audience/clients?
• supply-driven info vs. demand-driven info?
• global/national MDG context vs.
• focus on community, HH, individual outcomes?
• development and/or emergency context?
• how do we link food security, nutrition and
  health concerns
• what action do we want to influence / inform?

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SCN 34th Session Working Together

• Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and
  Evaluation

• Issues for discussion feedback
• We have excellent understanding of key issues at
  global level...
• We have an abundance of methods, tools,
  techniques
• We have tremendous knowledge, but how do we reach
  the people who are food insecure and
  malnourished?
• Emergency/humanitarian context well covered
  (coordination)
• (IASC clusters on Nutrition, Health,
  Agriculture IASC WG on IM SCN Nutrition in
  Emergencies WG ALNAP etc.)
• What is missing? What are opportunities for
  TF-AME?

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SCN 34th Session Working Together

• Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and
  Evaluation

Possible future work of the Task Force on AME

• Knowledge sharing/management (who is doing what?
  where? lessons learned, especially at local
  levels)
• How? Web portal stock-taking technical fora
  (global, regional, country level?) SCN
  newsletter SCN clearing house function
• Indicators. Provide guidance commission
  studies draw lessons from country level share
  best practices FS, N, H linkages
• Set-up regional or national task forces
  (knowledge sharing draw lessons on AME
  techniques discuss indicators link food
  security, nutrition and livelihoods concerns)
  Horn of Africa.
• Whatever is done define the problem closer to
  where the solutions are even for a global
  level TF