Multi-sector Nutrition Stakeholders Gathered for ‘Together For Nutrition 2015’

Empowering New Generations to Improve Nutrition and Economic opportunities (ENGINE) USAID’s flagship multi-sector nutrition project, which aims to improve the nutritional status of Ethiopian women and children under 5, through sustainable, coordinated, and evidence-based interventions, enabling them to lead healthier and more productive lives participated in a  one day conference themed ‘Together For Nutrition 2015’. The ground-breaking event was held on June 15, 2015 at the Hilton hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), to bring together national policy makers, national and international researchers, donors and implementers to discuss the most recent evidence on the major nutritional issues in Ethiopia and deliberate on the implications of this research for program and policy.

The one-day conference featured a number of sessions for presentations from government representatives which included the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) as well as organizations such as UNICEF, Cornell University, Harvest Plus, Lafayette College. Save the Children USAID/ENGINE and EPHI presented their nutrition policy research entitled ‘An examination of the dynamics of nutrition program implementation in Ethiopia: Facilitators and Constraints at National and Sub National Level’. The debates and areas of focus included; food and nutrition in Ethiopia (trends and drivers), the role of nutrition-specific interventions in shaping nutrition behaviors and social protection, agriculture, gender and nutrition.

Selected participants also showcased programmatic experiences of working across sectors to improve nutrition in Ethiopia, through poster presentations after the discussions. Alongside presenting its work on multi-sectoral programming for nutrition through poster presentations,  representing Save the Children, ENGINE’s COP, Dr. Habtamu Fekadu was part of a panel of experts who led a discussion on the perspectives on the role research can play in shaping food and nutrition policy in Ethiopia.