DELIVERING FOR NUTRITION IN INDIA: INSIGHTS FROM IMPLEMENTATION RESEARCH

Upcoming event on 'Delivering for Nutrition in India: Insights from Implementation Research' on 24 September 2019 (image: POSHAN team)

The nutrition community in India is abuzz with activities to observe the National Nutrition Month in September. A month-long intensive campaign is being jointly undertaken by various government ministries and other organizations to ramp up action towards the goal of attaining malnutrition-free India by 2022.

To support the implementation of these initiatives a knowledge sharing event will be organized on “Delivering for Nutrition in India: Insights from Implementation Research” on September 24, 2019, at the India International Center, New Delhi, India.  This event is co-hosted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), and NITI Aayog.  It is also supported and co-hosted by Alive & Thrive (A&T), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Bank, and The India Nutrition Initiative (TINI).

The implementation of India’s National Nutrition Mission, or POSHAN Abhiyaan, is centred around the key pillars of supporting the scale-up and convergence of services for vulnerable populations - Technology (ICDS-CAS), Convergence Action Planning, Behavioral Change Communication/IEC Advocacy, and Training/Capacity building. Data and data use are deemed central to the success of this mission, and several efforts are being made to use and improve programs using data. In the context of India’s nutrition efforts, a range of implementation research studies have either been completed or are ongoing.  These include studies on the use of technology in the ICDS, reach and effectiveness of behaviour change communications efforts, challenges faced by frontline workers, and factors affecting how client populations use major platforms, and engage with interventions.  Studies are also being conducted on major components of India’s flagship programs, such as the food supplements, growth monitoring, micronutrient supply chains and other services.

In 2016, with a range of partners, IFPRI hosted the first-ever nutrition implementation research (IR) conference in India. The conference was based on the theme of achieving full coverage of interventions across the continuum of care. On September 24, 2019, this second nutrition implementation research conference will bring together an updated body of evidence on the major program pillars of POSHAN Abhiyaan and the major program platforms. It aims to provide insights from implementation research to the current program efforts under POSHAN Abhiyaan.

The key objectives of this day-long event are to share findings from ongoing or recently completed implementation research studies in nutrition, especially on POSHAN Abhiyaan’s key pillars.  The participants will also deliberate on ways of tapping into insights from implementation research to help strengthen the coverage, equity and quality of maternal and child nutrition interventions in India

Registration details of the event can be found here.

Click here to access the AGENDA.