IMPLEMENTATION RESEARCH ON DELIVERING FOR NUTRITION: A COLLECTIVE ENDEAVOR BY NUTRITION RESEARCH AND IMPLEMENTATION STAKEHOLDERS IN INDIA

Upcoming implementation research conference (image: IFPRI team)

The celebration of national nutrition month in India, or Poshan Maah, is a time to reinforce the country’s commitment to achieve a malnutrition-free India by 2022. Coinciding with Poshan Maah, a group of 20 co-hosts are organizing the third India-focused implementation research conference “Delivering for Nutrition in India: Insights from Implementation Research” from 14-18 September 2020.

This virtual event will convene academics, implementers, development partners, and policymakers from multiple institutes on a common platform. At this event, participants will review this evidence to inform the implementation of current policy and program initiatives. They will also deliberate on ways of tapping into insights from implementation research to help strengthen the maternal and child nutrition initiatives in India.

Through an open call, abstracts were invited on research studies and implementation programs focused on the core pillars of POSHAN Abhiyaan, India’s National Nutrition Mission, and platforms supporting actions for nutrition. The conference program features three pre-conference workshops, three outstanding plenary lectures, 12 thematic sessions based on selected oral and poster presentations, three social hangouts and panels with policymakers and research funders.  An overview of the conference program is HERE, and more details will be available soon!

The three pre-conference workshops on 14 September are organized by co-hosts and aim to promote learning and capacity building around implementation research. The topics include:

• Using cognitive interviewing to improve survey questions: Bridging the gap between the intent and interpretation (hosted by International Food Policy Research Institute);
• Quality of Nutrition Service delivery and the role of data in improving quality (hosted by Alive & Thrive); and
• Building a survey toolkit to assure quality nutrition data with appropriate gender indicators (hosted by Nutrition International).

The three plenary lectures feature global and national experts as well as policymakers. This year’s conference features the following plenary lectures:

• How can improving the quality of health systems also help to deliver nutrition interventions, featuring Margaret E. Kruk, from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Rajani Ved from the National Health Systems Resource Centre;
• What role do food supplements play in maternal and child nutrition programs, featuring Zulfiqar Bhutta, from SickKids and the University of Toronto, Rajan Sankar from The India Nutrition Initiative at the Tata Trusts and Shariqua Yunus from the World Food Programme, India; and
• New insights on child growth globally and in India, featuring Marie Ruel and Jef Leroy, from the International Food Policy Research Institute, Ranadip Chowdhury from the Society for Applied Studies and HPS Sachdev, Sitaram Bhartia Institute.

The 12 abstract-based thematic sessions feature abstracts submitted on implementation research and implementation experiences and cover a range of topics of paramount relevance to India’s nutrition efforts, including the following:

• Supporting nutrition behaviors in the first 1000 days
• Bringing it together for good nutrition: What will convergence take?
• Systems strengthening: Human resources, infrastructure, and financing
• Scaling up interventions to tackle anemia
• What we eat: How different aspects of food systems come together
• Systems strengthening: What role can technology play?
• Severe wasting in India: Technical and programmatic insights
• Women together: Consolidating insights from women's group programs for nutrition
• Systems strengthening: Using data to improve programs
• COVID-19 and nutrition: Early insights from around India
• Enhancing the reach and impact of cash transfers in the first 1000 days: What will it take?
• Systems strengthening: Building technical and operational capacities.

The opening and closing sessions for the conference will feature discussions on closing gaps in the implementation evidence base in India and will include reflections from leading researchers, research funders and policymakers.  And last, but not last, there will be three nutrition-friendly social hangout sessions as well.

Do not miss this opportunity - join the conference!

REGISTER HERE.