UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM Standing Committee on Nutrition

1. UNITED NATIONS SYSTEMStanding Committee on Nutrition 34th Session – Working Together Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and Evaluation Mark Smulders, FAO Agnès Dhur, WFP

2. SCN 34th Session – Working Together Discussion points: • What is TF – AME expected to do? • What has been done so far? • What could/should the TF do? • Membership • Resource requirements Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and Evaluation

3. SCN 34th Session – Working Together Expectations: • 6 -7 areas of work identified in SCN Action Plan • measurement and monitoring of food & nutrition -> MDGs • indicators for assessment, monitoring and evaluation • methods and tools for AME • M&E 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 Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and Evaluation

4. SCN 34th Session – Working Together Where are we? • (i) $3m budget in SCN Action Plan for: • Interagency Nutrition Initiative($2m) • Nutrition Information in Crisis Situations • Monitoring indicators for Right to Adequate Food • M&E 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 Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and Evaluation

5. SCN 34th Session – Working Together 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? Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and Evaluation

7. SCN 34th Session – Working Together 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? Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and Evaluation

8. SCN 34th Session – Working Together • 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? Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and Evaluation

9. SCN 34th Session – Working Together 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 Task Force on Assessment, Monitoring, and Evaluation