The USAID/Zambia-funded Scaling Up Nutrition Learning and Evaluation (SUN LE) project, in collaboration with Zambia’s National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) and Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) implementing partners in the country, successfully convened the 2021 national nutrition conference. The conference, whose theme was ‘’Sustaining stunting reduction through creating an enabling environment for nutrition programmes,’’ was implemented through a 3 half-day (27-29 April) virtual conference. Approximately 180 participants from implementing partners, line ministries, academia, civil society, research institutions, and academia attended.
SUN LE presented the results from the following three studies/assessments:
- Readiness and Performance Assessment
- Community and facility readiness to implement multi-sectoral maternal and child nutrition interventions
- Monitoring Household Food Security and Nutrition in 30 SUN 2.0 Districts in Zambia during COVID-19 pandemic
NFNC showcased the upgraded NFNC website and a dashboard for indicators based on the Most Critical Days Program (MCDP) II baseline survey, both of which were implemented through SUN LE’s support. Three districts (Ndola, Petauke and Mongu) shared their experience using the baseline survey results to guide their planning and implementation.
A key highlight of the conference was a panel discussion in which directors from the line ministries and one implementing partner reflected on the results from the readiness assessments and shared their perspectives and thoughts on improving the enabling environment for implementing the SUN program. The directors further chaired specific sector groups for detailed brainstorming on the implications of the results and what could be prioritized on a short-term and medium-term basis to improve the SUN implementation environment.