Health and Nutrition Responses in Fragile Contexts

David Regan, Chief Executive Officer, Concern Worldwide

Bio: David Regan is the Chief Executive Officer of Concern Worldwide. David started in Concern as volunteer civil engineer in Ethiopia from 1985 to 1987. He then completed an MSc in Information Technology and joined Accenture. In the course of a 34-year career at Accenture he focused primarily on serving government clients. He also acted as the sponsor of a large Accenture-funded conservation agriculture program in Malawi from 2012 to 2018. David combines deep experience in strategy consulting, technology implementation and operations, with a long and passionate interest in Concern’s work and governance.

This session introduced the context of the day’s discussions with a review of the major challenges currently faced in tackling child health and nutrition in fragile contexts and the global policy and institutional landscape within which the humanitarian community is operating.

Speaker: Nigel Tricks, Chief Executive Officer, Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN)

Bio: Nigel is a British humanitarian who has led international aid agencies in Africa and Asia for the last 30 years. He has overseen large scale humanitarian responses, including Concern Worldwide’s response to the 2005 Niger crisis as well as long-term development programmes and campaigns for systemic change. He has a particular interest in the analysis and strategic development of the international humanitarian system. Previous to joining ENN, Nigel was based in Nairobi with Oxfam GB and as the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Regional Director for East Africa and Yemen.

This session presented an overview of the innovative ERNE programme model and introduced the main results and learnings to date.

Speaker: Aoife Black, Global Programme Co-ordinator – ERNE, Concern Worldwide

Bio: Aoife Black has been the Global Co-ordinator for Concern’s Enhanced Responses to Nutrition Emergencies (ERNE) programme since 2020. She has worked in the international development and humanitarian sector for eighteen years with diverse organisations including Concern, Oxfam, Trócaire and VSO. Aoife has lived and worked in many developing countries including Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Uganda and South Sudan. Prior to embarking on her humanitarian career, Aoife worked for many years in Brussels as an EU public policy and campaigns co-ordinator on environmental protection and animal welfare issues. She holds a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) degree, an MA in European Integration and a Diplôme d’études specialiseés (DES) in Human Rights.

Short break.

This was an Introductory Presentation on ERNE programme context and learnings followed by Breakout Sessions to discuss three of the key challenges identified during the programme. Included sharing of experiences from ERNE programme countries DRC, Ethiopia, Niger, Republic of Sudan and South Sudan.

Participants were assigned to one of three parallel groups:

• Breakout Session 1: Improving service access (view here)
• Breakout Session 2: Integration of nutrition and health services (view here)
• Breakout Session 3: Ensuring nutrition supplies (view here)

Summary of key recommendations from Breakout Sessions.

Facilitator: Kate Golden, Senior Nutrition Advisor & Lead Nutrition Technical Advisor for ERNE Programme, Concern Worldwide

Bio: Kate Golden is Senior Nutrition Adviser at Concern Worldwide. She has been working in nutrition programming and response in the developing world for roughly 15 years. Her career started in Ethiopia in 2003 in one of the early pilots of the community-based management of acute malnutrition, which was later to transform how children with acute malnutrition are treated. She has also worked in South Sudan, Sudan, and Lebanon, and since 2006 she has supported nutrition programming, strategy development, and emergency response to about 15 countries across Africa and Asia as a global nutrition adviser. She has been the lead technical adviser for nutrition for the ERNE programme.

The session broke for lunch. 

Shared and discussed learning from ERNE on tools and approaches used to prepare for, anticipate and respond to shocks, such as Early Warning Systems and CMAM Surge. With experiences and examples from ERNE programme countries Ethiopia, Niger and South Sudan.

Facilitators:

• Jacqueline Frize, Early Warning Early Action (EWEA) Advisor, ERNE Programme Co-ordination Unit, Concern Worldwide
• Lucy Lafferty, Health and Nutrition Surge Manager, ERNE Programme Co-ordination Unit, Concern Worldwide

Bios: Jacqueline Frize is the ERNE Early Warning Early Action Adviser at Concern. She has twenty five years of experience in designing, implementing and evaluating emergency and recovery programmes, specialising in nutrition, food security and livelihoods, and disaster preparedness. Jacqueline has worked for a number of NGOs, UN agencies, academic institutions and the Red Cross Movement. She joined the Concern ERNE team in April 2022 bringing in disaster risk reduction and Cash and Vouchers and markets expertise to the team.

Lucy Lafferty is currently the Health and Nutrition Surge Manager on the coordination team of the Enhanced Responses to Nutrition Emergencies (ERNE) programme with Concern Worldwide. She previously held the position of Global CMAM Surge Advisor with Concern supporting global coordination and learning on the Surge Approach. Prior to this, she worked in West and East Africa supporting the implementation of health and nutrition programmes. She has a background in Clinical Dietetics, with a Master’s in Public Health Nutrition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

Short break.

This final session brought together a panel of experts to discuss what can and should be done to tackle the critical challenge of responding to health and nutrition crises in the world’s most fragile countries, taking into account the shifting global context and ever increasing humanitarian needs.

Moderator: Nigel Tricks, Chief Executive Officer, Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN)

Panellists:

Amina Ibrahim Abdulla, Regional Director for Horn of Africa, Concern Worldwide

Bio: Amina is Concern's Regional Director for the Horn of Africa. She has over two decades of experience in the field of community development and food security in the region. She began her career in the humanitarian field working in primary healthcare in South Sudan, then went on to work with UNICEF in Somalia as a community development specialist and, more recently, as Concern's Kenya Country Director. She has overseen the growth and consolidation of Concern's work on Food Security and Social Protection in Kenya and Concern’s engagement in Kenya’s preparations towards the UN Food Systems Summit. Amina holds an MA in Sociology and Msc in Poverty Studies.

Christiane Rudert, Regional Nutrition Advisor, Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, UNICEF

Bio: Since 2020, Christiane has worked as Regional Nutrition Advisor, UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya, providing technical and strategic support to the 21 countries in the region on addressing all forms of malnutrition and emergency nutrition response. Christiane started her career in international nutrition and public health in 1994 in Namibia and joined UNICEF in 1997 in Zambia. She has also worked in Ethiopia, Mozambique, New York HQ and as Regional Nutrition Advisor in the UNICEF East Asia-Pacific Regional Office in Bangkok. Christiane holds an MSc degree in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine/London School of Economics and a BA in Social Anthropology from SOAS, London.

Marie-Sophie Whitney, Nutrition Thematic Expert, DG ECHO, European Commission

Bio: Sophie has extensive experience in nutrition, having worked for over 20 years in both field and headquarters positions in program design, implementation, monitoring and policy. She has worked at Action Against Hunger for over ten years before moving briefly to WFP. Since 2014, she has been working as a Thematic Expert in Nutrition for the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (DG ECHO). She is currently based in Nairobi and provides technical support to operations in the Eastern and Southern Africa regions.

Connell Foley, Director of Strategy, Advocacy and Learning, Concern Worldwide.

Read learning papers and case-studies from the Enhanced Responses to Nutrition Emergencies here and below:

ERNE Programme Provisional Results

Rethinking Responses Background Paper

Coverage relating to Enhanced Responses to Nutrition Emergencies can be found in the Irish Times , the Irish Examiner and Relief Web.