Technical Meeting on Nutrition

The ENN will host a 3 day technical meeting on nutrition in Oxford, UK, from 7th – 9th October 2014. The aim of the meeting is to facilitate technical learning and networking on nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive¹ programming in emergencies and high burden contexts, to inform better practice, research priorities and advocacy. The meeting will engage a broad audience that includes non-governmental organisations (NGOs), United Nations (UN) agencies, the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement, the Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC), academia, bilateral and multilateral donors, the private sector and government representatives. Current funders for the meeting are OFDA, Irish Aid, ACF, UNHCR, Concern Worldwide and World Vision.

The objectives of the meeting are:

1. To give participants the opportunity to present their work, highlight lessons, and share experiences from cutting edge/innovative and new areas of research and programming.
2. To give participants the opportunity to identify and discuss critical gaps and unanswered questions in relation to research and programming, with peers from the wider nutrition community and related sectors.
3. To provide participants with the space to discuss how collectively to move forward in certain key technical and programmatic areas and to allow current working/steering groups in the sector to convene and allow formation of new groups, as necessary.
4. To strengthen donor and academic understanding of operational challenges both within the sector and in cross-sectoral work streams.

Process

The lead organiser is the ENN, supported by a Steering Committee (SC) and an Advisory Group (AG), made up from individuals representing key organisations, institutions and academia. The main role of the SC is to support the organisation of the meeting by helping to guide the agenda development, meeting structure, process and participants profile. The Advisory Group (AG) will represent other sectors involved in nutrition sensitive research, policy and programmes such as health, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), livelihoods, education, shelter and social protection. Cross sectoral issues such as gender and governance will also be represented. Both the SC and AG will help identify specific themes/topical areas for the meeting.

Meeting format

The meeting will use formal and less formal approaches to present, share and discuss research and programming, which include:

• Plenary presentations
• Parallel meeting presentations
• ‘Market place’ presentations
• Panel Q & A discussions
• Active networking
• Space and bookings for pre-identified side meetings (which in some cases may be by invitation only)

The meeting is by invite only. Invitations and a call for abstracts will be issued within the next two months. For more information, please contact Emily Mates, ENN, email: emily@ennonline.net

¹Programmes whose primary objectives are not specific to nutrition but have the potential for nutrition impact