ENNs knowledge management project in support of the SUN Movement

By Tui Swinnen

Tui Swinnen is the Global Knowledge Management Coordinator at ENN

In early 2015, ENN began work on a five-year project to support Knowledge Management (KM) for the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement under a DFID-funded Technical Assistance for Nutrition (TAN) programme. The programme is designed to support countries to seize the opportunity presented by the favourable political environment that has been created for nutrition globally and to maximise the benefits of membership of the SUN Movement. The Micronutrient Initiative (MI) is also funded under the TAN and aims to deliver technical assistance support to countries within the SUN Movement. With the SUN Movement now in its second phase (2016- 2020), TAN partners will provide ongoing technical and KM support to actors involved in scaling up nutrition.  

ENN’s KM work will focus on supporting actors within SUN countries to identify knowledge gaps, strengthen evidence on effective nutrition scale-up, and share know-how among actors involved in multi-sector programming and policymaking. ENN will pay particular attention to countries within the SUN Movement that are fragile and conflict-affected, recognising the unique challenges faced in these contexts. Furthermore, ENN will harness the opportunity to improve knowledge-sharing and coordination between actors in both humanitarian and development nutrition sectors that often exist side by side in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.

Field Exchange will be an important vehicle for SUN related KM over the coming four years and will capture the more detailed and technical learning coming out of countries in the SUN Movement, as well as at the global level.

Progress to date

ENN has undertaken extensive consultation with a wide range of stakeholders and regional scoping visits to Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Senegal, Myanmar, India, Bangladesh and Laos to understand the status of the SUN Movement in these countries and their KM needs. A dedicated team of KM specialists has been assembled to lead the KM work with a Global Coordinator based at ENN’s sub-office in London. Three regional KM specialists are based in east/southern Africa, west/central Africa and in south Asia. The regional KM specialists bring extensive experience in the nutrition sector and involvement in the SUN Movement at country and regional levels, as well as strong networks in their respective regions. The ENN KM team will develop a thorough understanding of knowledge needs at country and regional levels within the SUN Movement and will foster intra- and inter-regional learning and exchanges. In addition to using existing ENN networks, publications and platforms, including en-net, Field Exchange and Nutrition Exchange, ENN will develop new tools and approaches for KM in order to meet the needs of actors involved in the SUN Movement at the national and sub-national level, i.e. more digital content and interactive online spaces to improve networking among country level actors and the capture and exchange of learning and know-how.

ENN will continue to expand its audience and network, engaging actors involved in scaling up nutrition from all sectors and networks, which will bring new voices, perspectives and lessons on scaling up nutrition to help strengthen the SUN Movement and the scale-up of nutrition. ENN will also ensure key KM-related materials are translated into the languages needed in order to reach out to new audiences at national and sub-national levels.

For more information, please contact Tui Swinnen and follow us on Twitter @TuiSwinnen and @ENNOnline.