Project overview
ENN will generate, translate, and share knowledge to influence and improve policy and programming for sustainable food systems contributing to nutrition security.
We will focus on preventing malnutrition of infants, young children, and adolescents in fragile settings by synthesising and curating information, demystifying and breaking down silos between nutrition, food systems and climate efforts, to ensure that all individuals have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food in a way that is sustainable (environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and economically viable) both in the present and for future generations.
Objectives
Our focus will be on examining and filling knowledge gaps around sustainable food systems within fragile and conflict-affected environments and how food systems can be better orientated for the prevention of malnutrition, including through a dietary approach.
Our objectives are to generate, curate, and share knowledge to positively influence policy and programming for sustainable food systems contribution to nutrition security.
Learning and knowledge exchange
ENN will build a common understanding of sustainable food systems within the nutrition community facilitating collaboration between the different food and nutrition communities. We will do this by working with our networks to fill gaps as well as to synthesise existing experience and information within the above focus areas and populations of interest. We will translate knowledge and learning into accessible information relevant to a nutrition audience, including leveraging ENN’s flagship publication, Field Exchange.
Knowledge generation
ENN will collaborate with partners to understand national-level challenges, partnering with them to document country-specific evidence to inform effective adaptations and influence broader policymaking. We will broker and collaborate in new knowledge generation around how specialised food supplements and food aid interplay with building a sustainable food system.
Networking and partnership building
ENN will continue engaging with groups who are aligned with our priorities such as the Coalition of Action for Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems (HDSFS) Working Group on Fragile systems and the SUN Civil Society Food Systems Community of Practice. We will actively participate in forums that foster connections between climate, nutrition, and food/agriculture organisations. We will utilise entry points in our networks focussed on small and at-risk infants under six months and their mothers (MAMI Global Network), infant feeding in emergencies (IFE Core Group), the relationship between wasting and stunting (WaSt Technical Interest Group) and for addressing our priority population of adolescents (Global Adolescent Nutrition Network (GANN).
ENN’s unique value in this space
ENN has a rich portfolio of projects that explore nutrition throughout various stages of the lifecycle (from maternal nutrition, infant feeding, the management of nutritionally vulnerable infants, the management of wasting and its relationship to stunting in children under five years of age as well as adolescent nutrition) with opportunities to consider the role of food systems within these different areas of work. Moreover, as identified through consultation with key stakeholders, ENN’s unique value is as follows:
- Can champion an area and make it a new norm by showcasing practice and documenting programming.
- Is independent and neutral so able to work without getting entangled in politics.
- Is good at breaking down silos, fostering collaboration and synergy, with systems thinking enabling us to navigate the complexities of food systems and highlight gaps and challenges.
- Demystifies and translates knowledge, making information accessible and understandable to a wide audience.
Key resources
Exploring new, evolving and neglected topics at the intersection of food systems, climate change and nutrition
Nutrition and Climate Change - Current State of Play: Scoping Review
Food systems and how they relate to malnutrition in low- and middle-income countries
