The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) plans to undertake the 2020 Rural Livelihoods Assessment with the aim of assessing and monitoring food and nutrition security in the face of the COVID-19 Pandemic. While the full impact of the Corona virus on food and nutrition security is not well known, it is clear that it will have significant negative effects on food and nutrition security. Lessons from previous pandemics or global crises indicate that food and nutrition security could be rapidly and dramatically affected in both rural and urban areas. In light of this, there is need to act quickly and anticipate the collateral effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by gathering up to date data for evidence based polices and programming.
In addition, the assessment also serves to monitor and report towards commitments made within the guiding frameworks of existing national food and nutrition policies and strategies among them the Transitional Stabilisation Plan, the Food and Nutrition Security Policy and the Zero Hunger strategy. In 2020, two important documents will be developed, namely the National Development strategy for the next five years and the Food and Nutrition Security Strategy for the next five years. These need grounded evidence to come up with strong strategies to move the food and nutrition security issues in the development agenda.
Data collection will be undertaken through sub-national (provincial and district) Food and Nutrition Security Committees (FNSCs). Face-to-face interviews will be undertaken at household level with proper and adequate personal protection equipment (PPE) and adherence to social distancing and other hygienic measures as prescribed by standard operating procedures guiding field work. All survey teams will undergo training on how to carry out this assessment during such times and minimizing risks for both the survey teams and the households. Data will be collected from at least 250 households from selected enumeration areas in each of the 60 rural districts in the country. Due diligence will be taken to ensure that enumeration areas where active cluster contamination of COVID-19 has been recorded by the Ministry of Health and Child surveillance team will not be surveyed.
Preparations for the survey are already underway. The survey design, methodology and data collection tools have been developed and standardised through wide multi-stakeholder consultation. Supervisor training has already been done and will be followed up by enumerator training and data collection in July. The process will culminate with report writing and the development of a Response Strategy. The final report is expected to be presented to Cabinet and disseminated to all levels of programming and decision making by the end of July.
Beyond the RLA, The ZimVAC committee will continue monitoring the food and nutrition security situation.
Japan, as the host country of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games 2020, had planned to host the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit 2020 in December 2020 in order to accelerate global effort to tackle malnutrition. However, in light of the continued global spread of COVID-19, the Government has decided to postpone the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit for a year until December 2021.
(Note: The Nutrition for Growth Summit (N4G) is typically hosted by the host country of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.)
At the summit, participants will discuss a wide range of issues related to malnutrition and present ways that the global community can tackle those issues with nutrition partners all over the world.
We have set five thematic areas for discussion at the summit: (1) Health - Making nutrition integral to Universal Health Coverage; (2) Food - Building food systems that promote healthy diets and nutrition; (3) Resilience - Addressing malnutrition effectively in fragile and conflict-affected contexts; (4) Accountability - Promoting data-driven accountability; and (5) Financing - Securing new investments and driving innovation in nutrition financing.
The Government of Japan will provide updates on the status of summit as soon as any new information becomes available.
1 July 2020, 10:30-12:30 (CET) - Zoom meeting
As ever, the 2020 GNR presents the most comprehensive picture of the state of nutrition at the global, regional and country level, and tracks progress against global nutrition targets and the commitments made to reach them. Uniquely, the 2020 report focuses on equity and unpacks the role of inequities in tackling malnutrition. It does this in recognition of the ways in which malnutrition affects different people in different ways, depending on factors such as income, location, sex and age. Through this lens, the 2020 GNR reveals the challenges and opportunities for improving nutrition outcomes through food and health systems, supported by strong financing and accountability.
This online event will bring together key stakeholders from across the various Rome-based agencies in an active and engaging discussion around the latest GNR’s data, messaging and recommendations. The event will focus on nutritional inequities, examining synergies between the GNR’s own findings and the UNSCN’s periodic review UNSCN News #43 that extensively explored equity in food systems.
Dear partners and colleagues,
I am writing to you as the ad interim Chair of the UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) to provide you with an update on the merger of the UN Network for Scaling-Up Nutrition (SUN) and the UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN).
As you probably know, the UNSCN was established by ECOSOC in 1977, while the UN Network for the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Movement was established by the Principals of FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO in 2013, in support of the SUN Movement. While these two entities share obvious complementarities, UNSCN was spearheading efforts on global policy coherence for nutrition and UN coordination, while the UN Network for SUN took the lead in driving country-level efforts on nutrition. Nevertheless, the current global nutrition landscape demands increased efficiencies and more integrated and streamlined efforts. This is especially relevant as we are in the middle of the Decade of Action on Nutrition, in the final decade of the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda for 2030 and in the context of UN Reform.
To harmonize the collective efforts of the UN Network and of UNSCN at global and country levels, we embarked on an ambitious reform process of these two bodies in early 2018. Extensive consultations with the Heads of Nutrition and the Deputy Principals of the five UN Agencies (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO) members of the Steering Committee of UN Network/UNSCN have led us to unanimously recommend the merger of these two bodies into a single entity entitled UN Nutrition. In the spirit of the UN Reform agenda, we strongly believe that UN Nutrition, supported by an agile Secretariat, would result in strengthened collaboration, a more unified voice for nutrition in the UN System, and greater impact on the ground.
New Terms of Reference (ToRs) have been developed and have been endorsed by the respective Heads of Agencies. UN Nutrition will be an interagency coordination mechanism for nutrition at global level, and a collaboration platform at country level, bringing together UN agencies to accelerate progress for nutrition objectives and targets at all levels. Through UN Nutrition, UN Agencies are committed to increasing their support to Governments and stakeholders in promoting nutrition actions. UN Nutrition is universal in its coverage and relevant to all countries.
In addition to its core functions, UN Nutrition will serve as the UN Network for the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement. In this capacity, it will contribute to advance the aims of the SUN Movement and support SUN processes at global, regional and country levels. It is also foreseen that, at the request of governments and upon the availability of funding, UN Nutrition could mobilize nutrition facilitation services to support nutrition governance processes at the country level. These services build off the considerable expertise gathered through REACH in 23 countries over the last 12 years and draw upon its diagnostic and analytical tools and resource materials.
The current reporting obligation of the UNSCN to ECOSOC will be maintained by UN Nutrition. The ToRs for UN Nutrition are fully in line with the current ECOSOC mandate but enhance the scope of the new UN Nutrition to strengthen nutrition governance and coordination not only at the global but also at the country level.
Further information on the operational modalities and official launch of the new body will be provided in due course. Until the official launch of UN Nutrition, the current UN Network and UNSCN Secretariats will continue to implement their agreed work plans for 2020 and work under their current names. The new UN Nutrition’s Secretariat will be hosted by the FAO at its headquarters in Rome.
Warm regards,
Amir Abdulla
Ad interim Chair UNSCN/UN Nutrition, Deputy Executive Director of WFP
