SecureNutrition eUpdate
June 2015
SecureNutrition works to bridge the operational knowledge gaps between nutrition and all of its underlying causes. Our platform offers: a curated resource library; original events, blogs, and newsletters on multisectoral nutrition linkages; forum space on LinkedIn for community notices and discussion; social media and email dissemination; and, a hub for reaching potential partners and related networks.
Redesign Update
We tripled activity in our LinkedIn group in May, and our newsletters are now including several social protecation, WASH, or health resources in addition to agriculture and food security. 

These are initial steps being taken to implement SecureNutrition's new Knowledge Management and Community Engagement Strategy. You can see our brand new logo above, and we are on track for a full re-launch in the Fall. We again wish to thank everyone who contributed their time and insight through surveys and interviews! 
 The State of Food Insecurity in the World (SoFI)
The 2015 SoFI coincides with the end of the monitoring period for the Millennium Development Goal targets. A total of 72 developing countries out of 129, or more than half the countries monitored, have reached the MDG 1C target to halve the proportion of people suffering from hunger. Familiar themes like economic growth and smallholder farm productivity are covered, but also the importance of social protection systems, and the impacts of natural and human-induced disasters. An interactive map complements the report.
A new report from the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition takes up the issue of water, noting in its first paragraphs that, "Water is key to human life. It is key to human food security and nutrition." The document is extensive, and includes a diagram exploring conceptual linkages between the three sectors (pg. 27), covers issues around water access and quality for both households and for agricultural use, and ends with a section focused on governance. Sections 1.4 and 1.5 focus most explicitly on trends related to water demands, hygiene, sanitation, and food production.
SecureNutrition Seminar: The Tata-Cornell Agriculture and Nutrition Initiative (TCi)
In case you missed it: Read a short summary of the latest seminar co-hosted by SecureNutrition, and download the presentation slides. The Tata-Cornell Agriculture and Nutrition (https://tci.cals.cornell.edu/) initiative was launched at Cornell University (Ithaca, New York, USA) in 2013 and aims to bring together nutrition, economics, engineering, human ecology, horticulture, resource management, and other disciplines in order to better understand how agriculture and rural realities contribute to nutrition outcomes.
 
Resources and Tools
This new report from FAO explores eight case studies from Central and South America and outlines the modalities, funding sources, cost, and food procurement processes for each program. The report determines that there is "a fairly marked interest from governments and various stakeholders involved in promoting local purchases," but that "efforts are needed to strengthen the institutional, productive and marketing capacities of family farmers." The report provides both country-specific and generalized recommendations on ways to increase locally sourced food for school feeding programs.

Developed especially for those working in countries in Eastern Europe, CAPNUTRA is a network  of members from 11 World Bank and Central and Eastern Europe countries focused on improving knowledge and skills in the areas of food, nutrition, and health programming. The website--funded by the UN University and the Standing Committee on Nutrition and maintained by the Centre of Research Excellence in Nutrition and Metabolism in the University of Belgrade--contains a wealth of tools, event listings, videos, publications, list of network participants and other resources. 

This Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) paper provides an overview of the potential impact that "open data"--data anyone can access, use, and share--could have on food and nutrition security of smallholder farmers, and identifies possible relevant data sources and applications. Although there are few examples of a direct impact of open data on food and nutrition security, indirect impacts through apps and platforms promoting their use were found. These included saving USD $3.1 million in drought damage with a climate-smart tool in Colombia, and exposing misspent farm subsidies in Mexico. Recommendations for the future include tapping into data sets from the corporate sector, specific crop-related data from the scientific community, and NGO programmatic evaluation data.

Nutrition Exchange (NEX) content is written by diverse national actors engaged in nutrition-specific and -sensitive projects and programs. The newest issue features nine original articles from Kenya (including Harvesting Nutrition winner Shamba Shape Up), Niger, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Rwanda, Malawi and Namibia, as well as an article highlighting the African Nutritionists Network. Several new pieces focus on agriculture and nutrition in the field, and two short summaries of IFPRI and IDS documents highlight overlaps between WASH and nutrition. 

These locally sourced, low-fuel, and nutritionally-dense recipes were published by the World Bank's South Asia Food and Nutrition Security Initiative (SAFANSI) earlier this year, and come from organizations working in Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. Each recipe requires less than 40 minutes to prepare, breaks down cost per person by serving, and includes standardized nutrition facts.
News You May Have Missed

The Netherlands and the World Bank Group have entered into a new partnership to promote "Food for All," including a greater emphasis on key strategic areas such as food, nutrition and health. Read the recent press release to learn more.

USAID's Maternal and Child Survival Programme (MCSP, formerly MCHIP) and Lifebuoy have renewed a partnership focused on increasing the frequency of handwashing with soap among mothers, and reducing diarrhea and child mortality. Alongside several other organizations and companies, they are part of a broader Global Public-Private Parntership for Handwashing

Roughly one third of the food produced for human consumption--approximately 1.3 billion tons every year--is lost or goes to waste. With losses becoming increasingly concentrated in cities and an ever-rising proportion of the world's population becoming city-dwellers (nearly 2/3 by 2050), the World Union of Wholesale Markets and the FAO hope to develop a set of best practices to reduce global food waste.

A new WB-funded project will target both demand- and supply-side challenges to healthcare and nutrition in five populous regions in Niger--Dosso, Maradi, Tahoua, Tillaberi, and Zinder. A total of 15 million individuals are anticipated to benefit, of which 60% are women. The full project appraisal document is also available.
RELATED: World Bank, Global Financing Facility, Power of Nutrition Trust Fund, and USAID to support healthcare in Tanzania

LANSA research lead and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Reader Alan Dangour reveals his surprise at "how few ideas have been tested" in the nutrition-sensitive world. He encourages readers to engage in an ongoing forum discussion, co-hosted with the FAO, to find new approaches.

Food policy Economist Lynn Brown argues that agriculture's "core responsibility in delivering nutrition" is being lost within a larger discussion on multisectoral work, and that rebalancing this discourse will at the same time address many of the challenges facing women farmers.

Agrilinks summarizes the top takeaways from their recent seminar on mycotoxins. Of note: aflatoxin is the most well-known member of this poison-producing fungus family, but there are many other mycotoxins that also affect the global food system.

A new study conducted by Cornell and HarvestPlus has found that pearl millet bred to be richer in iron was able to reverse iron deficiency in school-aged Indian children in as quickly as six months. The students ate iron-rich pearl millet in the form of bhakhri (a flat, unleavened bread) at midday and evening meals, which significantly improved their iron status as compared to non-fortified pearl millet. The seeds for this varietal are commercially available, and are currently being planted by tens of thousands of farmers in India.
Featured Discussion 

A recent Guardian article highlighting Malian NGO work around local nutritious foods has piqued the interest of several SecureNutrition LinkedIn group 
members. Sign up and join in!
Open Call
Save the Children is looking for a Livelihoods Advisor for Nutrition-Sensitive Programs. Interested parties should visit the full posting here.
This Month's Infographic
The changing distribution in the world: numbers and shares of undernourished people by region, 1990-92 and 2014-16. Source: SoFI 2015 
  
See the whole picture: FAO State of Food Insecureity (SoFI) 2015, page 10.
SecureNutrition Knowledge Platform 

[email protected] 
www.securenutritionplatform.org 

Copyright �2015. All Rights Reserved.
Header Photo: Andrea Borgarello / World Bank
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