UNGA2018 side event
An event co-hosted by Nutriset and the World Food Programme

On 27 Sept. 2018, alongside the United Nations General Assembly, Nutriset and the World Food Programme co-hosted a side event at the UN Headquarters, to discuss the role of innovation in public-private partnerships in the fight against malnutrition.

The global commitment to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030 as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG#2) requires coordinated multi-stakeholder interventions at both global, regional, and national level.

Partnerships between governments, international institutions, NGOs and the private sector are expected to play a crucial role in achieving these goals (SDG#17).

Innovation: key for success

Partnerships established to fight malnutrition increasingly have access to a range of innovative technologies and processes that have the potential to increase both the efficiency and effectiveness of nutrition interventions.

Innovation plays a crucial role in policy and programme design; operational efficiency; and multistakeholder engagement.

Cutting-edge tools and processes provide us with more accurate, reliable data on those we serve, allowing our agencies to improve situational analyses across the globe. This improves our policy and programme design, and results in shorter feedback loops to track and report on progress. At the same time, these new systems reduce cost and response times while increasing reach and coverage of nutrition programming.

These innovations may ultimately be shared across sectors – among governments, private companies, NGOs, the UN, and others – helping us achieve more, together.

Due to these recent developments, stakeholders can work together in less time, at lower costs, with increased accuracy in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of nutritional programmes.

An event co-hosted with WFP

This event was co-hosted by Nutriset and the World Food Programme with the intent to provide equal space to all players involved in the fight against malnutrition – governments, private businesses, international organizations, civil societies, and nongovernmental organizations – and present cutting-edge, life-saving innovations being harnessed to improve nutrition worldwide.

The sum of experience sharing and discussions made a case not only for why innovation is a critical component of our work, but why we should continue to innovate together to meet SDG#2 and SDG#17.

Moderated by H.R.H. Princess Sarah ZEID, a Maternal, Child and Newborn Health advocate, this open and inclusive dialogue was joined by key speakers :

  • Carlos Abeleira, Early Childhood Minister of the Government of the Province of Salta, Argentina
  • Lauren Landis, Director of Nutrition, WFP
  • Adeline Lescanne-Gautier, Executive Director of Nutriset
  • Brenda Killen, Director of the Secretariat of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement
  • Jochen Moninger, Innovation Director at Welthungerhilf
  • Lionel Baraban, co-founder and CEO of FAMOCO

The event highlighted keys for success, ways to safeguard those we serve, and the growing importance of innovation as we work together to end malnutrition in an increasingly digitalized world.

This remark from a panelist gave the tone to the conclusion of this event: "We have many examples of good results. The way to move forward is to work collaboratively with meaningful data."

 

Read also : The Nutriset Group and the Sustainable Development Goals

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