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About us

Who we are

The Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN) is an international non-governmental organisation (INGO), established in 1996, working with programmers, policy makers and researchers to strengthen know-how and evidence to overcome malnutrition. Our vision is that every individual caught up in a nutritional emergency, or suffering from malnutrition anywhere in the world, gets the most effective help possible. Find out more about how ENN started. 

"To me, ENN is one of the most long-standing focal points for emergency nutrition technical information and coordination." (ENN partner) 

ENN is based in Oxfordshire, in the UK, but works globally and consists of a team of technical experts in nutrition with decades of collective experience in the field. Find out more about our team here.

We work alongside governments, the United Nations, non-governmental organisations  and research institutions worldwide to look critically at existing practices, raise awareness of issues and drive change so that those working to tackle malnutrition can do the best possible job. 

We are trusted to highlight difficulties and gaps in the nutrition sector due to our extensive technical experience and expertise and because we operate independently of any one organisation.

“A relatively small but highly effective agency which ‘punches way above its weight’. ENN is widely viewed as a fair and impartial mediator allowing difficult issues to be constructively explored.” (Academic researcher)

Our governance

ENN is a UK-registered charity and governed by a board of trustees and and steered by our CEO and senior management team. Our accounts are audited annually and submitted to the UK Charities Commission.

What we do 

Over the last 25 years, ENN has become a trusted and influential organisation in the nutrition sector, working in partnership with others to improve nutrition outcomes across vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Driven by networks and committed to evidence, we have continued to listen, capture, and share knowledge and experience where it exists, and advocate for it to be developed where it is missing. We have maintained a strong focus on under-researched areas in nutrition and on our long-term support to key nutrition stakeholders.

We have expanded our role in amplifying the voices of frontline practitioners and have continued to provide a conduit for them to inform and influence nutrition policy, priorities, and practice.

 We do all of this by;

1. Capturing what works and what is needed to reduce malnutrition

We work with people implementing programmes to help them examine their experiences and document their achievements and challenges. We support them to write and publish in our flagship publication Field Exchange which reaches over 25,000 people globally per year. We also provide vital ‘real-time’ technical advice to those running nutrition programmes through our online platform en-net, linking them to an extensive network of international experts and peers for advice and guidance. 

"en-net has created an accessible, friendly and informal platform which enables people to learn from their peers and to respond to real-time demand for reliable advice and information – notably on Ebola, migration and COVID."

(ENN external evaluation , 2021)

“I think the unique selling point of the ENN for me is that it’s an independent/neutral technical platform where practitioners could raise and freely discuss any issue.”

(Nutrition Cluster Coordinator, Somalia)

“When I have not been able to find an answer, I have reached out to ENN technical experts and they direct me to great resources, link me to the right person or bounce off ideas with me and that has been very helpful for making decisions.” (NGO Nutrition Adviser, USA)

2. Coordinating technical bodies to increase the global understanding of malnutrition

Our technical areas of work focus on the most nutritionally vulnerable; infants and children, adolescent girls and mothers who are pregnant or are feeding their infants. We convene and coordinate several international expert groups, involving the most experienced practitioners and academics working on cutting-edge research. The aim is to answer critical questions for better addressing malnutrition. Read more about our work in these areas. 

"Infant Feeding in Emergencies (IFE) used to feel like a neglected topic, which was one of reasons why it was really important that someone took it on: ENN really did, and now people understand what you’re talking about" (Partner of the IFE Core Group)

3. Supporting global efforts to reduce malnutrition

We are regularly asked to bring our knowledge and technical expertise to strengthen the activities of organisations working to reduce malnutrition at the global level. Currently;

• We coordinate the Wasting Global Thematic Working Group (GTWG) of the Global Nutrition Cluster Technical Alliance (the Alliance) to deliver guidance and learning in response to practitioners needs;
• We support the UN Global Action Plan for Child Wasting Framework (GAP) and the updating of the WHO Guidelines on the prevention and treatment of wasting through support to the WHO and UNICEF in their efforts.
• We actively participate as ‘Observers’ in the technical consultation meetings that WHO convenes to support the ongoing process of updating the wasting guidelines and facilitating the establishment of an ‘implementation guidance’ advisory group for the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.
• We are an elected member of the No Wasted Lives Council of Research & Technical Advice on Acute Malnutrition (CORTASAM); and as a contributor to the Global Nutrition Report. 

“ENN has the vision and know-how to bring many questions that others maybe struggling with to the forefront for open discussions and learning. The community needs such an agent of change”. (NGO Technical Lead, UK)

Our impact and evaluations

We continue to invest in applying recommendations from our last external evaluation, the full report of which was published in March 2021.

In 2015 Mokoro Ltd conducted an independent evalulation of ENN - the full report is available as well as an executive summary for shorter reading. 

The Infant Feeding in Emergencies (IFE) Core Group's stories of change charts ENN's involvement with IFE over nearly two decades.

“ENN provides an independent and neutral space for technical debates and meetings; makes things happen that otherwise would not” (Academic researcher)

“.... consistently impressed with Field Exchange, it is very practical for practitioners, high quality and makes ENNs research relevant to humanitarian workers and their work” (Government donor)

Reference this page

Chloe Angood (). About us. www.ennonline.net/aboutenn

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