Country: Kenya

This is a recording of a webinar ENN’s SUN KM Team hosted in March unpacking the key findings from the 8 country case studies examining multisectoral programming at the sub- national level.

To read the case studies, click here.

This is the recording of a webinar presentation conducted in March which reflected on 4 country case studies (Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen) exploring the humanitarian development nexus. The webinar explores critical aspects of nutrition security in the context of fragility including nutrition architecture, coordination and financing.

To find out more read the two published case studies from Somalia and Kenya. 

Malnutrition is recognised the world over as a problem requiring multisectoral intervention and to this end many countries have developed Multisectoral Policies and Plans to combat both malnutrition and stunting in particular. Many of these countries are part of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement. However, evidence of implementation of Multisectoral programmes sub-nationally is limited.

ENN, as the Knowledge Management Partner in the Technical Assistance to Nutrition (TAN) project - which is funded by DfID - conducted a series of case studies examining Multisectoral programme implementation at the Sub National level in 6 countries; Nepal, Kenya, Senegal, Bangladesh, Niger and Ethiopia between 2016 and 2018.

Background:

I attended Kenya’s 2nd Agri-nutrition conference held in Nairobi from 11th – 13th of September 2018. The 3-day forum was co-hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation and the Ministry of Health, with support from USAID-Accelerated Value Chain Development Program and partners.¹

The Conference’s objective was to provide a learning platform on the role of agriculture in improving nutritional outcomes, summarised in the conference theme: “Accelerating Nutritional Gains Through Agriculture”. ENN attended the conference to share learnings and disseminate the findings of an in-depth documentation exercise on multi-sector programming for nutrition - a sub-national study done in Kenya, Nepal and Senegal in 2017. Kenya’s case example had a strong agrinutrition bias and the agrinutrition forum was therefore a relevant forum to share the findings.

Join ENN's Lillian Karanja Odhiambo to see and hear how one multi-sector programmes is being implemented at the sub-national level in Kenya. This video focuses on implementation challenges and lessons from the USAID-funded Accelerated Value Chain Development Programme (AVCD) in Homa Bay and how current government led activities and structures enable and interact with this multi-sectoral programme.

I watched fellow Kenyans go through party primary elections this past April in preparation for the August General elections. This is when political parties nominate one candidate to represent them prior to the actual elections. This occurs for the lowest administrative office right up to the presidential seat. I had never really paid attention to party primaries before, but I noticed them this time due to huge voter turn-out - one would think it was the general election. In Kenya’s history, this year’s elections will be the second ever under devolution, and perhaps the first where citizens actually understand what devolution really means. The huge party primary turn-out was probably because Kenyans are serious about whom they want (or don’t want) to represent them at county level. I believe this level of interest in politics front has implications for public service delivery, and specifically, health and nutrition services.

Join Gladys Mugambi the head of Kenya’s Nutrition and Dietetics Unit in the Ministry of Health (and National SUN Focal Point) as she dicusses the nutrition sector’s past successes, current challenges and future perspectives in the country.

Gladys talks of the evolution of nutrition policy and programming in Kenya including what opportunities the SUN Movement has brought through work with in-country networks and sharing learning with other SUN countries in the region. She decribes the work currently going on in Kenya around financial tracking and the nutrition budget line, school feeding and working with devolved counties on nutrition.

How relevant are Africa’s political blocs in advancing the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement agenda? Can the movement tap into the initiatives by the region’s political blocs to achieve its goals?

In my experience with the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement activities, I have noted the quest to establish multi-sectoral platforms to tackle malnutrition worldwide.  Thus, nutrition experts and nutrition advocates have embraced the multi-stakeholder approach to drive forward their agenda – bringing together governments, donors, UN agencies, civil societies, business/private sector, research and academic, to play their roles in this noble goal.