Khulisa supported the convening of Zambia’s Scaling Up Nutrition National Conference in Lusaka on September 13th and 14th. The conference – a forum for stakeholders in the Scaling Up Nutrition/First 1000 Most Critical Days Program (SUN 2.0/MCDP II) to engage around the topic of nutrition – included participants from the Zambian government and the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC), the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations, UNICEF, and SUN implementing partners, including Khulisa’s Scaling Up Nutrition Learning and Evaluation (SUN LE) team.
Hon. Sylvia Masebo, Zambia’s Minister of Health, gave the conference’s keynote address.
From Khulisa’s perspective, the highlights of the conference were presentations on:
- The results from the 2022 MCDP Performance Assessment;
- An economic analysis of the SUN/MCDP program; and
- The Zambia Nutrition Evidence Gap Map.
2022 Performance Assessment
The SUN LE team, led by Khulisa, has conducted two rounds of performance assessments (PAs) as part of the SUN LE program – one in 2020 and one in 2022. A PA is an independent examination of a program’s functions, operations, management systems, and procedures against defined standards, criteria, benchmarks, or expectations. For more information on what a PA is and how Khulisa developed the SUN LE PA, read our April 2023 blog post.
Dr. Chiza Mudenda and Ms. Patricia Sakala presented the 2022 PA findings at the conference, delivering detailed results in each of the PA’s eight domains.
Economic Analysis of the SUN Program
The SUN LE team also conducted an economic analysis of the SUN/MCDP program. The economic analysis had three objectives:
- Evaluate the main drivers of stunting decline in Zambia;
- Assess the impact of SUN/MCDP II interventions; and
- Assess efficient resource allocation decisions to maximize SUN/MCDP II impact.
SUN LE Consortium members from ICF – Ann Levin, Athena Pantazis, and Sharper Sikota – presented the findings of the economic analysis
Zambia Nutrition Evidence Gap Map
The SUN LE team created an evidence gap map (EGM) illustrating the distribution of evidence/research across all aspects of the nutrition field in Zambia. EGMs are graphical representations of research and evaluations conducted in a specific area/sector/domain, highlighting areas with abundant evidence and areas with evidence gaps. Learn more about the Zambia Nutrition EGM in our recent blog post.
Boniface Kanjere (NFNC) and John Manda (SUN LE) presented the EGM in a live demonstration at the conference. To browse the full EGM on the NFNC website, click here.
All the presentations from the Scaling Up Nutrition National Conference are available for download on the NFNC website’s National Nutrition Conference page under “Conference Materials”. Also check out some highlights from the conference in the video below:
We’re looking forward to the next conference.
