Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1694842432578.pdf (Pakistan)
H T ENUTRITION Quarterly MULTI SECTORAL NUTRITION CENTER September 2017 nd 2 Edition What’s Inside Message by Project Director SDG 2 Call to Action Event CM Stunting Reduction Programme Updates from MSNC M&E Unit MSNC Operational Plan Prioritization of MSNS Collective Eﬀorts Scaling Up Nutrition Punjab Updates Focus of the Quarter Making Nutrition a Priority PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT GOVERNMENT OF THE PUNJAB MESSAGE By Project Director - MSNC TeamMultiSectoralNutritionCenter(MSNC)isdelightedto welcomeMr.SyedHussainHaiderasthenewProjectDirector. Togetherweaimtomakenutritionapriority! ‘There cannot be two opinions about the fact that malnutrition is a serious issue, which calls for an immediate action.
It is impossible for a country to progress without a healthy population and more importantly without healthy children and mothers.

Unfortunately, the segment of the population suﬀering most from acute malnutrition consists of children under the age of 5, which poses a serious threat to the future of our country.
However, we must not be daunted by the enormity of the situation; I am sure that with dedication and commitment, we can overcome the challenges and InshaAllah eradicate the menace of hunger and malnutrition.

Healthy childhood is every child’s right and we are here to ensure that our children are not deprived of their basic human right.
Sustainable Development Goal 2 Call to Action Event MSNC, Planning and Development (P&D) Department, Government of the Punjab (GoPb), in collaboration with World Food Programme (WFP) Pakistan organized the “Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 Call to Action Event” on 27th July 2017 in Lahore.
The event was hosted in order to reiterate the government’s commitment towards achieving SDG 2: “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.” Pakistan being a member of the United Nations signed the SDGs in 2015 and made a commitment of achieving the 17 goals and 169 targets by the year 2030.

The SDGs are a universal set of goals, targets and indicators which set the guidelines for UN member states to frame their agendas and political policies (2015-2030).
The SDGs follow and expand on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2001-2015 and carry forward the unnished agenda of the MDGs.

The aim of the event was to gather key stakeholders, and create awareness amongst all relevant sectors regarding the SDG-2 goal, its targets and inclusion in provincial policy formulation.
2 Multi Sectoral Nutrition Center - Newsletter September 2017 I am delighted to join the dynamic team of MSNC, which is committed towards doing their best to address the issues of hunger and malnutrition, and I am optimistic that together we can achieve the goal sooner than expected.
Children are our future, and we will not rest until our future is secure!’ Syed Hussain Haider Project Director Multi Sectoral Nutrition Center Mr. Imran Nazeer, Minister Primary & Secondary Healthcare (P&SH) GoPb, Ms. Shaista Parvaiz Malik, Member National Assembly, Mr. Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan, Chairman P&D Board GoPb, Dr. Oner Gunner, Director General International Aﬀairs Turkey, Mr. Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, Secretary P&D Department GoPb, Mr. Nasim Sadiq, Secretary Livestock GoPb, Mr. Neil Buhne, UN Residential Coordinator Pakistan, Mr. Finbarr Curran Country Representative WFP Pakistan, Mr. Patchamuthu Illangovan, Country Head World Bank Pakistan, Dr. Stephen Davis, Country Representative IFPRI and Ms. Angela Kerney Country Representative UNICEF Pakistan, were amongst the dignitaries present.
While inaugurating the session Chairman P&D Board GoPb, stressed that it is imperative for Pakistan to meet the targets laid out under SDG 2 by 2030 especially with regards to improving mother and child nutrition.

The burden of the endemic on Pakistan’s economy is enormous with Pakistan losing US$ 7.6 billion or 3% of its GDP each year, as a result of malnutrition.
Mr. Jehanzeb Khan stated that for Punjab, as the leading province in agriculture, literacy and economic output; the responsibility to ght this endemic is even greater.

“We must lead the call against malnutrition and hunger, for it is not only about establishing food suﬃciency, but about enhancing future economic growth and sustainable development of the province and ultimately our country.
Economic growth is just one benet of an improved nutritional standing of the province; attendance at schools, increased literacy, employment and higher standards of living - are all drivers that should motivate us to work together for nutrition.” Mr. Imran Nazeer, Minister P&SH GoPb, stated that the department is fully committed towards drastically lowering the malnutrition indicators in the province.
He articulated that the P&SH Department has the right strategies and programmes currently underway to approach the problem of malnutrition in all 36 districts of the province with eﬀorts being directed towards service delivery and behaviour change communication to ensure that the problem of malnutrition is dealt with a forceful hand.
He further stated that the department is also prioritizing the challenge of malnutrition in Southern Punjab that depicts the highest malnutrition rates in the province through the inclusion of a new programme particularly designed for Southern Punjab.

He commended the eﬀorts of P&D Department and WFP Pakistan in gathering key stakeholders together and reiterating the commitment towards SDG 2 .
Photography C o m p e t i t i o n MSNC in collaboration with the WFP Pakistan hosted a photography competition titled “Our People, Our Nutrition, Our Priority” from 1st July 2017 to 20th July 2017.

Panel Discussion One of the key sessions of the event was a panel discussion led by Dr. Shabana Haider, Member Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP), P&D Board titled ‘Meeting the SDG 2: existing challenges in Pakistan, lessons for Punjab and the way forward’.
The panel consisted of renowned speakers including i) Mr. Patchamuthu Illangovan, Country Head World Bank, ii) Ms. Cecilia Garzon Head of Nutrition Unit WFP, iii) Mr. Noor ul Amin Mengal, Director General Punjab Food Authority, GoPb, iv) Dr. Baseer Achakzai, Director Nutrition/ Secretary National Fortication Alliance,v) Mr. Naseer Nazamani, Country Director Nutrition International Pakistan, vi) Mr. Amir Jehangir Media and Communication Expert and vii) Dr. Syed Saeed Qadir, Nutrition Oﬃcer UNICEF Pakistan.
The discussion revolved around the attainment of SDG-2 with particular focus on governmental eﬀorts, inter-sectoral coordination, communication, policy formulation, technological advancement, social entrepreneurship and Public-Private -Par tnership.

The session concluded successfully in identifying some of the key challenges that the province currently faces, and proposing the way forward for a more collaborative and focused eﬀort.
Over 200 photographers, both amateur and professional, from Punjab participated in the competition.

The theme of the competition embodied a number of signicant topics such as: malnutrition, hunger, mother and child nutrition, education for all, promotion of hygiene, population burden & sustainable agriculture.

In third place Mr. Mubasir Munawar was awarded PKR 10,000, while Ms. Umaima Tanveer acclaimed the second prize of PKR 15000.
Mr. Zaheer Abbas was announced as the winner of the photography competition and awarded PKR 25,000.

Winning pictures, including those receiving special mention were displayed at the SDG 2 call to action.

3 CM Stunting Reduction Programme Chief Ministers’ Stunting Reduction Programme is the primary commitment to “reduce stunting rates by 1.5 % each year, reducing it to 30% by end of 2020 and further reducing it to 20% by 2027”.
* The programme envisages a focused approach, initially implemented through four main sectors; Health, Education, Population, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in 11 districts of South Punjab.
The programme is designed around the Nutrition Governance Framework where coordination mechanisms are established and operationalized at the district, tehsil and union council levels, robust monitoring and evaluation systems are put in place at each tier and a comprehensive social and behavior change communication is planned to reduce stunting rates in South Punjab.
The programme will augment eﬀorts through dedicated administrative, technical and political leadership to strengthen accountability mechanisms to achieve results.

The programme will be scaled up in a phase wise manner by increasing geographical coverage in the coming years.

Through intersectoral partnership and collaboration with development partners, MSNC at the P&D Department of Punjab aspires to steer and lead eﬀorts to mainstream and make nutrition a priority across the province.
South Districts Stunting Wasting Rajanpur DG Khan Muzaﬀargarh Rahim Yar Khan Bahawalnagar Layyah Lodhran Multan Bahawalpur Vehari Khanewal Punjab 47.6% 50.9% 46.3% 45.3% 39.6% 38.8% 38.0% 34.1% 36.7% 34.0% 34.5% 33.5 16.3% 21.4% 18% 21.6% 21.7% 18.9% 17% 23.1% 18.9% 19.1% 19.9% 17.5% Stunting and wasting rates in Southern Punjab (Source MICS 2014) Steering Committee Meeting on Nutrition A Steering Committee meeting on nutrition was held on 18th July 2017.
The meeting was presided by Chairman, P&D Board, and was attended by Secretary P&D Department, Secretary Public Health Engineering & Housing Urban Development (PHE&HUD) Department , focal persons of relevant sectors and representatives of development partners.
MSNC with its technical team is presently carrying out extensive consultations with the concerned departments to help develop respective programmes which are both nutrition specic and sensitive in order to mainstream eﬀorts to reduce the endemic of malnutrition in Southern Punjab, where stunting rates are much higher than the rest of the province.
Health and WASH PC-1's have been nalized through marathon technical consultations, while the programme documents for Education and Population are in the development phase.

CM Stunting Reduction Programme proposes a package of nutrition services and interventions to be made more wide ranging with most vulnerable groups targeted, as well as strategies developed to increase coverage to previously uncovered and inaccessible areas of the province.
4 Multi Sectoral Nutrition Center - Newsletter September 2017 The agenda of the meeting was to review progress of each sector with respect to nutrition sensitive and specic interventions.

Under key decisions, the Local Government Department, Punjab Food Authority and Punjab Saaf Pani Company were included as co-opted members of the steering committee on nutrition.
Update from MSNC Monitoring & Evaluation Unit The Monitoring and Evaluation Unit at MSNC is working diligently to develop robust M&E systems in order to ensure eﬀective monitoring of Punjab MSNS 2015.

At present multiple activities are currently under way such as development of a Multi Sectoral Nutrition M&E framework and stocktake.
Highlights of key activities underway at M&E Unit are: Hiring of a Third Party for Monitoring & Evaluation Strong monitoring is required to provide comprehensive and m u l t i - d i m e n s i o n a l b l u e p r i nt fo r t h e p ro gra m m e implementation of MSNS and CM Stunting Reduction Programme.
To monitor progress of inputs, activities, and outcomes under WASH, Health, Education, Population, Family Planning, Agriculture (Crops, Livestock and Poultry, Fisheries) and Social Protection; MSNC is hiring the services of experienced organizations/consultancy rms to conduct eld monitoring visits to project locations to accompany MSNC’s monitoring mechanisms in Punjab.

The terms of reference for the aforementioned task have been developed and expression of interest has been launched.
Development of Dashboard for Monitoring & Evaluation MSNC in collaboration with Technical Resource Facility (TRF +) is presently working on the development of a dashboard which will capture information related to nutrition from the Management Information Systems (MIS) functioning in the participating departments to track progress on indicators in the M&E framework.
The dashboard will also broadcast the results of third party monitoring, household surveys, and eld data which will be accessible to general public.
Monthly Sectoral Progress The M&E unit at MSNC is presently tracking all nutrition sensitive and nutrition specic activities being carried out by the relevant sector, quarterly steering committee meetings under the chairmanship of Chairman P&D Board are being held to ensure that all sectoral interventions are supervised and any bottlenecks are dealt with accordingly.
MSNC Operational Plan; THE WORLD BANK MSNC ’s Operational Plan 2017-2018 supported by World Bank was oﬃcially endorsed by the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) on 15th August 2017.

World Bank under the Punjab Health Restructuring Programme has allocated USD 2 Million to MSNC for strengthening of nutrition activities in Punjab.

Under its operational plan, MSNC envisages to use the allocated funds under four main categories namely; Technical Capacity Evidence Generation Evaluation Coordination.
Technical Capacity: One of the major objectives of the operational plan is to build departmental capacity, advance exper tise, ensure specialist knowledge acquisition and invest in institutional link ages development – via an understanding of both local and international interventions.
Evidence Generation: For the purpose of producing eﬀective evidence and deliberating on interventions that have substantiated the impact of key interventions, the operational plan envisions to use three approaches, namely (i) Stakeholder events (ii) Innovation Funds (iii) Gallup survey.

Evaluation: Another major concern for the operational plan is to build on the ‘Monitoring & Evaluation’ mandate of MSNC and facilitate eﬀective assessment & appraisal.
Coordination: One of the major components of the operational plan is the coordination of various stakeholders involved and facilitating their exchange on nutrition related policy and programs.

This aligns closely with the objective of MSNC which is to synergize the eﬀorts of all departments.
5 Prioritization Workshop: Multi Sectoral Nutrition Strategy Collective Efforts: MSNC & Development Partners Development of the Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy (MSNS) in 2015 marked a new era towards combating the prevailing dismal state of malnutrition in the province.
Contrary to the conventional belief that malnutrition is only a health concern, MSNS suggests the collaborative eﬀort of multiple sectors coming together, mainly; Health, Education, Water Sanitation & Hygiene, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Social Protection and Food.

Though the strategy is a remarkable eﬀort, during its implementation certain gaps were identied.
Therefore, MSNC in collaboration with UNICEF Pakistan initiated the exercise of working towards the development of a revised version of the strategy that incorporates some key missing sectors and propose interventions in line with the new structural changes of Government of the Punjab.

On 24th May 2017, MSNC in collaboration with UNICEF Punjab, hosted the “MSNS Prioritization Workshop” under the Chairpersonship of Dr. Shabana Haider, Member (HNP) P&D Board, at the Avari Hotel Lahore.
The objective of this workshop was to prioritize interventions under the Punjab 2015 MSNS, to incorporate relevant departments of the Government of Punjab that were missing from MSNS earlier, to highlight nutrition specic and sensitive interventions in each sector and to set targets against the streamlined interventions.
At the prioritization workshop, which oﬃcially marked the beginning of the revision exercise, a number of gaps were identied and accordingly new sectors such as Women Development, Information Culture and Youth, Auqaf and Religious Aﬀairs, Industries, Labour and Human Resource departments have been included in revised MSNS (2017).

At present, MSNC is working with each department to dene strategic areas and develop detailed implementation plans that will be included in the revised MSNS.
6 Multi Sectoral Nutrition Center - Newsletter September 2017 MSNC in collaboration with the development partners is working towards making nutrition an agenda item in Punjab.

To achieve this goal, MSNC and UNICEF conjointly developed UNICEF’s 2018- 2022 Nutrition Strategy.

While WFP and MSNC worked together to develop WFP’s 2018-2022 Country Strategic Plan which is purely nutrition focused.
Key highlights of both strategies are: UNICEF Nutrition Strategy (2018-2022) UNICEF’s ve-year country strategy’s vision for nutrition in Pakistan is to target the most vulnerable boys and girls, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, through improved utilization of services and practices to show a measurable reduction in stunting and wasting.
This will be achieved through supporting governments and partners in the delivery of services for the prevention of stunting and wasting, which are eﬀectively monitored and evaluated, coupled with increased awareness and practices of certain critical nutritional behavior such as breastfeeding and complementary feeding.
World Food Programme WFP Country Strategic Plan (2018-2022) To support Pakistan achieve Vision 2025 and SDG 2 (ending hunger and malnutrition), WFP’s Country Strategic Plan (2018-2022) aims to advance government priorities by strengthening institutional structures, policy frameworks, and programmes.
Furthermore, the plan focuses on enhancing government and partners’ accountability and transparency, including supporting data analysis for evidence based policymaking; along with increased women empowerment; tackling persistent malnutrition; and weaving public-private partnerships for sustainable development; while retaining WFP’s emergency response capacity.
Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Training on Research Methodology & Scientic Writing Skills 28th, 29th and 30th August 2017 Nutrition International as secretariat of SUNAR, Pakistan, conducted training on “Research Methodology & Scientic Writing Skills” in order to establish a knowledge resource to inform and develop eﬀective policy formulation, planning and implementation guidelines.
The workshop was designed to improve the availability and reliability of basic data required for development planning in the province of Punjab, with special emphasis on data requirements for the internationally agreed SDGs.

Nutrition Budget Advocacy Training Scaling NUTRITION SUN Secretariat Punjab in P&D Department organized a “Nutrition Budget Advocacy Training” on 16th August 2017 in Islamabad.
The training was held in order to carry out capacity building of SUN Civil Society Alliance (CSA) provincial members on advocacy and campaigning skills for nutrition budget, to enable CSA members to play a proactive role for engagement with relevant government departments, to empower CSA members to push provincial governments for establishment of internal nancial tracking systems for spending on nutrition, to train CSA members on advocacy for/with government and to ensure implementation of laws and regulations and nancial commitments.
Mr. Aslam Shaheen (Chief Nutrition Planning Commission Islamabad) chaired the session.

Dr Fakhar Imam (Vice Chancellor FJMU, Lahore) and Dr. Naseer Nizamani (Country Director Nutrition International) were among the other key speakers while Dr. Irfan Ullah (SUN Secretariat, Punjab) and Dr. Irshad Danish (SUN Secretariat, Islamabad participated as training facilitators.
The training was attended by representatives of key Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that operate in Punjab with active participation of CSOs operational in Southern Punjab.

Sensitizing the Districts MSNC is coordinating major eﬀorts to implement the Multi- Sectoral Nutrition Strategy in Punjab in order to address the issue of malnutrition, especially stunted growth in children under the age of 5.
Towards this end District Malnutrition Addressing Committees (DMAC) have been constituted for all districts.
The key objectives of the workshop were to educate participants regarding the methods used to conduct qualitative & quantitative research, to build the research capacity of SUNAR member institutions and networks, to provide basis for conducting nutrition related research studies, to generate evidence for future planning & implementation of multi-sectoral methods and techniques to address malnutrition, to develop skills of the participants to write a scientic paper and conduct research in allied areas.
In order to apprise the group members regarding the mandate of these committees and its responsibility in implementing the Punjab nutrition strategy to address the issue of malnutrition, MSNC is conducting DMAC sensitization meetings in all nine divisions of Punjab.
All districts within Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi have been sensitized whereas sensitization meetings for Sargodha and Dera Ghazi Khan have been scheduled to be conducted by the rst week of October 2017.

7 Focus of the Quarter: Education Education is a fundamental right of every human being.

There cannot be two opinions about the fact that investment in education is the most eﬀective driver of socio-economic development.
Adolescent girls, soon to be future mothers, are key to breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition.

Educated girls will not only make better decisions for themselves but also for their families by ensuring proper intake of nutrients, adoption of better hygiene practices and promoting right to education.
Attainment of education has proven to delay the age of marriage thereby having impact on fertility rate subsequently leading to increased child spacing, and hence playing a critical role in ghting stunting and malnutrition.

According to a 2013 UNESCO report If all women had a primary education, 1.7 million children would be saved from stunting and malnutrition.

If all women had a secondary education, 12 million children would be saved from stunting and malnutrition.
“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela MAIN UPCOMING EVENTS Nutrition National Perspective: Role of Provinces Communications Workshop with Parliamentarians and Media Human Development Forum Editorial Team EDITOR IN CHARGE Habiba Rana ASSOCIATE EDITOR Zara Naveed CREATIVE DIRECTOR Muhammad Majid SPECIAL THANKS (Review) Dr. Irfan Ullah Khan PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT GOVERNMENT OF THE PUNJAB Civil Secretariat, Lahore – Pakistan Web: www.pndpunjab.gov.pk MULTI SECTORAL NUTRITION CENTER Making Nutrition a Priority Feedback Give your feedback or suggestions about our Newsletter at msnc@pndpunjab.gov.pk Ph.No.
042-99214486 – 99212144 /MSNCPunjab /MSNCPunjab