Chapter 1: The Nutrition Cluster at country level This chapter highlights the main operational considerations to be taken into account in establishing a Nutrition Cluster at country level, based on global guidance and on experience from the field. 1.1 Establishing the Nutrition Cluster What is a nutrition emergency and how is it defined? Should a Nutrition Cluster be activated? What should the Nutrition Cluster structure look like at country level? 1.2 Roles and responsibilities of the Cluster Lead Agency (CLA) for nutrition at country level What are the specific responsibilities outlined for the CLA and its head? 1.3 Roles and responsibilities of the Nutrition Cluster coordination team at country level Recommended preparation for Nutrition Cluster coordination team members What are the overall responsibilities of the Nutrition Cluster Coordinator (NCC)? What are the overall responsibilities of the information management (IM) manager? How to maintain the identity of the Nutrition Cluster coordination team Practical activities for the NCC in the first 30 days 1.4 Roles and responsibilities of Nutrition Cluster partners Who are Nutrition Cluster partners? What is expected of Nutrition Cluster partners? How the Nutrition Cluster can formalise itself through Terms of Reference Key points Nutrition emergencies occur under a wide range of circumstances. The declaration of a nutrition emergency and activation of a Nutrition Cluster need to be based on a sound assessment and analysis of the situation and of the underlying causes of the emergency. The overall emergency response should support the national authority. Responses should be framed through the lens of an early recovery approach, with a clear transition strategy outlined from the activation of the Nutrition Cluster. The Nutrition Cluster is open to agencies which are committed to supporting nutrition response in line with agreed good practice standards, and which are willing to actively engage in strengthening the capacity of nutrition in-country and to contribute to the strategic priorities and targets of the Nutrition Cluster. The level of participation will vary, from active participant to information sharing to observer status. The structure of the Nutrition Cluster coordination mechanism will depend on the scale of the emergency, capacity and the scale of the response. Roles and responsibilities at national and sub-national levels and between the Cluster Lead Agency (CLA), Nutrition Cluster coordination team and Nutrition Cluster partners should be clearly defined to promote effective collaboration.
affected by armed conflict and other situations of violence.” National Societies differ in terms of staffing and resources, but can contribute critical insights and working relationships to the work of the Nutrition Cluster. Civil society Community-based organisations (CBOs), organisations (FBOs), advocacy groups, private sector, the media, professional associations It can be challenging to engage civil society in the Nutrition Cluster, since there is limited guidance in this area and in many cases limited actual mechanisms for engagement. However, civil society groups can contribute to the emergency response by providing local knowledge and expertise, human resources and equipment, by sharing information and through advocacy. Donors with an expressed interest in nutrition in emergencies A broad range of donors currently support nutrition in emergencies and capacity development around the Cluster Approach. There is also a need to build donor relationships with non-typical donors for emergencies, which will depend on the context. International military and peacekeeping forces Coordination with military or peacekeeping forces may be necessary in a complex emergency situation and should, where possible, be undertaken through OCHA and the inter-cluster coordination mechanism. Any interaction must respect humanitarian law and must serve the primary purposes of relieving humanitarian suffering and assuring protection and assistance for all non-combatants affected by conflict or disaster. It is important for all Nutrition Cluster partners to be aware of, and to guard against, the risks of forming too close an affiliation with the military, or even creating a perception that this is the case. Significant care is needed when considering the use of military assets to support humanitarian action, such as air and road transport, armed escorts or joint humanitarian/military operations in all response contexts. Such an approach should be taken only when there is no civilian alternative. Academic and research institutions While their engagement in the day-to-day Nutrition Cluster coordination mechanism is often limited, academic and research institutions can be valuable resources in terms of expertise, capacity building (including training) and information, as well as in mobilising equipment and personnel for assessments. They are also critical partners in terms of standard setting for training and certification in nutrition-related skills. Other clusters that have impacts on direct and underlying causes of malnutrition – in particular Health, Food Security and WASH Engagement with the leadership of other clusters, either formally through an inter-cluster coordination mechanism or through bilateral working relationships, is essential in order to ensure a well coordinated response (section 2.4).
Making meeting outcomes productive Send minutes from the previous meeting with the agenda. Ensure that meeting minutes capture action-oriented information. Follow up on action points before the next meeting. Respectfully follow up on agency commitments that have not been fulfilled as agreed. Remaining patient and keeping focused Remain professional and do not take comments personally. Ensure that you are taking care of yourself physically so that you are prepared to facilitate the meeting. Limit discussion to those items on the agenda, and allow for further discussion through working and sub-groups, or through other forums. Funding meetings and attendance Incorporate Nutrition Cluster coordination costs within pooled funding appeals. Develop a clear policy on attendance costs, e.g. no per diems or payments for attendance. Following up on a coordination meeting There are also key areas for follow-up after a coordination meeting, including preparation and dissemination of the minutes, and taking the follow-up action agreed upon. A checklist can be found in Annex 3. Feedback from partners is an important tool for improving and supporting the function of the Nutrition Cluster. It can be shared through formal as well as informal mechanisms, and provides an opportunity to learn. It is very difficult to understand people’s impressions and thoughts without asking for feedback. When giving feedback When receiving feedback Give both positive and constructive feedback (“One thing you might want to do is...”). Be precise – illustrate with an example (“For example, when...”). Allow time for the person receiving feedback to respond if they would like to. Don’t argue, but listen to the response. Listen, and ask questions to clarify. Ask for a specific example or incident to illustrate general feedback. Do not become defensive or feel that you have to have a specific response at that time. Thank the person for the feedback and then choose the best way forward. 2.3 Coordination skills 2.3.1 Building consensus Consensus involves aiming for the maximum level of agreement among people while drawing on as much and as many of everyone’s ideas as possible. Consensus should be aimed for when high-quality input and commitment with follow-through are desired from a group. It is a process for encouraging participation and ownership, and can lead to groups creating innovative solutions to complex problems. However, it is time-consuming, requires a high degree of input and commitment and can lead to conflict if no consensus is reached. A key coordination skill is assessing when it is important and appropriate to build consensus around a decision.
large numbers of people. Not dependent on direct contact, e.g. as in telephone calls, meetings. Likely to reach most stakeholders, including the national authority. Enable targeting of specific people. outdated and very long. Need to be administered to limit what is being sent and to whom. Can overload users with information that is not always relevant to them. Google Groups, Yahoo! Groups, online calendars Good alternative to meetings, since they enable sharing and storing of information and discussion between Nutrition Cluster partners. Useful central platform if no inter-agency web platform is available. Limited membership size will exclude some partners. High turnover of actors means that a lot of administration is needed. Reliant on reasonably good Internet access. May not be acceptable in environments with strong national authority control. May exclude national/local actors due to poor Internet connectivity, lack of familiarity with this method and language adopted for online discussions (not likely to be the local language and no facility for translation). Telephone contact Reaches national and local partners. Enables immediate exchange of information, discussion, decision-making. Can be used in most environments. May be expensive. Not all stakeholders have access to a phone. Can be time-consuming. More difficult for the NCC to delegate. Delivery of hard copies Reaches national and local partners. Familiar method of communication at community level. Easily translated. Slow, expensive and Not interactive since there is no mechanism to allow people to respond. Public meetings Reach national and local partners. Familiar method of communication at community level. Easily translated. Time-consuming. In early response, when information changes very quickly, it can be hard to capture this through meetings. Can be dominated by powerful interests, strong personalities.
internal guidelines and cannot or will not update these or harmonise them with the national standard. Updating one standard means that other standards have to be updated and harmonised, but there is limited time or capacity to do so. The standards and guidance required are changing due to the changing context. There is limited global guidance in a specific technical area. assess how they link to global standards in nutrition, before engaging in discussion with government officials. National standards and global standards on nutrition should be compatible. Try to reach agreement on priority nutrition issues with the national authority as a starting point, and revisit these priorities on a regular basis. Regularly review the Nutrition Cluster response strategy, starting from problem analysis. In this way appropriate adjustments to standards and indicators can be made. Promote regional and global partnerships in order to exchange ideas and build on experiences and guidelines used in other contexts. Awareness There is limited awareness/understanding of nutrition in emergencies. The national authority, Nutrition Cluster and/or other clusters are not aware of the standards. Raise awareness about critical issues around nutrition in emergencies, through training, orientations, workshops, campaigns and meetings with relevant actors, including policy-makers, decision-makers and technical staff. Mainstream global standards in nutrition into cluster practices/tools, e.g. TOR/SOP for the Nutrition Cluster, rapid and comprehensive joint assessment tools, Situation Reports, etc. Create and nurture relationships with advocates within government to increase political will. Utilisation The standards are not being used, owing either to gaps in capacity or to lack of will. Scaling up the standards requires additional training and supportive supervision. Staff turnover rates are high, leading to repeated loss of individuals familiar with the standards. Ensure that a plan for dissemination and scaling up is discussed at the same time that the guidance is being developed. While it may not be feasible to have separate rounds of training and capacity building for each standard as it is finalised, a mechanism for ongoing skills development and tracking staff turnover is critical to facilitate implementation. Incorporate monitoring indicators for the standards into the M&E plans for the Nutrition Cluster and ensure that the information is reviewed through the Nutrition Cluster mechanism. Ensure that capacity mapping covers all of the available nutrition standards and give careful consideration to Nutrition Cluster partners with weaker capacities in gap analysis and response planning. Institutionalisation The standards are not institutionalised in relevant Integrate standards for nutrition in emergencies into national development plans, Sector-Wide
implement their new knowledge and skills, or it may be done through a “training of trainers” approach where those trained are expected to train others. Practically, however, it can be difficult to ensure quality in this second type of “cascade” training. Training of trainers activities are also of limited use if they are not tied to a specific, and feasible, plan. The limitations of training also need to be very clear. Just because someone has gone through a training session, they cannot be immediately expected to have mastered the material without time to practise their new skills with supportive supervision. Pre-service training National actors in nutrition, e.g. nutritionists, midwives, paediatricians This refers to incorporating key principles, information and skills into the training courses and curricula of academic training institutes in line with technical standards for the Nutrition Cluster and nutrition in emergencies. Work in this area also has to be linked to updating certification of cadres of staff. Influencing pre-service training requires an in-depth assessment of available courses, resources and needs. It is not often done during an emergency itself, but can be done as part of the transition strategy and also as part of early recovery activities. On-the-job learning National and international staff, for specific areas and issues This refers to one individual providing technical backstopping to another person as they learn to implement specific skills. This is most often undertaken on a one-to-one basis within the same organisation. Capacity building through on-the-job training needs to meet specific objectives. National authorities often ask for some of their staff to participate in Nutrition Cluster activities, such as assessments, in order to build capacity. Without a clear TOR or clear outputs, the pressure of deadlines may undermine good intentions. Observation does not equal on-the-job training. The individual needs to be able to put the new concepts into practice, which requires additional time, and this needs to be taken into consideration in planning activities along these lines. One-to-one mentoring through learning National and international staff, for specific areas and issues This refers to one individual giving support and feedback to another individual around new skills and knowledge, either as needed or on a regular basis. It may not happen on a daily basis, and the two individuals may not be working in the same organisation. Innovations that arise through peer-to-peer learning are shared through the Nutrition Cluster mechanism.
Move through the agenda, directing new participants to additional information to ensure that there is a balance between filling in information gaps and moving forward Using the facilitation skills outlined in Chapter 2 (Table 2.5), present the issues; invite participants to speak; summarise, reformulate and note key discussion points; clarify, elaborate and discuss when requested or needed; summarise action points before moving on to the next agenda item; and observe body language and the verbal and non-verbal cues of the group to ensure that the meeting retains a productive atmosphere. Conclusions and next steps Reiterate the objectives mentioned at the beginning of the meeting, indicating where agreement has been reached and the follow-up action decided upon. Announce the next meeting and/or any other events of note. Request input into any issues that need to be addressed in the next agenda and feedback on the meeting Request suggestions on how to improve the manner in which the meeting was held; these can be shared either at that point or bilaterally after the meeting. Checklist for follow-up after a coordination meeting To do: To consider: Ensure that all issues related to the venue are addressed Make sure that air-conditioning and electricity systems are left in accordance with the venue’s standards. Ensure that leftover documents are collected and that the venue is accessible for the next meeting. Return any IT equipment as needed. Collect the attendance sheets Ensure that attendance is tracked according to the type of participant (donor, large/small NGO, other sectors, national authority, media, other institutions). Update the lists of contacts. Circulate the meeting notes/minutes within 24 hours according to mechanisms and standards agreed upon in the ground rules Capture only the key issues discussed and actions/responsibilities/deadlines indicated. Ensure that these are filed systematically for the cluster (see Chapter 3 on IM). Information should be shared systematically between national and sub-national cluster coordination mechanisms. Meet local stakeholders, key participants and stakeholders Proactively ensure that key participants are briefed on the outcomes of the meeting. Annex 4: Summary tips for information management (IM)