9:00 AM EDT | 3:00 PM CET | 6:30 PM IST
**This webinar has passed, but you can view the recording of the session below.**
Event Information
This webinar discussed the recently published Global Resilience Report, a collaborative effort by UNICEF, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and Standing Together for Nutrition.
Despite immense challenges in recent years, many countries have demonstrated remarkable resilience. In the face of the "polycrisis"—a devastating combination of factors including COVID-19, climate and economic crises, and new and ongoing conflicts — governments have taken significant steps to safeguard nutrition for vulnerable populations. This includes adopting flexible delivery platforms for essential nutrition services, prioritizing support for the most vulnerable, and adapting social protection programs. Governments also strengthened communities’ capacity, engagement, and empowerment, recognizing them as the “first responders” in a crisis and as essential contributors to safeguarding nutrition.
The polycrisis has had a profound impact on the food and nutrition security, health, and economic wellbeing of individuals and families, disrupting the often fragile systems that support access to nutritious foods, essential nutrition services, and positive feeding and care practices for children and women. As climate-change and conflicts exacerbate these challenges, optimizing the resilience of the systems that support nutrition in the face of current and future shocks is critical as we strive to protect and nourish future generations.
Achieving the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development in an era of crises depends on our ability to strengthen the nutrition resilience of the systems on which individuals and populations depend. A more complete understanding and sectoral examination of the key nutritional drivers of resilience is necessary to build more comprehensive shock-responsive systems for the most vulnerable across both crisis and non-crisis contexts.
The 60-minute webinar focused on:
- Sharing the concept of nutrition resilience and its relevance to the current polycrisis.
- Highlighting country experiences and lessons learned in safeguarding nutrition during the polycrisis.
- Discussing common factors and key drivers that strengthened the multiple systems (food, health, education, water and sanitation (WASH), and social protection) that support nutrition resilience and contribute to equitable nutrition outcomes.
- Discussing recommended policy measures and investments needed to drive nutrition resilience.
Speakers
Víctor Aguayo, Director, Child Nutrition and Development, UNICEF
Dr. Víctor Aguayo is the Director of Child Nutrition and Development at UNICEF. He brings 30 years of policy, programme, management and humanitarian experience in maternal and child nutrition in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and globally. His work is guided by the belief that hunger and malnutrition are a violation of children’s rights. Dr. Aguayo is the lead author of the UNICEF’s 2020 Conceptual Framework on Maternal and Child Nutrition and UNICEF’s Nutrition Strategy 2020-2030. Dr. Aguayo is a public health doctor. He graduated in biological sciences, earned an MPH in global health and a PhD in public health nutrition at Sorbonne University in Paris, and was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of California. Fluent in English, French and Spanish, he has published over 75 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Anna Hakobyan, Chief Impact Officer and Executive Director Nutrition, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)
Anna Hakobyan is CIFF’s Chief Impact Officer and oversees evidence generation and application to inform and assess CIFF’s portfolio of investments in areas of health, nutrition, education and climate change. Before joining CIFF in 2009, Anna led the Learning and Evaluation function at Y Care International working on programmes in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Before this, Anna was a Senior Policy and Research Coordinator at Transparency International where she developed and managed an evidence-based advisory desk for governments and multilateral agencies on good governance and transparency. In the early years of her career, Anna worked at the World Bank and civil society organisations.
Mellissa Hisko, Director, Global Immunization and Health Systems, Global Affairs Canada
Mellissa Hisko is the Director for Global Immunization and Health Systems at Global Affairs Canada. She has previously served as Director of the COVID-19 Global Health Task Force, where she managed Canada’s international aid commitments and investments to combat COVID-19 on a global scale. Ms Hisko has held various management roles at Global Affairs Canada, including Deputy Director of Nutrition, Departmental Youth Focal Point, and Advisor to the Deputy Minister of International Development, where she led on multilateral policy and programming issues, as well as international aid partnerships. Ms Hisko holds a Bachelor of Arts from Carleton University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Ottawa.
Saskia Osendarp, Executive Director, Micronutrient Forum
Saskia Osendarp is the Executive Director of the Micronutrient Forum, the central platform for evidence and advocacy to improve micronutrient health. She also holds a visiting associate professorship at Wageningen University & Research. Saskia has 30 years of experience in public and private sector before joining the Micronutrient Forum. Her strong record of academic, public health, and private-sector research includes authoring more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, and leading cross-functional research teams on innovative products through public-private partnerships. She co-founded the Netherlands Working Group on International Nutrition and the Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium. Saskia holds an MSc and Ph.D. in nutrition from Wageningen University & Research.
Abigail Perry, Director of Nutrition and Food Quality, World Food Programme (WFP)
As Director of Nutrition and Food Quality at WFP, Abigail provides strategic leadership for WFP’s work to address malnutrition. Abigail is the UN representative on the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement Executive Committee, an active member of the UN Nutrition Steering Committee and co-chair of the Global Nutrition Report Stakeholder Group. Prior to WFP, Abigail was the head of the nutrition policy team at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. She has also worked with Save the Children and Action Against Hunger in a range of humanitarian and development nutrition roles across Africa and Asia, and led research and capacity initiatives at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and University College London. In 2021, she was awarded an OBE for her services to international development..
Moderators
Nita Dalmiya, Senior Nutrition Advisor, UNICEF
Nita Dalmiya leads UNICEF’s global work on governance, advocacy and partnerships with the Child Nutrition and Development team at headquarters. With over 20 years of experience, Nita has worked in public health nutrition at Africa, Asia and Headquarters. Nita has published extensively and is best known for spearheading UNICEF efforts on multiple micronutrient supplementation and low birth weight prevention. Nita has a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in medical anthropology from Smith College.
Cecilia Fabrizio, Program Lead, Standing Together for Nutrition (ST4N)
Cecilia Fabrizio is the Program Lead for Standing Together for Nutrition (ST4N) at the Micronutrient Forum. ST4N is a consortium of nutrition, gender, economic, health, and food system experts examining the scale and reach of climate change and other shock’s impact on nutrition for vulnerable women and children. Prior to this role, Cecilia was a Senior Technical Advisor for Vital Strategies, a global health NGO, working in Asia-Pacific. She has worked in academic, non-profit and government sectors and brings an in-depth understanding of how research can effectively support advocacy for policy change.
Jo Jacobsen, Team Lead, Systems Analysis for Nutrition, World Food Programme (WFP)
Jo leads the Systems Analysis for Nutrition team at WFP, providing analytical support across a wide range of areas including the Fill the Nutrient Gap analysis, application of cost and affordability of diet metrics to understand nutritional vulnerability, analytics to support market-based approaches for nutrition, and the climate and nutrition nexus. She brings more than 10 years of experience in the field of Nutrition and HIV, their integration across programs, and analysis to identify entry points for strategies, policies and programs. She has worked across various contexts in both Africa and Asia at country, regional and Headquarters level.
