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NIE personnel need to know and be able to do,
there is a great deal of subjectivity in this. As a
result, the NIE courses that exist (including
those provided by the NIERTI) feature different
combinations of topics, are of varying duration
and involve either no assessment or assessments
that tend to measure knowledge gained
rather than the ability of participants to function
effectively. This makes it extremely
difficult to ascertain whether participants of
NIE courses have the necessary competencies,
and whether the courses themselves are
providing effective training.
One way to address this would be to adopt a
more systematic, competency-based approach.
Other sectors in the humanitarian community
have recently moved towards competencybased
training, assessment and recruitment. A
set of core humanitarian competencies is now
being used by the CBHA and the child protection
and logistics sectors use standard
competency frameworks to measure the ability
and performance of staff.
Preliminary work on developing a competency
framework for the NIE sector
As an addition to the NIERTI, we have taken
initial steps to developing a competency framework
for the sector using the Child Protection
in Emergencies (CPIE) framework as a guide.
The CPIE competency framework is now used
as the basis for recruitment, training and staff
development by a number of humanitarian
agencies. The benefits of this are perceived to be
very positive; one staff member commented
that it had improved recruitment processes and
training and has increased staff motivation and
career progression (K. Bisaro, personal communication).
Research into the identification of competencies
for NIE was designed to be as
comprehensive as possible, and was conducted
by reviewing existing competency frameworks,
NIE-related job descriptions, academic and
training course content, and by conducting
interviews with key stakeholders and NIERTI
course participants.
The competencies regarded as essential for
an international emergency nutritionist have
been extracted and compiled into a basic framework,
which we will be publishing shortly. To
increase the usability of the framework, specific
Simulation exercise: Cluster
coordination, Thailand course
behavioural indicators have been developed for
each competency at three progressive levels.
These facilitate its use for creating job profiles,
conducting assessment during recruitment and
training and for staff to identify areas for
professional development.
We now have the foundations for a competency
framework for NIE. However, there are
still a number of actions required before this
could serve as a functional tool.
1. More detailed mapping of career paths and
job profiling is required to clarify which
competencies are required at each level
2. The framework needs to be reviewed by the
sector to identify gaps and to agree each of
the indicators.
3. Finally, the framework will need to be
approved and adopted by GNC member
agencies.
What next for the NIERTI?
The NIERTI will continue to support partner
organisations to run NIE training courses based
on the materials developed and tested during
the pilot phase. We would also like to incorporate
competency-based training and assessment
as part of broader efforts to professionalise the
humanitarian sector. Having a standard framework
for measuring the competencies attained
by NIE practitioners would help to improve
quality and performance in the sector. In the
meantime, we are keen to maintain the quality
of training provided under the NIERTI
umbrella, which will in turn ensure continued
demand and financial sustainability. This will
provide the opportunity for our partner organisations
to continue to strengthen their own
capacity to provide NIE training. Any deterioration
in the reputation of NIERTI courses
would have a negative impact on existing
course providers and would jeopardise the
future of the initiative. To try and ensure that
quality is maintained, we will continue to
control the use of NIERTI training materials.
Any organisation that wishes to run a course
based on these materials will be free to do so, as
long as they can guarantee they will be delivered
to a high standard.
For further information, and to request access
to the materials, please email:
nierti@nietraining.net.
A Perry/NIETN, Uganda, 2011
Minimum
Reporting
Package (MRP) on
Supplementary
Feeding
Programmes
In order to evaluate the quality and impact of
nutrition interventions, agencies need effective
monitoring and reporting systems in
place for programmes. A retrospective analysis
of emergency supplementary feeding
programmes (SFPs) published in 2008 by the
Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN) 1 highlighted
inadequate reporting standards and
raised concerns over the quality of the interventions
themselves. Based on the study’s
recommendation and funded by the US Office
for Disaster Assistance (OFDA), the ENN
together with Save the Children UK (SC UK), led
the development of a monitoring and reporting
guidelines and software, guided by a
steering group of interested agencies. This
Minimum Reporting Package (MRP) for SFPs
was subsequently piloted in four countries 2 . A
new phase of rollout has now begun, funded
by ECHO and led by SC UK. Initiated in the
second half of 2011, this 18 month project will
see MRP rollout with approximately ten ECHO
implementing partners and involving up to 30
SFPs. An additional module to integrate reporting
for severe acute malnutrition (SAM)
programmes is also being developed to facilitate
reporting where both SFP and SAM
treatment are managed under one intervention.
The overall goal of the MRP is to improve
monitoring of the performance of SFPs implemented
by NGOs and WFP (and WFP partners
where relevant), to enhance programme
management and agency accountability.
Given the different capacities of implementing
agencies and contexts within which they work,
the MRP has been configured for two levels of
usage: essential reporting (adhering to Sphere
Standards) for basic users and optional
advanced reporting for agencies requiring
more information. The MRP also allows reporting
on programme characteristics (e.g. specific
country/area/ programme context) and population-based
statistics (e.g. coverage and
malnutrition rates) to aid interpretation of
programme performance indicators. Field
implementation can be tailored to each organisation’s
capacity, adapting to context-specific
challenges in communication and staff training,
including allowing for MRP use in systems
that are mainly paper-based at field level.
A further goal of the ECHO MRP project is to
improve understanding of the overall efficacy
and effectiveness of SFPs through conducting
a final analysis of the performance data of all
programmes utilising the package during the
project period.
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