Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning
In order to know if our work has been successful and made an impact it will be important to monitor what we do and communicate our results clearly. The SUN movement has developed a monitoring and evaluation framework (http://scalingupnutrition.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130701-SUN-ME-Framework-Final.pdf). Monitoring and reporting on evidence of impact will also need to be systematically built in throughout CSA ways of working. This could build on feedback mechanisms which may have been created in the early stages of the CSA formation to garner the views of CSA members as well as members of communities we work with on successes and failures. This also means a commitment to systematically collecting information on how effective our work is, the results we achieve and developing the right indicators to measure this – no easy feat in advocacy. For example, the number of media hits, the level of support across political constituencies and any major policy change wins such as increases to the national nutrition budget will be important to record. This is useful not only in making the case for funding and efficacy of our work but also in order to enable us to demonstrate accountability to our funders and the communities we serve. This information should be available to members and anyone else who might request it. Vital to accountability is access to data. The civil society alliance can serve to not only disseminate data but ensure access to data. For example, through communicating the results of district health surveys and other key documents in ways which are appropriate for the communities involved. One of the most important aspects of learning is that it fuels continuous improvements to strategy as well as strategic leadership. The alliance needs to create a momentum of accomplishment – powerfully trumpeting progress, and translating failures into lessons learned and strategies that will have people say – “Oh yes! We can definitely do this!”.
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Case study: Bangladesh – Disseminating data via the membership for advocacy on undernutrition
There has been extensive research carried out on the nutrition situation in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey 2011 (BDHS 2011) contains the most widely accepted and cited data. The Civil Society Alliance for SUN in Bangladesh (SUN BD) facilitates sharing of evidence based information, research findings and resources among stakeholders in order to achieve effective implementation of nutrition programs. An integral part of evidence sharing is to disseminate important data amongst different target groups in order to emphasize the need for scaling up nutrition. One of the key areas through which CSA for SUN BD does this is through its membership of over 125 General Committee members. Key nutrition data figures on stunting, wasting, and exclusive breastfeeding rates from the BDHS 2011 are highlighted in the following fora; District level advocacy seminars, Sensitization training of different groups (for example, community nutrition workers, Girl Guide Association volunteers and journalists), Policy roundtables, TV talk shows and news articles in major daily newspapers. The CSA for SUN, BD is planning to collect data at the household level by conducting community mapping in 10 different districts through its General Committee member organizations in November and December 2014. This community data will be collected in order to present relevant area data to key stakeholders in district level advocacy seminars. The data will also serve to supplement the existing divisional data that is available in other household survey publications.
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