In collaboration with Partnerships and Opportunities to Strengthen and Harmonize Actions for Nutrition in India (POSHAN), NITI Aayog, and ID Insight, DataDENT developed a joint report addressing considerations for improving the availability and use of data to improve nutrition programs in India. The report shares a comprehensive indicator framework aligned with India’s National Nutrition Mission, POSHAN Abhiyaan, and describes a theory…
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2020 DataDENT Highlights
2020 will be remembered as a year the world radically changed, but it was also a year that reminded us of the importance of fundamental structures and systems. Now, as much as ever, strengthening the nutrition data value chain (DVC) is needed to address the challenges COVID-19 crisis poses to food, nutrition, and health globally. During 2020, DataDENT partners—the Johns…
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Strengthening nutrition data visualization at the Nutrition Society of Nigeria annual conference
In November 2020, the Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN) held is 50th Annual General Meeting and Scientific conference titled “Improving Nutrition Intervention Outcomes in Nigeria through Evidence-Based Nutrition, Data Generation and Dissemination” in Kaduna State. DataDENT members remotely led two pre-conference sessions focused on improving data visualization practices in nutrition for over 300 participants. During the first session, “Data visualization…
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Champions of Change: How NITI Aayog is improving a data visualization tool for data-driven policy and decision making
The Champions of Change (COC) Dashboard was developed by NITI Aayog to monitor district progress and aid in decision making. In our conversation with Rama Kamaraju, Data Scientist at NITI Aayog, we discussed the use of data under the Aspirational Districts Program (ADP) and how the COC Dashboard supports data-driven policy making in India. In 2019-2020, DataDENT implemented by the…
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Understanding the Role of Cognitive Interviewing in Improving Survey Questions
While answering a survey questionnaire, how do the respondents interpret the questions? What techniques of cognitive interviewing can facilitate appropriate framing of the questions? These are important considerations to have while designing survey questions to ensure that they clearly communicate the question’s intent and elicit responses aligned with the intended interpretation. To look at these concepts more closely, IFPRI—an implementing…
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Evidence and lessons on improving data use and quality in India’s nutrition program
To strengthen nutrition information systems and improve nutrition outcomes in India, we must improve data quality and facilitate the use of data at all levels. This was the theme of one of the key thematic sessions at ‘Delivering for Nutrition in India: Insights from Implementation Research 2020’, a virtual event co-hosted by Partnerships and Opportunities to Strengthen and Harmonize Actions…
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Measure & Adapt: How are school feeding programs changing during COVID-19?
Schools across the world closed alongside national lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-19, leaving many children without access to school meals. Schools are important platforms for delivering high-impact health, nutrition-specific, and nutrition-sensitive interventions like school feeding programs. The World Food Programme (WFP) launched the Global Monitoring of School Meals during COVID-19 School Closures map in March 2020 to track…
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Through the Eyes of the User: Tips for Producers of Global Nutrition Data Visualization Tools
Given the recent upheaval due to the COVID-19 pandemic and adjustments needed in planning, targeting, and implementation of programs, data is more important than ever before. In nutrition, we have seen a proliferation of global data visualization tools (DVTs). Data visualization aids audiences in interpreting data and focusing on key priorities (Evergreen, 2016). For example, nutrition advocates frequently include visualizations…
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Tracking India’s Progress on Addressing Malnutrition: What Will it Take?
In collaboration with Partnerships and Opportunities to Strengthen and Harmonize Actions for Nutrition in India (POSHAN), DataDENT co-funded an activity identifying an indicator list and respective data availability for evidence-based interventions, determinants, and outcomes aligned with the POSHAN Abhiyaan framework. A blog post on this work is available here. A policy note summarizing findings can be viewed here.
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How are nutrition data visualization tools (DVTs) in India supporting decision-makers?
As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, the increasing demand and supply of data has spawned a breadth of data visualization tools (DVTs). Not surprisingly, we are witnessing an outpour of COVID-19 DVTs in India, including the Coronavirus India Dashboard and India COVID-19 tracker, among others. In both nutrition and the COVID-19 response, it is critical that DVTs are designed for their…