Our Work

PRIORITY AREA 1: Fill gaps and improve quality of nutrition coverage measurement in household and facility surveys

Measuring the Coverage of MIYCN Counseling

DataDENT developed new indicators and recommended household survey questions for measurement of coverage of Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) counseling interventions. Several of these questions have been taken up in the DHS-8 core questionnaire. Background work included a comprehensive landscaping of existing indicators and tools, development of a measurement framework, and validation of the proposed indicators and questions through an expert consultation co-sponsored with Alive & Thrive.

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Measuring the Coverage of Nutrition-Sensitive Social Protection (NSSP) Programs 

DataDENT is developing new indicators and suggested household survey questions for measurement of coverage of NSSP interventions targeting children under 5 and women of reproductive age. Similar to work around MIYCN counseling coverage measurement, activities include a comprehensive landscaping of existing indicators and tools, development of a measurement framework, and validation of the proposed indicators and questions through an expert consultation.

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Blogs

Cognitive testing of MIYCN coverage survey questions in India & Nepal

DataDENT, in collaboration with IMPROVE, carried out to cognitive testing of MIYCN intervention coverage survey questions in India and Nepal and is supporting supplementary research aimed at improving recall in household surveys.

Blogs

Recommended indicators and questions for measuring nutrition intervention coverage using large-scale household surveys

DataDENT released a Compendium for household survey planners that provides indicator definitions and accompanying questions for nutrition interventions across the maternal, newborn, and child health continuum of care. We also collaborated with Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) to document key coverage measurement lessons from the PMA nutrition survey module used in Kenya and Burkina Faso.

Blogs 

Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)-8 Questionnaire Update

In years 1-2 DataDENT engaged the nutrition community to identify data priorities and coordinated efforts to develop, endorse and advocate for a set of 11 nutrition recommendations for the DHS-8 core questionnaires. The process was successful as the DHS-8 core questionnaire, released in 2020. 

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Coverage Measurement in National Household Surveys in Nigeria & Burkina Faso

DataDENT has provided technical assistance for strengthening questionnaire content of national nutrition-related surveys in Nigeria (National Health and Nutrition Survey 2019-2020; Food Consumption and Micronutrient Survey 2020-2021) and Burkina Faso (National Nutrition Surveys 2020 and 2021).

  • [Brief] Coming Soon

India National Nutrition Coverage Measurement Framework

DataDENT and partners in India developed a comprehensive nutrition monitoring indicator framework aligned with India’s National Nutrition Mission, POSHAN Abhiyaan. DataDENT has released a compendium of household survey questions to accompany the framework. The India consortium also identified COVID-19 related coverage measurement priorities (see sections below).

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Supporting Use of Minimum Dietary Diversity Indicators for Women & Children

To complement updates to DHS-8, DataDENT is addressing several technical issues around use of Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) and Young children (MDD-C) indicators. These include assessing the implications for monitoring of national trends in diet quality of recent revisions to the MDD-C indicator definition and of seasonality of data collection as well as identifying new ways that MDD-W and MDD-C can be used together to inform policy and program planning in low- and middle-income countries.

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Service Provision Assessment (SPA) Questionnaire Review

In 2020-2021, DataDENT coordinated nutrition stakeholders to draft and submit recommendations for the DHS Program- and USAID-led process to revise the Service Provision Assessment (SPA) facility survey core questionnaires. A revised SPA instrument is expected from the DHS Program in early 2022.

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Events 

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Nutrition Quality Measurement Stakeholder Survey (Collaboration with IMPROVE)

DataDENT, in collaboration with IMPROVE, carried out a nutrition policy and clinical guideline review as well as an expert survey to support recommendations for improving the SPA facility questionnaire.

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Mobile Survey Innovations for Nutrition Coverage & Food Security Measurement

DataDENT is conducting methodological research in India to inform use of phone-based survey questions about food security and coverage of health, nutrition, and social safety net interventions.

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India COVID-19 Nutrition Measurement Framework

DataDENT and partners in India identified a priority set of indicators from the National Nutrition Monitoring Framework for COVID-19 related data collection activities.

  • [Brief] Coming soon

PRIORITY AREA 2: Develop more effective approaches for data-driven nutrition accountability and advocacy

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Synthesis of learning about data visualization & data visualization tools including scorecards, dashboards and profiles 

DataDENT has compiled lessons learned from across our activities on data visualization and accountability tools.  

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Landscaping of Global Nutrition Data Visualization & Accountability Tools

DataDENT conducted a landscaping of global data visualization and accountability tools for nutrition that included assessing tools as well as interviewing producers and users. Findings include recommendations for producers and funders of data visualization and accountability tools.

Webinars  

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Landscaping of India Nutrition Data Visualization & Accountability Tools

DataDENT conducted a landscaping of publicly accessible data visualization and accountability tools for nutrition stakeholders in India that were produced or refreshed in the past five years. Similar to the global landscaping (above), the process included interviews with producers, and findings include recommendations for producers. Findings were applied to update the District Nutrition Profiles developed in collaboration with POSHAN.

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Nigeria Governors’ Forum Scorecard

DataDENT collaborated with the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) in designing a sub-national nutrition scorecard to foster accountability among governors for state-level nutrition commitments. We captured insights from the design process that will be useful to stakeholders who want to develop similar tools.

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Exploring Data Visualization Literacy & Preferences in Nigeria

DataDENT is conducting a study to explore data visualization literacy and preferences among Nigerian stakeholders that work in nutrition. Findings will help inform how accountability tools and communications products for decision makers in Nigeria can be optimized to meet audience needs.

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Training in Data Visualization Skills 

DataDENT has hosted trainings in data visualization skills for global, regional, and national audiences and developed a set of online tutorials.

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DataDENT is using a comparative case study approach to develop and validate metrics for advocacy and enabling environments for nutrition. The study will identify how advocacy contributes to building enabling environments across two subnational areas in each of two countries (Nigeria and India). The case studies focus on food fortification and IYCF programs. The metrics will be useful for monitoring nutrition advocacy efforts and studying effective advocacy strategies.

Blog

PRIORITY AREA 3: Promote strategic planning and financing for data value chain strengthening

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In Years 4-5, DataDENT and the University of Ibadan are carrying out formative research to better understand decisions needs and data use by nutrition actors in the Nigerian health sector at federal, state, and local levels. We are also working to identify costs associated with collecting nutrition indicators across survey and administrative sources.  Findings will be used to inform efforts led by the Federal Ministry of Health with DataDENT support to develop costed recommendations for more coordinated inclusion of nutrition indicators across national survey and administrative data sources as well as for strengthening data use.

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DataDENT is working to help guide country and partner efforts to cost and finance stronger nutrition data & information systems – including informing data-related commitments at the 2021 N4G Summit. Activities include country case studies examining costs and financing of nutrition information systems in two LMIC  as well as global analyses around SUN country plans and donor disbursements from the OECD Creditor Reporting System.

Global

Ethiopia 

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Nutrition Data Innovations Landscaping 

DataDENT is conducting a landscape review of nutrition data innovations to better understand how such innovations can help strengthen the nutrition data value chain. We will develop outputs summarizing our findings for users, providers and funders with the aim of generating discussions on opportunities and potential investments in this space. We also hope to use the International Development Innovation Alliance (IDIA) platform to share the findings with other innovation funding agencies.

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PRIORITY AREA 4: Global and regional nutrition data value chain advocacy, coordination, and dissemination

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Launched in 2020 by DataDENT with partner support, the Data for Nutrition community of practice (COP) is a free virtual platform that provides members with opportunities to share knowledge, resources, experiences, and questions relevant to strengthening the nutrition data value chain in low- and middle-income countries. 

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Below are country & regional nutrition data advocacy events co-organized by DataDENT. To learn more about DataDENT participation in events and conferences organized by others, visit our events page here.

Together for Nutrition West Africa Data Forum

In February 2020, DataDENT collaborated with Transform Nutrition West Africa (TNWA) and regional partners to co-convene the Together for Nutrition: West African Data Forum. In 2021, DataDENT conducted a 12-month follow up with forum participants to identify whether and how the event and resulting Call to Action met their stated objectives.

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India Nutrition Data Bonanza

On 01 May 2019, DataDENT co-convened nutrition stakeholders from 15 organizations working in India to reflect on collective action to strengthen measurement of nutrition intervention coverage within the country.

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Nigeria Nutrition Data Partners Meeting

In October 2018, DataDENT supported the Nigerian Ministry of  Agriculture in organizing the second annual national meeting of key nutrition data stakeholders from federal and state-level.

DataDENT is actively involved in the Nutrition Data Partners Group, the Standing Together for Nutrition consortium, and efforts to raise visibility of nutrition data issues for the 2021 Nutrition For Growth (N4G) and Global Food Systems Summits (GFSS).

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