Since the April 2011 Global Meeting of Partners, the Working Group has worked on a series of key activities and tools. It has developed and conducted a field survey for cluster coordinators in order to identify the present coordination field practices between the Food Security and Nutrition Clusters. Upon careful analysis of the survey results and the dissemination of key findings, the Working Group identified principal synergies and complementarities, gaps and limitations, as well as best practices regarding existing coordination mechanisms between Food Security and Nutrition Clusters at field level.
A key deliverable that was identified during this meeting was the development of a Joint Guidance Note concerning fundamental synergies, complementarities, gaps and lessons learned that were discerned from the survey findings.
It was agreed to write a letter clearly defining mandates, roles and responsibilities of the two clusters. This would in turn be shared with cluster coordinators and partners at country as well as headquarter level. There will also be an additional letter signed by Global Nutrition & Food Security Coordinators and addressed to the field Coordinators of both clusters, as well as the field-level co-lead agencies, emphasizing the working principles and linkages between the FSC and GNC. A Joint Guidance Note will also be produced containing both concrete examples of how the Food Security and Nutrition coordination mechanisms look like and the existing coordination best practices. The latter will be collected after careful consultation with field coordinators.
Further action points include the creation of an online discussion group, either via email or via the gFSC website, where Food Security and Nutrition practitioners can ask questions, share information and solve problems. Joint Trainings for the cluster coordinators, as well as joint missions will be promoted. In addition, the working group will ensure that the joint trainings, support missions and assessments are also multi-cluster in nature and that there is sufficient national capacity to address coordination issues between the two clusters, especially when the international workforce retreats.
Presentation on the WG achievements in 2012 in English [ppt].
WASH
Inter-Cluster Matrix [pdf] - Health/Nutrition/WASH. This matrix defines the responsibilities and accountabilities of the Health, Nutrition and WASH Clusters during emergency response in areas of potential overlap in order to ensure clarity and improve coordination and collaboration during emergencies.Global Meeting of
