ADDIS ABABA - May 24, 2024 (NIPN) – The National Information Platform for Nutrition (NIPN-Ethiopia) organized here last week a two-day inception workshop on Policy Question Formulation (PQF) for local universities, research institutes, and Sub-National Public Health Institutes (SNPHI).
Opening the Workshop, Coordinator with NIPN-Ethiopia, Dr. Aregash Samuel, said that NIPN aimed to conduct the workshop on PQF to strengthen NIPN’s initiatives on evidence-based decision-making in nutrition. The initiative receives support from the European Union (EU) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). In Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) hosts the NIPN, and its launch in 2018 aimed to facilitate evidence-based decision-making for policy makers under the National Food and Nutrition Strategy (NFNS), according to the Coordinator.
“Through this project, the EPHI strives to lead and contribute to the national endeavor to generate knowledge and enhance understanding of nutrition for data-driven decision making. The initiative should become fruitful with the involvement of all concerned bodies. That’s why NIPN has made the decision to invite higher learning institutions, regional health bureaus, research institute, and SNPHIs to contribute their share in realizing this big initiative.
“In this way, NIPN-Ethiopia strives hard to formulate policy questions by identifying policy demands for evidence, analyzing the available data around the policy question, and providing evidence and recommendations on the policy question in the form of a policy brief.
“I call upon all participants and other concerned bodies to contribute their best in realizing the initiative being taken to meet NIPN’s objectives,” Dr. Aregash said.
Dr. Taddesse Zerfu, a Research Fellow from IFPRI, which offers technical support to the NIPN, briefed participants about the policy question formulation. He shared experiences on how to respond to an evidence need through the PQF process.
Dr. Archana Sarkar, advisor to NIPN-Ethiopia from GIZ, briefed workshop participants on proposals and budget requirements including expectations and timelines. Archana, supported by a finance expert from GIZ, explained in detail how researchers should submit proposal documents, handle financial requests, and reconcile expenditures.
Workshop attendants presented on the occasion how they would process their respective research on the PQF. Every university is supposed to deliberate on each PQ it has received from NIPN-Ethiopia. The research work will be accomplished in close alliance with the SNPHI, according to the NIPN coordinator.
Director of the Food Science and Nutrition Research Directorate with EPHI, Dr. Masresha Tessema, said in his closing remarks that SNPHIs and universities are expected to play their role in realizing the initiatives of evidence-based decision-making in nutrition.
“PQF is our flagship activity. I call upon you all to give special emphasis to this very important initiative. We should be ready to finalize the research on time. It is our priority to build the capacity of SNPHIs. EPHI is ready to strengthen SNPHIs. We promise we can provide training on many things, including research analysis. Cascading is one of the initiatives to meet this objective. As EPHI is yours, you are expected to contribute a lot,” Dr. Masresha said.
Some 20 researchers, nutrition experts, Director Generals of SNPHIs, university instructors, health professionals, and others drawn from the Regional Health Research Institute, universities, SNPHIs, and Regional Health Bureau attended the workshop conducted at the National Training Center of the EPHI. (NIPN)
