Conference

For this event, ”la Caixa” Foundation, UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency and its Committee in Spain, have joined forces to address one of the greatest – and gravest –challenges facing children around the world: malnutrition in emergency settings.

The Conference will address the main challenges and strategies in the area of child nutrition and will be a platform for joint thinking and action. Nutrition and appropriate feeding practices are key to saving lives. Under these frameworks, this meeting will bring together leaders and influential technical experts from major UN agencies, INGOs and NGOs, high representatives from International, National and Regional Government, Academia, Think-tanks, Private and Family Foundations and Corporations. They will play a significant role in providing innovative ideas and build partnership across sectors for sustainable solutions and a better life for refugees and displaced people.

AGENDA

CaixaForum Barcelona

Wednesday, October 16th 2019

Building Innovative Partnerships -Tackling Child Malnutrition and Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

09.00 – 09.30: Registration and reception.

09.30 – 09.45: Welcome Remarks.

Jaume Giró Ribas, General Director  ”la Caixa” Banking Foundation.

Francesco Sciacca, General Director UNHCR Spanish Committee.

09.45 – 10.00: Opening : ‘Why we need to join together and act’.

HRH Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan, UNHCR Patron – Maternal and Newborn Health.

10.00 – 11.00: Innovating on methodology to improve the response for infants and children. Beyond therapeutic treatment, tackling child malnutrition in emergency situations.

• Challenges and opportunities to tackle child malnutrition; towards the 2030 Agenda. Nicholas Crawford, Senior Research Associate, ODI (Overseas Development Institute).
• Infant and Young Child Feeding saves newborn lives and improves survival over time:
  • Major barriers and challenges.
  • IYCF in refugee situations.
  • What we know and where are the gaps.
  • MOM project Case study in Ethiopia, Gambella (video).

Caroline Wilkinson, Senior Nutrition Officer, Public Health Section, Division of Programme Support and Management (DPSM), UNHCR.

Alessandro Iellamo, Global IYCF-E Adviser, Save the Children

Moderated by: Amador Gómez, Technical Director of Action Against Hunger

 11.00-11.15: Coffee break

11.15-12.00: Comprehensive approach: Water, sanitation and hygiene, health, education, psyco-social support and cash assistance programmes to help reduce child mortality.

• IYCF framework and its multisectorial approach: key to success in emergency settings. Caroline Wilkinson, Senior Nutrition Officer, Public Health Section, Division of Programme Support and Management (DPSM), UNHCR. Emily Mates, Technical Director of Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN).
• Other factors interacting with child malnutrition: links with malaria and HIV. Quique Bassat, ISGlobal and ICREA Research professor

Moderated by: Jesús A. Núñez Villaverde, Codirector Institute of Conflicts and Humanitarian Action (IECAH)

12.00-13.00: How technology can make a difference: synergies between the private and humanitarian sectors.

• From technological leadership to a key player in cooperation: Bill and Melinda Gates Fundacion as a trend maker. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation *speaker tbc.
• How Apps are improving diagnosis and humanitarian response in malnutrition:  the case of “Sam photo diagnosis” and LMMS (Last Mile Mobile Solution). Amador Gómez, Technical Director of Action Against Hunger.
• Painless diagnosis of anemia: improving monitoring to reach more children with a non-invasive machine. Caroline Wilkinson, Senior Nutrition Officer, Public Health Section, Division of Programme Support and Management (DPSM), UNHCR.
• Complementary feeding: a massive challenge. The potential of e-vouchers and cash assistance. Camille Nussbaum, Researcher and Training Manager at Institute of Conflicts and Humanitarian Action (IECAH).Moderated by: Ariadna Bardolet, Director of International Programmes, “la Caixa” Banking Foundation.

13.00- 14.00: Lunch break at CaixaForum.

14.00- 15.15: Accelerating the 2030 sustainable Development Agenda across sector and multilevel.

• How does the High Commissionate plan to get the private sector involved in improving the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Isabel Garro,  Asesora Especial del Alto Comisionado para la Agenda 2030 de España.
• The APPD (Private public partnerships for development”) as a tool: balancing its impact in the humanitarian sector. Cristina Gutiérrez, Director of the Humanitarian Action Office of AECID: Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation.
• Eradicating the increasing inequalities through long-term partnerships. Mari Luz Ortega, Director of the Andalusian Agency of Cooperation

Moderated by Gemma Parellada, journalist and Spanish foreign correspondent in Africa (CNN, El País…)

15.15 – 16.45: Co-creative and shared value partnerships: Pledge for Action.

• Corporate foundations and the 2030 Agenda: we cannot do it alone. The key to successful co-creative partnerships that increase impact. Javier Nadal, president of Spanish Association of Foundations.
• Philanthropy Built on People and Partnerships. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation case study. Dr Valerie Nkamgang Bemo, Deputy Director Emergency Response, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
• The private sector promoting research and knowledge sharing. BCFN Foundation (Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition) case study. Katarzyna Dembska, Dietitian, Nutritionist, Consultant and Researcher at BCFN, Barilla Foundation.
• How multi-stakeholder partnerships on nutrition for women and girls are key for sustainable development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. HRH Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan, UNHCR Patron – Maternal and Newborn Health.

Moderated by Gemma Parellada, journalist and Spanish foreign correspondent in Africa (CNN, El País…)

16.45-17.00: Closing remarks.

Gemma Parellada, journalist and Spanish foreign correspondent in Africa (CNN, El País…)

17:30-18:30: Exhibition “Ópera. Pasión, poder y política”.

Organizers: ”la Caixa” Banking Foundation, UNHCR- The UN Refugee Agency, Spanish Committee and the Catalan Committee.

Simultaneous translation into English and Spanish available.

Emergencies distinguish themselves by their frequently soaring crude mortality rates, which can be two to 70 times higher than average. Experience shows that even in previously healthy populations, child morbidity and crude mortality rates can increase twentyfold in as short a period as two weeks. Improving breastfeeding practices alone can save lives. IYCF (Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies) programming is therefore one of the most important interventions to master and implement alongside other activities aimed at preventing and treating malnutrition, disease and death.

The Global Compact on Refugees, adopted in December 2018, aims to improve international cooperation on refugee issues in order to increase their self-reliance and resilience. In this sense, in addition to leading refugee responses, UNHCR’s role as a catalyst is growing – rallying other stakeholders to take part in the emergency situations the Agency faces, as a way to bringing a broader and more sustainable approach for refugees and displaced people. One of the main challenges in emergency settings are alarming child malnutrition rates. After fleeing conflict or persecution, children are at risk of dying because of food shortages, lack of drinkable water, inadequate health care and poor sanitation and hygiene conditions. Partnership is key to achieving a better deal for refugees and their hosts. Aligned to this, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development focuses on partnerships as a way to bringing the private sector creativity, resources and innovation on board and achieve the SDGs.

Over the last seventeen years, ”la Caixa” Banking Foundation and UNHCR have built strategic partnerships through the Spanish Committee of UNHCR. MOM partnership, Innovation Plan for Child Nutrition, has allowed developing an innovative methodological approach, as well as the use of new technologies to improve the nutritional status of mothers and children under five in Ethiopia.