The Philippine Nutrition Cluster, represented by Ms. Maria Lourdes A. Vega and Ms. Margarita DC. Enriquez, participated in the Regional Nutrition Cluster Coordinators Training which was held in Bangkok from 28 September – 2 October 2015. Aside from the Philippines, the 5-day training was attended by government agencies, UN agencies, NGOs from other 10 countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, DPR North Korea, Fiji, Jordan, Malaysia, Sudan, Thailand, Vanuatu, and Vietnam. The trainers were from RedR UK, namely, Ms. Adriana Zarrelli, Cluster Coordination Specialist, Ms. Tayseer Abdelsadig El-Basheer, Nutrition Specialist, and Ms. Yvette Crafti, Learning and Development Specialist. They were joined by facilitators from Global Nutrition Cluster-Office of Emergency Programmes (EMOPS) and UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO).

The training aimed to provide participants with an opportunity to prepare for cluster coordination, and to facilitate interaction between existing and potential cluster coordinators. Specific training objectives were to enable participants to: a) have a better understanding of the humanitarian reform, transformative agenda and the cluster approach; b) be clarified on the roles, responsibilities and accountabilities of cluster stakeholders (including Cluster Lead Agencies, Cluster Coordinators, Cluster partners and national governments); c) be familiarized with relevant management processes for effective cluster performance; d) be able to describe and demonstrate, the attitude, skills and behaviors needed by cluster coordinators to support effective cluster performance; and e) be aware of cluster specific tools, sources of information, and lessons learned.

Sessions usually involved short input sessions followed by group discussions on the specific study. To simulate the different phases of cluster operations along the humanitarian program cycle, a case study of a country affected by a major typhoon was used.

True to one of its key messages “Working together is an urgent life-and-death issue”, the training highlighted the importance of coordination and intra- and inter-cluster partnership and the mininum commitiment for participation that will be of great help, among others, to achieve a timely and effective response in order to save more lives. An important take-home message was the centrality of the affected population in the humanitarian program cycle.

Next steps would involve adapting learnings from the training into the Philippine context.

For more information, visit nutritioncluster.net/