2023 All FEWS NET Workshop
May 1-5, 2023 — Mombasa, Kenya
"Celebrating achievements, consolidating gains, and charting a path forward"
The 2023 All FEWS NET Workshop was held at the PrideInn Paradise Beach Resort & Conference Center, Mombasa, Kenya.
Individual session presentations, organized by day, are linked below.
2023 All FEWS NET Workshop Agenda
Agenda - All FEWS 2023.pdfDay 1 — Reconnecting and Setting the Context
Devoted to reconnecting with each other, reminding ourselves of our mission, reflecting on past and future challenges, and setting the context for the remainder of the week
State of FEWS NET Addresses
During this session leadership from USAID and FEWS NET’s implementing partners (USAID, EWT, Science Team, The Hub, and Pillar 3) will provide a status review for their pillar or area(s) of responsibility, along with a vision for the coming year.
The Hub launched the new FEWS NET website at the end of March 2023, along with an extensive update to the FEWS NET brand. This session provides an opportunity for Hub staff to highlight key aspects of the new site and to explain the branding updates.
This panel is devoted to a reflection on critical challenges facing households across the broad swath of geographies the project monitors, with a particular emphasis on three of the hazards that affect all regions in FEWS NET’s portfolio: conflict, climate change, and global economic shocks.
This panel is intended to provide select mission staff with an opportunity to reflect on FEWS NET’s contributions to country-level decision-making. Mission staff will also take questions from FEWS NET staff.
Day 2 — Reducing Divergences with the IPC
The aim for Day 2 is to ensure alignment around our joint workplan with the IPC GSU, which is designed to reduce divergences in analyses between FEWS NET and the IPC. The morning will be devoted to a review of the expectations and responsibilities related to this workplan as well as an update on a related workplan activity focused on improving the livelihood coping module. The afternoon will be devoted to trainings that build coherence and capacity around issues related to IPC analyses.
This session will provide an update on joint efforts between the IPC GSU and the FEWS NET EWT towards reducing divergences between the two organizations, including a review of the jointly developed work plan. The roles and responsibilities of key EWT members in implementing the joint work plan will be reviewed and discussed.
This session provides an update on an activity carried out by the EWT over the past year and a half, designed to pilot an approach for improving the livelihood coping module by testing methods for contextualization. The results of this pilot will be presented, with time set aside for Q&A, along with a discussion of next steps.
This session will provide a refresher training on important aspects to keep in mind when conducting analyses that involve IPC Phase 4 and IPC Phase 5 classifications, along with guidance on how to formulate and report on Risk of Famine analyses.
HFA is an emergency response that provides a critical source of food or income in many countries that FEWS NET covers. Large quantities of food assistance can be a key factor in ameliorating food security outcomes, and the role of assistance in bridging food consumption gaps or curbing the use of coping strategies should be carefully considered throughout the EWT’s analysis. This session aims to provide EWT staff with a refresher training on effectively integrating and communicating the analysis of the likely impacts of HFA on food security outcomes into our monthly reports, in alignment with both the IPC 3.1 and FEWS NET protocols.
The objectives of this session are to ensure all staff understand technical aspects of incorporating HEA outcome analysis results, where available, into IPC analyses and to share best practices around the process for engaging with TWGs towards this end. A short presentation will be followed by a demonstration of livelihood impact analysis sheet (LIAS) results relevant to IPC analyses. Project office staff from southern and West Africa will discuss best practices around engagement with IPC/CH with relation to incorporating HEA in the IPC/CH analyses.
This session will emphasize the importance of implementing a high-quality sampling approach as part of food security and nutrition surveys. Attendees should come away with a better understanding of what we mean by sampling, why it is important, key issues to check for when reviewing a survey’s methodology, and what can be done when a sampling approach is poor or poorly implemented.
Day 3 — Maximizing the Value of Field Work
The aim for Day 3 is to share best practices on qualitative field information/Data Collection and to build out plans for standardizing related approaches/tools. The afternoon will be devoted to refresher training on food security Indicators and the matrix. The day will end with an overview of the Pillar 3 livelihoods activity.
Day 4 — Focus on Capacity Development
The aim for Day 4 is to inform staff of and socialize the plan for developing and implementing a self-paced and customized capacity development platform for acute food insecurity analysis and to finalize key components of the platform that require collective input. Additionally, the Science Team will share updates related to new agroclimatology products and tools, and time will be devoted to further engagement with their team on aspects of weather profile development. Separate sub-groups will start working on the redesign of the Food Security Outlook (FSO) process to be returned to later in the week.
Science Team Training: Refresher and New Products/Tools Update
FEWS NET Data Explorer (no associated slides)
Day 5 — Looking Inwards
Day 5 will be devoted to trainings and awareness building specific to each implementing team, such as operations and project management, or internal discussions to ensure alignment on pillar-specific protocols.
Booths
Booths are an opportunity for information to be shared with participants outside of a structured working session.
Key Early Warning Team Products
Tips and Tricks on Field Data Collection
Help Desks
Help desks provide an opportunity for participants to seek additional support on a given topic.
New Website Orientation
Creating Visualizations in FEWS NET's Content Management System (CMS)
IT
Branding
FEWS NET Learning Platform (FLP)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)