NIFAM Progress Workshop in Ha Noi

The NIFAM (Nutrition Intervention Forecasting and Monitoring) held it’s project progress workshop in March 2024. It was a pivotal platform for researchers, stakeholders, and guests to come together in a collaborative spirit. The workshop provided a space to deliberate on ongoing NIFAM research endeavors and intervention strategies, to support sustainable food environments in Vietnam. Commencing in July 2022, the NIFAM project is supported by funds of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) based on a decision of the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany via the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE).
During the workshop, the PhD students, the backbone of the NIFAM project, presented their research endeavors. These included VNUA’s model on farm landowners' decisions in Hanoi peri-urban areas, HUPH’s policy intervention model for school meals in Hanoi’s primary schools, and FAVRI’s model on industrial factories' impact on safe vegetable food distribution for low-wage workers. They overviewed their research questions, methodologies, preliminary findings, and forthcoming publication plans, adhering to the guidelines of their respective universities. Each decision model is a probabilistic model built to support decision-making for sustainable food environments. All data and model code scripts are available on GitHub, showcasing the transparency and rigor of their work.
One of the workshop’s highlights was the insightful contributions made by Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy and Dr. Nguyen Do Huy, who discussed food environments and nutrition in Vietnam with the NIFAM team. Dr. Thuy expounded upon nutrition recommendations, proposing three interventions to enhance the nutritional landscape for the urban poor. Notably, implementing a school garden emerged as a critical intervention to foster children’s connection with natural food sources and improve access to healthy nutrition to combat malnutrition.
All attendees participated in calibration training and expert elicitation for a school garden model under development with CODAS and CCD colleagues, the workshop fostered active engagement among participants, both in-person and remotely. Dr. Cory Whitney ended the workshop with an intensive session on scientific writing and abstract preparation, equipping attendees with essential skills for forthcoming academic publications.