On 6th June, 2024, the Policy Analysis Unit held a technical meeting at the Lao Academy of Social and Economic Sciences. The technical meeting was chaired by Ousavanh Thiengthepvongsa, Director-General of the Socio-Economic Policy Research Institute.
NIPN aims to build long-term capacities of key stakeholders involved in the national nutrition monitoring, evaluation and policy agenda. The first step in this process is to identify the current capabilities of the national and sub-national multi-sectoral stakeholders under the NIPN Policy Analysis Unit. As such, the capacity development plan for 2024 and reflections from the training progamme provided to sub-national actors were presented.
Participants were also engaged in discussions on developing the NIPN research agenda for 2024. Based on the feedback from stakeholders on the findings of the discussed research and suggested evidence gaps, research questions will be formulated to contribute to future NIPN research activities.
Meetings like this, with other stakeholders from other institutions in Lao PDR, listening to them and providing concrete feedback, are very important to improving the quality of the PAU’s research and capacity-building efforts at the national and subnational levels. They also provide an avenue for future collaboration.