Over 150 agriculture and nutrition stakeholders from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan registered for the event

A three-day online interaction from February 24 – 26, 2015 was hosted by LANSA on the IDS Eldis Community platform. Over 150 stakeholders from South Asia region registered to participate in the dialogue. 60+ from India, 40+ from Pakistan and the remaining where from Bangladesh, with a few from Afghanistan.

This was the first time LANSA witnessed stakeholder engagement from Afghanistan, it was very encouraging considering the difficulties to reach out.

This is also a first major online engagement experience for LANSA and the e-dialogue was a strategy initiated by research uptake to take forward LANSA's research under Pillar 2.2 by getting stakeholders to examine the potential of market-based approaches to increase consumption of nutritious foods by low-income, undernourished population.

The Rationale for the online discussion and the Themes for the three days laid the basis for successful stakeholder responsive to the initiative. End-of-day discussion summaries were shared with the participating group, and a final output took the form of a Policy Brief. 

An estimated 70+ stakeholders contributed to the closed group discussion, some frequently shared knowledge, expertise and thought-provoking ideas on ‘Markets for Nutrition’, while many others actively followed the discussion by email and on the platform. Participants included decision makers, policy influencers, representatives from government or international organizations as well as academics and researchers.

Each of the three days had featured key themes

Day 1: Examples and Experiences

Day 2: Opportunities and Challenges, and

Day 3: Moving Forward.

Markets for Nutrition - Discussion Summary

The facilitators - John Humphrey and Samar Zuberi, responding to comments, posed questions, and kept the discussion on track. The online dialogue was by Jessica Meeker, drawing on rich experience and knowledge of the IDS Making Knowledge Count team who provided round-the-clock technical and logistical support. 

LANSA researchers RV Bhavani, Rohit Prasar and Rashid Mehmood involved in the value chain work contributed to the discussions. Rohit Parasar who works on the value chain India study had this to say: "The discussion had participation across the four LANSA countries, and many useful insights were presented on the role of government, food safety, role of private sector and challenges to reach out to the poor. Various examples were sighted across the four countries on how nutrient-rich food can reach poor keeping in mind food safety."

Research Uptake played a vital behind-the-scenes role in organising, disseminating, facilitating and reporting on the Online Dialogue. Apart from identifying and involving relevant stakeholders for the discussion, Samar Zuberi, Sangeetha Rajeesh and Snigdha Ali worked behind the scenes prompting key stakeholders to contribute to the discussion at opportune times. A huge LANSA team effort!