A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN NETWORK FOR CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT IN NUTRITION (NCDN-CEE) IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE AND EUROPEAN FOOD INFORMATION RESOURCE NETWORK (EuroFIR)
Regional networks to foster capacity development have been initiated by UNU-Food & Nutrition Program, and the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN), in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe.
The newest SCN regional network is for Central and Eastern Europe (NCDN-CEE). It commenced in 2005. The NCDN-CEE was inaugurated at its second meeting in Budapest, February 2006. This was also the first time that it held capacity development activities, and the meeting was hosted by FAO in Budapest 16-17th November 2006. For more information see http://agrowebcee.net/subnetwork/ncdn/
The objective of the Network is to support CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) countries in developing capacities necessary for research and training in public (health) nutrition. The objective of the partnership between NCDN-CEE and EuroFIR is to develop collaboration in research and training in CEE countries in public nutrition and to promote food data base development as part of the EC FP6 Network of Excellence EuroFIR.
There are 47 EuroFIR partners from 25 countries and 11 countries in the NCDN-CEE.
National food databases and national nutrition action plans have been identified as important tools for public health nutrition development. Based on the established partnership between NCDN-CEE and EuroFIR (EuroFIR will support teams involved in relevant communication and information). The 2nd NCDN-CEE network meeting in November 2006 underlined a need to establish contacts with national compilers in non-EuroFIR countries in the Balkans and CEE countries in order to identify their training needs and opportunities for collaboration with EuroFIR. From identified training needs specific training courses, workshops and training exchange visits would be developed in collaboration with EuroFIR and NCDN-CEE.
· A first example of this partnership is that several people from NCDN-CEE were trained on the Food Composition Course held in Bratislava in October 2006. The opportunity for non-EuroFIR members to send staff (for example from Romania and Macedonia) was highly appreciated.
The possibility to utilise exchange grants to reinforce the link between non-EuroFIR centres with a certain critical mass in CEE countries and EuroFIR member institutions will be brought up within EuroFIR.
· The 2nd Meeting of the NCDN-CEE was organized in Budapest with FAO SEUR as host. EuroFIR provided financial assistance to five participants from non EuroFIR countries members of the NCDN-CEE.
Institute for Medical Research (IMR) in Serbia is partner number 44. IMR is the leader of the task 6 in the WP 3.1 on training, education and vision to postgraduates and young scientist. The main objective of task 6 is to establish contacts with national compilers in non-EuroFIR countries in the Balkans and CEE countries in order to identify their specific training needs and opportunities for collaboration with EuroFIR. Based on the established partnership between NCDN-CEE and EuroFIR, the Network should keep in close contact with the those within EuroFIR that decide on future training activities (Work Package 3.1). This might result in an informal linkage between Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, and EuroFIR.
Collaboration such as between NCDN-CEE and EuroFIR provides excellent opportunities for meeting training and research needs in the region. Based on the experiences so far, it is the impression that the established regional networks turn out to be useful and efficient tools in streamlining regional involvement where capacity in various areas is imperative for further improvement of peoples' livelihoods, including public health and nutrition.
| 
