RECFONNews - SEAMEO

Volume IV/No.2/November 2012
RECFONNews SEAMEO ‐ RECFON (Regional Centre for Food and Nutrition) Inside this issue: SEAMEO RECFON hosted High Official Visits SEAMEO RECFON hosted High 1 Official Visits Training  Master students visited mothers and children in Paseban, Senen during Ap‐
plied Knowledge in Nutrition Course  SEANLP 2012  Update on HENRI 2‐3  Our Research Update  Short course Agenda 4 Profile 5 On Mission Roadshows to Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar 6 Seminars held in SEAMEO RECFON 
Panel discussion 
FKGK 7 Calling all SEAMEO RECFON alumni 8 Advisor Siti Muslimatun Editor Airin Roshita Dian Nurcahyati Basuki Lay Out Aupa Suraga Malik Contact Address SEAMEO‐RECFON PO Box 3852 Jakarta 10038 INDONESIA Phone: +62‐21‐31930205; 3914017 Fax: +62‐21‐3913933 E‐mail: information@seameo‐recfon.org Website : http://www.seameo‐recfon.org Visiting Address SEAMEO‐RECFON Building Campus of UI, Salemba Jl. Salemba Raya No 6 Jakarta 10430 INDONESIA The vice minister of Education and Culture, Republic Indonesia, Prof Dr. Musliar Kasim visited SEAMEO RECFON on May 1st 2012. The visit was part of the Six‐Centre Workshop which was held to consolidate the strategic roles of SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia. The workshop was attended by the Director of SEAMEO RECFON, Dr. Ratna Sitompul, SEAMEO RECFON staffs and the Directors of other SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia: Dr. Bambang Purwantara (Director of SEAMEO BIOTROP); Dr. Irdika Mansur, M.For.Sc (Deputy Director for Resource Management, SEAMEO BIOTROP); Dr. Felicia Nuradi Utorodewo (Director of SEAMEO QITEP Language); Nilla E. Djuniarto (Deputy Director for Program, SEAMEO QITEP Language); Prof. Dr. Subanar (Director of SEAMEO QITEP Math); and Prof. Dr. Ismunandar (Director of SEAMEO QITEP Science). During the visit, Prof. Dr. Musliar Kasim and the directors of SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia had an intensive discussion on the roles of SEAMEO Centres as international institutions and problems faced by the Centres in Indonesia in regard to staffing, Centre’s facilities and financial management. The Second high official to visit SEAMEO RECFON was H.E. Pehin Abubakar Apong, President of the SEAMEO Council. His Exellency travelled to Indonesia on 2‐6 July 2012 to visit the SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia and attend the East Asia Summit Education Minister Meeting (EAS‐EMM) in Yogyakarta. During his visit, His Exellency paid SEAMEO RECFON a visit on July 3rd 2012, and were presented the activities and achievement of SEAMEO RECFON. The Director of SEAMEO SEAMOLEC, Dr. Gatot Hari Priowirjanto attended this session and also presented the activities and achievement of SEAMEO SEAMOLEC. EXCELLENCE IN FOOD AND NUTRITION FOR QUALITY HUMAN RESOURCES Training SEAMEO RECFON Master students visited mothers and children in Paseban, Senen, during Applied Knowledge in Nutrition Course In the end of their first year study, the Master students of SEAMEO RECFON learned to conduct a nutrition baseline survey during the ‘Applied Knowledge in Nutrition’ Course. The course was conducted on 9 April—11 May 2012 with an aim to enable students applying their knowledge in community nutrition through preparation, designing, implementing, managing, monitoring, and re‐
porting a nutrition baseline survey. The baseline survey was conducted in Pase‐
ban, Senen‐Subdistrict, Jakarta. During the course, the students learned how to design a nutritional baseline study including how to develop a conceptual frame‐
work, sampling procedure and questionnaire, to pre‐test questionnaire, to recruit study participants, to conduct structured interviews and in‐depth interviews, to perform anthropometry measurement, to analyze data and write a survey report. The students worked as a team and they had the opportunity to learned how to manage a baseline survey and do a team work. The Southeast Asian Nutrition Leadership Program/SEANLP 2012 The 8th SEA‐NLP was conducted on 14 ‐ 18 November 2011 at Swissbel hotel, Jakarta, Indonesia. There were 21 participants coming from Southeast Asia countries such as Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indo‐
nesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam. The program aims to empower nutritionists at the post‐graduate level by providing competencies in effective leadership, team building, and communication skills. The SEA‐NLP is also used as a forum of networking for nutritionists in the region. Since its first com‐
mencement in 2002, seven SEA‐NLPs have been conducted in 2002‐2009. Nineteen participants received scholarships from the government of Indonesia through SEAMEO RECFON. Topics given in this training program covered effective leadership, team building, communication skills, updates in nutrition and net‐
working. The training sessions consisted of lectures, group works and exercises. Several outdoor activities were included for practical exercises of leadership where the participants performed various team build‐
ing games and exercises. The nutrition updates sessions were about the role of nutrition in development. These sessions were delivered by prominent nutritionist in the region and representatives of food indus‐
tries. The topics consisted of the Implementation of Food Safety principals in Food Industry, Southeast Asia RDA harmonization, Prevention of chronic degenerative diseases, Vitamin A deficiency problem in developing countries, and the experience of nutrition programs in Indonesia. Page 2 Training Update on Higher Education Network Ring Initiative (HENRI) The HENRI program is conducted as a partnership program be‐
tween Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University and SEAMEO Regional Centre for Food and Nutrition (RECFON) as the leading institutions with other partners, including Helen Keller In‐
ternational (HKI) Indonesia, SUMMIT Institute for Development (SID), University of Mataram (UNRAM) in West Nusa Tenggara and University of Andalas (UNAND) in West Sumatra. This is the second year since the program was commenced in January 2011 . During FY 2011/2012, three main achievements have been accomplished. The first achievement is the development of an active data repository and web based education access portal. At present, a database of 135 common variables from 3 surveys (National Nutrition Survey of HKI (NNS), Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) and Demographic Health Survey (DHS)) has been set up. This database has been used actively for data driven teaching purposes at SEAMEO RECFON. The use of this database has increased the aware‐
ness of students about the existence of such large national survey data usable for guiding policy. The second main activity is the documentation of curriculum for training of educators and students in integrated and applied data analysis. Data‐driven teaching has been initiated at SEAMEO RECFON Master Program courses. Courses that have applied data analysis using the HENRI databases in teaching include Biostatistics, Nutritional Status Assessment, Nutritional Epidemiology and Surveillance, Public Health and Nutrition System and Its Analysis, Nutritional Anthropology, Health Promotion in Nutrition Program and Nutrition and Disease. The plan for roll out of HENRI courses at the University of Andalas and University of Mataram has been developed. The roll out is already conducted at the University of Mataram and will be conducted at the University of Andalas in the next semester. The final achievement was capacity enhancement of universities and institutions in Indonesia. Activities included in this aim covered training programs for faculty members or researchers in the field of Nutrition and Public Health. To date, 3 Master students and 3 Doctorate students have received fellowships to study at the SEAMEO RECFON. Three faculty members/researchers from the University of Mataram and 7 faculty members from the University of Andalas have been invited to join SEAMEO courses. Moreover, 4 workshops for data analysis and lesson plan devel‐
opments have been conducted with participants from SEAMEO RECFON, University of Andalas, University of Mataram and other Universities including School of Public Health University of Indo‐
nesia and Trisakti University. An internship program for data analysis and manuscript writing at SEAMEO RECFON was pro‐
vided for 6 researchers. These researchers received fellowships for 3 months. Page 3 Our Research Update The Effectiveness of training on cadres’ competencies in communicating safe complementary feeding to caregivers Dwi Nastiti Iswarawanti1, Endang Basuki2, Achmad HP3, Siti Muslimatun1 1
SEAMEO‐Regional Center for Food and Nutrition, University of Indonesia, , 2Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia, 3University of Jakarta Improving cadres’ competency in nutrition advice through training is well known. However, there is lim‐
ited information on training model development which use a systematic and scientific tool. This study’s objective is to assess the effect of training on cognitive, affective and psychomotor competencies of cad‐
res in communicating safe complementary feeding to caregivers of children 6‐24 months of age. This study consisted of 2 phases. Phase 1 was the formative phase during which training materials such as trainer’s handbook, participant’s handbook, workbook, booklet, take‐home brochure, posters and videos were developed using Kemp’s model instructional design. Phase 2 was the intervention phase using train‐
ing material developed in phase 1. The non‐equivalent pre‐post test control group design was used in the second phase of the study. The study was conducted in Bekasi municipality; with sample of 70 cadres in the intervention and 68 cadres in the comparison groups. The intervention group received a 3‐day train‐
ing, while the comparison group received a half day seminar. The developed training model using the Kemp’s elements as the instructional design was proven to be effective in improving the competencies of the cadres in communicating safe complementary feeding to caregivers. Short Course Agenda (October 2012—December 2012) Biostatistics September, 24 ‐ October, 08 Nutritional Status Assessment October 08 ‐ 22 Basic Epidemiology October 22 ‐ 25 Nutritional Epidemiology & Surveillance Public Health HNPPM 1: Project/ Program Planning HNPPM 2: Management Issues for Health/ Nutrition Projects and Pro‐
gram Page 4 October, 29 ‐ November, 12 November,12 ‐ 26 November, 26 ‐ December, 03 December, 03‐17 Profile Helda Khusun, PhD and Airin Roshita, PhD Dr Helda Khusun and Dr Airin Roshita are both academic staffs of SEAMEO RECFON. Helda joined this institution in 1995 when she received the scholarship from SEAMEO TROPMED/DAAD for the Master Program of Community Nutrition. In 1997, she finished her Master program and became one of the academic staffs in SEAMEO TROPMED RCCN (the former name of SEAMEO RECFON). Airin followed a few years later, in 2000, when she also received the scholarship from SEAMEO TROPMED/
DAAD for her Master degree and became one the academic staffs in 2002. These two good friends had actually started their tertiary education at the same institution. Both of them graduated from Institut Pertanian Bogor (Bogor Agricultural University) majoring in Food Technology and Human nutrition for their bachelor degree. However due to different year of study period, they only met at SEAMEO TROP‐
MED RCCN in 2000 when Airin became a Master student and Helda was one of the lecturers. Helda resigned from SEAMEO RCCN in 2003, when she decided to concentrate to her duties as the mother for her children. While Airin continued to work as a lecturer at this institution until finally once again they studied together at the School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia for their PhD degrees. Both, being a mother, supported each other when they had to leave their family back in Indonesia while trying to complete the degree. Helda enrolled into the PhD program in 2006 and submitted her thesis in March 2011. Her thesis title was "Explaining the Heterogeneity in Overweight and Underweight amongst Adult Indonesians, 1993‐2007: The Influence of Compositional and Contextual Factors". While Airin enrolled into the PhD program in 2007 and submitted her thesis in August 2011. Her thesis was about “Maternal employment and child’s weight for age: A study of an In‐
donesian urban middle class community”. They both received Australian Development Scholarship from AusAid for their PhD degrees. Now, they have decided to apply their knowledge and teach at SEAMEO RECFON University of Indonesia. Despite, having different expertise, they are able to find similarities in their academic activities. Living in the same house for many years while they were in Brisbane had bring them closer, even though there were ups and downs during their journey in Australia. However, both treasure family values and friend‐
ships and are glad to find a companion in each other Page 5 On–Mission Road shows to Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar A series of road show to several countries of Southeast Asia region was conducted in June‐July 2012. The objectives of the visit were to introduce SEAMEO RECFON programs and activities and to explore collaborations with other institutions. The countries visited were Vietnam, Lao PDR and Myanmar. The Acting Chief Operating Officer/Deputy Director for Resource Management and Marketing of SEAMEO RECFON, Dr Siti Muslimatun and the Manager for Information Resource and Public Relation, Dr Airin Roshita travelled to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Vientianne, Lao PDR on 5‐9 June 2011. In Ho Chi Minh City, they visited SEAMEO RETRAC and learned about the low‐cost Interactive Smart Boards (ISB) developed by SEAMEO RETRAC and discussed its potential use for post‐graduate teaching. They also visited Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Nutrition Centre and presented SEAMEO RECFON’s programs and activities including inviting the candidates from HCMC Nutrition Centre to apply for scholarships for Master Degree in Community Nutrition and Doctorate Degree in Nutrition at SEAMEO RECFON. The visit to HCMC Nutrition Centre was continued by a visit to National Institute of Public Health (NIOPH) Vientiane, the University of Health Sciences‐Faculty of Postgraduate studies and the Ministry of Health (MOH) Lao PDR. During the visit in these three institutions in Lao PDR, they presented the training programs of SEAMEO RECFON, the scholarships available and discussed the problems faced by candidates from Lao PDR to study overseas. At the MOH of Lao PDR, the food safety trainings programs of SEAMEO RECFON and the continued collaboration between the two institutions on food safety training was discussed. Dr. Judhiastuty Februhartanty, the Deputy Director for Program and Dr. Helda Khusun, the Degree Head Unit, travelled to Myanmar on 5‐9 July 2012. They visited Department of Health (DOH) Myan‐
mar, the National Nutrition Centre and University of Public Health (UPH) Myanmar. In DOH Myanmar they presented SEAMEO RECFON activities and discussed about scholarships available for Myanmar students to enroll into Master and Doctorate program at SEAMEO RECFON. They also discussed about programs and research in Indonesia and Myanmar. In the National Nutrition Centre they explored the possibilities for collaborations for the development of nutritional laboratory and trainings of labora‐
tory staffs. In UPH Myanmar they were welcomed by Dr. Nay Soe Maung, the Rector of UPH Myanmar and discussed about the plan to conduct a Regional Training on Food Safety for Nutritionists and other Health Professionals in Myanmar. During their visit to UPH Myanmar, a seminar was conducted. Two alumni of SEAMEO RECFON from Myanmar presented their research in the seminar. Khaing Mar Zhaw, MD (an Alumnus of Master program) presented “Exploration of Myanmar Rural Caregivers’ concepts on childhood diarrheal disease (6‐24 mo) and its management related to ORS use and feeding prac‐
tice” and Dr. Min Kyaw Htet (an Alumnus of Doctorate Program) shared about “Role of sub‐clinical in‐
flammation on micronutrient status of Myanmar adolescent girls during micronutrient supplementa‐
tion” Page 6 SEMINARS HELD IN SEAMEO RECFON Panel Discussion Women, Nutrition & Health: Portraits from the Field
A panel discussion as part of the Introduction to Nutritional Anthropology course was conducted at SEAMEO RECFON on 26 January 2012. The panel discussion titled ’Women, Nutrition and Health: Portraits from the Field’ was attended by participants from academic institutions, non‐
government organizations, United Nation agencies, SEAMEO RECFON’s students and staffs. The objective of the panel discussion was to learn and share experiences in understanding issues re‐
garding women, nutrition and health from various settings and to stimulate new ideas for future studies regarding women, nutrition and health. The speakers were Esthetika Wulandari, MS., an independent communication consultant who shared about supportive work place for women, Airin Roshita, PhD., SEAMEO RECFON’s staff who shared the results of her research on maternal employment and child caring, Anuraj Shankar, PhD from School of Public Health, Havard University USA who presented about “Women education and children health and nutritional outcome: What the national data tells you” and Anita Shankar, PhD from the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA who shared about women empower‐
ment. Nutrition and Health Communication Forum Nutrition Education for Teacher Forum Komunikasi Gizi dan Kesehatan (FKGK) or Nutrition and Health Commu‐
nication Forum conducted a seminar on 12 June 2012 with a topic of ‘Nutrition Education for Teacher’. FKGK was established by SEAMEO RECFON and its part‐
ners with objectives to disseminate information on nutrition and health and share best practices on nutrition and health program. Every year FKGK con‐
ducts an event at SEAMEO RECFON and invites all partners to contribute and attend the event. The speakers of this year seminar were from SEAMOLEC, who presented about e‐learning program for nutrition and health education, Juara Foundation Elementary School who shared about their experiences on the application of health education program for teachers, and Company Community Partnerships for Health in Indonesia (CCPHI) who shared about the opportunity to collaborate with companies in their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) pro‐
grams. During this event, one of SEAMEO RECFON’s modules titled ‘Modul Un‐
tuk Guru Sekolah Dasar dan Yang Sederajat Gizi dan Kesehatan’ or ‘Health and Nutrition Module for Elementary Teachers’ was launched. This was developed and printed in 2012 and will be distributed for free for elementary teachers. Page 7 Calling all SEAMEO RECFON Alumni SEAMEO RECFON acknowledges the importance of building partnership and networking with stakeholders from various institutions and individuals. Alumni are among the most potential partners. In 2011 the Alumni Forum has been ini‐
tiated by conducting an alumni survey and followed by nutrition seminar for alumni where the forum was then established. The Alumni Seminar, conducted on 29 October 2011 at Grand Cemara Hotel, Jakarta, was aimed to share information among alumni on current roles and future challenges of nutritionists from various perspectives; to explore how SEAMEO RECFON can further contribute to education and research in food and nutrition and how to strengthen alumni contribution to the efforts; and to establish an alumni association of SEAMEO RECFON. The theme of the seminar was ‘Current Roles and Future Challenges of Nutritionists’. The event presented numbers of national and international nutrition experts as speakers, who were also the Centre’s alumni. They are Dr. Le Thi Hop from the National Institute of Nutrition, Vietnam, Prof. Nurpudji H. Taslim from University of Hasanudin, Makasar, Indonesia, Elviyanti Martini, MSc from World Food Program Indonesia and Marina Pergiwati from PT Unilever Indonesia. Working groups were conducted in the afternoon sessions to discuss the topic on how SEAMEO RECFON can further contribute to education and research in food and nutrition, how to strengthen alumni contribution to assist SEAMEO RECFON programs in food and nutrition education and re‐
search; also the establishment of alumni association of SEAMEO RECFON and the association’s future agenda. The final discussion was facilitated by Dr. Imelda Angeles‐Agdeppa from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Philippines. Following the seminar, some action plan were suggested to strengthen some of the emerging initia‐
tives. In 2013, three expected activities involving the alumni are continuation of the alumni survey, benchmarking meetings and E‐networking. Efforts will be increased to call back all SEAMEO RECFON alumni to join the forum. 50
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