Nutrition in Emergencies Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Nutrition Officers and Coordinators, Food Security Programme Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-FS-031

Before you join: Participants should have basic experience in humanitarian, development, public health, food security or community programmes.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Effective emergency nutrition action depends on more than identifying malnutrition rates. Teams must determine whether hunger, disease, infant feeding practices, market failure, water conditions or service disruption are driving preventable illness and death. They must select interventions that protect breastfeeding, treat acute malnutrition, maintain equitable access and avoid causing harm. Weak assessment, poorly defined caseloads and disconnected food assistance can waste scarce resources or miss households facing the highest risk.

This course develops the technical and operational judgement needed to design, manage and monitor nutrition responses during conflict, displacement, disasters and public health emergencies. Participants assess nutrition situations using SMART methods, WHO anthropometric standards and IPC Acute Malnutrition evidence. They examine Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies, Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition, micronutrient interventions, food assistance, cash feasibility, market monitoring and intersectoral coordination. The course also covers caseload estimation, supply planning, referral pathways, quality assurance, accountability and response monitoring.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with humanitarian cases, data interpretation, group analysis, response-design tasks, simulations and application planning. Cases reflect operational decisions commonly faced by NGOs, UN agencies, government emergency teams and implementing partners. Participants leave with an emergency nutrition assessment and response brief template, a CMAM referral pathway model, an IYCF-E risk-management checklist and a monitoring dashboard specification. The course is delivered over five days in a classroom setting in 50+ cities or live online, with approximately 6.5 contact hours per day. Participants who complete the course receive a certificate of completion.

The course suits professionals who already work with food security, health, nutrition, emergency response, programme quality or humanitarian operations and need stronger nutrition decision-making skills.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret nutrition assessment data using SMART methods and WHO anthropometric standards
  • Classify acute malnutrition severity using IPC Acute Malnutrition protocols
  • Design IYCF-E interventions using Operational Guidance and BMS Code controls
  • Plan CMAM services with appropriate admissions, referrals and discharge criteria
  • Calculate nutrition caseloads, supply requirements and programme coverage targets
  • Assess cash, voucher and food assistance options against nutrition objectives
  • Build results frameworks and monitoring systems for emergency nutrition programmes
  • Prepare an evidence-based emergency nutrition response brief and application plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make defensible nutrition response decisions from incomplete emergency evidence
  • Interpret malnutrition data and identify limitations before using findings
  • Plan safer infant feeding support during displacement and service disruption
  • Estimate caseloads and supply needs for acute malnutrition services
  • Contribute credibly to nutrition cluster and interagency planning discussions

For your organisation

  • Improve selection of nutrition interventions against documented causes and severity
  • Reduce treatment gaps through clearer referrals, caseloads and pipeline planning
  • Strengthen compliance with Sphere, WHO and IYCF-E operational guidance
  • Connect food assistance, cash and market actions to measurable nutrition objectives
  • Produce clearer monitoring evidence for management, coordination and donor reporting

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain the causes of emergency malnutrition and apply core humanitarian nutrition standards.

  • Humanitarian nutrition risk pathways linking conflict, displacement, disease and food access
  • Conceptual Framework of Malnutrition: immediate, underlying and basic causes
  • Acute malnutrition forms: wasting, oedema, stunting and micronutrient deficiencies
  • Nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific responses distinguished using causal analysis
  • Sphere Nutrition Standards and Core Humanitarian Standard commitments
  • Protection, gender, disability and age factors affecting nutrition access
  • Accountability to Affected Populations integrated into nutrition programme decisions

Participants can plan and interpret an emergency nutrition assessment using appropriate evidence sources.

  • Secondary data review using IPC Acute Food Insecurity evidence
  • SMART survey design: sampling, indicators, questionnaires and quality controls
  • MUAC, weight-for-height and oedema measurements interpreted against WHO standards
  • Infant and young child feeding assessment during emergencies
  • Rapid nutrition assessment triangulates morbidity, mortality, market and WASH data
  • Data quality checks identify bias, measurement error and missing values
  • Assessment findings translated into severity classification and response priorities

Participants can classify nutrition severity and compare response options using evidence and feasibility criteria.

  • IPC Acute Malnutrition classification: evidence requirements, phases and protocols
  • SMART plausibility checks assess survey quality before decision use
  • Prevalence, burden and caseload calculations for programme planning
  • Seasonal calendars connect disease peaks, lean periods and displacement patterns
  • Mortality and morbidity trends interpreted alongside anthropometric evidence
  • Scenario analysis tests assumptions under access, funding and population change
  • Response analysis compares appropriateness, feasibility, coverage and potential harm

Participants can design safe IYCF-E support and manage breastmilk substitute risks.

  • Operational Guidance for IYCF-E applied to emergency response design
  • Breastfeeding protection, support and counselling during displacement and crisis
  • Breastmilk substitute management follows the BMS Code and operational guidance
  • Complementary feeding options assessed for safety, density and caregiver capacity
  • Mother-baby areas planned with privacy, referral and safeguarding measures
  • Artificial feeding risk assessments identify supplies, water and follow-up requirements
  • Community messaging prevents unsolicited donations and harmful infant feeding practices

Participants can plan CMAM services, referral systems and treatment continuity measures.

  • Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition programme components and referral pathways
  • Outpatient therapeutic care admission, appetite testing and discharge criteria
  • Targeted supplementary feeding eligibility, ration design and monitoring indicators
  • Stabilisation centre protocols for complicated severe acute malnutrition cases
  • CMAM surge planning matches staffing, supplies and referral capacity
  • Defaulter tracing and follow-up systems improve treatment continuity
  • Coverage barriers analysed using SQUEAC principles and community feedback

Participants can select nutrition-specific food and micronutrient interventions for identified risks.

  • Micronutrient deficiency risks assessed from diets, disease and population profiles
  • Vitamin A supplementation protocols aligned with national and WHO guidance
  • Multiple micronutrient powders and fortified foods selected against programme objectives
  • Blanket supplementary feeding decisions use risk, feasibility and coverage evidence
  • General food assistance rations checked against energy and nutrient requirements
  • Specialised nutritious foods managed through pipeline, storage and distribution controls
  • Food quality complaints, acceptability and sharing patterns inform adaptation

Participants can assess food assistance and cash options against nutrition, market and protection criteria.

  • Food security analysis links market access, livelihoods, prices and consumption
  • Household economy analysis identifies food gaps and coping strategies
  • Cash and voucher assistance feasibility assessed through market functionality
  • Minimum Expenditure Basket calculations inform transfer value and modality choices
  • Market monitoring tracks availability, price volatility and trader capacity
  • Transfer delivery risks include exclusion, protection and financial service failures
  • Nutrition objectives embedded in cash programme targeting and messaging

Participants can coordinate nutrition actions with health, WASH, food security and protection services.

  • Nutrition cluster coordination roles, information products and partner responsibilities
  • Intersectoral response mapping links nutrition with health, WASH and food security
  • Referral pathways connect community screening, treatment and health services
  • Joint response plans define complementary actions, geographic coverage and sequencing
  • WASH risk mitigation addresses diarrhoea, water safety and hygiene barriers
  • Health service continuity protects vaccination, infection management and nutrition treatment
  • Safeguarding and protection referrals integrated into service delivery points

Participants can develop a results framework, caseload estimate and monitoring system for nutrition programmes.

  • Logframes connect nutrition outcomes, outputs, activities, assumptions and indicators
  • Results framework selects SMART indicators for treatment, IYCF-E and food security
  • Caseload estimation converts prevalence, population and coverage assumptions into targets
  • Pipeline planning forecasts therapeutic foods, anthropometric tools and staffing needs
  • Indicator reference sheets define numerators, denominators, frequency and data sources
  • Monitoring dashboards track admissions, recovery, default, mortality and stock status
  • Community feedback mechanisms inform adaptive management and response accountability

Participants can strengthen programme quality controls and prepare priorities for future emergency responses.

  • Quality assurance reviews protocols, supervision records, data and stock controls
  • Supportive supervision checklists identify counselling, measurement and referral gaps
  • Supply chain contingency plans address stock-outs, cold chain and access disruptions
  • Data protection principles govern beneficiary records, consent and information sharing
  • After-action reviews document decisions, lessons and corrective actions
  • Donor reporting aligns evidence, indicators, narrative and budget changes
  • Personal application plan sets priorities for the next emergency response

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Emergency nutrition assessment and response brief template
  2. SMART survey quality review checklist
  3. CMAM service and referral pathway model
  4. IYCF-E and breastmilk substitute risk-management checklist
  5. Nutrition-sensitive cash and food assistance decision matrix
  6. Nutrition response monitoring dashboard specification

Who should attend

  • Nutrition Officers and Coordinators — responsible for assessing, designing or managing emergency nutrition services
  • Food Security Programme Managers — need to align food assistance and cash support with nutrition outcomes
  • Humanitarian Programme Managers — make operational decisions on priorities, targeting, budgets and response quality
  • Health and Community Health Staff — support screening, referral, treatment continuity and infant feeding services
  • MEAL Specialists — develop indicators, data systems and evidence for nutrition response decisions
  • Government Emergency and Disaster Management Staff — coordinate nutrition actions during crises and population displacement

Skills and tools covered

Nutrition situation analysisAcute malnutrition managementIYCF-E programmingCaseload estimationCash response assessmentNutrition monitoring

Tools and standards

Sphere Handbook, SMART Methodology, IPC Acute Malnutrition, Operational Guidance on IYCF-E

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short technical briefings followed by case-based analysis, group tasks, data interpretation and facilitated decision-making. Participants examine emergency assessment findings, SMART survey outputs, market information, programme monitoring data and referral scenarios. Simulations address response prioritisation, infant feeding risks, CMAM service planning and supply disruptions. Facilitated discussions compare options against standards, operational constraints and potential harm. Individual application planning helps participants identify how they will apply course methods to their current emergency response responsibilities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic experience in humanitarian, development, public health, food security or community programmes. They should understand common emergency programme terms, be able to read simple tables and percentages, and have some familiarity with field data collection or service delivery. Prior experience in nutrition programming is helpful but not essential. The course does not require clinical nutrition qualifications, survey software expertise, advanced statistics, medical prescribing authority or previous use of SMART, IPC or CMAM systems.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have basic experience in humanitarian, development, health, food security or community programmes. They do not need clinical qualifications, advanced statistics or previous SMART, IPC or CMAM training.

Participants should bring a laptop if possible, along with examples of current programme documents, indicators or response plans they may wish to consider. All core course materials, templates and case information are provided.

The course is intended for nutrition, food security, health, programme management, MEAL and emergency coordination personnel. It is particularly useful for staff moving into nutrition-related responsibilities during crises.

This course focuses specifically on preventing and treating malnutrition in emergencies, including IYCF-E, CMAM, specialised foods and nutrition assessment. It also examines how food security, cash, markets, WASH and health services affect nutrition outcomes.

Participants use named standards and practical templates to assess needs, compare response options, estimate caseloads and monitor services. The final application plan identifies priorities relevant to a current or expected emergency response.

The course contains ten modules delivered in teaching order, covering assessment, classification, intervention design, coordination, monitoring and quality assurance. Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and includes approximately 6.5 contact hours.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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