SENS - Standardised Expanded Nutrition Survey implementation and mapper (UNHCR DRS)

CartONG has been supporting the Public Health section of UNHCR since 2012 in the implementation of the SENS nutrition surveys (Standardised Expanded Nutrition Survey). The SENS nutrition surveys of UNHCR are deployed in 100 refugees sites each year, 95% of which are conducted on mobile phones. CartONG continuously works on improving the content of the modules of SENS. To note, in 2020, the Public Health section (known as PHS) became a part of the Division of Resilience and Solutions (DRS).

Here is a quick overview of CartONG's support over the years on SENS nutrition surveys:

• In 2017, we reviewed the content of the 6 existing modules, and in creating a new one on demographics, which will be deployed in 2018.
• In 2018, we focused our support on modifications to the global forms, as well as exploring the way the standardization exercise – where the teams get trained on measuring children – can be made more effective by using MDC. For the new version an Excel tool was built which gets the results in the right order and format through a button and with fewer steps involved. The initial idea for the SENS V3 was to have all household related forms in one, however, after testing this in a pilot in Ethiopia, this idea was abandoned as using the data for analysis became more difficult. Consequently, the household module (demography) is separate and can either be administered with a mortality part or without. The other modules, WASH, Mosquito Net, and Food Security are grouped in a different questionnaire, allowing more flexibility for the surveyors. The child questionnaire was enhanced as well.
• In 2019, we undertook the review, testing and adaptation of the third version of the form - a process which included a thorough analysis on the Z-Score and related in-form flagging. In order to know which tools and format to focus on, a user survey was created and sent to the nutritionists to gain an insight on what existing SENS tools they already use and what new features they would require.
• In 2020, we launched the SENS V3 forms encompassing questions on household demographics, WASH, Food security and Coping mechanisms as well as Mosquito Net Usage and specific individual questions including anthropometry of children under 5 and reproductive women. We promoted them in a series of webinars. We updated all related documentation and documented on Github the improved way of flagging the Z-Score. Learn more by reading our 2020 Annual Report.

Our support also involves field training workshops as well as implementation missions.

Additionally, CartONG developed in 2015 the SENS Mapper which maps out SENS survey results. Since then, CartONG has continued working and improving the mapper by adding indicators in 2016, and by making the mapper available online in 2017 as well as adding extra features to improve the user experience.