Linking research and Intervention: implementation Science

In her presentation, Kenda Cunningham from Helen Keller International, shares experiences and lessons learned to date from the implementation of Suaahara II, a large-scale multi-sector nutrition program in Nepal

Kenda Cunningham is a public health nutritionist, with a decade of experience spanning research and implementation related to maternal and child nutrition. She has primarily worked in Latin America and South Asia on multisectoral nutrition programs which integrate both nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive approaches. She has published extensively in nutrition and food security journals and sits on the Editorial Board of the journal Maternal and Child Nutrition. Kenda’s work bridges the traditional program/research divide as she works on nutrition intervention design and implementation, as well as monitoring, evaluation, and research activities related to those interventions and ultimately, on establishing systems to facilitate regular use of scientific findings to guide programming.

In her current role with Helen Keller International, she is the Sr. Technical Advisor for Integrated Nutrition and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Research for Suaahara II, an integrated nutrition program spanning more than half of the communities of Nepal. Prior to joining HKI, Kenda worked for nearly 8 years at the International Food Policy Research Institute working on food security and nutrition, particularly evidence synthesis and impact and process evaluation studies. She holds a DrPH from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Epidemiology.