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After the 1992 International Conference on Nutrition (ICN), and through the formulation of the National Plan of Action for Nutrition 1994-1995, Thailand has laid the foundation in the establishment of the national FIVIMS. The Government of Thailand has declared a full support for FIVIMS establishment. In 1998, the Institute of Nutrition Mahidol University, under the directorship of Dr. Kraisid, was selected as the interim FIVIMS Focal Agency to coordinate the establishment of FIVIMS in the country.
Participation with the regional and international activities was undertaken, and meetings with the concerned agencies were conducted.
During the first meeting of 20 April 1999 at INMU, the background and benefits of FIVIMS were presented, the commonly used terminologies, the indicators, and more importantly, how ready the country to establish a national FIVIMS. It was then reported that different agencies have wealth of information and databases, however, the problem of data sharing and the limitation of different levels of data aggregation are issues of concern. Two recommendations were formulated: a more detailed assessment of the information systems within the agencies; and identify the indicators based on the FIVIMS objectives.
An FAO lecturer was then invited during the second meeting held on June 10-11,1999 at INMU. The technical aspects of FIVIMS was presented and a demonstration on the use of the Key Indicators mapping Systems (KIMS). It was also during this meeting that the participants presented the information systems used in their respective offices, the type of data, levels of aggregation and when these are being collected. The group agreed to finalize the set of indicators and test on a trial basis would be undertaken on mapping of core indicators, as well as agreed that the lowest aggregation is at the sub-district, or Tambon level, to be used for mapping purposes.
FIVIMS
Organizational Structure
However, because INMU is an academic institution, and has no blanket authority to coordinate FIVIMS-related activities of the different agencies, thus, the role of the Focal Agency was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
The National FIVIMS Committee was organized on May 2000. This was reorganized in December 2002 with the designation of the Secretary General of the Office of Agricultural Economics as the Chairman, and signed by the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives. The Director of Center for Agricultural Statistics was designated as the Secretary, and Dr. Uraiporn Chittchang, from the Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University as Assistant Secretary. The members of the NFC come from different government agencies such as the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Public Health, Office of National Economic and Social Development Board, National Statistical Office, Department of Fisheries, Department of Livestock Development, Department of Agricultural Extension, Statistics Unit of the Office of Agricultural Economics, Bureau of Agricultural Policy and Planning, Agricultural Economics Research Division, OAE, Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University.
To help in the formulation of the National FIVIMS, a Technical Sub-committee was created, designating the INMU Director as the Chair of the Committee, the INMU staff as the Secretary and OAE staff as Assistant Secretary.
A Letter of Agreement between OAE and FAO was signed, and INMU served as the National Consultant as well. The LoA was aimed at enhancing the institutional capacity of the Focal Agency, the Technical Sub-committee and other stakeholders involved in the development of the National FIVIMS as well as operationalizing FIVIMS in the context of overall national development and poverty alleviation strategies, contributing to reduction in the number of undernourished and vulnerable.
A technical mission was initiated by the Asia FIVIMS Project in October-November 2001, which suggested a set of indicators and methodologies suitable for vulnerability assessments as well as a future course of actions to conduct assessments at the household level.
Formal and informal meetings and brainstorming sessions were conducted since 1998 to define FIVIMS operational procedures and strategies and discuss technical issues and recommendations.
The Focal Agency was transferred from INMU to the Office of Agricultural Economics, Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, it was then when an inter-agency committee was formed to coordinate all FIVIMS related activities in the country. The FIVIMS Committee has the following duties and responsibilities: (1) to set objectives, goals and indicators of the FIVIMS in Thailand; (2) to set an operational plan and methods to establish FIVIMS; (3) to implement FIVIMS to achieve goals of reducing malnutrition; and (4) to set-up sub-committee or a working group, if necessary, for the implementation of FIVIMS.
During the third meeting in March 2000, the members had identified that availability of funds and technical capabilities were issues as well. Thus, it was agreed that a project proposal for funding consideration by FAO must be prepared by the Focal Agency. They also recognized that a Technical Sub-committee should be created to take charge of the FIVIMS project, and that the FIVIMS concept must be incorporated in the 9th National Economic and Social Development Plan (2002-2006) of the country.
The creation of the NFC and Technical Sub-committee was expected to ensure commitment and technical responsibility, thus, resulting in effective FIVIMS operationalization.
An informal workshop was undertaken by the Vulnerability Analysis Coordinator of the FAO-Asia FIVIMS Trust Fund Project on Key Indicators Mapping System (KIMS) and Key Indicators Data System (KIDS) in which OAE technical officers participated.
Another TSC Workshop was conducted in 7-8 April 2003 to define the set of valid and useful indicators, and to finalize the draft of the Manual of Operations. During the finalization of the Manual, the Terms of Reference and commitments of the National FIVIMS major players were agreed as well as the implementing procedures based on the conceptual framework (Figure 15). In addition, the work plan, target outputs and the capability-building strategies were planned.
The Workshop output was presented to the National FIVIMS Committee on 30 April 2003 for further comment and approved as the second draft of the Manual of Operations and to ensure adoption of the FIVIMS plans and programs by each agency.
The second draft of the Manual of Operations was presented to the National FIVIMS Workshop on 12 June 2003, attended by the heads/representatives from different national government agencies, private organizations, non-government organizations and other major players of Thailand FIVIMS. During the Workshop, re-orientation on the Global FIVIMS System was undertaken for better understanding of the Members. Highlighted was the presentation of the second draft of the Manual of Operations. The participants were grouped into three to finalize the indicators, and to address issues such as the roles and responsibilities of the FIVIMS members e.g. data generation, data banking and management and utilization.
After the National Workshop, meetings of the TSC and INMU FIVIMS members were conducted to incorporate the necessary corrections as per workshop outputs.
An important training session on multivariate analysis, ADDATI and Geographic Information and Mapping System, organized by the Asia FIVIMS project in coordination with RAP in April-May 2003, in support of capability building on national FIVIMS, was attended by the Technical Analyst Group to upgrade their skills to enable them to present accurate, timely and effective food insecurity and vulnerability information of the country.
