The SMART Methodology was developed and is implemented by a community of partners, NGOs and experts.
Technical Advisory Group
The Technical Advisory Group (TAG) is a group of eminent experts in epidemiology, emergency nutrition, nutritional security, early warning systems, and demography who created the SMART methodology in collaboration with partners from the CDC, universities, United Nations, and various NGOs. The TAG is responsible for the continuous enhancement of SMART based on field experiences.
Meet the experts of Tag:
Michael Golden, MD PhD
Chairman of the Technical Advisory Group
Michael studied physiology and medicine to become a gastroenterologist by the early 1970s. His clinical practice led him to switch to nutrition and paediatrics. He worked at, and later directed, Waterloo's old unit in Jamaica for 17 years, researching all aspects of malnutrition. Michael returned to the UK in 1991 and has since been working as a consultant for various NGOs and UN agencies involved in malnutrition, as well as teaching at Aberdeen University in Scotland.
E. Grellety, MSc MPH PhD
co-Chairman of the Technical Advisory Group
Emmanuel Grellety is the Senior Epidemiologist for the Emergency Desk of Médecins Sans Frontières France since 2019. He has more than 20 years' experience in humanitarian emergencies in various positions, working mainly in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia with many NGOs and UN agencies, conducting operational programme delivery and research in difficult and insecure settings. He joined Epicentre in 2008 and his main areas of expertise are field epidemiology, quantitative public health measurement and disease control among crisis-affected population.
Oleg Bilukha, MD PhD
Sampling methods in SMART
Dr. Oleg Bilukha is Associate Director of Science with the Emergency Response and Recovery Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where he works since 2000. He obtained his MD from Ukraine, and his PhD in Nutrition (with minors in Epidemiology and Consumer Economics) from Cornell University, USA. Oleg has served as a consultant and temporary advisor to the WHO, UNHCR, WFP, and UNICEF on multiple assignments all over the globe. His advance expertize includes international nutrition, statistics, epidemiology, surveys and surveillance, and war-related injury among other topics. He published over 40 peer reviewed papers and reviewed for ~20 scientific journals including Lancet, JAMA and BMJ. In the recent years Oleg was asked by UN partners to lead expert work on assessing the quality of anthropometry survey data and/or represent nutrition on emergency ad hoc expert panels in high-profile emergencies such as Somalia famine, Syria refugee crisis and most recently potential declaration of famine in South Sudan. He is a world expert on nutrition assessment methods in emergencies and post-emergencies and regularly advises senior nutrition technical staff of major international NGOs and UN agencies active in nutrition sector.
Juergen Erhardt, PhD
ENA software development
Juergen has a PhD in human nutrition from Hohenheim University, Germany. Since 2003 he has worked on improving laboratory methods for measuring the micronutrient status and developing nutrition software at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta.
Global Project Convenor
During a meeting on SMART in Rome in April 2008, the Global Nutrition Cluster Assessment Working Group noted that a lack of institutional leadership of SMART had hampered its development and implementation over time. Consequently, Action Against Hunger Canada (ACF Canada) was established as project convener for SMART, ensuring a link between the technical advisory group, users and experts.
Presently, the SMART Convenors at ACF Canada (funded by ECHO and USAID in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) provide training and technical support in SMART.
For more information about ECHO visit:
For more information about USAID visit:
To learn more about ACF Canada, Visit their website here.
Project Staff
The SMART Project Staff at Action Against Hunger Canada conduct SMART trainings and provide support on the methodology to other partner agencies around the world.
Meet the Staff:
Paula Tenaglia
Operations Director
Paula has been working in the humanitarian and development sector for 15 years in Kenya, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Guatemala where she managed country teams and provided oversight to organizational learning and development programmes.
Paula joined Action Against Hunger Canada in May 2013 as the Operations Director and provides leadership on institutional fundraising and the organization’s programming portfolio on SMART methodology, gender equality mainstreaming and gender-based violence.
Paula has a BA in International Development from the University of Guelph, a MA in Migration and Refugee Studies from the University of Sussex and a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resources Management from Seneca College.
Contact Details:
ADDRESS: 720 Bathurst St, Suite 500, Toronto, ON M5S 2R4,
TELEPHONE: +1.416.644.1016 Extension 203
Hassan Ali Ahmed
Senior Program Manager
Hassan has been working with Action Against Hunger since 2014 where he spent just over two years as the Nutrition Survey Head of Department in Afghanistan. After his work there he joined the Yemen mission as the Nutrition Survey Head of Department prior to joining the SMART global project in Jordan.
Prior to working with Action Against Hunger Hassan worked in a number of Monitoring and Evaluation capacities with Mercy USA Aid for Development in Kenya and Somalia. Hassan has a MBA of Strategic Management from the University of Nairobi.
Contact Details:
ADDRESS: 720 Bathurst St, Suite 500, Toronto, ON M5S 2R4
TELEPHONE: +1.416.644.1016
EMAIL: hahmed@actioncontrelafaim.ca
Hailu Wondim
Emergency Assessment Nutrition Manager
Hailu is a public health professional with more than twelve years of experience in the humanitarian sector focusing on health and nutrition. He has worked in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He has extensive field experience in conducting SMART surveys and building the capacity of Partners.
Contact Details:
ADDRESS: 720 Bathurst St, Suite 500, Toronto, ON M5S 2R4
TELEPHONE: +1.416.644.1016
Jana Daher
Project Manager Research, Innovation and Technology
Jana is a nutritionist and a public health professional with extensive international experience. She has managed, implemented and evaluated programs in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East in the fields of nutrition, infectious disease epidemiology and broadly in innovations (mHealth/eHealth). Jana has joined the SMART Team in 2017 and has since built the capacity of various international organizations and governmental agencies in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, designed a new SMART innovation, and evaluated digital solutions using SMART methods.
Jana has a BSc in nutrition and dietetics from the American University of Beirut and a MScPH with a focus on epidemiology from McGill University.
Contact Details:
ADDRESS: 720 Bathurst St, Suite 500, Toronto, ON M5S 2R4
TELEPHONE: +1.416.644.1016
EMAIL: jdaher@actioncontrelafaim.ca
Partners
SMART is a practical tool that can be used by humanitarian field workers for technical support and training. It establishes a comprehensive capacity building and support system that will be accessible to all partners. This will expand the use of the standardized method among national and international agencies, improve data quality and enable decision making based on accurate data.
Occasionally, different partners collaborate to improve and further implement the SMART methodology in developing countries.
These partners can be from any of the following:
- Donors
- Universities, research institutes
- UN/International Organizations
- PVOs (Private Voluntary Organizations) /NGOs
- Local governments; Ministries of Health
- Individual experts
What is the Global Nutrition Cluster?
Today, SMART is recognized as the standard methodology by national Ministries of Health, donors, and implementing partners of the Global Nutrition Cluster such as international NGOs and UN agencies that wish to undertake nutrition and mortality surveys. The Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC) is a group of 33 members from various NGOs involved in nutrition, which meets regularly to exchange information on nutrition emergencies at the global level. With UNICEF as the lead agency, the GNC develops open access to institutional archives and resources for cluster implementation in a user-friendly manner.
For more information visit:
