Specialization in Community Nutrition Management
Postgraduate degree approved by the Higher Council of the UNR Res. No. 220/2025
Postgraduate degree program with official recognition from CONEAU, Act 649/2026
Director: Mr. Guillermo Pablo Scarinci
Academic Commission: Headlines: Dr. Agustina Bertola Compagnuci, Mg. Verónica Risso Patron. Specialist Physician Guillermo Cesar Mengarelli. Substitutes: Mg. Eugenia María Villagran, Mg. Andrés Toussaint
:: RATIONALE:
This postgraduate degree program aims to provide specialized training in the management, evaluation and direction of community nutrition programs, projects, activities and services, and in the design and implementation of policies and strategies, both in the public sector and in civil society.
The term “community nutrition” refers to applying public health principles to design programs, systems, and policies, with the aim of improving or maintaining optimal health in populations, especially disadvantaged ones.
Community nutrition faces significant challenges, including household food insecurity, the double burden of malnutrition, and the prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases linked to unhealthy eating habits, all within varying contexts of vulnerability. This vulnerability encompasses political, social, educational, and economic factors, among others, and continues to pose significant threats to people's health. Nevertheless, communities can develop health promotion strategies, such as early childhood care (first 1000 days), exclusive breastfeeding, healthy eating, and active aging, providing opportunities for population improvement.
The distinctive characteristics of community nutrition are based on some main points such as health promotion, disease prevention, and the planning of activities that improve the health situation of the community.
The primary goal of community nutrition management is to improve the nutritional and health status of individuals and population groups within a community. Actions in this field are based on epidemiology, nutrition, food science, education, and behavioral science.
:: DURATION AND MODALITY:
The duration is 2 years. Course format: in-person/remote
:: GRADUATE PROFILE:
The Community Nutrition Management Specialist will be competent to analyze and evaluate the role of food and nutrition and manage actions to contribute to human development, demonstrating commitment and leadership in addressing food and nutrition problems at the individual and community levels. Graduates will also be able to contribute to policy development in the context of health promotion and manage food and nutrition plans, programs, and projects within the framework of health promotion.
:: CURRICULUM:
The Career is developed in 3 semesters, and is organized into 6 (six) mandatory Seminars, 2 (two) transversal Athenaeums, 1 (one) elective Seminar, 1 (one) Final Work follow-up space, and culminates with the presentation of a Final Work.
Seminars Minimum contents:
1- Food and nutritional security. Definition and principles. Relationship between food security and sustainable development. Policies and legislation on food and nutritional security. Right to food. Food citizenship.
2- Nutrition and public health. Importance of nutrition in public health. Health statistics. Epidemiology. Fundamentals, Design of epidemiological studies, Nutritional surveillance. Mapping. Community nutrition actions at different stages of life. Sustainable and healthy food environments.
3- Participatory Project Management. Introduction: Definition. Importance of participation in project management. Principles: Transparency, Inclusion; Accountability, Community Empowerment. Feasibility. Participatory Budgeting.
4- Transversal Athenaeum for the study of community situations I. Presentation of situations and devices for the analysis and detailed study of models and projects of community management experiences in nutrition through resources such as: audiovisual material, situational observations, documentary records, simulations, among others.
5- Design and management of food policies and economics. Challenges and opportunities; Climate change and its impact on food production. Poverty and its relationship with access to healthy food. Ecological management of food waste. Food education for consumers.
6- Planning and design of community nutrition programs. Identification and formulation of projects. Strategies to improve nutrition in vulnerable populations. Sustainability skills: how to maintain participation over time.
7- Monitoring and evaluation of community nutrition programs. Conceptual dimension, usefulness and evaluation themes. Impact Evaluation: Methods to evaluate the effectiveness of participation. Indicators.
8- Transversal Athenaeum for the study of community situations II. Proposals to improve the management of community nutrition in different contexts based on the projects and resources analyzed in the Transversal Athenaeum for the study of community situations I.
9- Elective Seminar. The program will annually offer a selection linked to topics of possible advances within the disciplinary field, inviting experts to present specific current topics in the field of Community Management and Nutrition or through those problems that may arise from interdisciplinary exchange and require their incorporation to enrich proposals.
10- Final Project Follow-up Space: This space will be transversal in nature and will integrate individual and group meetings that allow monitoring of the work carried out through the Athenaeums, accompanying the students in the process of preparing the Final Project of the degree.
Final work
The program culminates in a Final Project, which will consist of an integrative community intervention project. This individual project must be submitted in writing for evaluation by a jury. It must include a descriptive and analytical design of the actions to be taken based on the proposed objectives, indicating the initial needs assessment, feasibility conditions, and a prospective evaluation of the results. Through this Final Project, the student must demonstrate their skills and competence in the professional activities undertaken, as well as the achievement and integration of the general objectives of the curriculum.
:: REPORTS : espnutricioncom@unr.edu.ar / espnutricioncom@gmail.com
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