Planning and costing for the acceleration of actions for nutrition: experiences of countries in the Movement for Scaling Up Nutrition

Abstract

This report is a synthesis of work undertaken by countries in the movement for Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN). The costed nutrition plans for 20 countries are analysed, looking at the assumptions made, the priority areas and targets which were set and the methods used, to determine whether they are responsive to the identified needs. It provides a basis for identifying priority areas for investment in each country, exploring answers to the questions - Are plans aligned with evidence-based recommendations? Is responsibility going beyond health sector? Which other sectors are engaged? What is the balance between specific nutrition interventions, nutrition-sensitive approaches and governance? What are the opportunities for non-Government stakeholders?

Each country’s data is presented in a 2 page summary, outlining the scale of malnutrition, the distribution of programmes between specific, sensitive and governance and an outline of the costs, priorities and funding gaps. The plans themselves all have different strengths and weaknesses. This heterogeneity is inevitable, if only because countries have different interlinked sets of nutrition problems as this report clearly shows. But countries also have different sets of nutrition capacities. Importantly, the heterogeneity of the plans is a strength, not a weakness.

As Lawrence Haddad concludes, “the plans serve as the most credible basis for investments to accelerate the reduction of undernutrition. They should be analysed, used, improved and backed.