Sapkota, Diplav

Global commitments to nutrition have supported calls for better evidence to support effective investments at national level. However, too little attention has so far been paid to the role of governance in achieving impacts. This article explores the ways by which the commitment and capabilities of policy implementers affect collaborative efforts for achieving nutrition goals.

Effective governance is essential for effective nutrition program implementation. There are additional challenges in launching multisector plans to enhance nutritional status. The present study compares the challenges and opportunities in Ethiopia and Nepal in designing and implementing a multisector plan for nutrition. A semi-quantitative questionnaire with open-ended questions was used to solicit information from senior national-level policy officials and other key stakeholders.

This research brief presents preliminary findings from work in Nepal that explores how multi- sectoral programming explicitly linking agriculture with health and nutrition achieves impacts on the ground. Recognition that ?merely producing more food does not ensure food security or improved nutrition? (Herforth et al. 2012) begs questions about when, where and why does it, or does it not ensure food security or support improved nutrition?

This brief presents preliminary findings from work in Nepal that explores such issues, including the processes, impacts, constraints and innovations in multi-sectoral programming that explicitly links agriculture with health and nutrition. The focus in this brief is on a first round of data, collected in 2013 under USAID?s Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Nutrition, aimed at assessing policymakers? and programming professionals? understanding of nutrition problems, challenges to multi-sector programming and potential solutions.

This research brief presents preliminary findings from work in Nepal that explores how policy processes influence the implementation of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive actions. At a time when the government?s Multi-Sector Nutrition Plan (MSNP) is being rolled out, and new multi-dimensional nutrition programmes are scaling up, this study captures insights and experiences of stakeholders from central government to ward-level service providers.

At the 19th International Congress on Nutrition in Bangkok (in 2009), the United Nations? Standing Committee on Nutrition concluded that ?there is an urgent need to provide evidence- based information on food-based strategies and systems in order to make a case for their promotion. A series of scientific articles on food security interventions for nutrition should therefore be published to complement the public health interventions promoted by the Lancet Series [of 2008].

In the context of commitments shown by the Government of Nepal to addressing the country?s nutrition challenges, the National Planning Commission, in collaboration with the Nutrition Collaborative Research Support Program (N/CRSP), organized a two?day stakeholders? forum to discuss research priorities in nutrition, health, and agriculture.

Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSPs) represent a long?standing form of US government funding for research that facilitates partnerships among US?based and developing?country scholars on agriculture, food and nutrition issues of policy relevance globally. The CRSPs receive core funding from the Bureau for Food Security of USAID, as well as buy?ins from USAID Missions and other parts of the Agency. The Nutrition CRSP is the most recently?established of 10 existing CRSPs.

The Government of Nepal (GoN) has made a major commitment to improving the nutritional status of its population. For example, Nepal was one of the earliest countries to join the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Movement. As a SUN country, Nepal has articulated a clear strategy for scaling up direct nutrition interventions as well as identifying multi-sector strategies for improving nutrition. To this end, GoN in September 2012 released its Multi-Sector Nutrition Plan (MSNP) that will guide the government?s investment for the period 2013 to 2017.

Recently, there have been renewed calls for the integration of nutrition, health, and agriculture to improve the nutritional status of populations. Whereas these sectors previously operated in separate realms, various frameworks have been propounded to highlight the importance of a multi?sectoral approach and to establish links between the sectors to impact nutritional status.