Briefing Papers Number 14, February 2012 | Page 14

help in mapping current nutrition efforts by government
agencies and international donors and using this information to set priorities for scaling up as effectively as possible.
In 2010, the World Health Organization’s World Health
Assembly adopted resolution 62.23 on maternal, infant and
young child nutrition.89 The World Health Organization
supports Landscape Analysis, a process that assesses countries’ readiness to accelerate their nutrition programs, with
a focus on the 36 high-burden countries where 90 percent of
the world’s stunted children live. Landscape Analysis90 country assessments study successes and failures in implementing
large-scale nutrition programs, draw lessons for future programs, and help countries identify their specific top-priority
needs.

Looking Forward: A Call to Action
To build on global momentum to scale up maternal and
child nutrition efforts, nutrition stakeholders need to work
cooperatively with people in health, agriculture, and other
sectors to promote better nutrition. Feed the Future and
the Global Health Initiative recognize the long-term consequences of undernutrition to individuals and to societies.
They share the goal of improved well-being and quality of
life. Both initiatives have specific nutrition components, but
these are often presented as complementary to their other
goals. Instead, nutrition needs to be integrated into all development sectors and programs to maximize effectiveness
and efficiency. Making the best use of the various global initiatives to improve nutrition results and integrate nutrition
programs will require increased investments in coordination
mechanisms and country ownership.

Success factors for cost-effective, integrated strategies to
scale up and implement effective nutrition interventions include:
1. Host Country Ownership and Government
Leadership
Recent research by InterAction on the administration’s
Feed the Future initiative91 and its consultation processes indicated that, despite the emphasis in many key documents
on the importance of engaging local civil society, there is a
clear “engagement gap.” Reports indicate that the consultation process often provides limited opportunities for participation. The result is wide variations in the quality and scope
of stakeholder participation. The research highlights the
need for clear operational guidance and offers an illustrative
list of consultation benchmarks to strengthen participation.
Global nutrition advocacy efforts and initiatives such as
SUN, 1,000 Days, REACH, and the WHO Landscape Analysis, along with additional resources, can help foster host government leadership and participation from the outset. Such
leadership is essential to build the strong political support
that is needed both to create an environment conducive to
multi-sectoral and inter-ministerial nutrition integration,
and to recruit nutrition champions with the authority and
will to restructure how services are delivered.
It is important that the momentum from global initiatives
be directed toward strengthening a country-led approach.
Targeted countries need resources to bring stakeholders together across sectors to support integrated nutrition plans,
ensuring that financial and technical resources are accessible, coordinated, and ready to go to scale. Scaling up efforts
will require substantial