• Provide nutrition technical guidance for integrated
programming; and
• Track, report, monitor, and evaluate nutrition targets and
results.
Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World
Recommendations
Gayle Smith, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director, National
Security Council, emphasizes that nutrition is an important key to the development agenda.
position titles, staff categories, and descriptions related
to nutrition programs reveals that many personnel who
work on nutrition are non-permanent staff.52 Sustaining
and strengthening the U.S. government’s capacity to
support scaling up nutrition efforts will require strategic
investments that increase the recruitment of human
resources for nutrition while also reinforcing the technical
and operational capacity of existing nutrition staff. These
positions should be at least two-year assignments so that
staff can provide stability and continuity to programs and
build relationships in country.
To support an increasing number of nutrition-focused
solicitations under GHI and FTF, USAID has designated
1953 “nutrition-staff persons or points of contact.” These
positions are not mandatory or permanent (they can be
staffed by part-time and/or contract employees), and they
are not consistently staffed in program countries. Adequate
technical leadership, program oversight, and support
positions for nutrition, both at headquarters and in USAID
missions, is necessary to:
• Successfully develop and implement a harmonized
interagency strategy and approach for nutrition;
• Plan, manage, and coordinate interagency nutrition
programs;
• Devote sufficient effort to assuming the administrative
and technical oversight responsibilities54 of Agreement
Officer Representatives (AOR) and Contract Officer
Representatives (COR) in managing growing nutritionrelated portfolios and field support mechanisms;
8 Briefing Paper, July 2012
• Appoint full-time nutrition staff from existing personnel
in USAID missions in target countries.55 These Mission
Nutrition Advisors (similar to the recently filled Mission
Gender Advisor positions56) would help develop a
coordinated nutrition strategy at the mission level to
support country-led nutrition strategies and would
contribute to the joint planning and management of
integrated nutrition portfolios (which are now spread across
sectors). They would be the key liaisons with the Nutrition
Point Persons at headquarters and would coordinate
with the host government, local and international civil
society organizations, and other donors who support SUN
activities in country.57 Working with technical staff, the
Mission Nutrition Advisors will help the mission address
nutrition policy issues across the portfolio. This may include
developing in-house nutrition capacity, providing technical
assistance, reporting on nutrition, and guiding policy and
programs. The advisors need not be formally trained
nutritionists, but they should have sufficient knowledge,
skills, and abilities in nutrition technical interventions—
perhaps based on field experience or collaborative work
with implementing partners or other donors—to fulfill
these responsibilities.
• Standardize nutrition-related positions at headquarters and
overseas, using consistent position titles,58 job descriptions,
clearly defined roles and responsibilities, and qualification
requirements.
• Increase staffing of Nutrition Technical Advisors who have
technical training and a background in nutrition, both at
headquarters and in field missions.
Harmonizing Operational
and Technical Guidance for Nutrition
Overview
Official operational and technical guidance for nutrition is fragmented across agencies, bureaus, and offices.59
Since each agency/office has its own nutrition guidance,
it is hard to implement a single coherent U.S. government
interagency nutrition strategy at the country level. This is
especially true because there is limited guidance on how to
link with other U.S. government nutrition programs. The
Nutritional Operational Guidance for USAID Missions60