Despite these challenges, decision makers in countries with high burdens of malnutrition are often unaware of the cost of inaction on nutrition targets. They also frequently lack access to the latest evidence or support when it comes to framing policy options for nutrition and their costs. As a result, they are not investing enough — or do not have enough to invest — in nutrition, and the investments they do make are directed towards lower impact approaches that are less effective and less efficient.

Evidence also shows that many nutrition issues are inter-related and that they can affect the same groups of people. While addressing these issues requires multisectoral approaches, budgets and programs are frequently siloed by sector or intervention, and governments experience challenges coordinating across those sectors and between national and local authorities. The fragmented donor landscape further hampers planning and coherence. These missed opportunities for governments to integrate nutrition into investments made in health, social protection, agriculture and other relevant sectors are limiting the scale, impact and sustainability of nutrition programming.

To improve the prioritization and resourcing for nutrition — and to end missed opportunities — we work to strengthen and improve critical elements of nutrition governance.

• We help solidify nutrition, including gender-inclusive approaches, as a priority for national and international decision-makers in relevant policies, plans, legislation and other relevant frameworks at the national, regional and global levels
• We work to secure new financial resources for nutrition, leveraging our extensive experience in improving how governments, development banks and donors allocate existing resources
• We seek to improve the effectiveness of institutions, structures and systems so they are capable of implementing nutrition actions and budgets in effective and sustainable ways
• We strengthen nutrition governance by generating and applying high-quality evidence that supports strategic investments in nutrition to enable informed policy making that has lasting health, social and economic impacts

Sustainable progress in nutrition also requires more than just strong policies: it depends on adequate, aligned and sustained financing. That is why we support governments to strengthen their capacity to influence budgeting processes, develop costed plans, track spending and improve public financial management systems to ensure nutrition is prioritized and funded effectively.

Finally, our support works across the elements of governance systems rather than working on isolated components. This enables us to address complex bottlenecks and integrate nutrition across critical sectors by doing the following:

• We provide evidence, analysis and insights to demonstrate the benefits and return on investment that come from prioritizing nutrition, especially for women and girls
• We help governments build the leadership and institutional capacity required to turn political commitment into actionable, long-term nutrition outcomes
• We work with nutrition champions to advocate for policies, laws, plans and budgets that integrate and prioritize nutrition in a measurable way
• We support governments to navigate the processes required to secure sufficient and appropriate financing in their national, subnational and sector budgets
• We advocate with and support institutions to commit financial resources that can contribute to government funding for nutrition priorities

We provide technical assistance that helps strengthen the policies, plans, coordination mechanisms, monitoring systems and financing frameworks that make up nutrition governance systems.