Table 1 Political economy challenges facing nutrition policy reform
Political economy challengesa | Examples of strategies that could be used by national nutrition institutions/governments to overcome political economy challenges in nutrition | |
|---|---|---|
Leadership challenge | Mainstreaming applied political economy analysis is a means to propose context-specific actions (illustrated by the examples of strategies in the next column) that can address the political economy challenges for nutrition | E.g. Actively support policy entrepreneurs or “nutrition champions” to advocate for nutrition and develop feasible policy solutions (e.g. by providing relevant data and evidence to strengthen the case for investment in nutrition or policy development). |
Coordination challenge | E.g. Establish common understanding of a multisectoral approach to improve nutrition; and create appropriate incentives to align different sectoral/line ministries and stakeholders to scale up nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive actions. | |
Accountability challenge | E.g. Establish clear roles and responsibilities of different ministries and stakeholders in policy development and implementation, with mechanisms to monitor performance in a transparent way. | |
Framing challenge | E.g. Conduct evidence-based nutrition situation analysis and gain consensus on key nutrition problems and solutions; and establish priorities for action. | |
Hierarchy challenge | E.g. Invest in capacity development of national nutritionists, including as policy champions, and train in managing the policy process. | |
Demonstrating effectiveness challenge | E.g. Invest in national information systems that include nutrition-relevant indicators and regularly monitor and evaluate nutrition plans and their implementation. |