Malnutrition continues to be one of the world’s most critical health and human development challenges, threatening countries’ universal health coverage and Sustainable Development Goals. Given the complex, multi-factorial, and interlinked determinants of nutritional status and well-being, multisectoral nutrition programming has been widely promoted as the most effective way to address malnutrition’s direct and indirect determinants and improve nutrition outcomes. Many countries’ high rates of malnutrition point to systemic challenges, underscoring that business not as usual is required to accelerate progress.

As part of the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit 2021, the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) is hosting an event to share key findings from the recent publication on “Operationalizing Multisectoral Nutrition Programs to Accelerate Progress: A Nutrition Governance Perspective.” The report highlights the need for robust governance systems as necessary underlying conditions for implementing multisectoral nutrition interventions and creating cost-effective and sustainable programs. Improving governance is central to promoting sustainable financing practices, maximizing the impact of public service delivery, building confidence in institutions, and developing better data and analytics in client countries, which can be used for evidence-based decision-making.

The webinar will share lessons learned from multisectoral nutrition implementation experiences as seen through a nutrition governance lens from several countries supported by the World Bank and GFF. Lessons center around three pillars of 1) advocacy, leadership, and institutional support for multisectoral nutrition; 2) management capacity and financing; and 3) results measurement, monitoring and accountability.