The Politics of Ending Malnutrition - Challenging Conversations with Decision Makers

“Nutrition has a branding issue – it’s about so much more than nutrition - I’d rather call it ‘super development’, the art of bringing together different areas of expertise for a tailor made policy for a given problem in a given context.” Listen to fascinating ‘behind-the-scene’ insights from Brieuc Pont, Special Envoy on Nutrition and Secretary General of the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit to be held on 28-29 March in Paris, France.  Career diplomat and Secretary General of the N4G Summit Brieuc Pont shares his challenging journey to ‘peak summit’, in this latest podcast in our “More - and better - financing for nutrition” series. How has he been making the case for ambitious policy and financial commitments and action from political leaders ahead of N4G 2025?   “Diplomats act as bridge-builders – we need to understand the technicalities of a particular issue after discussions with experts, then package this as a political process and bring it to a decision-making level”.   N4D’s directors ask Brieuc about:his hopes and expectations for the summit;the positive experiences and challenges he has experienced in the summit build-up;which arguments have worked in convincing decision-makers to prioritise nutrition investment in such challenging times; what are the financing alternatives in the light of USAID’s suspended budgets;and how the sector can keep momentum going in between summits?Tune in to hear Brieuc’s views on what the nutrition sector needs to do to improve its “branding” – as the most cost-effective development policy, with the highest return of $23 for every $1 invested. Adapting to new realities at a time when many high income countries are reducing aid means mobilising new investment partners – including development banks, such as the Asian Development Bank that pledged US$3 billion at COP26.“We need to push for integrating nutrition at the highest political level among national institutions. N4G 2025 is an opportunity for raising the profile of nutrition among politicians and for transforming the way we ‘do’ development.”Please join the debate! Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.coTheme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz© N4D Group 2025

For this episode in the “More – and better – financing” series, we’re in conversation with Greg S. Garrett, Executive Director of Access to Nutrition initiative (ATNI), a ‘not-for-profit’ organization. ATNI is not funded by the private sector but acts as a broker to strengthen principles of engagement for working with the private sector, which delivers more than 90 per cent of our food. N4D quiz Greg on the innovative financing initiatives needed to fill the US$ 13 billion per year ‘nutrition financing gap’ and fix the current food system that is driving the massive rise in non-communicable diseases. Which fiscal policies work in subsidizing ‘good’ food and taxing unhealthy food? How can nutrition increase its share of the ‘social’ part of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) investing? What can countries do to ensure the right balance between Big Food companies and national small to medium enterprises (SMEs), including small scale farmers, in low-to-middle income countries? How can food companies, especially multinationals, be incentivized to reformulate products? What can governments do to support healthy food chains? Should businesses be ‘at the table’ during food policy development and decision making? Does the private sector have a role in play in driving down the high cost of Ready-to-use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs)? Tune in to hear some answers in this important discussion, in preparation for the Nutrition for Growth summit in Paris.Please join the debate! Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.coTheme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz© N4D Group 2025

For the next instalment in the mini-series on “More – and Better – Financing for Nutrition”, N4D are taking it global in a discussion with Dr Meera Shekar, who was, until recently, the World Bank Global Lead for Nutrition. She is the main author of the World Bank Nutrition Investment Framework 2024, a crucial document in understanding what it’s going to take to move global nutrition financing from where it is now to where we want to be in 10 years, in tackling all forms of malnutrition. Meera highlights key messages from the framework, including the US$30 billion per annum required for nutrition (significantly higher than 2017’s estimate) – and that every dollar invested in nutrition brings a return of $23.N4D’s directors quiz her on making the case for innovative financing, how countries can more effectively advocate for domestic funding, and how global systems such as the SUN Movement can support country-led approaches for financing. Meera’s responses offer important insights into how countries and global structures can better advocate for funding nutrition. Listen now and be part of this important conversation.NOTE: Meera refers to UHC in the podcast, which stands for Universal Health CoveragePlease join the debate! Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.coTheme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz© N4D Group 2025

In this episode, Felix Phiri, who until recently played a lead role in the Government of Malawi coordinating multisectoral nutrition actions, highlights how leadership from the Office of the President helped accelerate progress across sectors towards national nutrition targets and how progress has been slower when this high-level political leadership has not been present. He explains how nutrition officers and budget lines were integrated into sectors and at local authority level increasing capacity to scale up multisectoral interventions. The role of parliamentarians and civil society in promoting and sustaining the required political commitment is another key message. Felix´s experiences at the heart of government efforts on nutrition for over 20 years are essential listening for nutrition leaders in other countries and everyone involved in supporting country led nutrition action.Please join the debate! Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.coTheme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz© N4D Group 2024

The N4D Team introduce the latest mini-series on the weighty theme of more and better financing for nutrition in the run up to the Nutrition for Growth summit, an event through which national and international pledges are made towards reducing levels of malnutrition globally. In this first episode we set the scene for why this mini-series is important, locating this within current initiatives and studies intended to galvanise better financing for nutrition ahead of, during and post the N4G summit. One highly significant piece of work is the newly published World Bank Nutrition Investment Framework that we recommend as essential reading for our listeners. The N4D team also discuss some of the key messages from a policy brief on ‘more and better financing’ for nutrition’ that they have been working on together with a number of country nutrition specialists. This policy brief covers current financing challenges for nutrition, particularly in situations of protracted crisis, and some of the reasons for this. The policy brief will be disseminated in the build-up to the N4G summit. This introductory podcast signposts subsequent planned episodes in the mini-series, including a deep dive into the current state of financing for nutrition actions in situations of protracted crisis, through conversations with nutrition leaders from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Niger and Yemen.  We will then broaden out the series to speak with nutrition leaders from more stable contexts. This will be followed by further episodes with global financing experts exploring issues such as the global financing landscape, advocacy for better financing and innovative financing approaches.N4D are not experts in financing but our listeners can look forward to a number of podcasts where we will be in discussion with knowledgeable people who understand what enables and hinders domestic (i.e. from national treasury) and external financing (often called aid or development assistance); and how these financing mechanisms align with national and sub-national multisectoral nutrition action plans. Please join the debate! Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.coTheme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz© N4D Group 2024

This podcast features Dr Steve Collins who was key to the development of the globally recognized community base management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) approach.  Everyone in the international nutrition sector will know how Steve’s pioneering work helped to build the evidence for ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF) and the programme approach to empower communities and the parents of malnourished children to be actively involved in the effective and safe recovery of their malnourished child at home. Globally, it is reported that there is now 20% coverage of treatment for children with severe acute malnutrition which is a substantial improvement compared to the pre-CMAM era. However, this is still a frustratingly low level of coverage and as Steve argues could be significantly higher if cheaper RUTFs were employed. Furthermore, Steve believes the real percentage coverage is probably much less than the globally cited 20% and that agencies which proclaim this coverage are not following the science.  In response to the slow pace of progress, Steve and colleagues have built the evidence base for a cheaper plant based (rather than milk based) RUTF to overcome one of the key obstacles to scale up which is affordability.  Steve shares his experience of how the evidence around plant based RUTF efficacy hasn’t penetrated the normative UN agency guidance for acute malnutrition treatment postulating why robust study findings have met with such resistance from several agencies. Part’s of his analysis of the RUTF story are critical and challenging and as the discussion unfolds, Steve discusses the role of international agencies and the aid system in perpetuating obstacles to transformation of aid including support for  the localization of capacity and response. N4D hope to have follow up pod casts with WHO, UNICEF and country actors concerned with scaling up CMAM.Please join the debate! Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.coTheme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz© N4D Group 2024

In this episode (13), the N4D Directors reflect on the pod cast mini-series “Country-led… Rhetoric or Reality” during which N4D had conversations with nutrition leaders in three countries: Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Kenya and with two global leaders from the Scaling up Nutrition Movement. While our national nutrition leaders spoke positively about the SUN Movement and other global nutrition initiatives, there was also consensus around the pressing need for better longer-term aligned financing and tailored technical support. The N4D Directors also discuss emerging developments at the global level which might address these needs but don’t shy away from asking whether these developments are really enough to shift the dial to ensure that countries needs and priorities really are at the centre of global actions.Please join the debate! Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.coTheme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz© N4D Group 2024

What was the original vision and approach of the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Movement when it started in 2010? Has the approach remained consistent over time? How should we judge success of nutrition actions and the SUN Movement? What are the risks to success? How do you implement a systems approach to nutrition in practice when departments and organisations tend to work in siloes? Should SUN Movement be open to higher as well as lower income countries? In this conversation with the N4D team David Nabarro addresses these questions and more. Please join the debate! Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.coTheme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz© N4D Group 2024