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| The London hunger summit: don't be so quick to celebrate | The London hunger summit: don't be so quick to celebrate |
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| The nutrition crisis is emerging as an increasingly pressing issue on the international development agenda. This week, the UK government committed £655m over the next six years to save millions from undernutrition. At the Nutrition for Growth summit, co-hosted by the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, the UK and the Brazilian governments, gathered key stakeholders from the research industry, government, business and civil society to make high level commitments to end under-nutrition. | The nutrition crisis is emerging as an increasingly pressing issue on the international development agenda. This week, the UK government committed £655m over the next six years to save millions from undernutrition. At the Nutrition for Growth summit, co-hosted by the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, the UK and the Brazilian governments, gathered key stakeholders from the research industry, government, business and civil society to make high level commitments to end under-nutrition. |
| The UK has taken a lead on the issue. The country ranks first in the recently published Hanci index, which measures the political commitment of donors to end both hunger and under-nutrition. The index looks at relevant aid allocated, policies and trade agreements that impact on the issue. The UK has aligned its international aid, trade, agriculture and environmental policies in addressing the issue and also supports Scaling up Nutrition (Sun), a developing country-led movement that aims to end malnutrition. | The UK has taken a lead on the issue. The country ranks first in the recently published Hanci index, which measures the political commitment of donors to end both hunger and under-nutrition. The index looks at relevant aid allocated, policies and trade agreements that impact on the issue. The UK has aligned its international aid, trade, agriculture and environmental policies in addressing the issue and also supports Scaling up Nutrition (Sun), a developing country-led movement that aims to end malnutrition. |
| The UK's commitment is reflected, to some extent, in its spending on nutrition issues globally. Research by Development Initiatives (DI) has shown that the UK is the second largest donor of official development assistance for basic nutrition interventions, disbursing $47m on average each year between 2009 and 2011. Basic nutrition official development assistance (ODA) commitments from the UK increased eightfold over the past decade, peaking in 2009. Since that year, however, commitments have decreased by two-thirds. | The UK's commitment is reflected, to some extent, in its spending on nutrition issues globally. Research by Development Initiatives (DI) has shown that the UK is the second largest donor of official development assistance for basic nutrition interventions, disbursing $47m on average each year between 2009 and 2011. Basic nutrition official development assistance (ODA) commitments from the UK increased eightfold over the past decade, peaking in 2009. Since that year, however, commitments have decreased by two-thirds. |
| UK's basic nutrition ODA is well targeted to countries where under-nutrition is concentrated and to Sun members (which received 100% of UK bilateral ODA to developing countries over 2009-2011). India, the country where the largest numbers of stunted children live, is the top recipient and gets 50% of ODA, followed by Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. | UK's basic nutrition ODA is well targeted to countries where under-nutrition is concentrated and to Sun members (which received 100% of UK bilateral ODA to developing countries over 2009-2011). India, the country where the largest numbers of stunted children live, is the top recipient and gets 50% of ODA, followed by Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. |
| Measuring actual ODA spend on nutrition is difficult. There is no specific mechanism for donors to report ODA in this area accurately. Some of this spend is captured via the 'basic nutrition' code in the OECD development assistance committee (DAC) database (to which figures above refer). However, nutrition ODA is likely to be captured via other codes as well such as health, humanitarian aid, agriculture and education. DI research found roughly 55 projects with a nutrition component recorded under other codes for the UK alone. | Measuring actual ODA spend on nutrition is difficult. There is no specific mechanism for donors to report ODA in this area accurately. Some of this spend is captured via the 'basic nutrition' code in the OECD development assistance committee (DAC) database (to which figures above refer). However, nutrition ODA is likely to be captured via other codes as well such as health, humanitarian aid, agriculture and education. DI research found roughly 55 projects with a nutrition component recorded under other codes for the UK alone. |
| Although the UK is showing leadership, there are some areas for improvement. The UK is the second largest donor to basic nutrition, but its ODA commitments have actually been decreasing. In 2011 UK basic nutrition ODA was $16m, a third of the 2009 level. Over 2009-2011, UK ODA investments in the sector ($47m) were less than half those from Canada, the largest donor which gave $108m. | Although the UK is showing leadership, there are some areas for improvement. The UK is the second largest donor to basic nutrition, but its ODA commitments have actually been decreasing. In 2011 UK basic nutrition ODA was $16m, a third of the 2009 level. Over 2009-2011, UK ODA investments in the sector ($47m) were less than half those from Canada, the largest donor which gave $108m. |
| Professor Lawrence Haddad from the Institute of Development Studies suggested at a recent parliamentary event that the UK could spend more on nutrition-specific interventions, backing its nutrition strategy and providing political leadership with greater funding. According to Haddad, linking nutrition to the existing DfID agenda on women and children; encouraging the involvement of the private sector; and improving funding models and mechanisms for nutrition will increase the UK's impact on under-nutrition. Haddad underlined that the UK should also be an advocate of nutrition in the post-2015 framework, to guarantee that the current strong political commitment is not dissipated. | Professor Lawrence Haddad from the Institute of Development Studies suggested at a recent parliamentary event that the UK could spend more on nutrition-specific interventions, backing its nutrition strategy and providing political leadership with greater funding. According to Haddad, linking nutrition to the existing DfID agenda on women and children; encouraging the involvement of the private sector; and improving funding models and mechanisms for nutrition will increase the UK's impact on under-nutrition. Haddad underlined that the UK should also be an advocate of nutrition in the post-2015 framework, to guarantee that the current strong political commitment is not dissipated. |
| Research shows that current global funding for nutrition is just 1.4% of the estimated financial need that the World Bank suggests should be covered by public sources ($10.3bn). In addition, there are disparities between where ODA is distributed and where it is needed. Exercising UK leadership to increase and target better available resources put forward by other donors would help fill this considerable gap. | Research shows that current global funding for nutrition is just 1.4% of the estimated financial need that the World Bank suggests should be covered by public sources ($10.3bn). In addition, there are disparities between where ODA is distributed and where it is needed. Exercising UK leadership to increase and target better available resources put forward by other donors would help fill this considerable gap. |
| The UK champions aid transparency and should use this vantage to leverage commitment from other donors to improve the data quality and coverage on aid for nutrition. The data we currently have is not good enough to know how much is spent on nutrition interventions at international and domestic levels and hence, where the gaps are that need to be filled. | The UK champions aid transparency and should use this vantage to leverage commitment from other donors to improve the data quality and coverage on aid for nutrition. The data we currently have is not good enough to know how much is spent on nutrition interventions at international and domestic levels and hence, where the gaps are that need to be filled. |
| Some donors just do not report thoroughly and accurately enough, and the DAC's creditor reporting system (CRS) is not detailed either. Donors should always provide detailed information on projects, titles and descriptions in the DAC CRS coding system, which itself should be improved. Currenty, it allows to categorise each project under only one code, even if the programme has multiple components and works across sectors. A system able to track the different components of each project would allow more detailed tracking. In this regard, the international aid transparency initiative (IATI) provides a standard that could work better. | Some donors just do not report thoroughly and accurately enough, and the DAC's creditor reporting system (CRS) is not detailed either. Donors should always provide detailed information on projects, titles and descriptions in the DAC CRS coding system, which itself should be improved. Currenty, it allows to categorise each project under only one code, even if the programme has multiple components and works across sectors. A system able to track the different components of each project would allow more detailed tracking. In this regard, the international aid transparency initiative (IATI) provides a standard that could work better. |
| ODA for nutrition should work hand-in-hand with other sources of funding – domestic public resources as well as private flows – but the landscape of these resources is almost unexplored territory. Scaling up Nutrition is now disseminating information on costing of nutrition national plans for its members. This is a good start, but more work on available resources and coverage of financial needs to be done. Improving public information and data on ODA to nutrition and other resource flows would increase the transparency, accountability and results of interventions to end under-nutrition. | ODA for nutrition should work hand-in-hand with other sources of funding – domestic public resources as well as private flows – but the landscape of these resources is almost unexplored territory. Scaling up Nutrition is now disseminating information on costing of nutrition national plans for its members. This is a good start, but more work on available resources and coverage of financial needs to be done. Improving public information and data on ODA to nutrition and other resource flows would increase the transparency, accountability and results of interventions to end under-nutrition. |
| Mariella Di Ciommo is a researcher for Development Initiatives. Follow @devinitorg on Twitter | |
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