Episode 11:
David Nabarro
Country Led – rhetoric or reality?
A people centred, systems approach to nutrition. 

Please join the debate! 

Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2024

Episode 10:
Gladys Mugambi
Country Led – rhetoric or reality?
Strengthening domestic resource mobilisation and donor coordination

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Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2024

Episode 9:
Sisay Sinamo
Country Led – rhetoric or reality?
Matching international support with domestic commitments

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Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2024

Episode 8:
Said Shamsul Islam Shams
Country Led – rhetoric or reality?
The role of international actors in mobilising country led, multisectoral nutrition action. 

In this episode, Shams describes how international support helped promote country led, multisectoral and multistakeholder actions for nutrition in Afghanistan. He highlights the importance of sustaining and adapting this support to changing circumstances even in highly complex contexts such as Afghanistan. Whilst international financial and technical assistance are vital, sustained, country specific advocacy also plays a vital role. 

Please join the debate! 

Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2024

Episode 7:
The N4D Team | Mini series Introduction
Country Led – rhetoric or reality?
Making international support more effective

In this episode, the N4D team introduce our new series ¨Country-led: rhetoric or reality?¨ in which we will be discussing with nutrition leaders from country and global levels how to make international support for country-led nutrition action more coherent and effective. It has been 15 years since the first Lancet nutrition series which concluded there was ¨an urgent need for new architecture and governance arrangements to address the highly fragmented and poorly led nutrition architecture¨.

Have the coherence and  effectiveness of international support to countries really increased over the last 15 years? What needs to be done now to increase the country level impact of the global nutrition architecture? With our guests, we aim to identify concrete recommendations, building on successes to date, for international support to better address country priorities and needs. 

Please join the debate! 

Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2024

In this podcast:

Kenya:
In this podcast we hear from Eldah Onsomu, Isabella Kiplagat and Mohamednur Duba in the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) and James Gatungu and Samuel Kipruto from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) about the Kenya NIPFN platform. The positioning of NIPFN within these institutions, both which sit in the State Department for Planning, appears to be a pretty perfect fit. KIPPRA is mandated to provide policy guidance across all of Kenya’s ministries and to take policy research to impact whilst KNBS is mandated to generate and host quality data and its analysis.

In a short period of time, not helped by the COVID-19 pandemic, Kenya NIPFN has made massive strides in country including its visually impressive dashboard, several influential policy briefs and the elaboration of a harmonised nutrition indicator framework to monitor progress of the Kenya Nutrition Action Plan (KNAP).

The vision for NIPFN Kenya is even more impressive with plans to devolve NIPFN to 47 counties, and to produce county policy briefs which will feed into new County Nutrition Action Plans. There are also efforts being made to get the Treasury to include a nutrition code to help track government and development partner spend on nutrition and for these data to be used to update a finance study conducted a few years ago. We also get to hear a growing confidence within the NIPFN Team that the platform can be sustained should international development partner financing reduce or cease. 

Learn about our work and read our report about NIPN here

Visit:
NIPN  | GIZ  | KIPPRA Kenya | KNBS Kenya

Further reading:
NIPFN Kenya Publications

Please join the debate! 

Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2023

Episode 6, Part 2:
Mohamed Ag Bendech, Mahamane Issiak Balarabé, Mababou Kebe and Aregash Samuel Hafebo
Understanding NIPN. Conversations with Country Actors, Niger & Ethiopia

In this episode (No. 6, part 2), N4D interview several country actors, about the National Information Platform for Nutrition (NIPN). N4D have been working closely with global and country actors over the past year as part of an evaluation of NIPN commissioned by GIZ-C4N. This innovative and highly successful programme which is currently implemented in 9 countries, is gathering momentum with the prospect of being adapted and adopted in other country contexts.

In this podcast:

Niger: Balarabe, Mohamed and Mababou discuss how proud they are of the hard won achievements with implementing NIPN in Niger. Key amongst these has been the systematic collation and cleaning of complex data sets, the analysis of this data based on priority policy focussed questions including nutrition and climate change, gender disparities and food systems considerations. They also discuss the tough decisions they have had to take and enormous amount of collective effort to get NIPN to where it is now….as central to Niger’s efforts to monitor progress with tackling malnutrition.

Ethiopia: Dr Aregash Samuel Hafebo from EPHI in Ethiopia explains why this Public Health Institute under the MoH is such a good fit for NIPN in terms of its role vis is a vis the National Food and Nutrition Strategy and the monitoring of this strategy’s implementation. She also describes the areas NIPN Ethiopia are excelling in like the posting of meta data sets on the NIPN dashboard in a country where the data sharing culture is weak as well as how NIPN plans to devolve to 6 regions where EPHI currently have offices.

Learn about our work and read our report about NIPN here

Visit:
NIPN  | GIZ  | NIPN Niger | NIPN Ethiopia

Please join the debate! 

Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2023

Episode 6, Part 1:
Christoph Langenkamp and Rebecca Heidkamp
Understanding NIPN. Conversations with Global Actors

In this episode (No. 6, part 1), N4D interview two global actors, Christoph Langenkamp and Rebecca Heidkamp, about the National Information Platform for Nutrition (NIPN). N4D have been working closely with global and country actors over the past year as part of an evaluation of NIPN commissioned by GIZ-C4N. This innovative and highly successful programme which is currently implemented in 9 countries, is gathering momentum with the prospect of being adapted and adopted in other country contexts.

In the podcast Christoph describes how the original vision and focus for NIPN moved from a programme largely about harnessing existing nutrition data in country to a programme focussing on multi-sector nutrition data and it’s role in informing policy development and multisector nutrition planning.

Rebecca Heidkamp provides a context for NIPN in relation to other global nutrition data initiatives describing what is unique about the NIPN approach but also cautioning how governments need to prioritise budgets for national nutrition information platforms within their nutrition action plans.

Learn about our work and read our report about NIPN here

Visit:
NIPN  | GIZ  | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School for Public Health

Please join the debate! 

Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2023

Episode 5:
The N4D Team
Reflections on the podcast series so far

In Episode 5, the N4D team reflects on what we have heard so far during our first three conversations and identifies key lessons learnt and emerging issues. We know what needs to be done to end malnutrition, but we do not have the political will. In the words of Shawn Baker, nutrition must become a political non-negotiable. We heard how we already have very good internationally agreed principles to guide the way that aid is provided but the aid system urgently needs reforming to ensure that those principles are translated into reality. More sustainable progress is possible even in countries affected by protracted fragility and conflict if there is a more nuanced understanding of local political and economic contexts, longer term, more integrated approaches and greater trust in local actors and systems.

However, reform requires engagement with politicians in donor countries to raise awareness that the political risks of maintaining the status quo are greater than doing things differently.

Please join the debate! 

Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2023

Episode 4:
Shawn K. Baker
Malnutrition is a political choice

In this episode, the N4D team discuss with Shawn Baker. Shawn is the Chief Program Officer with Helen Keller Intl and was formerly head of nutrition for USAID and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has also occupied senior leadership roles in international multistakeholder initiatives including the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Movement and the Global Nutrition Report. Shawn talks about his life journey from rural northwest Pennsylvania and studying marine biology to a lifelong career in public health nutrition. He highlights success stories from countries that have reduced malnutrition, the ingredients of success as well as challenges that are hindering progress around the world. He highlights the qualities needed by nutrition leaders at national and international levels. For background information on issues discussed, please see the episode notes below. Please share your comments, ideas and experiences.

Please join the debate! 

Reading list:

• For multiple micronutrient supplements: Home – Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies (hmhbconsortium.org)
• For small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements: Small-Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (ucdavis.edu) and Nutrition leaders urge scale-up of new intervention to prevent child malnutrition and mortality – Helen Keller Intl
• For updated guidelines on wasting: Guideline WHO guideline on the prevention and management of wasting and nutritional oedema (acute malnutrition) in infants and children under 5 years (magicapp.org)

Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2023

Episode 3:
Karima Al-Hada´a:
Sustainable solutions to malnutrition in Yemen

In this episode, Carmel, Chris and Jeremy discuss the politics of adopting more sustainable solutions to malnutrition in Yemen with Karima Al-Hada´a. Karima is the Planning & Liaison Specialist in the Scaling-Up Nutrition (SUN) Secretariat in Yemen, Assistant National Food Systems Convenor and a member of the global SUN Movement Executive Committee. The SUN Yemen Secretariat, within the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MOPIC), is the lead national entity responsible for coordinating all investments and actions for nutrition across sectors, throughout the country. Karima discusses the opportunities and challenges of scaling up development actions to prevent malnutrition and strengthening public systems, alongside humanitarian assistance. For background information on issues discussed, please see the episode notes below. Please share your comments, ideas and experiences.
Please join the debate! 

Reading list:

• You can find information and analysis on the political situation in Yemen here:
• Crisis Group Org
• Find out more about N4D´s work in Yemen
• You can also find a link to the Yemen Multisectoral Nutrition Action Plan on that page. 
• We recommend reading the Chatham House paper, on aid strategies in ‘politically estranged´ settings, mentioned by Chris at the end of the podcast.

Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2023

Episode 2:
Habib Ur Rehman Mayar:
Trusting local actors and solutions in conflict affected countries 

In this episode, Carmel, Chris and Jeremy discuss the politics of aid in fragile states with Habib Ur Rehman Mayar, Deputy General Secretary of the g7+ Secretariat and Executive Director of g7+ Foundation. The g7+ is an intergovernmental organisation made up of conflict-affected countries, providing a platform to collectively voice the need for national dialogue and reconciliation; advocate for effective development cooperation founded on the principles of country ownership, transparency and mutual accountability; and facilitate sharing of first-hand experience and good development practices. In this conversation, Habib advocates for reforms to the international aid system to support country led, sustainable development and solutions to conflict.

Reading list: 

• Read about the G7+ here
• Learn about the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States and the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (IDPS)
• Find out more about N4D´s work in Yemen
  

Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2023

Episode 1:
The N4d Team
Discuss paving the way for challenging conversations on driving political change for nutrition and development.

In this first episode of ¨The Politics of Ending Malnutrition¨, the N4D Directors, Carmel, Chris and Jeremy, discuss the purpose of the Podcast and how it relates to N4D´s country focussed strategy. They explain how the series of exciting and challenging conversations with decision makers will explore the way in which political and economic issues enable and hinder the scale up of evidence-based solutions to end malnutrition around the world.

Reading list:
For the definition of political economy quoted by Chris and a guide to understanding political economy analysis and thinking and working politically, learn more here

For information on the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus

The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement

To read background on CMAM – the Community Based Management of Acute Malnutrition and the barriers to scale up and how they might be overcome

Credits: Recorded edited and published by: N4D & Nutriat.co
Theme tune: Saraweto, used with kind permission of Just East of Jazz
© N4D Group 2023