Operationalizing Multisectoral Nutrition Programs to Accelerate Progress : A Nutrition Governance Perspective

Malnutrition continues to be one of the world’s most critical health and human development challenges, threatening countries’ Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goals and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Given the complex, multifactorial, and interlinked determinants of nutritional status and well-being, multisectoral nutrition programming has been widely promoted as the most effective way to address the direct and indirect determinants of malnutrition and to improve nutrition outcomes. Robust governance systems are essential for implementing multisectoral nutrition interventions and creating cost-effective and sustainable programs. The objectives of this report are to (i) document and synthesize implementation experiences, challenges, and opportunities from seven countries supported by the World Bank and Global Financing Facility (GFF) in operationalizing large-scale multisectoral nutrition projects that emphasize and strengthen governance (Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Rwanda); and (ii) facilitate cross-country learning. Given that the seven countries used as examples in this report are still implementing their multisectoral programs, the report focuses on documenting progress and lessons learned on implementation modalities and innovations, rather than highlighting impact at this stage. The report uses a multisectoral governance framework, adapted from Gillespie, Van Den Bold, and Hodge (2019), to synthesize the implementation experiences across the World Bank/GFF–financed multisectoral nutrition projects. The report provides eight lessons learned, organized under three broad categories: (1) Advocacy, leadership, and institutional support for multisectoral nutrition; (2) Management capacity and financing; and (3) Results measurement, monitoring, and accountability.