N4D: TRANSFORMING KNOWLEDGE INTO ACTION FOR NUTRITION & DEVELOPMENT
WORK AREAS
1 | Strengthening and integrating national nutrition plans
,N4D puts national multisectoral nutrition plans and priorities at the centre of everything that we do. However, national nutrition plans are not ends in themselves. If they are to be financed and implemented, nutrition priorities need to be integrated into sectoral policies, plans and budgets, such as health, agriculture, climate and social protection, as well as into overall national development plans. Nutrition integration is vital for securing the high-level political commitment that is needed to ensure financing, implementation and accountability.
In Yemen, we are supporting the updating of the national Multisectoral Nutrition Action Plan, integrating a Nexus approach to nutrition. In Ethiopia, we are helping national partners in the operationalisation of a Nexus approach in the context of the Seqota Declaration initiative and the National Food and Nutrition Strategy. In Niger, we are discussing the possibility of supporting the updating of the Plan d´Action Multisectoriel. In Vietnam in 2021, we supported the development of the 10-year National Nutrition Strategy.
Yemen: National Multisectorial Nutrition Action Plan (pdf)
Ethiopia: National Food and
Nutrition Strategy (pdf)
Niger: Plan d’Action Multisectoriel (pdf)
Through our learning work area, we aim to share experiences of what works well in supporting countries to strengthen and integrate their national nutrition plans for the benefit of other countries. Through our advocacy workstream, we support countries to highlight their nutrition priorities and access financing to support their implementation.
2 | Advancing a Nexus approach to nutrition
Key characteristics of a Nexus approach
A HDPN approach to nutrition is guided by wider HDPN approaches such as the OECD DAC Recommendation on the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus (see pdf download below).
N4D defines a HDPN approach for nutrition as:
“… [when] all humanitarian, development and peace actors draw on their comparative advantages and work in collaboration and coherence with each other, under national leadership, in order to achieve the collective outcome of sustained improvements in nutrition for all people. All stakeholders align with national and sub-national priorities as outlined in one overarching, national and multisectoral nutrition action plan.”
Key elements of a HDPN approach:
- Collective outcomes
to sustainably reduce needs, risks and vulnerabilities by preventing, preparing and responding to malnutrition.
- Collaborative and coherent
ways of working between humanitarian, development and peace-building actors.
- Drawing on respective comparative advantages; and convergence of HDPN actions on the same at-risk populations.
Key documents
DAC Recommendation on the OECD Legal Instruments Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus (pdf)
Strengthening the Humanitarian-
Development Nexus for Nutrition in Protracted Crises (pdf)
Lessons learned and recommendations from the humanitarian-development nexus for nutrition (pdf)
N4D is supporting local actors to strengthen a Nexus approach in three focal countries – check out our country learning pages
ETHIOPIA
NIGER
YEMEN
Nutrition financing in protracted crises
N4D presented a discussion paper on “‘Financing the prevention of malnutrition in protracted crises – a foundation for peace and prosperity’ at the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Paris Summit in March 2025.
Coordinating technical assistance in protracted crises
Nexus Country Advocacy Working Group
N4D has established a working group consisting of senior nutrition leaders from our three focus countries, plus Afghanistan, to provide a platform for country-led sharing of learning and advocacy.
Humanitarian, Development and Peace-building (HDP) Nexus Working Group
N4D co-chairs the Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC) HDP Nexus Working Group together with a representative from the SUN Movement Convergence Hub. This Working Group provides a space for capturing and sharing learning between countries on efforts to advance a Nexus approach to nutrition. It also provides guidance to the GNC and other technical assistance providers on how they can contribute to promoting a Nexus approach.
3 | Country-led nutrition financing
We are working with national and international partners to support country-led efforts in mobilising nutrition financing that is aligned with national priorities
Developing country-specific nutrition financing profiles & advocacy support plans
Together with partners from the SDG2 Advocacy Hub and SUN Movement, N4D is supporting the development of country profiles. These will be used to develop advocacy plans for mobilising financing, aligned with national priorities.
Podcast series on ‘More and better finance for nutrition’
Four podcast mini series
N4D @ N4G on country financing
Advocacy for country-led nutrition financing: A new consensus
N4D, World Vision International, the SUN Movement and the SDG2 Advocacy Hub launched a strategic direction for nutrition finance advocacy, based on recommendations from new research. The event included a country profile from Pakistan on mapping advocacy needs at the country level, showcasing the high-level and country-level work that can be achieved in this area. This event sought to catalyze a new consensus for nutrition advocacy to increase financing beyond this N4G Summit.
Closing the financing gap for nutrition through country-specific commitments and accountability
N4D, alongwith with co-hosts SDG2 Advocacy Hub and the SUN Civil Society Network, took part in a lively panel discussion with national government representatives from Ethiopia (see podcast below) and Pakistan sharing successes and challenges in mobilising and tracking domestic financing and donor financing that is aligned with national priorities. Other panelists from multistakeholder initiatives shared their perspectives on supporting countries in this process.
Scaling up efforts to sustainably prevent malnutrition in protracted crises
N4D presented a discussion paper on “‘Financing the prevention of malnutrition in protracted crises – a foundation for peace and prosperity’ at the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Paris Summit in March 2025.
See video above
4 | Strengthening Nutrition Information Systems
N4D is unifying humanitarian and development efforts through Nutrition Information Systems (NIS)
Unifying humanitarian and development efforts through NIS
5 | Supporting global initatives
N4D played an active role in the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit Paris 2025, both as organisers/participants for three side events and as the official Summit podcasters. We captured country and global voices in N4D @ N4G’s podcasts – with a strong emphasis on national actors and a focus on finance and accountability
The N4G Summit Paris 2025 advocated for ambitious financial and political commitments and and was attended by the governments of 106 countries and numerous international organizations, civil society organizations, development banks, etc. Over 400 commitments were registered on the Nutrition Accountability Framework platform, and close to US$28 billion in nutrition funding was announced.