Advocacy organizations and nutrition policy in Nigeria: identifying metrics for enhanced efficacy

Abstract

Advocacy organizations have played a significant role in the field of nutrition in recent years. However, why are some advocates viewed as more effective than others? This paper derives metrics for assessing advocacy efficacy by first drawing on key insights from the nutrition and public policy scholarship. A set of metrics is proposed to capture the constitutive elements of three concepts that often emerge as critical from that literature: organizational capacity, strong networks and external outreach. Based on a survey of 66 nutrition stakeholders in Nigeria, including at the federal level and within the states of Kaduna and Kano, the metrics are then applied to a set of advocacy organizations within the country. We show that the metrics can provide insights into why some advocacy organizations are perceived as more effective than others by policymakers. Specifically, we find that geographical reach, the share of budget allocated to advocacy, action plans with clear objectives, large networks that include government and non-governmental policy champions, multiple media and dissemination outputs and numerous training events collectively increase nutrition advocates’ visibility to, and influence on, policymakers. Although the metrics are subject to further testing in other country settings and need to be interpreted based on a country’s underlying policy system, they offer a useful starting point for more systematic, comparative advocacy analysis and learning within the nutrition field and beyond.

Voice, access, and ownership: enabling environments for nutrition advocacy in India and Nigeria

“…Second, certain advocacy actors are central in both contexts, such as Alive & Thrive, Save the Children, and UNICEF. This likely has also influenced their perceived higher efficacy by Nigerian policymakers (Resnick et al, 2022 ). Third, India’s domestic nutrition advocacy organizations are more prominent and demonstrate greater network engagement than in Nigeria, where externally headquartered advocacy groups play a more visible role.…”

“…For the purposes of gaining traction on which features of a country’s overarching enabling environment facilitate nutrition advocacy, the specific tactics of advocacy organizations to exert impact are not discussed in detail in this paper. However, a focus on advocacy actions for greater nutrition policy efficacy is examined in an accompanying paper (Resnick et al, 2022 ).…”

Improving Health through Sustainable and Healthy Urban Food System Policy in Nigeria

“…Establishing these backbone frameworks through governance would create a system for non-profit organizations and philanthropists to function and channel their resources to where they matter most. Through advocacy, non-profit organizations could also lobby elected governmental officials to facilitate the pillars of the sustainable food system, which has been identified as an effective strategy in the Nigerian setting [72]. In addition, with the appropriate laws in place, donations towards the sustainability of the city's food system would be tax-deductible, further encouraging philanthropy in this sector.…”

Ground-Truthing Social Network Analysis for Universal Health Coverage Advocacy Networks in Nigeria

“…The birth and evolution of advocacy networks can be drivers of advocacy coalition performance. 18 However, SNA typically focuses on relationships at a specific point of time, and network measures do not necessarily reveal elements of network birth or evolution. Therefore, understanding these other elements of coalition success likely requires combining SNA with additional methodologies.…”