Improving Nutrition as a Development Priority: Addressing Undernutrition in National Policy Processes in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Stellenbosch University Food Security Initiative provides a platform on which a range of research projects has been developed, spanning different faculties and departments, including the health sciences, agricultural sciences, engineering, and the social sciences. Drawing on a selection of these projects, some of which are published in a special section of this issue of Food Security, the paper highlights key emerging findings and their implications for future work in this field in South Africa. It incorporates a range of perspectives on food security in the country, highlighting different dimensions of the subject. The paper argues that a systemic approach is required to address food insecurity in South Africa, combining rigorous disciplinary and interdisciplinary research with effective approaches to research-policy linkages and social learning. The review concludes that such an approach should be institutionalised at Stellenbosch University to inform the emergence of a resilient food system for the region in the 21 st Century.

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“…To date initiatives have often been fragmented, piecemeal and difficult to bring to scale (Benson 2008). This cannot continue.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food security in South Africa—first steps toward a transdisciplinary approach

Drimie

McLachlan

2013

Food Sec.

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“…In the past decade, several multicountry and single-country studies of such processes have been undertaken, in which conceptual and analytical frameworks have been applied. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] These studies sought to uncover key structures, pathways, and dynamics of policy processes for nutrition, with an emphasis on challenges and constraints. In doing so, research from other specialties (eg, political science 24,25 and health systems 26 ) was drawn on to adopt and adapt analytical frameworks and research methods to study nutrition policy.…”

Section: Characterisation Of Enabling Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The politics of reducing malnutrition: building commitment and accelerating progress

et al. 2013

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In the past 5 years, political discourse about the challenge of undernutrition has increased substantially at national and international levels and has led to stated commitments from many national governments, international organisations, and donors. The Scaling Up Nutrition movement has both driven, and been driven by, this developing momentum. Harmonisation has increased among stakeholders, with regard to their understanding of the main causes of malnutrition and to the various options for addressing it. The main challenges are to enhance and expand the quality and coverage of nutrition-specifi c interventions, and to maximise the nutrition sensitivity of more distal interventions, such as agriculture, social protection, and water and sanitation. But a crucial third level of action exists, which relates to the environments and processes that underpin and shape political and policy processes. We focus on this neglected level. We address several fundamental questions: how can enabling environments and processes be cultivated, sustained, and ultimately translated into results on the ground? How has high-level political momentum been generated? What needs to happen to turn this momentum into results? How can we ensure that high-quality, well-resourced interventions for nutrition are available to those who need them, and that agriculture, social protection, and water and sanitation systems and programmes are proactively reoriented to support nutrition goals? We use a six-cell framework to discuss the ways in which three domains (knowledge and evidence, politics and governance, and capacity and resources) are pivotal to create and sustain political momentum, and to translate momentum into results in high-burden countries.

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“…The works of Heaver (20) , Benson (21) and Ghartey (9) have identified a number of factors accounting for the weak commitment by government of Ghana. These include poor understanding of the prevalence, causes, welfare and economic costs of malnutrition; low political demand for action against malnutrition.…”

Section: Allocations For Direct Nutrition Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrition sensitivity of the 2014 budget statement of Republic of Ghana

et al. 2015

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Ghana's Constitution and several international treaties she has ratified demonstrate support for fundamental human rights to nutrition and freedom from hunger. However, it is unknown how this support is being translated into investment in nutrition. National budgets are important vehicles through which governments communicate intent to address pertinent national challenges. The present paper assesses the nutrition sensitivity of Ghana's budget statement for the year ending 31 December 2014. We perused the budget in its entirety, examining allocations to various sectors with the goal of identifying support for direct nutrition interventions. We examined allocations to various sectors as per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). The review shows that the total revenue and grants for the 2014 fiscal year is Ghana Cedis (GH¢) 26 001·9 million (25 % of GDP). The total expenditure for the same period is estimated at GH¢34 956·8 million (33·1 % of GDP). The health sector is allocated GH¢3 353 707 814 (3·8 % of GDP). As of 28 October 2014, the Bank of Ghana's Official Exchange Rate was US$1 = GH¢3·20. It is one of the key sectors whose interventions directly or indirectly impact on nutrition. However, the proportion of the national budget that goes to direct nutrition interventions is not evident in the budget. Nutrition is embedded in other budget lines. Allocations to relevant nutrition-sensitive sectors are very low (<0·5 % of GDP). We conclude that Ghana's 2014 budget statement pays scant attention to nutrition. By embedding nutrition in other budget lines, Ghana runs the risk of perpetually rolling out national spending actions insensitive to nutrition.

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Improving Nutrition as a Development Priority: Addressing Undernutrition in National Policy Processes in Sub-Saharan Africa

Cited by 40 publications

References 17 publications

Food security in South Africa—first steps toward a transdisciplinary approach

Food security in South Africa—first steps toward a transdisciplinary approach

The politics of reducing malnutrition: building commitment and accelerating progress

Nutrition sensitivity of the 2014 budget statement of Republic of Ghana

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