Review of Guidance note on integrating Food and Nutrition Security into Country Analysis and UNDAF

Transcription

1 Review of Guidance note on integrating Food and Nutrition Security into Country Analysis and UNDAF UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition Sergio Cooper Teixeira

2 Agenda Study overview Findings from country team interviews Selected conclusions 1

3 Overview of review Summary Assess content and performance of UNDG s Guidance note on integrating Food and Nutrition Security into Country Analysis and UNDAF Objectives Identify needs of UN Country Teams, to adequately assist them in developing nutrition content of UNDAFs Compare with notes created by individual UN agencies Identify recent developments not integrated Methods Country interviews Desk review 2

4 Rationale for selecting 17 target countries 50 Initial long-list of SUN Movement countries 17 Countries wrote UNDAFs after October 2011 publication date of UNDAF Guidance Note 3

5 Countries selected, and which participated Sahel Cameroon Chad Mauritania Niger Senegal The Gambia Other Africa D. R. Congo Ivory Coast Guinea Guiné-Bissau Kenya Rwanda Latin America Costa Rica Haiti Asia Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka Also, 1 Regional interview with 2 Peer Support Group members 4

6 53 interviewees from >5 UN Agencies Agency Role WFP 13 Nutrition 20 UNICEF 13 Management 12 FAO WHO 7 11 Nutrition FP 9 RC/UNDP 5 Coordination 8 Other 4 Other Almost all had participated in 1 UNDAF process 50% helped develop their country s latest UNDAF 5

7 Agenda Study overview Findings of country team interviews Main Conclusions 6

8 Focus of country team interviews 1. What guidance and tools were used in most recent UNDAF process? 2. Countries experience in integrating nutrition into the UNDAF? 3. To what extent is the UNDAF operationalized through joint actions? 4. How could the UN Network better support the UNDAF process? 7

9 Reasons for low usage of Nutrition Guidance Note beyond lack of awareness Nutrition officers Prefer existing national nutrition policies and plans, SUN guidance, and other such as : REACH High Level Task Force on Global Food Security and Nutrition WHO Landscape Analysis Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index MDG Acceleration Framework Management I can honestly say that the UNDAF process doesn t lend itself well to the use of guidance notes. (...) The UNDAF How To guidance itself is 100 pages and when you are arguing with 30 agencies, it is not useful practically [...] especially as there are only 20 pages in the final UNDAF All participants Guidance note helps strategic and technical thinking, but : UNDAF is very often just a collation of existing policies and plans UNDAF is the last document to reflect policy changes, not a policy driver 8

10 Nutrition guidance and tools used by country teams National nutrition policies, plans Survey data SUN policy/roadmap National development or sectoral Nutrition Guidance Note* Common Country Analysis (CCA) Lessons learned previous cycle Experiences from other countries Agency programs, and guidance Research - indicators from sweet Other: REACH, HLTF, HANC, Landscape, Subnational consultation, MAF, UNDAF How To, FAO Other Number of mentions in interviews * Will use it now they are aware of it 9

11 Lessons about the UNDAF process Leadership varies significantly Agencies leading UNICEF often leads : Led in 3 countries, often at DCD level In 2 cases, UNICEF co-led with WFP Other cases : UNFPA (Dev. Human Capital) WHO (Health Economist + external facilitators) 4 Agencies co-led RC officers Individuals leading Technical background of individuals leading development of nutrition content of UNDAFs varies, affecting the way they approach the task FAO rarely leading (or participating) Food Security and Nutrition often split as working groups, therefore FAO often leads or contributes to FS groups, not nutrition 10

12 Self-assessment of inclusion of nutrition in UNDAFs Niger Nepal Kenya Mauritania Guine Bissau Sri Lanka Rating (1 = Perfect, 5 completely innappropriate) Countries agreed that inclusion was improving, as a result of in-country advocacy, and global initiatives such as SUN, REACH, and WHO Landscape Analysis driving changes in national policies for development and nutrition 11

13 Inclusion challenges cited at lower ratings Inappropriate Forms of malnutrition omitted (despite being national public health concerns and priorities), such as stunting in under 5s, overweight & obesity, micronutrient deficiencies Specific vulnerablegroups omitted, like people living with HIV/AIDS Action not multisectoral, especially when nutrition is within health, and major interventions in other sectors missing (Education, WASH) Difficulty of choosing indicators Satisfactory The challenge is transforming paper into action and implementation 12

14 Inclusion challenges cited by all countries Multisectorality still challenging " the Food Security and Nutrition groups were separate and never came together at the end." " at the outset there was a spirit of wanting to write the document in a collaborative multisectoral way, but this was overpowered by agency mandates and silos later Nutrition within broader guidance Nutrition guidance should be viewed within context of increasing number of themes that must be mainstreamed into UNDAFs 13

15 Time officers must dedicate to reviewing thematic guidance increases exponentially Officer s domain Food and Nutrition Security Guidance Food and Nutrition Security Gender Gender Climate Change Climate Change Disaster Risk Reduction Disaster Risk Reduction 14

16 Joint action in nutrition by UN Agencies Interviewees assessed their progress on joint action on nutrition both in the UNDAF framework and its implementation, and discussed their experiences of joint actions Considering or attempting 1+ joint actions Flagship proposals with substantial joint action Geographic convergence No or little joint action Only 3 countries identified specific ongoing joint actions

17 Broad array joint action modalities being considered or tested Joint intersectoral nutrition guidance paper Joint project Flagship proposals Joint proposals REACH Country Implementation Plans MOU LOU Geographic convergence Coordination mechanisms Basket funding Basket budgeting MDG-F Cluster Joint Programme UN joint fundraising 16

18 Strengths of, and opportunities in, UN joint action in nutrition MDG-F program laid foundation for UN collaboration UN-led coordination mechanisms more continuous in politically unstable countries, Government leadership can unify, and mediate between, competing UN Agencies UN mechanisms under-exploited (REACH and Clusters) Joint Programmes test Agencies fundraising jointly, for each other UN Joint Programmes avoid duplicative Agency fundraising Positive about potential of flagship proposals 17

19 Challenges to UN joint action in nutrition Individual and Agency motivation for joint action Effort required by joint action questioned when time-bound funding and changing donor preferences mean successful programs cannot be continued Motivation weakened by mixed messages within Agency hierarchies, which staff ultimately report to Agencies less collaborative on nutrition-sensitive than nutrition-specific actions Collaboration still seen as extra to regular work Process and participation Funding disagreements make collaboration harder on development than humanitarian issues Attribution of results to agencies complicates joint planning UNDAF less effective when large actors like WB or IFAD are absent Civil society participation needed from start of UNDAF process to strengthen vulnerability analysis, targeting Evolving context for collaboration Rollout of Delivering as One pressuring UNCTs to develop joint programs, but may result in joint implementation on paper but not necessarily in practice Increased focus on government-led coordination and implementation requires re-definition of UN joint fundraising and joint action 18

20 Expressed needs for UNDAF guidance Emphasize joint action, clarify difference with individual action Frequent and better documentation of past lessons learned: Design & conduct UNDAF mid-term reviews Design & conduct UDAF end-term evaluations Sharing of best practices, success stories, and specific examples across countries, on joint action and fundraising Global strategy with vision & priorities, complementary roles of agencies, resolving related issues on capacities, mandates and resources, to reduce conflict and negotiation at country level Develop approaches to support small states where UN has limited HR Integrated guidance to make mainstreaming easier 19