SCN News No 36 - UNSCN

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FEATURES
Molding and adapting to institutions
• Bolster & support promising nutrition units
• Form working groups under one overall coordinating committee
• Help lesser units lead and compensate for ineffective coordinating structures
• Assign lead roles where good people are located not bureaucratic considerations
• Foster strategic alliances across diverse orgs with an active core group to make things happen
• Get allies inserted into strategic positions in government
• Use technical and politically independent institutions for long-term agenda work
• Involve MEF and PM as allies
• Build relationships with key ministries and actors
• Find roles for each actor, exploit complementary strengths of various donors, NGOs, academics and other actors
• Use soft touch with decentralized actors not mandates, MOUs with local government on only a few activities initially
• Take advantage of political, bureaucratic or staff transitions that create unexpected opportunities and chemistry for alignment
Planning and agenda formation
• Develop a coherent government owned plan to bring donors in line and coordinate sector roles
• Engage implementing orgs in developing operational plans
• Foster resource pooling to foster ownership and commitment
• Frame a “National Program” rather than “World Bank Project” to foster broader buy-in
• Plan from community and local government then upwards
• Pursue and evaluate parallel actions for a few years rather than destructive in-fighting
• Pursue one or two objectives initially if needed to avoid paralysis through analysis
• Form a group and a safe space (with neutral facilitation if necessary) for information sharing, relationship building, strategizing
and consensus-seeking
• Create, support or strengthen an effective (bureaucratic) focal point or coordinating structure
Leadership and strategic capacity
• Build leadership, strategic capacity and confidence in a national team
• Negotiate, discuss tradeoffs and compromise rather than fighting government
• Identify allies and opponents through regular dialogue and interaction
• Argue behind close doors and come out with a common voice
• Fill policy and implementation void with external projects that catalyze not displace
• Use village tours, videos, PROFILES and other powerful methods with policy makers and shapers to get concrete, grounded and
see the big picture
• Have concrete examples, anecdotes and stories at fingertips when needed
• Use external actors as catalysts for change, agenda consolidation and/or consensus seeking
• Strategically stimulate and use small but visible accomplishments
• Seek allies who can think and work outside the box
• Use national meetings strategically to advance the agenda
• Strategically frame the issues to fit prevailing policy environment
• Seek international allies to legitimize the agenda
• Envision and pursue a 10-15 year strategic agenda
• Work outside and beyond official mandates and job descriptions to get the job done
Source: Pelletier et al (forthcoming)
high and low levels of political commitment to nutrition; with very high burdens of malnutrition and relatively low
burdens; and over interventions that have been judged to be “right actions” as well as ”wrong actions” by
international experts evaluating the available evidence. The language used in the data sources clearly indicates
that these disagreements fundamentally revolve around divergent institutional perspectives and interests rather
than policy debates based on effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, sustainability or other considerations.
“The big question now is, will the remaining nutrition actors be able to overcome their sectoral fears, consolidate their
interests and have enough voice left to be heard during the PRSC [Poverty Reduction Support Credit] discussions in
order to get nutrition back on the agenda?” (Government nutrition actor)
“The donors and NGOs basically could not get their act together because they were all arguing for their own
special interest or their own view of how things ought to be handled for nutrition.” (International researcher and
consultant to countries)
SCN NEWS # 36 back to contents
Table 1: Strategies and tactics in the nutrition policy process
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