Zero Hunger Briefing Paper - Transforming evidence-based success into effective change

Action Against Hunger's latest series of publications - Zero Hunger - seeks to understand why and how countries like Brazil and Malawi have managed to reduce undernutrition, while others have not. By pulling together evidence from contexts which have had relative success in bringing down undernutrition rates, the series introduces six key success factors which have been instrumental in the fight against hunger worldwide:

• Put nutrition at the top of the political agenda
• Ensure the participation of civil society in the development of sustainable policies to improve ownership and impact among affected communities 
• Address the multiple causes of undernutrition through a wide range of sectors, including health, agriculture, water and sanitation, and education to enhance policy coherence and coordination 
• Combine both short and long-term approaches to address both the immediate and underlying causes of undernutrition 
• Coordinate activities across different institutions 
• Provide long-term financial resources to guarantee policy effectiveness Nutrition must be at the forefront of all development and poverty reduction policies. 

This briefing pulls together evidence from secondary research in contexts which have had relative success in bringing down undernutrition rates, with field based evidence from Niger, where undernutrition is a persistent problem. Combined with analysis of the relevance and potential of the regional approach in the fight against hunger in West Africa, the briefing introduces six key success factors which have been instrumental in the fight against hunger worldwide. The Zero Hunger Series argues that good nutrition is the foundation of human development; it must be at the forefront of all development and poverty reduction policies.

Action Again Hunger - June 2011