Guatemala
Nutrition governance
The National Council for Food Security and Nutrition (CONASAN), chaired by the Vice President, is the body for political management and decision-making in Guatemala. The Council is made up of eight Ministries, three central government secretariats, one municipal entity, five representatives of civil society and two from the business sector. The Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition (SESAN) coordinates the actions of the stakeholders and institutions involved. The Citizen Consultation and Participation body comprises representatives of civil society from ten sectors, while the Institutional Support Group coordinates the technical, financial and operational support for international cooperation.
The multi-stakeholder platform of the SUN Movement offers an opportunity for technical coordination. SESAN and five Government ministries are involved in the platform, as well as representatives from United Nations agencies, academia, donors, civil society and the private sector. The private sector Alliance for Nutrition is made up of 23 organisations from the business world and civil society which coordinates efforts to implement actions for the critical period of child development, the ’1,000 days window’. The United Nations agencies, embassies and donors in the country are part of the Roundtable of Partners in Nutrition and Food Security and Rural Development that seeks to harmonise actions with national priorities.
The struggle against chronic undernutrition is one of the four priorities of the 2012-2016 national Government and has led to the establishment of the Plan for the Zero Hunger Pact (PPHO) in which all state sectors have committed to preventing chronic child undernutrition and preventing death of severely undernourished children under five years of age. The PPHO is the roadmap for implementing the 2012-2016 Strategic Plan for Food Security and Nutrition (PESAN 2012-2016). The Parliamentary Front against Hunger in Guatemala currently promotes a legal review mechanism to analyse the coherence of current frameworks and promote the application of existing legislation.
NIPN implementation
In Guatemala, the government has designated the Research and Higher Education Center for Tropical Agronomy (CATIE) to support SESAN to strengthen its national information system and its capacity to analyse information and data to support evidence-based policies and programmes. The operations for the implementation of the National Information Platform for Nutrition, led by CATIE and SESAN, started in September 2017.