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.
Project resources
| Title / Summary | Authors | Publication date |
| Inspiring the shift from nutrition policy to implementation: how existing data can support nutrition decision-making in Guatemala This document is a synthesis in English of a more comprehensive report in Spanish, from an analysis of progress in implementing multisectoral stunting reduction strategies in Guatemala. The analysis yielded three main lessons: 1. Commitments and priorities under each successive stunting reduction strategy were not matched by required financial inputs. 2. Adequate and balanced budget allocations as well as repartitions across and within sectors have not been optimally assured for every component of the strategy. The implementation of key components has been affected by the low financial execution capacities of some actors/sectors. 3. The absence of coverage data and outcome-level indicators means that it is not possible to track whether progress is made against the strategic and operational plans, and to course correct where necessary. This study demonstrates the potential of the NIPN approach for tracking country-level progress and informing decisions using existing data. | NIPN | 2019-07 |
| EVOLUCIÓN DE LAS ESTRATEGIAS DE REDUCCIÓN DE LA DESNUTRICIÓN CRÓNICA EN GUATEMALA El estudio sobre la evolución de las estrategias de reducción de la desnutrición crónica en Guatemala tiene el objetivo general de documentar y analizar el buen progreso de la implementación de la estrategia de prevención de la desnutrición crónica (ENPDC) 2016-2020 dentro del marco político más amplio. De hecho, el estudio analiza – a base de datos cuantitativos ya disponible y de insumos cualitativos - los progresos del país para reducir la desnutrición crónica en relación con el cambio de enfoque de la ENPDC en contra de la evolución de las diferentes estrategias de nutrición multisectoriales, en los durante la última década. Con este estudio nacional se intenta capitalizar sobre los progresos pasados y lecciones aprendidas para mejorar el asesoramiento sobre la agenda de nutrición en Guatemala. Varias lecciones se han extraer de los hallazgos y conclusiones del estudio, no solo sobre el diseño, el financiamiento, la ejecución financiera y la implementación de las diversas estrategias desde una perspectiva a largo plazo, sino también sobre los sistemas de monitoreo y la necesidad de contar con datos adecuados para poder documentar progresos y mejorar durante la implementación misma. | Margarita Lovon | 2019-04 |