NIPN approach

At country level, the National Information Platform for Nutrition (NIPN) is rooted within existing institutions and national multisectoral coordination systems for nutrition. From the analysis of available and shared data, it generates evidence that is used by (sub-)national stakeholders for developing policy, designing programmes and allocating investments. The NIPN operational cycle consists of three elements that constantly revolve and feed into each other:

• Question formulation based on government priorities;
• Analysis of data to inform the questions;
• Communication of the findings back to government.

The NIPN operational cycle is implemented by the NIPN structure made up of:

• Actors within a policy component which convenes and facilitates a multisectoral advisory committee, playing a key role in policy question formulation, interpretation of the results of data analysis and communication of findings.
• Actors within a data component that collates multisectoral data in a central repository and analyses the data.

Both components are hosted by national organisations. The NIPN country team, comprising staff from the national host organisations, staff on contract and technical advisors, is embedded within these two components and is responsible for implementing the NIPN approach.

A Multisectoral Advisory Committee guides the country team, validates its work, and ensures information flows between NIPN and the national multisectoral mechanisms for nutrition.

The NIPN operational cycle can be split into sub-steps to facilitate implementation of the approach. These Guidance Notes serve to take the actors in the policy and data components through these sub-steps, which are not necessarily sequential and which require adaptation to each specific country context.